This is Marie, talking about a cute little restaurant in Florence, Alabama called Bookmarks that we visited as a part of Florence Restaurant Week. It’s located in the same building as the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, and more libraries need to do this. My goodness, how are you going to compete with a bookstore if you don’t have caffeine attached physically to the building, people? Make it hip! Plus, 100% of the proceeds from the shop go directly to fund library books, materials and programs. Continue reading “Bookmarks Coffee Shop, Florence AL”
Trowbridge’s, Florence AL
As you may have gathered, this was my second trip to Florence and the Shoals. I was there last year on a circumnavigation, and one of my stops, then, was a few minutes spent taking some photos of Trowbridge’s, a simply wonderful old ice cream and sandwich parlor that opened in 1918. Many hours later, as readers who followed the stories about that circumnavigation read, I got home to find that my SD card had screwed up and I lost heaven-only-knows how many pictures. Three different recovery programs pulled some of the data from the card, but every single picture that I took of Trowbridge’s was lost. I was so disappointed by the experience that I actually visited this lovely old place twice on this trip. On Friday afternoon, after I did a little digging in the UNA Library, I stopped by to snap some pictures and took them straight back to the hotel. Just to be superstitiously careful, you understand. Then we all went back Saturday morning to have ice cream for breakfast. Continue reading “Trowbridge’s, Florence AL”
City Hardware, Florence AL
Florence may be a small city, but it has a few larger-than-life characters. One of the most fun characters is a fictional one. “Ricatoni Valentino” is the alter ego of restaurateur Rick Elliott. In the mid-1990s, he opened a very popular Italian-themed restaurant called Ricatoni’s, which is still packing in the downtown crowds. Elliott has starred in several dozen very silly, very knowing zero-budget commercials on local television, adeptly parodying all of the clueless zero-budget ads that fill the airwaves of small-market teevee. While hawking his restaurant, “Ricatoni Valentino” has lip-synched old hit songs, run a psychic hotline, and offered tips to financial freedom. Continue reading “City Hardware, Florence AL”
Poplar South Deli & Grille, Florence AL (CLOSED)
Okay, so everybody’s toddler says hilarious things. But ours really impressed us as we drove into downtown Florence. We crossed the Tennessee River via the completely terrific and beautiful O’Neal Bridge and went looking for the offices of Florence Main Street. This organization had invited us to spend the weekend in their good city to kick off Florence Restaurant Week, as I’m sure all y’all who follow us on Facebook and Twitter already know, and treated us to four meals in the city. Continue reading “Poplar South Deli & Grille, Florence AL (CLOSED)”
Brooks Barbeque, Muscle Shoals AL (take two)
FLASHBACK: As our regular readers may recall, about every eight or nine months, I take a little road trip by myself. In an amusing coincidence, on the first three of these “circumnavigations,” it was the business located furthest away from Atlanta that served up my favorite of all the barbecue that I enjoyed. The third trip found me visiting the Quad Cities in northwest Alabama for the first time, and it was there that I discovered Brooks Barbeque, a downright amazing little place that serves up some killer pork and mustard slaw. Continue reading “Brooks Barbeque, Muscle Shoals AL (take two)”
Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup with Penzeys Arizona Dreaming
This is Marie, contributing an article about a recipe that Grant was very enthusiastic about. I was a little dubious about this particular recipe at first, to be honest, despite its origin in the Penzeys catalog (we love Penzeys). For one thing, please note how many different variations on tomatoes are in it. I think there must be about at least a pound, in just about every format available except dried. And those could be added! For another, it’s a slow cooker recipe and I was thinking this was supposed to be spring. In Georgia, spring generally means two nice days followed by the immediate and vigorous onset of summer. However, this year’s weather being as odd as it is, it was plenty cool enough to take a slow cooker recipe and go with it. Continue reading “Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup with Penzeys Arizona Dreaming”
Yum Yum Dessert Company, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)
This is Marie, contributing an article about Yum Yum Dessert Company, formerly Yum Yum Cupcakes & More. If you have seen their pink cupcake truck at food truck parks you may have had one of the treats already; you may remember them as the cupcakes with girls’ names. Well, there are a whole lot more neat sweets in store. Continue reading “Yum Yum Dessert Company, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)”
Marie, Let's Eat! 