therese

I actually know one of the guys who did the Peeps research/surgery thing. And he's this funny all the time. I'm careful not to eat when he's talking.

Recently sent out for coffee for myself and some colleagues, one of whom had asked for cafe au lait. The barrista obligingly indicated this item by writing "olay" on the side of the cup. A server passing hors d'oeuvres at a cocktail reception about a month ago asked me if I'd care for a "crab mussolini". I was (for once) struck dumb.

Unless you're willing to use liquid nitrogen (I'm actually not kidding---I've got a friend who makes liqueur sorbets with liquid nitrogen) or dry ice (solid CO2) the vodka's going to be very much a flavoring agent in this instance. The liquid nitrogen approach works well for small dinner parties, but would not be practical for a cater.

So who is backing this ambitious venture in McDonough?

Have a great trip to Henry County, Barb, and do get some barbecue if you get the chance.

The Publix that we use does almost no pre-wrapping of produce. I do think that it depends on what the clientele expects---I've been to Publix stores that didn't have nearly as much variety or high-end stuff as ours does. Publix doesn't rely as heavily on injected meat as Kroger's does. Of course, I usually just go to Dekalb...

Chances are excellent that your daughter and son-in-law are excruciatingly aware of every possible dining establishment within a 20 mile radius of their home, because they live waaaaay the heck out of town. I'd concentrate on quality time with the grandchildren, frankly. If you're interested in a day time trip that's food-oriented (during which you could score some non-meat and potatoes fare to take back to the ranch), you could try a drive up to the Dekalb Farmers Market. There's a nice thread about it here on the Southeast forum. If it turns out you all do decide to make it into town for some day trips to museums or whatever, let us know where and we can point you to some candidate restaurants.

Southeast section? Southeast inside the perimeter, outside the perimeter, south Dekalb County? Southeast part of the City of Atlanta proper (a very small part of the metro area)? Are you staying with friends/family, or at a hotel? I'm guessing the former, unless you've got some very specific reason for being in that part of town.

Sorry to rain on this commercial parade, but $37 bucks for a 5 lb bag of peanuts? And delivery's another $10 (at least)?

I don't know where the "no elbows" thing really comes from, but presumably it's to discourage you from impinging on other people's space. We actually have very specific rules about where hands and arms should and shouldn't be. Both hands are always visible (we don't do that weird thing where one hand rests in your lap---who can eat this way?), with the wrists resting on the table at the beginning of the meal. As the meal progresses you can move your forearms farther up on the table edge, until you're finally at the end, with coffee and whatever and then elbows are okay. As long as there's still "real" food on the table, no elbows. After that they're fine.

Eating hunched over your food, with one arm wrapped around the plate is "prison style". I have a colleague in another city who eats so, um, aggressively that food actually comes out of his mouth. I can't avoid eating with him entirely (and he really is a nice person, and very bright) so just make a point of not eating either beside him or in front of him. One of the biggest issues in my household is that husband is not nearly so careful with things like fish knives and so forth, so there's occasionally a bit of a rift over just how important is that our children hold their forks carefully. I point out that it's part of the package, the package including things like making eye contact when you shake hands, and deferring to (and even helping) the elderly when appropriate. It really is all about making the world a nicer place for those around you.

Interesting name as well. To a non-anglophone the name "Fast Good" must seem like a clever riff on "Fast Food". But "food" and "good" don't rhyme, so it's not so much clever as awkward. But few of the clients will be anglophone, so no worries.

Sounds like you're well on the way to civilized eating. My kids are a bit older, but we've been using the "napkin in your lap" rule since they were at least six, maybe a bit younger. We include no slouching or sliding or whatever in your seat (more of an issue in restaurants, where one orders and waits), the rule phrased as "bottom against the very back of the seat where it meets the back. We started teaching fork/left and knife/right use of cutlery and positioning of hands/elbows at this age. One thing that I do let them do (in restaurants) even now is read a book if they're not interested in the conversation. Heh heh. Like maybe we thought parenting was just going to be fun all the time... The effort's well worth it in the end.

Not only is there no longer a bakery at Rich's, there isn't even a Rich's at Rich's: Federated's collapsed Macy's (which used to be Davison's, remember?) and Rich's in to a single entity (called Rich's-Macy's) and closed some of the stores.

I agree absolutely. I'm going to need some grant funding for this project, I'm afraid.

Yeah. What if they're better?

Yeah, but what if they do? What if they're really quite good?

Seems (if memory serves) like boiled peanuts are not sold by the vendors at Turner Field (Braves baseball) in Atlanta, but you can buy them from street vendors on your way from the parking lot to the field. There's nothing elaborate about making boiled peanuts. See my recipe above. If you can't make boiled peanuts then you really can't cook a lick. The texture will vary according to your starting peanuts (very young new peanuts vs mature, and newly harvested vs green but in the bag for a while so dried out a bit), and according to how you like them. All the way from still a bit of a crunch (most people consider these underdone) to edamame to a bit mushy.

Midtown and Virginia-Highland (no "s" on the end---it's named for the intersection of Virginia and Highland Avenues, nothing to do with hilly terrain) are considered in-town neighborhoods, just outside of the downtown. MidCity Cuisine, despite its name, is a bit far north to be considered Midtown. Other in-town neighborhoods with good restaurants are Inman Park, Grant Park, East Atlanta, Candler Park, Poncey-Highland (Wisteria is officially in Poncey-Highland, as it's south of Ponce de Leon instead of north), Little Five Points. Oh, and I meant to tell you in my earlier post that your problem with panhandlers is that you gave them anything at all. Give them nothing, refuse to interact in any way (not even a scowl or a glance), and keep walking. Panhandlers are another thing that Atlanta provides especially for our business visitors---they're essentially unknown outside the immediate downtown area, and obviously target out of towners.

Atlanta has lots of excellent food, and lots of educated diners. So why is the food downtown so bad? Well, because Atlantans don't eat downtown. The only people who eat downtown are the sad out of town captives of downtown's soul-suckingly ugly hotels, too tired and disoriented after a day of seminars and posters and exhibits to make their way to the neighborhoods that surround the immediate downtown, the neighborhoods where people live and eat. And the quality of the food has nothing to do with the prices. Again, the downtown hotels charge as much as they can get away with. As for the restaurants BobL got to try, Wisteria and MidCity Cuisine are both very good, upmarket casual. Nava's part of Buckhead Life, very much an expense account (or more money than sense if you're a civilian) sort of place. Ethnic is where the real bargains are here, but most of it's too far out for visitors to sample. Next time tell your friends you want to eat cheap but good.

Mennonites vary a bit---in the area around Charlottesville (I was an undergrad there, and later worked at UVa Medical Center) there are different groups who have different ideas about what's okay and what's not: the same people who drive cars may fasten their clothes with straight pins. One of my best friends there was a Mennonite woman from Bavaria. If your trip puts you in the way of a fiddler's convention, do stop. Galax, VA (right on the Blue Ridge, right before the VA/NC border) has one in August, I think. Quite the scene.

Lew, there's an entire thread on fried pies here on the Southeast forum. Scroll down a bit and you'll find two pages worth of info. Particularly popular in your target area. I am from this part of the world, but have been gone too long to make specific recommendations. To find a fried pie, go to a small grocery/mini-mart sort of place in this part of the country and approach the cash register. Somewhere close by, somewhere between the beef jerky and the chewing tobacco and the key rings with trucker babes on them, you'll spy some packets of waxed paper, probably not even marked as to their contents. These are fried pies, usually apple or peach (you can ask which are which, and also who made them). They are great.

So long as you bring the front edge of whatever cabinetry you choose to the front edge of the fridge you don't have to worry about the door/no door question, as there won't be any "top of the fridge" to worry about: the "Dane" simply won't be able to put anything up there. I'd tend to go with doors to keep out dust and minimize cleaning. The cookie sheet/cutting board/tray option (with or without doors) works particularly well, as you need only be able to reach the bottom forward corner of the item in order to retrieve it (as opposed to just about anything else); the remainder of these hard-to-store items extends to the back and top of the cupboard, but doesn't take up space you'd otherwise be able to use very effectively. Assuming that you are actually doing a total redo of the kitchen I'd also go with the earlier suggestion that you forego wall cabinets (the sort that perch on the wall over countertops), and go with base cabinets. I'm not that short (5'6"), but love not having to deal with wall cabinets and those stupid top shelves, etc. Base cabinets with drawers, roll-out shelves, etc. are great: easy to reach, and everything's right there in front of you.

I've had as many different versions of faluda/falooda as times I've ordered it: it's a little different everywhere I have it (basically Indian restaurants, mostly in Atlanta). The little black seeds aren't always used, but do appear frequently and are a nice contrast in both color and texture. Were I going to do a fancy version of it I'd definitely use them.

One and the same. We've never eaten there, but find it a congenial place for a drink, and they often have live music as well.