May has been a total blur, and I have SO much to write about. A post about my trip to NYC is coming soon, I promise. But first I'll share the details of our friend-filled Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta (it's all the blogging I can muster before bed)...
To kick-start Memorial Day weekend we made the long overdue trip down to the A-T-L to see Luca and Adrienne. Or, if you're an extreme feminist, you may prefer Adrienne and Luca. Either way, they're the same 2 people and we love them dearly.
Because we're on a budget, the plans were simple: hang out, do some talking, eat at Flip Burger and laugh a lot. Oh! And get to the pool. We accomplished all PLUS some extras. One particular "extra" was our trip to Your Dekalb Farmers Market . Okay, I understand it's not YOURS because you probably don't live in Atlanta, but that's the actual name of the market. The market was INSANELY huge, crowded and quite overwhelming, but I'm so glad we got the chance to experience it. It was an impressive operation, and saw the most unusual foods I've ever witnessed with my own eyes.
Dinner at Flip Burger in Midtown left us fat and happy. Sean and I each tried the chorizo burger which was topped with an egg over easy and finely shredded manchago cheese. And because we completely forgot about those popsicles we had earlier, for dessert we sucked down a Krispy Kreme donut milkshake and another that tasted like Nutella and burnt marshmallow.
Sunday was hot and toasty which made it the perfect day for a pool party. Listen, ya'll - I was born to be in the water! Luca invited a few of his friends, and the 7 of us toasted in the sun and took cool dips for several hours. Ahhhhh. Bliss. After our toes were sufficiently shriveled into prunes, we started the big cookout. It wasn't just any cookout, mind you. It was an enormous feast! Our group made a ridiculously large amount of food which consisted of ribeyes, shrimp, veggie burgers, grilled veggies, sauteed kale and Adrienne's homemade gluten free cobblers. The peach cobbler (although, free of gluten) was so tasty that I had 2 helpin's. The "flour" she used was coconut flour, and I must say...the slight hint of coconut was a nice compliment to the peaches. Hrrrmmmm...new idea for a recipe? Maybe so.
To kick-start Memorial Day weekend we made the long overdue trip down to the A-T-L to see Luca and Adrienne. Or, if you're an extreme feminist, you may prefer Adrienne and Luca. Either way, they're the same 2 people and we love them dearly.
Because we're on a budget, the plans were simple: hang out, do some talking, eat at Flip Burger and laugh a lot. Oh! And get to the pool. We accomplished all PLUS some extras. One particular "extra" was our trip to Your Dekalb Farmers Market . Okay, I understand it's not YOURS because you probably don't live in Atlanta, but that's the actual name of the market. The market was INSANELY huge, crowded and quite overwhelming, but I'm so glad we got the chance to experience it. It was an impressive operation, and saw the most unusual foods I've ever witnessed with my own eyes.
Strange ginormous green fruit next to coconuts
Sean makes an important call on his snake cucumber phone
Because it's an international market, Luca blends right in
After the market, Adrienne had the best idea ever: Popsicles at King of Pops. Not having a sweet tooth, I wasn't particularly interested in a mid-afternoon popsicles, but I figured "what the heck?" We drove out of our way (raw meat and fish in tow) to a corner gas station where I spotted a food cart. Just a dude sitting under and umbrella selling popsicles. But they aren't just ANY popsicles. No, they're ARTISANAL Popsicles (or something like that...) Just know that they're effing amazing, k? I had a Banana Pudding Popsicle that I don't reckon I'll ever forget.
Dinner at Flip Burger in Midtown left us fat and happy. Sean and I each tried the chorizo burger which was topped with an egg over easy and finely shredded manchago cheese. And because we completely forgot about those popsicles we had earlier, for dessert we sucked down a Krispy Kreme donut milkshake and another that tasted like Nutella and burnt marshmallow.
Sunday was hot and toasty which made it the perfect day for a pool party. Listen, ya'll - I was born to be in the water! Luca invited a few of his friends, and the 7 of us toasted in the sun and took cool dips for several hours. Ahhhhh. Bliss. After our toes were sufficiently shriveled into prunes, we started the big cookout. It wasn't just any cookout, mind you. It was an enormous feast! Our group made a ridiculously large amount of food which consisted of ribeyes, shrimp, veggie burgers, grilled veggies, sauteed kale and Adrienne's homemade gluten free cobblers. The peach cobbler (although, free of gluten) was so tasty that I had 2 helpin's. The "flour" she used was coconut flour, and I must say...the slight hint of coconut was a nice compliment to the peaches. Hrrrmmmm...new idea for a recipe? Maybe so.
I particularly enjoyed the feast preparation. Maybe because there was so much energy in the kitchen. Maybe because it felt like a throwback to my old food service days. Or maybe it was because everyone knew their role and we just jived. As I kept saying, "It's like we live in a village, ya'll!" At any given time, there were 4 of us trying to use the stove or the same plot of counterspace. It was a little bit of chaos, but it worked out just perfectly.
One of the best things about the entire weekend (besides spending time with our cool friends) was the total lack of CICADAS. Yup, we got to leave those creepy red-eyed boogers back at home for nearly 3 days, and our weekend was so quiet without them. In all seriousness, we had a lovely time. We plan to use our borrowed box set of the Six Feet Under series to lure Adrienne & Luca back to Tennessee sometime in the near future.
