Regular readers might have noticed that on most of our many recent trips to Chattanooga, we’ve chosen to make a second stop at a place that we highlighted once in the earlier days of the blog. This is deliberate; as I’ve mentioned before, some of those 2010-11 chapters need a refresh. So, the next on the list due for a return trip was the legendary Zarzour’s, which I first visited with my older son a little more than four years ago. I told Marie a time or two over the years that the burgers here were excellent, and I suppose that she got so tired of hearing about them that she decided to order something different instead! Continue reading “Zarzour’s Cafe, Chattanooga TN (take two)”
The Rook & Pawn, Athens GA
This is Marie, contributing an article about Rook & Pawn, the new board game café in Athens. First of all, I am an utterly biased observer. I love board games, have been a gaming geek for decades, and would have had a positive view of the place even if it had been a bit of a disappointment.
Spoiler – it’s not at all a disappointment. Continue reading “The Rook & Pawn, Athens GA”
The Brasserie & Neighborhood Cafe at Parish, Atlanta GA (take two)
Normally, we prefer to wait a couple of years before giving a restaurant a second look with a “take two” post, but when we were invited to a new media night at Inman Park’s excellent Parish (whose formal, long name is the Brasserie & Neighborhood Cafe at Parish), we were happy to accept. That’s because the kitchen at the restaurant was, when we visited last year, under the watchful eye of the excellent Chef Zeb Stevenson, but just three months after that visit, it was announced that Stevenson would be taking on a new position as the executive chef at the extremely popular Watershed. Moving into Parish would be Stuart Tracy, formerly the executive chef of Butcher & Bee in Charleston SC. Continue reading “The Brasserie & Neighborhood Cafe at Parish, Atlanta GA (take two)”
Food From Fiction 7: Sunshine’s Cinnamon Rolls
“Tell me, what were your first cinnamon rolls like? And didn’t the recipe look simple and pure and beautiful on the page? And the instructions your teacher gave you, before he left you to get on with it, were perfectly clear and covered everything?” – from Sunshine by Robin McKinley (Berkeley, 2003)
One of my very favorite books is called “Sunshine” by Robin McKinley. It’s about a coffeehouse baker who finds that she has more power than she thinks, and would rather not have found out as the discovery is made under the most stressful of circumstances. She’d rather be making muffins and pies and bread and her signature cinnamon rolls, but instead finds herself in the uncomfortable position of being able to do unlikely things that make a huge difference in the world. However, baking is her passion, so food and cooking are used as metaphors throughout. Continue reading “Food From Fiction 7: Sunshine’s Cinnamon Rolls”
Food From Fiction 6: Jane Austen’s Haricot Lamb
This is Marie, contributing an article about one of Jane Austen’s favorite dishes – or rather, the modern adulteration of it that I enjoyed but she’d likely not find exactly to her taste. Continue reading “Food From Fiction 6: Jane Austen’s Haricot Lamb”
Food From Fiction 5: Sirine’s Saffron Chicken
“The recipes…are little more than lists, no cooking instructions or temperatures, but scattered among the pages are brief reflections on the nature of animals, flowers, people, and God. Sirine browses through the book, lingering equally over the reflections and the lists of ingredients, which seem to have the rhythms and balance of poetry. There is one for a roast chicken that she decides she may try preparing for a daily special: chicken, saffron, garlic, lemons, oil, vinegar, rosemary.” – from Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber (W.W. Norton & Company, 2003)
This is Marie, contributing a story about a roast chicken inspired by the book Crescent. I must confess, I actually ran across a description of the chicken before I’d read the book, but I had saffron and it sounded so good I had to give it a try. Then I checked out the book to see where the recipe came from, once we found it was good. Continue reading “Food From Fiction 5: Sirine’s Saffron Chicken”
Thibodeaux’s Low Country Boil and Wings, Columbus GA
Last month, we took a road trip to middle Georgia with our friends from Spatialdrift, and as we were batting around ideas, Emily suggested that we visit Andersonville National Historic Site, which was the location of the Camp Sumter military prison during the Civil War, and the present-day home of the National POW Museum. Since a friend of my family had spent the entirety of the Korean War in a military prison after his plane was shot down, I was especially interested to visit. For even amateur historians like myself, the experience is a fascinating and somber one, and I certainly recommend that our readers consider making a trip here. Continue reading “Thibodeaux’s Low Country Boil and Wings, Columbus GA”
Marie, Let's Eat! 