Chocolate, Beer, and Cheese

3 Crow Bar in East Nashville is hosting an event that I may have to miss, but you should not! Olive and Sinclair is a local chocolate maker that has some of the best tasting chocolate in several flavors. This chocolate was part of my Christmas gift to my 103 year old Grandmother. She has a huge sweet tooth and just loves it.

They are teaming up with Yazoo beer for a new beer made with their chocolate. All the details are on this flyer and you can go to their web site for even more information.

Chocolate, Beer and Cheese event!

Olive and Sinclair website

Bobbie's Dairy Dip

Since 1951, Bobbie's Dairy Dip has been on Charlotte Avenue in Nashville. I wasn't around then, but I've been going there for the last 6 years when I moved back. It feels so good to drive up to this place and order everything your stomach desires! Well Bobbie's is open for business again after the long winter season and this weather is making me jones for one of their soft serve cones with the delicious hard chocolate coating... oooohhh... wait, maybe the butterscotch! I'll just figure it out last second when I have to make a choice... that instant where my taste buds can't go wrong and instinct takes over...

Bobbie's is open as I write this and they stay open 11am till 7pm every day except Sunday when they close at 6. Visit them at 5301 Charlotte Avenue or call them at (615)463-8088, for their hours of opperation increase as the weather gets nicer.

I don't know what it is, but everything just seems to taste better at Bobbie's. It is just like how movies are so much better at the drive-in.

Picture taken from their Facebook page

Easiest Shopping Experience

My colleague just showed me this web site. It is an amazing site that is easy to use and the layout is much better most sites and focused. Please check it out by following the banner below.

Vanderbilt University Hospital Ranked 16

You should all be proud in Nashville to have one of the best hospitals in the US. US News and World Report just ranked Vanderbilt University Medical Center 16th best hospital in the US. Details of the ranking can be found here: USNWR Best Hospitals

Rock Band Competition and Lecture

This is going to be a very unique opportunity to hear a lecture about the creative and practical aspects of putting together video game projects. I'm sure the information will be useful in many other fields. The best part is the competion which follows the lecture. Kick some Rock Band butt! More information here: http://www.rockbandvandy.com.

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Fall Colors

Last Fall, at the hight of the leaves color, I shot some video of some of my favorite places in Nashville. Some of the places in the video are Natchez Trace Parkway, Radnor Lake, Love Circle, and some spots in Franklin. I loved putting this all together, for I forgot how beautiful it was last Fall!

Getting Ready for Fall 2009 from Jake Stein on Vimeo.

Haunted Houses

The leaves on the trees are starting to change their colors again. Fall is in the air which means one of my favorite nights is upon us... Halloween! I didn't go to any Haunted Houses last year, because I have always been sadly disappointed in the scare quality. This year I am going to as many as I can, so I can rate them for you, my readers.

Last weekend, two of my friends and I went to Death Valley Haunted Woods and Monster Mountain. Both are located north of Nashville.

Death Valley Haunted Woods ranks the best between the two. In terms of fright factor, ease of navigation, and uniqueness, Death Valley kept all three of us happy throughout. There were actually a few spots where I was afraid the REAL pic-axe could have slipped out of the actor's hands and hit me. It didn't, but it could have and I hope that actor has good skills with the axe. Everything else seemed mostly safe if not totally freaky at times.

It took us a total of about 45 minutes to get through Death Valley, which includes two pitch dark mazes that are legitimately hard to navigate out of, tons of ghouls, and great sound effects. In terms of entertainment value, it is, hands down, the best haunted house I've seen.

None of that is to degrade Monster Mountain! It was a good haunted house. The special effects at this place were incredible. Much more time and money was spent to make this place look the part of a haunted mining town. The burning house we had to walk through was "off the hook" cool, the 40 foot suspended monster, the caverns, and old town were really well done. The frights were good, but the navigation left some to be desired. I enjoyed the openness, but the ghouls had to keep telling us where to go. Another thing I really liked about Monster Mountain, was that it was in the middle of nowhere. It made me feel like something bad could actually happen and no one would ever know. In total it took us about 25 minutes to get from start to end.

Overall, both houses were great fun and worth the $15 admission price. If we had gone to Monster Mountain without seeing Death Valley, it would have been the best in my life, but Death Valley was unanimously the better of the two.

This week we hope to hit a couple more, so look out for the reviews.