the third annual collard greens cook-off was a blast! it was $10 to participate and you were given a piece of cornbread and a spork and were off and tasting. after trying all of the various greens, there were 15 participants in all, you voted by throwing your spork in the bucket of your favorite booth. we had a beautiful cool spring day, so it was perfect for such a cook-off!

participants included farm burger, no246, bone lick bbq (the bbq guy from p’cheen), home grown, ray’s in the city, the pullman, whole foods, as well as various neighborhood participants, including momma margaret ‘the collard green lady.’

there were lots of tasty greens and some interesting styles we didn’t expect to like. home grown’s was a little sweet and had sun dried tomatoes in it. although i didn’t like it much, gub was a big fan of this one. another booth had cold greens with a basalmic base. it wasn’t our favorite, but it was quite interesting to try. momma margaret’s were hot and spicy and quite good as well.

when all was said and done, we put our spork in bone lick bbq’s bucket. their greens were tasty with a nice kick, mainly from the home-cured jalapeño bacon added. we also tried pulled pork sandwiches from them, which were awesome! these guys have been doing bbq at p’cheen on monday nights for a couple of years and are opening up a restaurant on the west side in june.

we also caught a tomato growing workshop at the market. gub found it quite informative.

one quick note, the east lake farmers market has moved from the concrete parking lot at 2nd and hosea williams to the nice shaded area right next door. the natural environment is much more fitting for the farmer’s market, and is also a heck of a lot cooler from the shade.

we can’t wait for peachapalooza this summer!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
april – october

today is the first day of the east lake farmers market, which runs on saturdays from 9am to 1pm. it’s open through october and can be found at the corner of 2nd avenue and hosea williams drive in the east lake/kirkwood area. the market features lots of local farmers selling fruit, vegetables, eggs, salsas and all sorts of other stuff.

to kick off the season, today is the third annual collard greens cook-off! you can sample great collards from both top local chefs and amateur neighborhood cooks.

see you there!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
april – october

our japanese magnolia had some amazing blooms this spring, although a late freeze shortened their visit.

– ryan & gub

clementine recently sampled her first grits and waffle from the waffle house! it wasn’t her first trip to the wahoo, but now that she’s eating everything in sight, we thought she’d like some southern diner food. clementine totally loved watching the wait staff call out the orders to the cooks as well!

– ryan & gub

clementine had a lot of fun digging around in this basket!

– ryan & gub

today is the one day without shoes campaign from TOMS shoes. the goal is to “spread awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child’s life by taking off our own.” to show your support, take off your shoes for the day, or if work won’t allow (like me), just wear your TOMS!

read more about the TOMS movement here.

– ryan

after my recent tour of the batdorf & bronson roastery, i went on a quest to brew a better cup of coffee. i learned on the tour that there are many factors that go into a good cup of joe. these range from the quality and freshness of the coffee, to using the proper ratio of grounds/water, to hitting the ideal brewing temperature of 205°. the problem is most consumer coffeemakers never reach such high temperatures. for that, you need a hand-brewed method where you are in full control and as much as i love my french press, it sounded like a pour over coffeepot was the way to go.

after a little research, i decided on the stylish chemex coffeepot. it’s both a great coffeemaker and a beautiful piece of design, even 70+ years after its creation. plus it only set me back $31.95 at dancing goats in decatur. i did have to buy special chemex filters for it, but they were just $5.95 for a 100 pack, which wasn’t that bad.

for my inaugural pot, i picked up some nice costa rica la minita del sol coffee. the description on the bag was “full bodied & sparkling sweet, maple, almond & orange juice,” which sounded interesting. the beans were 100% sun dried instead of fully washed, like most central american beans, so it’s supposed to be fairly unique.

the brewing process was pretty easy to follow. i put a chemex filter into the top of the coffeepot and added a tbsp of freshly ground coffee for each 5 oz cup, 8 tbsp for a full pot. i boiled 40 oz of water and removed it from heat for roughly 20 seconds until it reached ~205°. i then wet the grounds with 4 oz of water and let “bloom” for 30-40 seconds. from there i added the rest of the water, making sure not to overflow, and composted the spent grounds. voilà, the perfect cup of coffee!

the results were definitely worth the effort! the coffee had that fresh, strong taste you get from a french press, but seemed cleaner and less-bitter since the oils and sediment were filtered out. it was a nice, crisp cup of coffee where I could actually distinguish some of the descriptive characteristics. i wouldn’t say i sensed the orange juice, but i picked up some sweet and nutty elements, especially when sampled next to a cup of french roast. it was some of the better coffee i’ve made at home!

on top of that, the actual coffeepot is gorgeous and looks great on the countertop! it’s on permanent display at moma and was featured in the modern by design exhibit at the high museum of art, further proving its elegance.

for more thorough brewing instructions, or to check out some great mid-century illustrations, head to the chemex website. there are also some slightly different brewing instructions offered from dancing goat, although i tried this method and didn’t care for it. it used almost twice the coffee and was a little strong for my taste.

enjoy!

– ryan

dancing goats coffee bar

419 west ponce de leon ave
decatur, ga 30030
404-687-1100

happy easter! clementine had a blast playing with her first easter basket of goodies. afterwards we dyed some eggs, although they weren’t nearly as crafty as our stenciled eggs a couple of years ago.

– ryan & gub

gub planted some daffodil bulbs right before clementine was born. she acquired a bucket full of them from a pottery student at the art center, so she planted them in our backyard.

this spring they finally bloomed when clementine was 9 months old!

– ryan & gub

clementine’s first trip to the high museum of art was for the modern by design exhibit last august. she was right at home in the gallery with this ellsworth kelly piece.

we also had a lot of fun checking out the new addition to the permanent collection from anish kapoor. This is the same artist that created cloud gate (aka “the bean”) for Millenium Park in Chicago.

– ryan & gub

high museum of art

1280 peachtree st ne
atlanta, ga 30309
404-733-4400