If you been down in Atlanta lately, you'll know why they call it Hotlanta. It was 94° today - and 94 here is like 120° out west. I remember playing golf in Vegas at Vegas national when it was > 100, they let us play for practically nothing. Anyway, the golf course here seemed moderately crowded and there is no lack of people running and walking anywhere around town. The decks of the pubs are crowded also. Summer in A-Town, is worth the sweltering heat. With Summer comes the Highland art festival, Decatur concerts on the square and art festival and much more. Good thing there is a lot to do, because there is virtually nothing on TV until football season. Meanwhile I have been enjoying the world cup, I like USA to pull the upset in game1 against the Czechs.
So lately I have been using my dehydrator a lot (I am always so proud of myself when I use any kitchen gadget more than once). I can't same the same for the hot sandwich maker - which I used to make 10 Cuban sandwiches in a row and then it became a doorstop. And then there is my food processor -I have a big expensive one and an little $8 one. Some how I never use the large one... it just never does what I need. The $8 one I must use everyday, which becomes a pain in the ass when making a lot of food. Then there is my juicer and the smoothie blender. The juicer is too powerful and I broke the plastic canister of the smoothie thing. I have also recently rediscovered the food saver, but I lost the damn accessory that is needed to seal food saver containers :(. Anyway there is no lack of things to make in my Deni dehydrator, but there is no reliable place to see how long things take... which usually means it takes forever and you are doing a lot of checking. Sort of like when you set an oven of cleaning, you have basically just planned your entire day. If you have never made homemade beef jerky - you are missing out. I found a new method called hot pickling (and people say UGA is a bad school... but apparently they are producing research to improve our lives). I recently order a comal to make my own corn tortillas, and I have been using the crap out of that. Just gimme and excuse to make corn torillas! The first time I used it, I set the panholder on fire.
So if anyone knows of any good new places around here - let me know. It seems like a lot of the stand-bys like have really gone down hill. I went to MF Sushi the other night, and they were out of 5 things I wanted... when did they become a bring your own fish place? At least the whole weird flavored ice cream fad seems to have passed. Anyone remember that? Let's not forget it is summer - and summer means gazpacho. I already tried my first attempt at gazpacho this year. Wasn't crazy about it... the jicama didn't do it for me. I think I will still with my standby gazpacho recipe from my buddy wolfgang. I tried Oakhurst Grill again, this time I ordered off dinner menu, and they have a very interesting take on veggie lasanga. Their dish has no pasta, and only Ricotta cheese, placed between layered veggies - floating in a stew of light mashed potatoes, marinara and oil. I was pleasantly surprised after my bad breakfast experience there (I had some underdone bland potatoes). posted by Keith at 5:37 PM
