Friday Five | April
Happy (almost) end of April, y’all! After all the rain we’ve gotten, flowers are in bloom, and I’m happy to see some color around Chattanooga again. As I anticipated, this month totally flew by. I blame that on my social calendar filling up pretty quickly. But I’m certainly not complaining.
If there’s anything I hated about the month of April (and the last week or so of March), it was my allergies. They wreaked havoc on my eyes, nose, and throat, and even left me without a voice for nearly a week. Not gonna lie, though, not having a voice for a few days was kind of nice. As much as I like talking with people (and as much as my job often requires), I needed to chill for a bit.
Fortunately I didn’t record any new podcasts during that time. That would’ve been a challenge.
Here’s my Friday Five roundup for the month of April!
I got into a lot this month, so picking just five was a little tough. But here we go!
ONE: I finally learned how to make spaghetti squash! Everyone laughs when I say I struggled with spaghetti squash, but I did! I either totally overcooked it to mushiness, or undercooked it. But one day, a friend of mine walked me through the proper way to prepare and roast a spaghetti squash in the oven, and oh my, what a game changer. I make it every other week now, and it’s been one of my favorite additions to my diet.
TWO: Tacos all the time. I kind of really love tacos. I got on a taco kick at the end of March, and I made them at home several times in April. A local barbecue smoker, Nate, gave me a pack of his homemade 80/20 Creole BBQ seasoning, and I used that on my last batch. I’ll share my recipe and process on here once I get it nailed down…hopefully soon!
THREE: Battle Below the Clouds at Ruby Falls. I was asked to be a judge in the 5th annual Battle Below the Clouds at Ruby Falls! It’s a barbecue competition among eight teams, and each made dry ribs, wet ribs (with sauce), dry pulled pork, and wet pulled pork (with sauce). The two other judges and I tasted 32 pieces of barbecue. Yes, you read that correctly…32 pieces. My North Carolina blood was quite satisfied, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t eat meat for three days after that.
And that was only one round of what we tasted and judged!
FOUR: More soccer! As I mentioned in my March favorites post, Chattanooga FC kicked off its season, and they’re playing a lot of matches before the league even starts. Earlier this month, we took on our frenemies from the north, Detroit City FC. The whole weekend was exciting—we had a night-before bar crawl with visitors from Detroit, and an epic tailgate with supporters from FOUR different lower-division clubs, that all came to Chattanooga. Talk about awesome.

The Boys in Blue have two more preseason matches (tomorrow April 27, and next Saturday May 4) before our NPSL schedule starts May 11 at Nashville (at home May 18).
FIVE: A podcast update. I’ve had some really awesome and inspiring people on my podcast in the last few months that I haven’t properly shouted out on the blog. From James Beard award nominated chefs to country music bands, and almost everything in between, I’ve been really lucky to talk with some awesome people and hear their stories. My podcast is a little over a year old, and I can’t imagine slowing down now.
Honorable mention: I finally bought some proper ice molds (sphere and square) for my home cocktails. They make me feel marginally more fancy than regular ol’ ice cubes from my freezer. Next on my purchase list: taco holders and a kitchen torch… so I can make creme brulee, of course.
Also, in case you missed it, I shared a really delightful vodka cocktail earlier this week: my Dixie Citrus Smash. Let me know if you make it yourself and how you like it!
How was your April? What are some of your highlights?
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