Georgia Top 10

Time for a very important announcement: As of October 1, 2009, Blog Soup will be relocating to Kansas City! This is a super exciting move for us because it means we're returning home. Atlanta has been good to us for the past few years, but our hearts are in Kansas City and we're so happy to be headed back to the midwest. Blog Soup won't be changing much... I'll still post restaurant reviews, recipes, home decor updates and more. Don't forget, I now have this plain ol' house to spruce up! The next several months are going to be an adventure in home decor, indeed.

Because of this big change, I thought it appropriate to post a Georgia Top 10 list. Here are some of the things we've enjoyed most about The Peach State.

10. Concerts available to us in Atlanta. Since we've been here, there's been no shortage of great entertainment available on any given day. My favorite concert was probably Michael Buble at the Fox Theater.

9. Fried Chicken. Not only is it one of my favorite foods, but it's available here in plentiful quantities. The best, in my opinion, can be found at JCT Kitchen, Mary Mac's and The Colonnade. Publix gets an honorable mention. I will definitely miss shopping at Publix after we're gone. It is really a fantastic grocery store, they epitomize customer service.

8. Savannah. One of America's great smaller cities, Savannah is only a 4 hour drive from Atlanta and is absolutely chock full of great things to do. The trolley tours, historic district and Forsyth Park are among my activities of choice.

7. Dunwoody. We moved up to the burbs about a year ago, and even though it's truly the definition of suburbia, I really like it. It's convenient, safe, and close to Buckhead and Midtown.

6. Springtime in February. I'm sure I'll be cursing our move when I'm scraping ice off my car this coming winter.

5. Georgia Wine Country. There are some really fantastic wineries just an hour north of Atlanta in the Dahlonega area. I particularly liked Three Sisters.

4. Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. True, it might be the busiest airport in the world, but you can get a direct flight to anywhere.

3. Virginia Higland. In my opinion, this is one of the coolest neighborhoods in Atlanta. We spent our first year in the neighborhood and loved it. A great place to live if you're young and want to be close to the city.

2. Inman Park and the Inman Park Festival. By FAR this is my favorite neighborhood in Atlanta. Gorgeous historic homes, great restaurants... tons of personality. Take the tour of homes during the IP Festival in the spring -- totally worth every penny. Don't miss Fritti and Sotto Sotto restaurants while you're there.

1. Fantastic Restaurants. Being the capital of the South, there is no shortage of amazing places to dine in ATL. We've had many a tasty meal here, several of which have been documented in this blog. We're trying a few more places before we go, namely Canoe, Woodfire Grill and Rathbun's.

Edit: 8/31/09, 10:43pm: This post wouldn't be complete without a shout out to Trader Joe's and Ikea! Oh the joys of living in a big city, how I will miss thee.

Last but certainly not least, I must say that we are going to miss the friends we've made here more than anything. It's hard to make new friends when you're new in town and don't know anyone. We've had some of the kindest people take us under their wing and I don't want to leave them. A huge THANK YOU to all of our Atlanta friends - we will miss you!!

Sausage & Lentil Soup

There's been a chill in the air this week and it's been kind of rainy. Odd weather for Georgia in August. Combine that with trying to use up a few pantry items, and you get the perfect equation for Sausage & Lentil Soup. I love the rustic flavor combination of sausage and lentils -- served with some country bread or garlic naan from Trader Joe's and you've got yourself a nice cozy lunch or dinner.

Sausage & Lentil Soup

1 lb italian sausage, casing removed

3 stalks celery, diced

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

thyme

parsley

8 oz. green lentils

2 T. olive oil

48 oz chicken broth

1/4 c. tomato paste

In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat oil and crumble and brown the sausage until cooked through. Remove to a plate, leaving the rendered fat in the pan. Saute carrot, onion and celery until translucent, about 7 minutes. Add garlic. Meanwhile, pour boiling water over lentils and let sit for 15 minutes. Drain. Add lentils, herbs, tomato paste and sausage to vegetables, and cover with chicken broth. Simmer 1 hour on medium low heat. Serve with warm bread.

Make This Now: Manale Shrimp

A few weeks ago we were asked to a shrimp boil for a friend's birthday. In addition to the shrimp/corn/potato loveliness, we sampled a different type of shrimp called Manale shrimp made by the birthday girl's parents. Originally from Pascal's Manale restaurant in New Orleans, these crusteaceans were to die for. Spicy and tangy with a rich buttery sauce for soppin'. Heaven.

Mason just got home from a long business trip overseas, so I wanted to make something extra delectable for his first night home. I thought these would be perfect for the occasion served with some crusty french bread, corn on the cob and of course some cold beer. I'm not much for tootin' my own horn, but this was the best meal I've made at home in awhile. It's a snap to put together and would make a dynamite dinner for casual company. I'll definitely be making this the next time my mom's in town or we have guests over.

There are lots of different recipes on the internet for this (and the family recipe itself is closely guarded), but here's how I cooked em up. Serves 2-3. Make sure to follow the SPE method (thanks to Bird on a Wire) when diving into these lovelies. SPE meaning suck, peel, eat. First pull the shrimp through the sauce by the tail, and suck off all the sauce that clings to the shrimp. Then peel, and eat. Ce magnifique, no?

Manale Shrimp

1.5 lb raw shrimp, unpeeled

note: In my humble opinion, Costco has some of the best shrimp around at their seafood roadshow on Fridays & Saturdays. 1# of shrimp runs $8.99, and these suckers are huge - about 12 to a pound. Best value in town!

1.5 sticks butter

A few teaspoons of olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 t. oregano

1 t. thyme

1 t. basil

1 t. paprika

several dashes cayenne pepper (I used a lot, we like them spicy)

salt

freshly ground pepper

3-4 T. worcestershire sauce

lemon juice

Rinse shrimp and dry. Lay out in a baking dish. Preheat oven to 425. Melt butter in a saucepan and add garlic, spices, lemon juice, worcestershire and oil. Stir to combine. Pour over shrimp. Grind a whole bunch of fresh pepper over the shrimp. Bake in a 425 oven for 15 minutes total, turning over and grinding more pepper at the halfway point. Serve with sliced french bread.

Identity Crisis

Ok, so I changed my background. Again. I was having trouble reading on the last one I was using due to the texture of the background. So here we are again.... hopefully this change makes it easier to read, and no more changes for awhile!

How cute is this!

I am so getting this for my office from Mod Dog Shop on Etsy.

What I'm Loving Right Now

We're getting primed for a living room update and here's what I'm loving right now:

Media center from Crate & Barrel. Love the varied colors of the wood anchored by the dark wood on the sides and handles. Can also work as a sideboard or buffet.

Arched lamp from CB2:

Silver bowl from Ikea. Wouldn't a series of 6 of these look cool hung over a couch?

Last but not least I love this rug from Ikea. I think it looks like an onion. I don't know if we'll end up buying it, but I think I'd like the look of it under a coffee table.

Pura Vida

We hit up Pura Vida last week. This has been a restaurant I've been wanting to try since we lived in the Highlands, but we just never got around to it. Luckily Ali & Byron were game for it... plus we wanted to give it a try because Chef Hector Santiago is one of the competitors on the newest season of Top Chef. Proudly, Atlanta has three chefs on this season!

When we got there at 7ish it was pretty empty, but it filled up as we got through dinner. The cocktails were inventive, and I particularly enjoyed a hibiscus number... can't quite remember what was in it, but it was light, fresh and fruity. The mojitos were also quite good.

I love the tapas style of eating because when it comes down to it, I really prefer snacking over a full meal. To hit a few highlights, we loved the malanga root chips with cremini mushroom dip, the bone in short rib with orange chipotle bbq sauce, and the steamed coconut buns with the dreamiest protein ever, pork belly. Quite delish across the board! Unfortunately the mussels were very fishy, and the chicken barbacoa burrito smacked of Taco Bell. We tried a few desserts - the first was a sheep's milk ice cream with blackberry caviar (basically just the little rounds of blackberry) and a salted caramel sauce. Interesting taste - a little bit of a dry texture - didn't love it, didn't hate it. Glad we tried it. The second was a chocolate chile flan brulee which was delicious. I loved the combination of heat & sweet.

The verdict: Go!!

Holy Crap

My friend Jules just tipped me off to Wine.Woot.com.

New site to stalk - yes!!

Perfect Sunday Night

Elements of said perfect Sunday night:

1. vino

2. season premiere of Mad Men

3. Pillsbury Mint Chocolate brownies baking in the oven right now. I had to remove the spatula from my mouth before all the batter was gone to leave some for the actual brownies.

The only thing missing is a certain husband who is on a business trip for a few days.

So much to write about these days! Stay tuned for a forthcoming restaurant review of Pura Vida (chef Hector Santiago will be on Top Chef Las Vegas starting this coming Wednesday), fun new things I'm shopping for in the home decor department, and more.

Have a good week friends!

Varasano's Pizza

We had the pleasure of trying Varasano's Pizza this past week with a friend. In a word (or two): quite tasty. I'll give you a quick rundown:

Drink Menu: versatile, inventive.

Bar Service: attentive.

Table Service: Par for the course, annoyingly suggestive. I want to order what I'd like to order, not what the server wants me to order. If you don't want to serve it, don't put it on the menu.

Appetizer Selection: limited, decent salumi.

Pizza: Some of the best I've had in Atlanta. Super thin, hot, bubbly slightly charred crust. Crisp, not floppy.

What we ordered: Nana's with sausage & roasted red pepper, white clam, and finally the caramelized onion with emmenthaler cheese and mushrooms.

Wine: Stephen Vincent Crimson for $6/$28. A great glass of full-bodied wine for the price, I'll be seeking it out in my local wine store.

Promo: Tweet or update your Facebook from the table and show your server - get a free slice of cake. Genius.... nearly free exposure for the cost of - literally - a piece of cake.

The cake itself: Skip the boozy Italian Cream Cake and go for the chocolate.

Minty Fresh

If you're anything like me you have a gazillion online accounts for more or less every website you frequent. Financially speaking, I think I have at least 10 different login/password combinations for everything from my car to our mortgage to the water/trash/sewer provider from eight years ago. There are some services like Password Wallet that will keep these straight for you, but I wanted to see all my accounts in one place.

Enter Mint.com. I had heard about this site from some friends and wanted to scope it out. It took a bit of time, but within about an hour, I had all of our assets, investments, debts, and spending trends in front of me in one handy place! It's particularly useful if you follow Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball plan (highly recommended by Blog Soup), as it lists your debts in order from smallest to largest. Even more convenient is their budgeting tool. You can get extremely specific with what you spend in each category monthly (alcohol at the wine store ::cough cough:: what???), and set a budget accordingly. Last but not least there are friendly reminder emails letting you know when some of your bills are due.

Similar products like Quicken are popular as well; however Quicken wouldn't sync with my mortgage servicer so that was a big negative and I couldn't feasibly use their service longterm.

Since signing up I have to say I'm in love! Play around with it yourself and see if it works for you.

Three Dollar Cafe - Roswell Road

I challenge you to name a better hangover cure than salty bar food after a night of debauchery! Hard to do, isn't it? I sure could go for some right about now...

Lucky for us we have some of the best pub fare in Atlanta right down the street from us. Three Dollar Cafe on Roswell Road has a great menu full of homemade goodies and the best hot wings I have ever had. Extra crispy and served with homemade blue cheese dressing, these wings will knock Buffalo on it's behind. The teryaki ones are hard to beat as well. I've been a fan of Locos for a pretty long time, but since being introduced to Three Dollar by chums Ali & Byron, my loyalties have changed!

Although the Roswell Road location doesn't have a website, the menu at the Norcross location is about the same. Click here for details.

What we've had and loved:

Wings - either the hot or teryaki with the homemade blue cheese dressing

Cheeseburger with bacon

Reuben Sandwich

Fried Chicken Salad

Mozzarella sticks - awesome

Jerk wrap with black beans

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

Fries -- yummy thick cut steak fries

Skip for something else:

Onion rings - these are good but they're more breaded than battered and I like a nice beer batter on my onion rings.