local eating kentucky style

when in kentucky, do as the kentuckians do: enjoy some bourbon! my sweetie and i spent just under 48 hours in louisville this weekend to celebrate our second wedding anniversary (love you, baby!) and packed a lot of activity (and bourbon) into that time. if you're going to slugger stadium, don't count on a meal. my choice was between onion rings, a soft pretzel, cotton candy, or papa john's pizza for dinner. i should've gone for the pretzel and called it good. so our luck wasn't in for the food. we lucked out instead on the seats, right on the 1st base line, which we got for free from some nice folks who couldn't use them. thanks, friendly louisvillians! the brave louisville bats battled down to 10 innings, but the triple-aaa yankees team from scranton (ha ha - scranton!) beat them out in the end. booo! saturday morning we visited the famous lynn's paradise cafe. i say famous because a quick look at the website tells me her macaroni and cheese recipe was on oprah. that's famous. they were also on the food network's "throwdown with bobby flay," which i didn't know beforehand, but convinced me to have the "as seen on" bourbon ball french toast. zoinks! food network nerds beware. in kelley's perfect world, this would be served without the chocolate sauce and whipped cream, with less custard, and more berries. that would cut down on the richness and really be delicious...not that this was BAD. no. no. it was really good. just a little much. just a lot much. but unique! brian had the mushroom scramble. maybe i'm just chasing a french toast dream offered by studio one cafe in eugene, oregon. if you're ever in eugene, go with a friend and get the french toast for two. ooooooh yeah. after stuffing our bellies, we drove out to the jim beam "outpost" for a little education and tasting. later on saturday, we needed to cool down during a stroll downtown, and stopped into bluegrass brewing company. we'd had their bourbon barrel stout the night before, which was very tasty, but stout wasn't in the cards for a hot july afternoon. i had the pale ale and brian had the wheat. he didn't like his first sip, but it grew on him. mine i liked very well. reminded me a lot of mirror pond. we also had hummus and pita, served with green and black olives and roasted red peppers. delicious. this morning we headed down to bardstown road for our coffee and spent some time at highland coffee for coffee and muffins. all the pastries are made there, with vegan selections. my coffee wasn't spectacular, but the french roast ran out and i made do with guatemalan, which isn't my favorite. my cranberry orange muffin was sweet very orange-y. the service was very friendly, and the to-go cups had biodegradable sleeves. thanks for being responsible, highland coffee! what a fun short trip. louisville seems like a fairly happening place, and we'll be back in a few months, we hope, for a concert. and maybe drink a little bourbon.