Nashville Friday Five: Backyard Bangers, Breast Exams and More

1. Eat Sunday Supper in Dino’s Backyard

Food-related press is ubiquitous, so I’m surprised when some events seem only to exist on Instagram. As far as I can tell, Dino’s Backyard Bangers qualifies.

From June 1 to Aug. 24, every other Sunday, Dino’s hands over the reins of Dolly’s Lemonade Stand to their favorite Nashville restaurants. Each brings a bartender to make drinks while the chefs — Peninsula’s Jake Howell, Turkey and the Wolf’s Mason Hereford — grill in Dino’s backyard from 3 to 7 p.m. (or until they run out). 

What are the chefs making at Dino’s Backyard Bangers?

Whatever they want — and you want whatever that is. Chefs have the most fun (and often make their most delicious food) when they’re cooking whatever’s fun or fresh — especially in a backyard with a cold one in hand. This is that. 

The Sauced, Dicey’s and Bastion takeovers have passed, but make plans to show up for:

• Proper Sake on July 13
• Peninsula on July 27
• Black Dynasty on Aug.10
• Turkey and the Wolf Icehouse on Aug. 24

2. Drop the Kids Off on the East Side 

I write about The Children’s Playroom — the stellar drop-in daycare in Belle Meade — so often that I fear people wonder if I even like my child. I do! I like her more than any other toddler on earth. But I also like quiet dinners and running errands without negotiating a car seat. Now that dream is real on the East Side too. 

Music City Kids Club is East Nashville’s answer to TCP, and I can’t believe it’s only the second drop-in daycare I know of within Nashville proper. Tucked away in a strip mall on Gallatin Pike, I only found it after Googling drop-in daycares out of curiosity.

How Music City Kids Club Works

The process at MCKC is largely the same as TCP’s:

• Register your child — 13 months to 12 years — online with basic information and a one-time fee of $20.
• Make reservations only if your child is under age 2.
• Pack up any food your kid will need and put them in socks. (You can also buy snacks or socks there, should you forget.) 
• Drop them off at the indoor playspace for up to seven hours a day, 20 hours per week. They’re open every day but Sunday by 8 or 9 a.m., and they close at:
• 7 p.m. Mondays
• 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 
• Midnight Fridays and Saturdays. 
• Pay just:
• $12 per hour for kids over age 2
• $14 per hour for children under age 2
• $5 per hour for each additional child

While there, your kids can draw, play games, read, do crafts, play air hockey or even just scroll their tablet if you so choose. And you? Do whatever you want! 

For me, that could be a drink at Coral Club, dinner at the Peninsula bar or a show at East Side Bowl. It could also be as boring as a stop at my accountant’s (the epicly named Harry Mayo) or a solo grocery run. As with TCP, the whole Kids Club team is trained in CPR and First Aid and background-checked, so you can rest assured your little one is in good hands.

3. Go Get Squished at Ascension Saint Thomas

Preventive care is never a sexy suggestion. But if you don’t keep up with your health, you’re far more likely to end up in the doctor’s office for something serious, and nobody wants that. Thus we arrive at mammograms.

At 42, I’ve had two mammograms at Ascension Saint Thomas Center for Breast Health, and I firmly believe this place rules. I can’t speak for other providers, but a quick Google search confirms all three of Ascension’s breast centers have a 4.6-star ranking or better — which is nearly double the average Google Place rating for health care, which is 2.5 stars. (People are far more likely to complain than heap praise online, so it’s tough to get those numbers up.) 

What to Expect at Your Mammogram

If you’re 40-plus (or have a family history of breast cancer and your doctor says it’s time), schedule your visit and then be prepared to:

• Wipe off any lotion or deodorant and enjoy the fact that this place is bougie enough to provide you with name-brand Pampers wipes instead of Kirkland basics. Bonus: You don’t even have to take off your jewelry or let go of your phone when you head from dressing to exam room—just throw on a robe and go. 
• Have your rack (lovingly!) treated a bit like pizza dough to position you properly in the machine. My girl Candy had clearly wrangled breasts of all sizes — she does up to 20 mammograms per day —and as long as you follow her directions, she’ll get you out of there quickly. Tip: Don’t schedule your appointment when you’re about to get or have your period as that will make the smooshing far more uncomfortable. 
• Bend a little bit — back, neck, waist — and hold your breath to get a clear image for the physician to review. Holding my breath was the toughest part of the whole thing for me, but the bending was easy. (Thanks, Studio Pilates!) 
• Spend extra time in the exam room if you have dense breasts, an irregularity is found or you have breast implants (which double the time for a scan). 

And that’s it! My appointment took 20 minutes, door to door, on a Thursday afternoon, and I wasn’t even hurrying. Filling out forms online before helped, but even so, I’ve never had a faster healthcare interaction.

4. Get Pancho’s Cheese Dip at Publix

Have you ever discussed cheese dip with someone from Memphis? If so, you know Pancho’s. On the face of it, Pancho’s Original isn’t unique — white American cheese, bell peppers, jalapeños, tomatoes — but the taste is acutely addictive. It’s sharp and slightly spicy, creamy yet piquant. But the most important factor is that it’s better at room temperature. 

While Pancho’s must live in your fridge and can be eaten cold, it hits ideal queso consistency after sitting out for 20 minutes or so. That creates unbeatable eatability, whether you’re enjoying some at your kitchen counter at midnight or throwing it on a buffet for Superbowl Sunday. 

So, what does that have to do with Nashville? You can finally buy it here. Sure, the inferior white queso has been available at Costco for a while, but you can now get the O.G. version (and the only one Memphians accept) at Publix or Walmart. 

Where did this magic stuff come from? Clemmie and Morris Berger opened the first Pancho's Mexican restaurant in 1956 in West Memphis after they returned from a trip to Mexico. Della Gonzales, who traveled back with them and cooked at the restaurant, came up with the recipe, which is ironic since cheese dip (and especially the refrigerated type) is not traditionally Mexican. 

Fun facts: 

• Pancho’s originally called their product “liquid gold” until they found out that phrase was already trademarked by a little company called Velveeta. 
• Before the company ever started shipping their dip, they would go through a truckload — an 18-wheeler to be specific — of cheese every week.
• Pancho’s was purchased by a national Hispanic-food distributor in 2021. However, many of us had noted a dip in Pancho’s quality pre-pandemic, and this purchase brought it back to form — despite the fact the new owners think you should microwave your Pancho’s. As if!

5. Reflect on your Funeral Plans and Register as an Organ Donor

As irrational fears go, being buried alive tops my list. In third grade, someone told me that it happened so often that stringed bells were installed in coffins so the not-so-dead-and-buried could signal life. This “fact” not only gave me a new worst nightmare, it also led me to act like an unhinged dog in graveyards, pricking up my ears at every noise, listening for a jingle. 

Now, of course, I know “safety coffins” were largely a reaction to the cholera epidemic and popular stories of the 19th century. (Thanks, Poe.) Yes, it probably happened, but not often. If a person were alive at the time they were buried, they’d likely suffocate before they could use their creative escape method, whether it was a ladder, pyrotechnics — at least that one’s fun— or feeding tube, which (1) Who is putting the liquified food in this? and (2) Hell, no. 

Today, I’m assured the embalming process would kill me before I ever hit the box, yet I have never been more certain I shall be cremated. While I understand that open caskets help some folks get closure, I can’t imagine making the people I love most shell out thousands for a non-biodegradable box, stand in line to look at the uncanny-valley me that is my corpse, and then rot away slowly for eternity. You can keep alllll of that. Take out my organs, set me aflame (a Viking funeral is also acceptable), and use the money you save to spread me somewhere cool. The end. 

But guess what? It’s not actually the end if you’re an organ donor.

Why Should I be an Organ Donor in Tennessee?

More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for an organ transplant, including about 3,000 in Middle Tennessee. One organ donor can save eight lives and a tissue donor can help 75 more. 

Still have irrational fears around the issue? Let the Mayo Clinic debunk common myths and assure you that:

1. You are not too old or unhealthy
2. You can still have an open casket if you must, and
3. The healthcare team will not, in fact, try to harvest organs while you’re still alive, or work less diligently to save you than if you weren’t an organ donor. 

I feel like we need to quote Mayo directly on No. 3: “This is a popular topic in tabloids. But in reality, people don't start to wiggle their toes after a health care provider says they're dead. In fact, people who have agreed to organ donation are given more tests to make sure they're dead than are those who aren't donating organs ... at no charge to their families.”

Extra confirmation you’re actually dead before you get put in the ground? Yes, please. 

To become an organ donor:

• Sign up online now or 
• Register when you get your REAL ID.

Bites

Nashville Friday Five: Turkey and the Wolf Opens, Flowers Bloom and More

• Ashley Brantley