Goodbye, Good Food

Got lots to catch up on, folks. I'm going to give a semi-brief overview of most of the restaurants I've visited in May, which I have lovingly dubbed "The Month of the Food I Will Not Be Able to Afford For Years After Graduation." Some of these places aren't even expensive, but due to my 'I'd rather travel than eat real food' attitude, I'm planning that most of my meals this summer will consist of Kroger brand oatmeal. And since I'm living with Casey, it will obviously involve heavy amounts of chocolate.

So this lovely month commenced with my birthday meal at TAP in Midtown. Props to this place for being open at 3:45pm, which oddly enough, is the time that most restaurants close between lunch and dinner. I admit that was my primary motivation for taking my parents here when they arrived for this in-between meal (linner? dunch? hmm...) but it turned out to be a great place to go. Dad and I ordered the Steak Eggs Benedict, which was fantastic. It had a flavorful mustard bearnaise instead of hollandaise and came with some roasted potatoes. I don't remember what Mom got at this point, which means it was probably too healthy to be memorable. I feel obligated to recommend that you avoid sitting on their outdoor patio when windy - although it was fun for me to watch a table fly off the ground and into a busy sidewalk, I doubt the pedestrians found humor in the situation.

Next, for my birthday dinner with friends, a group of 10 met up at Apres Diem, right next to Midtown Arts Cinema. Pre-dinner was a bit of a comedy of errors, since originally our reservation was at Park Tavern at 7pm. When I got a call at 4pm from Park Tavern's manager saying they had to cancel the reservation, I had a minor freak out being that it was Cinco de Mayo and few restaurants had open reservations for such a big group. But the manager pulled through and made reservations for us at Apres Diem, including a round of drinks and appetizers for everyone. He's got it figured out - to all men discovering the subtleties of how to make up for your mistake(s), I suggest offering free food and drinks as your first reconcilatory move. Long story short, absolutely wonderful night with great food and friends.

Onto the graduation celebrations! Half of our grad meals took place in Daytona Beach for my brother's big day, but we had a couple great meals when we came back to Atlanta. The parents and I dropped in to Osteria 832 in the Highlands, and we all ordered pizzas. I remember that I loved the bread basket, but that might have been the bottle of wine talking. Pizza was nothing to rave about, but was good and definitely hit the spot.

Okay, I saved the best for last. The top meal of this honored month was easily my graduation dinner at Nava, a restaurant that brings some much-needed southwestern flavor to Buckhead. I knew that it was going to be a great meal when our peppy waiter brought out the jalapeno cornbread. I seriously cannot stop thinking about this bread. I want it always. Next, I ordered Sangria and shared a slew of tasty appetizers with the fam - favorites were the Grouper ceviche and Jumbo Lumb Crab fritters. For my entree, I got the Carolina Trout (with some cactus on the side, naturally) which was absolutely perfect. My only concern with this month of heavenly food is that I'm basically asking for Mercury poisoning with the amount of fish I've consumed. Whatever, everyone says to die happy. Anyway, we all loved our meals and like everything else, the dessert was phenomenal (see below).

Also, I'll be staying in Atlanta at least through August so I've gotten an extension on my excursions through the city! All suggestions welcome.

Groupon - Urban Body Studios

Luckily, I caught this Groupon while it's still hot. I deleted myself from their email list after getting perpetually woken up every morning by the local deal and consequently becoming unreasonably angry and cranky at Groupon. Which is a wonderful website. I apologize for all of the horrible things I've said about you pre-8:00 am.

Check out today's deal - $39 for a one month fitness membership and UNLIMITED yoga and pilates classes. I have no patience for yoga, but I've promised myself I'm going to try to get into pilates this summer.

Who wants to join me?

Fritti

Well, it finally hit me that I'm graduating in just a little over two weeks. What caused my, albeit delayed, reaction? Pizza. Good pizza, in fact.

I headed to Inman Park with my friend Sara for dinner at Fritti, a casual but mildly expensive Italian and  pizza place in the U Restaurant group. As I looked at the menu, filled with creative and traditional varieties of "Pizze Napoletane," I remembered that exactly a year ago, I was in the same restaurant, looking at the same menu, drinking the same wine--only instead of an Atlanta suburb, I was in Florence, Italy. Talk about a regression.

While in Florence (and in Venice and Rome, for that matter) my traveling partners and I were, lets just say, trying to spend economically. Ok, we were flat broke after a semester abroad and had to cut some expenses. So, for the majority of our almost two week trip, we ate nothing but gelato and pizza. Seriously. One gelato in the afternoon and one entire pizza for dinner. Thank god for all that walking.

Anyway, sitting in Fritti took me back a year and with happy memories of 2 euro pizzas, I ordered the Vegetariana pizza , which was absolutely delicious. As was the wine--Chianti, 2007, cheapest red on the menu (see, I'm still the same girl from a year ago). I loved the atmosphere on the patio, with such pretty instrumental music coming out of the speakers  that I felt like Sara and I should be singing instead of happily chatting away. I definitely recommend Fritti and if you can, sit outside while the weather's still gorgeous.

Interestingly enough, sitting at Fritti with one of my best friends didn't really make me sad about graduation, but got me excited for life after college. I was reminded of all the incredible places to see and things to do that are waiting for me after escaping this little Emory bubble. Although I'll probably never be able to recreate the carefree laze of jaunting around Italy with no real anxieties, I have no doubt that I can recreate the not being able to afford real food part. Thanks, Fritti.

Flick Hair Studio

One of the cardinal rules of moving to a new place: you can't call it home until you've found a good hair stylist. So coming back to Atlanta after eight months abroad, I was distraught to find that Allison, my favorite stylist at Salon Red in Decatur, had moved cross country in search of bigger and better things. Like after any significant breakup, I went through a string of rebounds before finally finding another match. Coincedentally, the 'one' happened to be having an amazing discount on Groupon, and that is story of how I ended up at Flick Hair Studio in Edgewood with a cut and highlights for just $50 (!!!).

Judging by the number of weeks ahead I had to book my appointment, it looks like I'm not the only one with my eyes on Flick. But by the time the big date (I mean, day) came, I was ready for a change. I sat down in their urban-chic salon with my stylist, Abbi, and she intently listened to me blabber on about my sordid hair history. I'm pretty sure I even mentioned my incredibly unfortunate 6th grade yearbook photo in which I apparently thought frizzy pigtails were the new hot trend (they weren't). And I thought they would complement the braces and glasses thing I already had going on (they didn't). To her credit, she at least pretended to empathize and I told her to do whatever she wanted with my hair, just no bobs and no neon.

A couple of hours later, I found five inches of blond hair on the floor and shorter, blonder hair in the mirror. I loved it! I've never had my hair this short and while I do miss having long hair, it was definitely a needed change. Abbi was wonderful and entertaining, we talked the entire time and only once did she try to get me to buy products I can't afford. Plus she offered me a Diet Coke as I waited for my highlights to dry--girl knew the way to my heart.

Since I've never been able to recreate Abbi's perfect blow dry and style, I think I'll let my hair grow out a few more inches to require a little less effort. But it's nice to know that once again, I've found the real deal--attentive, fun, and talented, Abbi and Flick are the way to go. Please do not leave town, I'm begging you.

Yogurberry

When the weather turns warm, it becomes acceptable (at least in my mind) to trade real meals for frozen treats. Since moving to Atlanta four years ago, I've gotten really into the frozen yogurt trend--chances are you'll find me at Yoforia in the Highlands or Yogurt Tap in Decatur during lunch and dinner hours once the temperature hits 70. Recently, my boss introduced me to Yogurberry in Buckhead, which has quickly become my newest go-to froyo destination.

Yogurberry sits on the bottom floor of the Terminus Building at Peachtree and Piedmont, comically dubbed "Atlanta's most prestigious intersection." You would think that sharing a building with such pretenti-oops, prestigious-residences and dining spots would make this some pricy frozen yogurt, but it's actually cheaper than some of the other options at $3.50 for a small cup.

Here's the key to having an unbelievable Yogurberry experience: order the Taro flavor. Trust me. It's so good you don't even need to add toppings. Having never heard of taro before, I did some googling and found out that it's actually a tropical root vegetable chock full of vitamins.We have an ongoing dispute at work over what it tastes like, with opinions ranging from vanilla to fruity to chocolate. I've chalked it up to one of life's delicious mysteries and never turn down an opportunity for another taste test. And at 25 calories an ounce (0g fat and only 4g sugar), it's a healthy and tasty alternative to Bruster's. Or in my case, it makes me feel less guilty about popping into Bruster's every now and then!

Weekend Festivities!

It's that time of year, ladies and gentlemen. Atlanta seems to have skipped spring and jumped right into summer. So this weekend, I'm planning on popping some Claritin and heading out to some of the festivals Atlanta has going on.

Here are a couple that are definitely worth checking out:

Atlanta Dogwood Festival
Takes place in Piedmont Park, geared towards a 'family fun' atmosphere. Live music all weekend, an International Stage with everything from Indian dance to a German choir, and even a canine competition. My only concern--aren't dogwoods the trees that smell bad??

Sweetwater 420 Fest
If you're trying to hit both of these festivals this weekend, I strongly advise that you leave Sweetwater Fest for your last stop. It's happening in Candler Park and the organizers are trying to encourage 'green transportation' so they're offering bike valets--I'm interested to see how this works out, considering wristbands for Sweetwater consumption are $5 for the day. I'm pretty sure there's a bicycle version of a DUI, so bikers beware--and please, for god's sake, leave your spandex bike shorts at home. Featuring live music, 'green' art, food and of course, beer, this self-purported "earth lovers" event sounds like a fun and relaxing way to spend the weekend with friends (just remember not to throw away anything remotely recyclable, that's just asking for it with this crowd)!

Hope to see you there!

Atlanta Cyclorama

In any other context, being surrounded by civil war would be an unfortunate circumstance. But at Atlanta’s Cyclorama, where you’re planted on a revolving platform in the middle of a 15,000 square foot painting of The Battle of Atlanta, it’s just plain cool. At the risk of revealing too much of my dorky side, I’ve always been fascinated by America’s Civil War and – historians stop reading here – probably even more interested in reading the romantic historical fiction novels about the period. My less than literary interests aside, the Civil War is obviously one of the biggest events in American history and at the Cyclorama, you’re as close as possible to the action of one hundred and fifty years ago.

While I probably could have done without the hokey music accompanying the Cyclorama exhibit, it’s such an incredible painting that I easily lost myself in the meticulously detailed scenes. Apparently painted by German artists, the Cyclorama is the largest painting in the world—there’s so much to look at that it’s difficult to take it all in. You can even find a Clark Gable lookalike mannequin…coincidence that he was cast as Rhett Butler?

Along with the painting, admission gets you into a Civil War Museum with a big ol’ train called The Texas. I’m not really into machinery, but the hyperactive little boys at the museum seemed to enjoy it. Hint to babysitters or desperate parents who are trying to find some way to entertain their children when school ends, take them here…plus it’s right next to the Atlanta Zoo so if they aren’t interested in intellectual stimulation, they can eat ice cream and feed stinky animals.