Random Tater Pic of the Day #242

Here's a shot from the photo shoot for the new album by The Hot Sardines, with lots of the favorite fried food, potato and onion varieties. Their album, wonderfully titled French Fries + Champagne releases today, June 17th. You can find them on Facebook, on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and their own website. You can order the new album, as well as lots of other cool swag here.

Sardines, Fries, and Champagne

The Hot Sardines are a very cool jazz band who have performed on the TCM Classic Cruise both years I've attended, they really rock. And that's great, you're wondering, but what's it got to do with the favorite fried food?

Their new album, titled French Fries + Champagne, comes out on June 17th, so I thought I'd give it a bit of promotion, after all, I like them almost as much as French fries…

You can find them on Facebook, on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and their own website. You can pre-order the new album, as well as lots of other cool swag here.

And just for the record (Heh, see what I did there?), champagne goes great with French fries…

Random Tater Pic of the Day #198

Today's image comes from the garden of my friend Robin, potatoes, planted by her housemate. The good stuff is underground, just like music.

French Fry Diary 631: Sweet Potatoes Vs. Yams

Last week I posted some really cool pics from my friend Robin Renee of her Homemade Vegan Sweet Potato Pies. A conversation via text later indicated that Robin didn't think they were technically sweet potatoes, but yams instead. This got me thinking about what the real difference between sweet potatoes and yams actually was… and therein I discovered quite the conspiracy.

It would seem that what we think of in America as yams are really just sweet potatoes, just another variety of them. We've been calling them the wrong name for years. It's just like those French taking credit for fries from the Belgians, we've been giving yummy sweet potatoes the name yams when they are not yams at all. You can read about what's really what in the world of yams and sweet potatoes here.

And while we're sort of on the subject of Robin Renee and the holidays, you might want to check out these two YouTube videos, "Hare Krishna Christmas" and "The Yule Song." Enjoy!

French Fry Diary 558: Indian Chief Tavern

A few months back, The Bride performed at the second annual charity event called Women 2 Women 2. Women 2 Women is an advocacy group with the mission of bringing female artists together to share a night of music while raising awareness and funding for Women's causes, locally and nationally. The event features talented female performing artists from all over the Philadelphia tri-state area, from all walks of life, to share their love for their craft, music.

These performers offer a diverse range of music while raising funds for this year's chosen charity, Providence House in Burlington County. Performing that night were: Janet Bufano, Kathi Cooley, Megan Knight, Stephanie Davis, Britt Marie Zammer, Rachel Evans, Arianna Burmeister, Sandy Hall, Chrissy Hartline, Susan “Sooze” Lake, Tina Brand, Nikki Zammer, Kate Bradshaw, Danielle Denning, Carolyn, Christine & Cynthia Barbadoro, and of course, The Bride, Jennifer Walker.

The Bride was awesome and rocked the place with her renditions of Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker," Network's "Rock Me" and "Stand and Deliver" by Adam and the Ants. I thought she was the best one, but then again I'm biased. Seriously, she was fabulous, and Women 2 Women raised a lot of money for Providence House. You can see more details, more pictures, and even a video or two, here.

Why am I writing about that here? Well, we had dinner at the Indian Chief Tavern before the event began, and I got, as you might have guessed, French fries. I went simple, and usual, and got a burger and fries. The fries were deep fried regular cuts, crisp, not greasy and surprisingly good. It was also a great burger, pre-formed, medium well and served on a perfect large sesame seed bun. The perfect burger was complemented by the fries.

This was so not what I was expecting from this place. One end of the building was the bar and stage area, while the other was the restaurant I had not heard good things about. Granted what I ordered was essentially bar food, but it was awesome, as was everything else the folks in our party ordered. This was a great dinner that got us ready for a great night of music. The unfortunately named Indian Chief Tavern, and Women 2 Women, both get a thumbs up!