New suit and an old pro

While back in my old haunts for Christmas, Number One son, on the day he was due to fly back to Colorado, decided to look into buying his first suit. It wouldn’t be the first suit he has owned, but it would be the first one he paid for–a big difference. His grandparents recommended a Broad Street haberdashery called Blakely-Mitchell, a locally owned men’s clothing store. He had some time to kill, so off we went.

Kingsport: sushi on Broad Street

I went back to Kingsport for Christmas and went down to Broad Street, which in my boyhood was the main commercial street of the city, stretching from the train station to Church Circle, a monument to Protestant diversity. On that street I did something I never thought I would do in my hometown: eating sushi.

In Kingsport, Tennessee. The place was Stir Fry Cafe, a small chain with locations in Knoxville, Johnson City, and Asheville. The restaurant was in the old Baylor Nelms Furniture location, where my family used to shop. The sushi was fresh and it was good. Stir Fry is a bright spot in a rejuvenating downtown, and I hope it thrives.

This blog is part of a much larger website, also entitled Tennessee Guy, that contains travel and cultural information about Tennessee. Visit it here.

Cleaning an iron skillet

Probably the quickest way to get thrown out of my kitchen is to to “help clean up” by pouring soap into one of my cast iron skillets. I have worked hard to maintain a good seasoning on all of them, and I clean them out with water and a paper towel. If something has burned on, I might gently attack it with a green scratcher, but I never, and I mean never, use soap.