4523 Nolensville Pike
Nashville, TN 37211
(615) 834-9989

A local restaurant started serving dim sum, so Jake and I joined some of my classmates to eat there this morning. This was only my second dim sum experience, but we really enjoyed it!

Some of the dishes we enjoyed (I think, thanks to Wikipedia ):

• Har gao (Shrimp dumpling)
  
• Shaomai
  
• Cha siu baau (Pork buns)
  
• Chicken feet
  
• Spare ribs
  
• Lo mai gai (Lotus leaf rice)
  
• Char siu sou
  
• Fu pei gyun (Tofu skin roll)
  
• Lo bak go (Turnip cake)
  

We had several other dishes that I can’t quite remember. One of the waitresses spoke English very well, and she explained the dishes, and we tried one of almost everything (except jellyfish, beef liver, and a few others). The best part is that the 7 of us only ended up paying $10 each, which included a generous tip. Although I’m not a dim sum expert, I would definitely recommend Ouyang House (which also had a very nice looking buffet) - I know that we will be trying it again.

I’ve been reading Lorelle on WordPress lately, and today she posted this challenge:

This week’s blog challenge is to blog about your computer setup as it was “then” in the early days of your computer life, and how it is now, in your modern technology life.

Read more…

When I was in the fourth grade, all I wanted for Christmas was my own computer. I must have been on the “nice” list that year, because Santa did in fact bring me a computer! For the time, it was pretty awesome. I don’t remember the specs exactly, but most importantly, it had a modem! I’m not sure why my parents thought this was a good idea. When the first phone bill arrived, my days of spending hours on Prodigy were over. Eventually, phone companies and ISPs stopped charging by the minute, and we made the move from Prodigy to AOL. I eventually discovered member home pages on AOL, and I made my first website. Unhappy with the limited options that the AOL WYSIWYG service provided, I began to pick up some HTML, and over the next several years, I developed some very ridiculous sites.

First, here are some pictures I found that were taken of my computer during high school:
  

When I went to college, I switched to a laptop, which had some amusing video card problems. In particular, it liked to switch into “big mode,” or 640×480 resoultion.

I added a desktop to my collection during college, and later got a new laptop. When I started graduate school two years ago, my setup looked like this (it’s hard to tell, but there is quite a mess of wires):

About a year and a half ago, I switched from the Dell laptop to my Thinkpad, which I love!

We have since added a second monitor to the desktop setup, though the computer is currently in a phase of repair/upgrade. However, most of my time is spent on my desktop at work (also a dual-monitor setup) or on my laptop at home.

Now that I’ve described the computer setup, I think it will be fun to show some of the “masterpieces” that I created with them! Through the Internet Archive, I’ve found some broken versions of several of my old sites:

• Alli’s Hangout - This is the oldest site of mine that I have found. At some point I migrated away from AOL’s hosting to various free hosting services. Alli’s Hangout included everything that a “cool” site needed at the time - web awards, web pets for adoption, webrings, a guestbook, midi background music, and random pages about things that I enjoyed at the time. I even made several sites for my friends, which you can find links for on the site (in particular, Kristen, Taryn, and Courtney)
• allison.8m.com - In high school, I graduated from Alli’s Hangout to allison.8m.com. Basically, I wanted a cool URL, and this service provided URLs like yourusername.afewshortcharacters.com - hence, allison.8m.com. This site was mostly about pictures, since I had developed a habit of taking and scanning large numbers of pictures. La Casa Real and Mock Trial are sites I made for class projects, and the TIP site includes pictures from my summer at the Duke TIP program.
• www.allison-beck.com - My first domain! This site went through several versions. The biggest changes included the original look, the Baylor look, the pastel look, and the red look. This site focused on pictures and blogging, and I kept up with the site until 6 months ago, when I got married and eventually let the domain expire.
• www.allisonmccoy.com - Clearly you’ve found this one by now! While my new site (with the new name) is similar to allison-beck.com in that I’m keeping a blog and sharing pictures, I’m trying to keep it more active and interesting. In particular, I hope to include content about more than just me. I want people who don’t even care about me that much to enjoy visiting my site.

Now that I’m done reminiscing, I’d be curious to see if others have comments or posts of their own to share!

At some point in my life, being on time became an obsession for me. For the past several years, I constantly checked my watch, becoming anxious if I was going to be late - and by late I mean not 5 or 10 minutes early. I became anxious during class or meetings that were running late, even if I had nowhere else to go. This tends to cause some problems. First, it’s not good to stress myself out over something so silly. Second, I can’t carpool with anybody that doesn’t share my problem, and I don’t like traveling alone.

I’ve been trying over the past two years to get over this, but this summer I tried something different - I stopped wearing my watch. If I don’t know what time it is, I can’t stress out. Every once in a while though, I can glance at a clock on display in the room, or another person’s watch, defeating the plan. Overall, I think this is helping. I don’t get anxious in meetings and classes anymore, because I don’t realize when we’re getting close to the end or running late. I’m this much closer to less stress!

416 21st Ave S
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 327-4322

Earlier in the summer, we ate at SATCo several weeks in a row, and although it started as a joke, it has become somewhat of a summer Monday lunch tradition. For those who don’t know, I lived in Texas for about 10 years (6 as a young child, 4 for college). Because of my time in Texas, I have eaten some really great Tex Mex. Outside of Texas, it’s extremely hard to find tacos, enchiladas, and even salsa that I really enjoy. I’m not going to say that SATCo is on par with real Tex Mex, but I really enjoy eating there.

I order the same thing almost every time I eat at SATCo - two chicken fajita tacos with chips and queso. Mostly, I enjoy the chips and queso. The tacos are pretty decent - well-seasoned meat with good tortillas (not by Taco Cabana or Rosa’s standards, but good nonetheless). The chips are fresh and delicious, and the queso is pretty great. The pico de gallo and salsa are both really good and taste great with the chips. I’ve had other items from the menu, including beef tacos, chicken enchiladas, and the chicken taco salad. While I enjoy the salad, I can do without the tacos. The enchiladas are not bad, though I don’t typically prefer red sauce.

Though the food is good, one of the best things about SATCo is the atmosphere. They have a large deck, with fans and heaters to combat uncomfortable heat or cold and make eating outside enjoyable all year. They offer a nice selection of beer, and if you’re with a group or really thirsty you can order a bucket.

Although SATCo doesn’t quite compare to my favorite Tex Mex eatery, Taco Cabana, it’s a great place to eat with friends, and as long as I’m in Nashville, it’s my go-to spot for tacos and queso.

I think that for now, I’m mostly finished designing my site. There are still a few small things that I’ll try and perfect, but I’m tired of changing it around. Comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Also, I realize that it’s been a while since I updated content. I’ve been busy working on papers for graduate school, but I’ve got several drafts saved. Some of the reviews I have to post still are for:

• Flying Saucer
• Kalamata’s
• Royal Thai
• Rumba
• Sambuca
• SATCo
• The Standard #4

So - keep checking back, because eventually I will get them posted!

167 Rosa L Parks Blvd
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 254-1277
http://www.thestandardnashville.com

For the third week in a row, I went to the wine tasting at The Standard. This week, the wines were from Spain:

• Las Brisas 2006
  Grilled Oranges with Wild Arugula Honey Poppy Seed Dressing
• Legar de Cervera, Albarino 2006
  Braised Pork with Onion and Cabbage
• Vega Sindoa, Cabernet-Tempranillo 2005
  Penne with Chicken Putaneska
• Earth 2.0, Tempranillo 2006
  Ox Tails with White Rice

I have to say - compared to the previous two weeks, I was disappointed. I enjoyed the wines, especially the albarino and the tempranillo. However, the appetizers left me wishing for the cinnamon cured duck or the beef au poivre from previous weeks. Everything was made well, and each dish was good, I just don’t think that any pairing wowed me as much as the pairings from our first two visits.

After the pairing, we stayed for some extra appetizers from the menu. I ordered the mirliton, since I loved it so much before, and a glass of the Domaine Carneros Pinot Noir. Jake ordered the Beef tenderloin carpaccio with creamy horseradish sauce, fried capers, and arugula, which we enjoyed. We also ordered dessert, Jake and I sharing bread pudding, and our friends sharing the peach cobbler. To our surprise, the portions were extremely generous! Both were delicious, and we left completely stuffed.

I’ve made my reservations for next week, and I’m really hoping that Chef Joe wows us again!

In case you missed it, read my previous two reviews on wine tasting at The Standard:
http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2008/05/23/the-standard/
http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2008/05/30/the-standard-2/

Jake and I bought some local honey today from a nearby farmer’s market. It’s supposed to help boost your immune system and relieve allergy symptoms, since the bees collect local pollens to make the honey. Since I’m severely allergic to almost everything outside, I thought I’d try it out. I’ll write another update in a month or so to see if it’s working.

For some reason, I seem to be lacking the creativity necessary to make my site look really nice. I’m happy with the content of my site - I’ve had fun incorporating my facebook status and Google Reader shared items, and I love the flickr plugin. Unfortunately, I think that my site still looks very boring. I’m playing around some with adding in polaroid-looking pictures as highlights in posts, but I’d like to add something else to each post. The standard bottom-border as a divider just isn’t doing it for me anymore. I’d also like to separate the content from the header and sidebar somehow.

I know that some of my friends are much more creative than I am, so if you have any ideas - please share them with me!

I got my diploma yesterday, so I am officially a master!

167 Rosa L Parks Blvd
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 254-1277
http://www.thestandardnashville.com

Since we enjoyed our first wine tasting at The Standard so much, some girlfriends and I decided to return yesterday evening. The menu included 4 french wines paired with appetizers:

• Les Tuileries, White Bordeaux, Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon 2006
  Breton Style Little Neck Clams Steamed with White Wine, Garlic, and Onion with Fresh Thyme and French Bread
• Domaine Gayda L’Archet, Cuvee Occitane, Grenache Blanc-Marsanna-Roussane 2005
  Grilled Jumbo Asparagus with Crab Hollandaise and Pecans
• Louis Latour, Le Bourgogne Rouge, Pinot Noir 2005
  Braised Pork with Apples
• Chateau Mont Redon, Cotes du Rhone, Syrah-Grenache 2004
  Beef Tenderloin au Poivre

The wine broker attended the pairing as well, and shared some really great information about each wine. As with last week, chef Joe Shaw explained each dish and his thought process as he paired it with the wine. While I really enjoyed each pairing, the last pairing was my favorite. The spice of the beef matched the wine really well, and absolutely delicious.

Unfortunately, the courtyard was closed for some construction, so we opted not to stay for additional drinks and appetizers. This afternoon I will be making my reservations for next week though, and I look forward to trying more great food and wine!

In case you missed it, read my review from last week’s wine tasting at The Standard here:
http://www.allisonmccoy.com/2008/05/23/the-standard/