Brick Store's Yard Sale Breakfast

*This post is only moderately heart healthy! Everything in moderation, including moderation!

This morning Brick Store hosted their second Yard Sale Breakfast. What is a yard sale breakfast? Well, for this internationally recognized beer bar it is a chance to sell off their extra glassware while also serving an exceptional selection of breakfast-centric beers. (Think: beers made with coffee or maple). Oh, there are also pancakes.





Oliver and I set our alarm for 6:30am and by 7:00 we were on our bikes with a thermos of coffee in the pannier. Knowing a late arrival would jeopardize our place in line we took the seven mile ride at a fast pace. Even so, when we arrived there was already a queue around the block and our Twitter beer friends were on their second tastes of shared bottles. When the doors opened at 8:00 we high tailed it to the Belgian bar upstairs. Breakfast was the typical American fare (pancakes, sausage or bacon, grits or fruit) but the beer and comardiere were fantastic. I started with a Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout then moved to the Terrapin Wake n Bake and finished up with a Great Divide Espresso Yeti. In addition to seeing some (but not all) of our favorite Twitter beer geek friends we also met some awesome, like-minded new friends. By 11:30 most of the beer list had been 86ed and we knew it was time to head home. Thanks to the Brickstore for providing an awesome alternative/pregame for the East Atlanta Beer Fest!

Next up: finding something green and fiber-rich to eat...

Happy Saturday everyone!

What's for dinner? Chicken mole tacos

I was impressed that we were able to squeeze in a homemade dinner tonight. Between work and the Braves game there wasn't much time to cook - yet Oliver still managed to throw together chicken mole tacos. The chicken came from our trip to YDFM on Sunday night. The tortillas were left over from Tuesday and Wednesday's fish tacos. The Braves tickets were a last minute surprise from my brother and his fiance'! It was a beautiful night to sit in the cheap seats and watch the Braves score run after run; thank you Emory and Theresa!

Dinner from the garden: first cabbage!

Hooray! Three months of dedication have led to my first harvested cabbage! A 5 pounder at that. It was chopped into jalapeno coleslaw and used to top Oliver's grilled Amberjack tacos. Since we had company over for dinner Oliver broke out fancy beer for dessert too (Founders CBS is divine).


Today is a very good day. Hoping you all can say the same. XO - Cullen 



Weekend on Georgia's Golden Isles

We spent the weekend visiting my Dad and his wife at their home on one of coastal Georgia's barrier islands. It's always nice to get away from the city for a couple days and do a few things outside the regular routine. Saturday we took a three hour kayak trip* that started on the beach and wound through the tidal marshes. Later in the day we visited the isolated and eery Driftwood Beach. Once a majestic forest of live oaks draped in Spanish moss it now feels more post apocalyptic then antebellum.  



*Half way through the kayak trip I realized  my camera's white balance was still set to "indoors". I was pretty bummed and have done my best to correct the photos. Even so, it may be obvious at which point the setting was corrected. More photos of the trip can be found on my flickr page.




Last but not least we enjoyed a six pack of IPA from Intuition Works located in nearby Jacksonville, Florida. Thanks to my Dad's wife for surprising us with some local beers! And now we're off to YDFM to our week's worth of grocery shopping...

CABBAGETIME!

We've got five awesome heads of cabbage quickly coming our way. Unlike the dozens of lettuce plants, I don't plan on pawning these darlings off on anyone. I've got plans for these leafy greens!


Foremost, I want to make kimchi! I've been looking up recipes. It seems like it may be a challenge but not impossible. If it goes well I'll be gifting jars of kimchi to my friends and family for the rest of the year.


Then I want to try sauerkraut. We don't have a fermenting crock but I've found a recipe or two that doesn't require one. 


And finally, my jalapeno coleslaw!


In other garden news: the eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, spinach and leeks are looking great! Although I'm at a loss at to what to put in the cabbages' place once they're gone. Needs to be short, must do well in 8 hours of direct sun and should be front yard/main intersection appropriate. Any suggestions?


  



Dinner from the pantry

Groceries are running low. Breakfast has been oatmeal. Lunch, stewed pinto beans. And dinner, a mish-mash of left overs and pantry staples. Tonight Oliver put together a tomato sauce, added the very last of our pork and served it over pasta. Quite the unusually carb-loaded treat for our household! We're not "pasta people" but every now and then it really hits the spot. 


In other news, FRIDAY!!! Hoping everyone has a kick-ass weekend.  

Weekend Eats

The leftover pork from last week's lettuce wraps was used in two more dinners. Once on a bed of homegrown lettuce with poached eggs. Another time as part of a stir fry with a side of aparagus and half a sweet potato. 


Sunday morning we walked down to the Grant Park Farmer's Market for a loaf of sourdough. Oliver needed it to make his extra amazing breakfast sandwich. Fried egg, homemade mayo, chili sauce (made for the lettuce wraps), homegrown spinach, bacon from YDFM and a few slices tomato (not quite in season yet). I ate every bite! YUM!


The ethics of meat eating

Six weeks ago the New York Times Magazine announced a contest asking readers to explain why eating meat is ethical. The winning essay by Jay Bost summarizes so many of my own beliefs. "...Eating meat raised in specific circumstances is ethical; eating meat raised in other circumstances is unethical. Just as eating vegetables, tofu or grain raised in certain circumstances is ethical and those produced in other ways is unethical." This opinion is one that I seek to advance yet I find I never have the words to do so. As a household that consciously eats ethically raised meat and grows our own vegetables I still fall back on blog posts featuring simple photos of meals and gardens. While in the back of my mind I'm wishing I had the ability to compose fiery diatribes that would convince even the most devoted CAFO eater to give up their factory raised, pink slime filled meats. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope that you will take 10 minutes to read Jay's response as well as the responses from the runners up. 

Korean inspired dinner from the garden


For dinner tonight we enjoyed homegrown lettuce filled with dry brined, oven roasted, pork topped with Oliver's homemade sauces (sweet chili and ginger scallion). We ate in the backyard because it's quite hot in the house but it's also too early in the year to turn on the AC. Side note: On Facebook I keep seeing these photos of my Chicago and Boston friends bundled up in gloves and hoodies. It's hard to believe it's not already summertime all over the USA. To those people, enjoy the rest of your winter gardens! I believe this is the very last of ours. Onwards to summertime foods! 

A short history of the Mason Jar

Check out this short and enjoyable read from Sunday's New York Times Magazine. It's about the history of the Mason Jar! The line "...home canning has gained traction among a certain class of urban locavores..." made me chuckle. I didn't realize that Oliver and I had made it to the ranks of "a certain class" of people! Regardless of class, I'm always happy to find people spreading the word about eating local (be it urban, suburban or rural).

Spring Garden 2012: Week Ten

 

It's week 10 for the cabbage and bibb lettuce. The bibb lettuce shown in the top right photo is over 2 feet tall. (I had no idea lettuce could be 2 feet tall.) The cabbages have started to form solid heads and should be ready to pick in a week or two. I plan to make some of my jalapeno cole slaw but I think we also need to start looking for a sour kraut recipe or two! 


The strawberries are ripening one by one... I wonder if we will ever have more then one at a time. 
I added a watermelon vine today. It's our first time trying melon; I'm excited to see how it grows. Fruit should be ready to eat just in time for the hottest part of the summer! 


The three tomato plants are doing well. The top photo is the Phoenix Hybrid; the bottom photo is the Beefmaster. Not shown is the Rutgers heirloom. We transplanted it from a pot into the ground today and it's not looking too good. Hoping it rebounds soon. 


Also in the garden but not shown here: many pepper varieties, eggplant, spinach, leeks, spearmint, kale and arugula (left over from winter), onions, carrots, basil and thyme. 

Grant Park Farmers Market - now open for 2012



 

The Grant Park Farmers Market opened today! We didn't buy any vegetables because most of the offerings were items we had growing home. Instead we shared a honey fig jam gelato from Honeysuckle (southern inspired gelato). The rest of the day has been spent in the garden adding new plants and moving around old ones. Will share a garden update on Monday. 

Steak fajitas

 

One $16, ethically raised, London broil from YDFM made five nights of different, homemade, delicious dinners for two. That's $1.60 per meat portion per meal! Two of the dinners included something we grew in the garden. Two more of them COULD have if we'd tried broccoli this winter or if it were summer and our pepper seedlings were bigger.

 Add to that, the pot of oatmeal we ate from for every breakfast and the pot of black beans we ate from for every lunch - this may go down as one of our cheapest, most delicious, real food weeks ever. Even Oliver's dinnertime beer was homebrew!