Fall Back Steak Chili

Life is getting back to normal. MothBall has finally been wrapped up and there is nothing I'm expected  to do or plan until work tomorrow. I'm very happy to finally being relaxing and enjoying this gorgeous fall weather!  

 I'll share more about the MothBall soon! 

Atlanta is pretty awesome

I'm swamped with MothBall details. We lost our venue with less then three weeks to go. We've found a new venue and now I'm revising contracts and following up with all the performers, vendors and sponsors (so they don't go to the previously planned, non-inspection passing old location). As soon as all these loose ends are tied up then it'll be time to get to crafting. If you haven't marked your calendars and bought your tickets - PLEASE DO SO NOW! Click here. 

 Even though MothBall has taken over our lives, there were two events this weekend that O&I just couldn't miss. Oliver's favorite beerfest: Hotoberfest. My new favorite thing to do: the Great Bicycle Parade as part of Atlanta Streets Alive. 

 If you haven't already noticed I'm slowly building a small contingency of Muppets. MUPPETS TAKE ATLANTA! I've decided that each time we do the bike parade I'll add one or two more muppets. This time I added a speaker with a Muppet play list to my bike and I made Fozzie's costume better (added ears). For next time I want to make Beaker and the Swedish Chef. Stay tuned for Spring 2014!

 *Muppet photo credit to Erik Voss


Imbibing through Asheville, NC

Being married to a beer geek has some perks - destination travel is one of them: to celebrate O's birthday we planned a  long weekend in Asheville, North Carolina (Beer City USA), with a focus on breweries. We booked a really nice room in an AirBnB walking distance from downtown, made Friday night dinner reservations at the The Admiral and played the rest by ear. By Sunday morning I was impressed, this trip to Asheville definitely exceeded all my expectations. 

The Asheville breakdown:
Where to drink:
• Wicked Weed Brewing -  to our surprise, Cliff Williams (the bassist from AC/DC), showed up during our visit to tap the keg of a special beer (Dirty Weeds, a play on "Dirty Deeds") he'd brewed with this brewery. Be sure to spend time downstairs in the tasting room; great sunlight during the sunset + picnic tables + delicious sour beers = perfect place to spend a late afternoon. I was also very excited by the historical reference on the doors to the restrooms. Photos below: do you get it!? 
• Wedge Brewing - I'm in love with this place. Seriously - I want to move in. Everything about it made me feel like I was back at RISD. What's not to love: good beer, a food truck, corn hole, twinkling strung lights, cool metal marionettes/giant puppets/sculptures and laid back creative professionals. Go after sundown to best appreciate the atmosphere.

Where to eat:
• The Admiral - everything was worth writing home about: food, service & ambiance. Plan ahead because I hear they often have a wait. It's a great place to celebrate a birthday or anniversary; just let them know ahead of time.
• White Duck Taco Shop - around the corner from Wedge Brewery. Swing by for a late night snack.
• Over Easy - delicious breakfast in an intimate setting. Don't miss their perfect biscuits!

Where to spend time during the day:
• Woolworth Walk Art Gallery
• Lexington Park Antiques
• Malaprops Book Store
• Ok fine, the Biltmore Estate - but only if you haven't been there before. I've been so many times I have to strain to find it interesting. 

Also noteworthy:
• Green Man Brewing - when we stopped by at noon they hadn't yet opened for the day
• Barley's Tap Room - the birth place of Asheville's brewing scene
• Ben's Tune Up - cool atmosphere but weak beer list














A brief history of Grant Park

Atlanta has been my home for most of my life but it wasn't until I settled in historic Grant Park that I truly felt I'd found where I belonged. As a child growing up in Dunwoody (an Atlanta suburb) I was very aware of the lack of history around me. The most historic thing about my suburb was the old Spruill Farm House (and I was enamored by it). So it's no surprise that when I moved to Providence, Rhode Island for college I enthusiastically consumed as much local history as I could get my hands on. The campus tours I led for the RISD admissions office focused as much on the history of the city as it did the school. (And there was plenty to share: ranging from the building where George Washington renounced the colonies allegiance to King George III to tunnels used by the Underground Railroad). 

Thirteen years later, I'm back in Atlanta as a resident of a Grant Park, a nationally recognized historic district. This history of my neighborhood is accessible and interesting and I find myself pouring over it at every opportunity. Not everyone loves history as much as I do - but I do believe everyone loves a good story and some fun facts. To that end I complied a little timeline marking events I think Grant Parkers might find interesting:

• 1821 - Creek Indians give up territory that will eventually become modern day Atlanta
• 1836 - The Western and Atlantic Railroad plans a route to connect Savannah to the Midwest. The initial track runs from Chattanooga to a spot near the Chattahoochee - this spot is marked as "mile post zero". The community that grows up around it becomes known as "Terminus" aka "the end of the line". John Thrasher is hired by the Western and Atlantic Railroad to develop the area's first homes and a general store for railroad workers. The community takes on his name: Thrasherville. (Current day: Marietta Blvd across from Fairlie-Polar District).  
• 1842 - Terminus/Thrasherville is renamed "Marthasville" after Governor Wilson Lumpkin's daughter, Martha. When Martha Lumpkin dies in 1917 she is buried in the original 6 acres of Oakland Cemetery.
• 1843- Lemuel P. Grant, an engineer with the railroad who owns more the 600 acres around the area, donates some of his land to the city prompting the railroad to move the track's end to the donated land and away from Thrasher's general store. Thrasher is so upset that he moves to Griffin. (I question the validity of this story)
• 1845 - A chief engineer of the Georgia Rail Road suggests renaming the city "Atlantica-Pacifica" (presumably referencing: from the Atlantic to the Pacific).
• 1847 - "Atlanta" officially becomes Atlanta. 
• 1850 - Oakland Cemetery is founded
• 1856 - Lemuel P. Grant builds his home in Grant Park
• 1861 - the American Civil War begins
• 1864 - Battle of Atlanta. Battle lines follow current Moreland Avenue south from the Edgewood shopping center to I-20 where they make a 90 degree turn towards the west. Sherman burns an estimated 3,200 to 5,000 buildings - sparing about 400. Lemuel P. Grant's home is spared because of the Masonic paraphernalia found on the property.
• 1865 - Civil War ends, Atlanta begins rebuilding.
• 1880 - Atlanta's population hits 37,500. It is the largest city between Richmond, Virginia and New Orleans, Louisiana. (Note: Turner Field's current capacity is 50,000).
• 1882 - Lemuel P. Grant donates 100 acres of his land for the formation of Grant Park and the surrounding neighborhood. Today the neighborhood is home to most of Atlanta's original Victorian architecture. 
• 1889 - A traveling circus goes bankrupt and abandons it's animals in Grant Park. Zoo Atlanta is formed. 
• 1893 - Lemuel Grant dies in the overgrown Victorian home at the corner of Sydney and Hill St. 
• 1902 - Golf legend Bobby Jones is born in the master bedroom of Grant Lemuel's first home. 
• 1940s - Margaret Mitchell starts a campaign to save the Grant mansion but is cut short when killed by a taxi on Peachtree at 13th Street.
• 1960's and 1970's - Interstates 75/85/20 separate Grant Park from the rest of Atlanta

I'm interested in knowing more about the similarities and differences between the development of Grant Park and it's contemporary neighbor Inman Park. If anyone has information on how the two neighborhoods were viewed, relative to one another in the 1880s, I'd love to hear/read it!

Homegrown radishes


Six weeks ago we planted radish seeds in the front garden. And according to the packet I should've picked them three weeks ago - opps! I suppose that explains why you can see them BURSTING from the soil. These radishes are the MOST peppery radishes I have ever tasted. They taste more like horseradish then radish. To cut the intensity (and make them edible) I'm going to mix them with chick peas to create a hummus with an extra kick! 

Favorite Podcasts

I'm writing this blog post in stealth during the monthly GPNA meeting (at Zoo Atlanta). MothBall planning and design continues to dominate my free time so I thought I'd share a few of the podcasts that I've been listening to while I work.

Favorite podcasts about Atlanta: Sidewalk Radio with Gene Kansas
- All Aboard, the Belt line! 11/1/10
- Alive at Oakland 1/17/11
- Sweet Auburn 2/27/12

Favorite podcasts about food:
- Freakonomics: You are what you eat 6/6/12
- Freakonomics: 100 Ways to fight obesity 3/27/13
- Table to Farm

Favorite overall podcasts:
- This American Life
- Radio lab
- 99% Invisible

Until I have a chance to get back to posting about Grant Park and heart healthy living, I hope you'll enjoy these great podcasts. I usually listen at work, Oliver listens while cooking, when do you listen?

Time flies when you're....

If I manage to write this post in under an hour then I'll be able to say it's only been a month since I last checked in.  For the first time in three years I've been too busy too go to the gym regularly or make time for my weekly trip to Your DeKalb Farmers Market. Folks - if you know me, you know skipping those lifestyle commitments is a HUGE deal. So what gives? Festivals, party planning, costume making and print designs. Yet despite the hectic schedule, I haven't been this proud to be an Atlantan since 1996. 

 Anyone who has lived in the city of Atlanta  (proper, not 'burbs)  knows that Atlantans LIVE for their spring and fall festivals. For me, fall festival season started 3 days after I planted the late summer garden. First there was the Decatur BBQ, Blues & Bluegrass Fest; a week later was Grant Park's Summer Shade Fest and the following weekend is what I'm officially declaring "the best weekend to be in Atlanta" - LABOR DAY WEEKEND! 

 My Labor Day weekends in Atlanta are highlighted by my bicycle. Everything we do for three days is within biking distance:  Braves game Thursday or Friday night. Dragon*Con Parade Saturday morning always followed by lunch with friends at Elliot Street Tavern in Castleberry Hill before heading to the Georgia Dome to check out SEC Football kick-off weekend tailgates. Saturday night, Sunday and Monday are chocked full of unusually awesome party options. Our 2013 Labor Day weekend was so perfect that it was impossible to imagine the next weekend was going to be even better.

 The following Saturday was both the Porter's 5th anniversary and the Beltline Lantern Parade. Sunday, Street's Alive and the NFL kick-off game between the Falcons and Saints. Saturday morning I woke up early to finish costumes for the the #GothMoths, then I put those costumes and my bike into our pick-up truck. I drove to Cabbagetown where I dropped off the costumes. Next I drove to Midtown, dropped off the truck, hopped onto my bike and took the Beltline to Little Five Points just in time for the Porter's 5th Anniversary. A few hours later: Little Five Points to Inman Park where we met up with the #GothMoths and participated in the jaw dropping Beltline Lantern Parade. At the end of the Beltline everyone hopped into the truck (which I'd purposely left in Midtown earlier in the day) and headed back to our side of the city. Sunday my Mom joined me for the Bicycle Parade along Peachtree Street. That night was the Grant Park Neighborhood Association monthly meeting - which leads me to the next part of being so busy.

 I'm quite flattered and proud to say that I'm now the VP of Fundraising for Grant Park - my primary role being the subcommittee Chair of the annual MothBall celebration. When I accepted the nomination I anticipated party planning; I did not expect the world of contracts and licenses and meetings and notes that followed!! Regardless, this has been an invaluable learning experience and I look forward to sharing more of the details - when I have time!! If you don't already like gpMothBall on Facebook please do so now; it means a lot (read: too much) to me!

 (More Dragon*Con parade photos on our FB page!)


 






Sunday in the Park (Grant Park, Atlanta)

Sunday morning we woke early and hopped on our bikes. We by-passed the Grant Park Farmer's Market and headed 8 miles out to Your DeKalb Farmer's Market. With paniers in place we planned to do our weekly grocery shopping while also getting a work out and enjoying the mild sun of an early summer morning. 

 Back home a few hours later, we rested a bit with lemonade-beers before heading out into the now blazing sun. Our goal: rip out our fading summer plants and clean up the yard. After prepping the soil I planted seeds for a few late-summer/early fall vegetables. Fingers crossed for brussel spouts and radishes!

 In the evening Oliver canned the dozen remaining banana peppers that had been harvested earlier that day. He paired them with our homegrown carrots, okra and grape tomatoes. (I'm hoping they'll make a great Bloody Mary mix/garnish later this fall.) 

 Dinner was grilled Amber Jack, brussel sprouts, okra and a Founder's jalapeno mango beer. As of tonight, Tuesday, our little lettuce seeds have already started to sprout!  I'd write more - but I'm exhausted... Good night.








Why Grant Park is So Great

The end of this summer marks the start of my sixth year in this Grant Park home. More then ever Oliver and I feel Grant Park is the neighborhood we belong in. Though this part of the city is best known for being home to Zoo Atlanta, the Cyclorama, Oakland Cemetery and the Braves Stadium - it's something else that really makes me love Grant Park. It's the spirit of places that only locals seem to know about; places like Grocery on Home and Augustine's.

 Grocery on Home is a music venue that falls into the "house concert" category. (House concerts are generally intimate shows put on in someone's home; the cash collected goes directly to the performers.) Grocery on Home may technically be an old grocery store but the worn brick walls, warm wood accents, low lights and comfortable couches make it feel more like a welcoming, eclectic coffee house. A few weeks ago I saw Catherine Feeny perform there. She was AMAZING. Her voice and lyrics are beautiful blend of Imogen Heap and Sia. When she approached me after the show to chat I was truly tongue tied and starstruck. Everything about Grocery on Home is exactly what I love about Grant Park: the atmosphere of relaxed creative thinkers treating everyone like an equal or a friend in a charming, historic space.  To keep up to date with Grocery's show schedule I recommend "liking" them on Facebook.

 Augustine's is a craft beer bar. Housed in a former gas station this place is our version of Cheers (what character does that make Tom Houck?). Not only does it offer a great and extensive selection of craft beers on draft it also has darts, bocce and a patio. I think most people overlook Aug's. If they want fancy beer they go three miles away to the Porter and if they want food they go two blocks down to the strip of restaurants across from Oakland. But Aug's is a great bar full of interesting and chatty neighbors and we're happy it's only a few blocks from our home.

 Of course, Grant Park is more then just collection of cool places. It's the people that give the neighborhood it's spirit. This couldn't have been more obvious or more appreciated then at Atlanta City Hall this past Thursday. Thursday night was a zoning meeting in which 10% of the neighborhood (623 people) showed up to fight something that is inherently out of place in historic Grant Park: a Big Box international chain retailer with a sprawling parking lot built directly across the street from a newly renovated high school ON THE BELTLINE. The proposed development would have been the antithesis of everything the eagerly anticipated Beltline is planned to embody. The neighborhood's show of support to stop the big box development was successful on Thursday but we all know fighting an international coporation is never easy. The battle has just begun and needs everyone's support. To learn the details and donate to the lawyer fee's please visit this website: http://smartgrowthatlanta.org.

 To everyone who cheered and boo-ed from the lobby (after being asked to leave the City Council's Chambers because it was well passed standing room only) THANK YOU for being the type of neighbor who cares enough to show up and make a difference (with a special thank you to GPNA president, Lauren Rocereta, for speaking on behalf of us all). You guys are the biggest part of what makes Grant Park truly great and I appreciate having you as neighbors.

Blooming Artichokes & Bumble Bees

The garden's chaotic state is evidence of my busy few weeks. As you can see, the artichokes bloomed and a herd of fuzzy bumble bees moved in. A few of them seem to have overdosed on the pollen and died wedged into the flowers. Since these photos were taken the plants have turned black. I'm hoping to pull them out this weekend and replace them with something for the fall.



I'll post an update soon with pictures of where I've been (Detroit, Port Huron and Grocery on Home) and what I'm planning (a hootenanny).

I did it! I cooked*! Well, almost...

My panzanella was a success! Even more rewarding (for me) was that I didn't need to follow a recipe exactly; instead I read three and combined by favorite parts of each. I even diced up all the ingredients on my own! (Yes - I do realize this could be the accomplishment of a motivated 10 year old - but cut me some slack. I wasn't remotely interested in real food or cooking until after I turned 30.) 

My panzanella is combination of Ali Benjamin, Alton Brown and the pin I found online. Two called for bacon, one did not. Two called for stale bread, one called for toasting. One added chili peppers, two did not. None of them suggesting adding dijon mustard to the dressing; I figured that out on my own. 

 This is what I did:
• Cubed two cups of baguette then spread them on a pan, drizzled them with olive oil and put them into the oven for 10 minutes until hard/crispy.
• While the bread was in the oven I: diced one shallot, put it into a cup of red wine vinegar, added a spot of dijon mustard and whisked. Next I cubed two avocados, a cucumber, a variety of tomatoes and combined them all in bowl. For a little heat I added half of one jalapeno. 
• When the bread came out of the oven it moved it to a Pyrex bowl to cool. Next I heated up the cast iron skillet that still contained bacon fat from our morning's breakfast. Once the bacon fat was hot I spooned out three tablespoons and drizzled them over the bread and tossed. 
• To the bread bowl I added the tomato mix and an appropriate amount of dressing. I mixed it all up with my hands and then put one and half handfuls into each dinner bowl. The only thing I would do differently next time is not mix in the avocado because it made the dish look green and mushy. Instead, I would add the avocado at the end as a garnish. 

 It was so delicious!! And perfectly summer. I hope you try it yourself!
XO -
Cullen (the one who obviously doesn't create the beautiful meals you see on this blog). 

*According to Oliver "adding heat" is a core part of cooking. Everything else is just "combining ingredients". But I'm okay with that. Baby steps!

Panzanella

Seeking an in-season, mid-summer dinner idea I turned to Pinterest. Panzanella caught my eye. While I don't think I've ever had it before, it seems to be a chunky version of gazpacho and I love gazpacho. Tomatoes, cucumber, chunks of bread, extra virgin olive oil and vinegar.

Not enough of our tomatoes are ready to be picked so we biked down to the Grant Park Farmer's Market to see what we could find there. A colorful pint of mixed cherry and heirloom tomatoes caught my eye. On our way out of the market we ran into our friends Laura and AJ; they mentioned that Laura's sister-in-law (Ali Benjamin of the blog and book  Cleaner Plate Club) has a great Panzanella recipe. As soon as I got home I pulled the book from my shelf and flipped to the tomato chapter. Her recipe calls for toasting the bread in the oven - which sounds more appealing then the recipe I had which calls for leaving the bread out overnight. AND it means we can try this sooner then later! 


Combustible Summer

Some summers are generic - borderline forgettable. Five years down the road you can't remember one from the other. This isn't one of those summers. 2013 is combustible.

I can't put my finger on what came first; I can't put it all in order. We're only half way through this season and it's already a fiery blur. The supreme court's landmark decisions, the bombs in Boston and the surprising verdict in Trayvon Martin's case have  been punctuated by the most constant steam of extreme weather Atlanta has endured in my lifetime. At this point, to say "emotions are running high" would be an insulting cliche. 

On Facebook I avoid drama. I block feeds from friends whose opinions upset me. When offered the bait of extremes I look away. Even in my studio, where I've worked for over four years, I make an effort to stop politically charged conversations before they start.

Dear reader - do you know I'm liberal? Can you tell from my lifestyle? Does it matter to you? If so, do I care that it matters to you? Is it something I try to hide? Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Socialist, Communist - all of them aside - this is what I want you to know I stand for: EQUALITY. 

I stand for equality.  In the last decade I've had the conversation over and over again but in innumerable contexts. 

Moving back to the South (after undergrad in Rhode Island) I was shaken by the belles and gents who vehemently did NOT identify as "feminist". To hear these people tell it, feminists were to men as white supremacists were to minorities. That premise is so far off base it became confusing; were these people joking? Had they not heard ANY of Steinem's message? Feminism is (quite simply) the complete social and economic equality between men and women. If you have a problem with that - please stop reading my blog.

This argument of equality resurges in every social and economic opportunity: rich vs poor, minority vs white, gay vs straight, those with health insurance vs those without, obese vs healthy, immigrant vs citizen, Florida vs the continental United States. IT DOES NOT END. 

And because it does not end I have chosen to remove myself from the Facebook conversation because I want to continue to respect everyone's right to their own opinion. Until today - when I remembered I don't have to fight on Facebook. I can publish my personal opinion here.

Tonight the rush hour storm was worse then normal. The apocalyptic lightening flashed around me so nonstop that it became surreally beautiful while simultaneously terrifying. I even drove through a flooded tunnel (that I still think was probably a really bad idea). But after the storm - it was gorgeous. The clouds, the sunset, the breeze, the illuminated skyline of Atlanta. I hope I can I always hold on those mental images. In that moment of pure beauty Macklemore's new song "I can't change" came on the radio. 

I was paying attention to the lyrics; feeling thankful that this pop station summer hit so thoroughly represents how I feel when something occurred to me. It hit me that while this song represents how I feel most of the people I want to hear it - never will. Those people being my deaf lesbian sister-in-law and my baby boomer parents (who don't listen to pop radio stations).

So many very important people in my life are same-sex oriented. I want all of them to know: I accept and support you just the way you are. Your lifestyle is no big deal to me. I'm sorry for the difficulties our society is imposing on you. Your daily bravery impresses me. And to that end, the lyrics to Macklemore's "I can't change".

When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay,
'Cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight.
I told my mom, tears rushing down my face
She's like "Ben you've loved girls since before pre-k, trippin' "
Yeah, I guess she had a point, didn't she?
Bunch of stereotypes all in my head.
I remember doing the math like, "Yeah, I'm good at little league"
A preconceived idea of what it all meant
For those that liked the same sex
Had the characteristics
The right wing conservatives think it's a decision
And you can be cured with some treatment and religion
Man-made rewiring of a predisposition
Playing God, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don't know
And God loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago
I don't know

And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
And I can't change
Even if I tried
Even if I wanted to
My love
My love
My love
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm
She keeps me warm

If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me
Have you read the YouTube comments lately?
"Man, that's gay" gets dropped on the daily
We become so numb to what we're saying
A culture founded from oppression
Yet we don't have acceptance for 'em
Call each other faggots behind the keys of a message board
A word rooted in hate, yet our genre still ignores it
Gay is synonymous with the lesser
It's the same hate that's caused wars from religion
Gender to skin color, the complexion of your pigment
The same fight that led people to walk outs and sit ins
It's human rights for everybody, there is no difference!
Live on and be yourself
When I was at church they taught me something else
If you preach hate at the service those words aren't anointed
That holy water that you soak in has been poisoned
When everyone else is more comfortable remaining voiceless
Rather than fighting for humans that have had their rights stolen
I might not be the same, but that's not important
No freedom till we're equal, damn right I support it

(repeat chorus)

We press play, don't press pause
Progress, march on
With the veil over our eyes
We turn our back on the cause
Till the day that my uncles can be united by law
When kids are walking 'round the hallway plagued by pain in their heart
A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are
And a certificate on paper isn't gonna solve it all
But it's a damn good place to start
No law is gonna change us
We have to change us
Whatever God you believe in
We come from the same one
Strip away the fear
Underneath it's all the same love
About time that we raised up

(repeat chorus)

An Estate Sale & Garden Update



On Thursday my next door neighbor and I drove an hour south of Atlanta to check out the estate sale of a retired antique dealer. This collector had moved from upstate New York to middle Georgia in 1981 but left her four shipping containers of treasure unopened and in storage for the next thirty two years. The company organizing the sale posted snapshots of box contents and as soon as I saw the piles of vintage greeting cards I requested the day off from work.

My neighbor and I arrived an hour early in an effort to get a good spot in line. Even so, we were numbers 93 and 94 and they were only letting in forty at a time. The crowd gathering outside was awesome to watch. A "storage wars" type excitement was in the air. We were definitely not the only ones who'd driven far to be part of this sale.

When 9am rolled around the shipping containers were opened and the first forty 40 shoppers pushed into the old one story clapboard home. One shipping container was full of glass items, very old sewing notions, sheet sets and quilts. The others were full of amazing furniture. In the back a shed was floor to ceiling with tools and old suitcases. Once inside the home there was an entire room, wall to wall, laid out with 1950s Christmas items; ornaments, unopened boxes of tinsel, greeting cards, stockings, etc. 

I exercised as much restraint as I could. Even so, I walked away with $50 worth of ephemera that I have no need/plans for and handful of things I think I can resell for profit. My FAVORITE (okay, one of my FAVORITE) finds is the pair of vintage garden books picture above. The embossed covers are beautiful!! And the knowledge inside is still relevant and noteworthy. Not a total waste of money, right? SOMEDAY I'll have a coffee table to put them on...

In other news, this is the RAINIEST summer I can EVER remember in Atlanta. (And I'm from here, so I can remember a lot of them.) For better and worse the garden is hanging in there. A few tomatoes have burst from all the rain but mostly the vegetables seem desperate for a little sun. No signs of root rot yet. Fingers crossed we get a little reprieve this weekend.

Happy Saturday!

June 30th: Garden Update

Looking good! Strawberries are finally thriving (well, at least by our standards). Banana peppers and green peppers (green not pictured) are growing faster then we have plans to use them. One giant okra. Many artichokes - though we're not sure when they're ready to harvest. Tomatoes have us anticipating a few great sandwiches in mid-July. Watermelon and eggplants are slow goers but I still have high hopes!

Sugar Salt Fat: Food Addiction

As a rule, I stay away from the comment section on any opinion page or editorial. The insanity that ensues as strangers hurl their hateful opinions is too overwhelming. But today, as I sat at my desk eating my black beans during my lunch break, I somehow ended up just in the place I try to avoid. The opinion piece was posted on CNN and it was about the American Medical Association's decision to label obese people "diseased" and, as expected, it was the fury of hateful comments that caught my attention. Specifically, the arguments that "there is no such thing a food addiction; cut the crap" and "lack of self control is of course the root to obesity." I am astounded by both the hatefulness and lack of understanding.

A few posts back I mentioned my concern that people are unaware that many of the foods they eat are intentionally engineered to be addictive. The readers’ comments above surprise me because they’re evidence of people who are aware of the idea that food can be addictive but firmly believe it’s not true. In February, the New York Times Magazine published an exert of Michael Moss's book, Sugar Sat Fat: How the food giants hooked us. The book details specific addictive traits food manufacturers work to capture in their products. Traits that intentionally trick both your mind and stomach into thinking you’re not full and you really want MORE. There are records of experiments, focus groups and memos – none of that is up for debate; it’s just true. I’m left to hope that people denying the addictive qualities of modern America’s diet are simply uninformed on the matter.

 Personally, having spent the last four years working hard to overcome my own food addictions (starting with Lean Cuisines in 2009), I empathize with anyone who is trying to change their lifestyle but finding it nearly impossible. To look at the issue as an addiction may change the approach used when trying to break the habit. Assuming, shareholders will  continue to win over what's best for the common good, I do not look to lawmakers to solve this issue. This is a personal responsibility that each person must address for themselves. Doing so requires a bit of self-eduction.

 In the case of children, it is the responsibility of both parents to work towards prevention of food addictions. But where does prevention of food addiction start? The womb? Formula? Baby food? Teething snacks? Five years ago I'd have given a toddler a box of Goldfish crackers without a second thought. Today I'd be unlikely to hand them a Cheerio. In fact, when O&I have children I anticipate the family looking at me as "that crazy hippy Mom" after I explain I'd prefer them to not offer my child processed snacks and sweets. You want to give my kid a squished grape or some smushed avocado - go right ahead!

 The reality of this is a struggle, I know. My best friend from college, an amazingly successful and very cool art director, has a toddler in daycare. She has told me of the frustrations around limiting the amount of sugar her son is offered everyday. The only friend I have who seems to have no trouble raising a child on natural foods is a work-at-home Mom who has the ability to supervise (almost) everything that goes into her son's mouth. 

 I'm not suggesting I have the answers to Food Addiction and Prevention. But I am saying it is time for EVERYONE to take ten minutes and realistically consider how it effects both their lives and the lives of people they love.=

 *The NY Times article (exerted from the book) is very long but also fascinating and definitely worth the time it takes to read it. Link to full article here. Credit to MICHAEL MOSS.  Highlights: 
In the process of product optimization, food engineers alter a litany of variables with the sole intent of finding the most perfect version (or versions) of a product. Ordinary consumers are paid to spend hours sitting in rooms where they touch, feel, sip, smell, swirl and taste whatever product is in question. Their opinions are dumped into a computer, and the data are sifted and sorted through a statistical method called conjoint analysis, which determines what features will be most attractive to consumers...

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The public and the food companies have known for decades now — or at the very least since this meeting — that sugary, salty, fatty foods are not good for us in the quantities that we consume them. So why are the diabetes and obesity and hypertension numbers still spiraling out of control? It’s not just a matter of poor willpower on the part of the consumer and a give-the-people-what-they-want attitude on the part of the food manufacturers. What I found, over four years of research and reporting, was a conscious effort — taking place in labs and marketing meetings and grocery-store aisles — to get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive.

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...“Sensory-specific satiety.” In lay terms, it is the tendency for big, distinct flavors to overwhelm the brain, which responds by depressing your desire to have more. Sensory-specific satiety also became a guiding principle for the processed-food industry. The biggest hits — be they Coca-Cola or Doritos — owe their success to complex formulas that pique the taste buds enough to be alluring but don’t have a distinct, overriding single flavor that tells the brain to stop eating...

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One of the company’s responses to criticism is that kids don’t eat the Lunchables every day — on top of which, when it came to trying to feed them more healthful foods, kids themselves were unreliable. When their parents packed fresh carrots, apples and water, they couldn’t be trusted to eat them. Once in school, they often trashed the healthful stuff in their brown bags to get right to the sweets.

This idea — that kids are in control — would become a key concept in the evolving marketing campaigns for the trays. In what would prove to be their greatest achievement of all, the Lunchables team would delve into adolescent psychology to discover that it wasn’t the food in the trays that excited the kids; it was the feeling of power it brought to their lives. As Bob Eckert, then the C.E.O. of Kraft, put it in 1999: “Lunchables aren’t about lunch. It’s about kids being able to put together what they want to eat, anytime, anywhere.”

Kraft’s early Lunchables campaign targeted mothers. They might be too distracted by work to make a lunch, but they loved their kids enough to offer them this prepackaged gift. But as the focus swung toward kids, Saturday-morning cartoons started carrying an ad that offered a different message: “All day, you gotta do what they say,” the ads said. “But lunchtime is all yours.”

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Frito-Lay had a formidable research complex near Dallas, where nearly 500 chemists, psychologists and technicians conducted research that cost up to $30 million a year, and the science corps focused intense amounts of resources on questions of crunch, mouth feel and aroma for each of these items. Their tools included a $40,000 device that simulated a chewing mouth to test and perfect the chips, discovering things like the perfect break point: people like a chip that snaps with about four pounds of pressure per square inch.

To get a better feel for their work, I called on Steven Witherly, a food scientist who wrote a fascinating guide for industry insiders titled, “Why Humans Like Junk Food.” I brought him two shopping bags filled with a variety of chips to taste. He zeroed right in on the Cheetos. “This,” Witherly said, “is one of the most marvelously constructed foods on the planet, in terms of pure pleasure.” He ticked off a dozen attributes of the Cheetos that make the brain say more. But the one he focused on most was the puff’s uncanny ability to melt in the mouth. “It’s called vanishing caloric density,” Witherly said. “If something melts down quickly, your brain thinks that there’s no calories in it . . . you can just keep eating it forever.”

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Carey’s quote reminded me of something I read in the early stages of my reporting, a 24-page report prepared for Frito-Lay in 1957 by a psychologist named Ernest Dichter. The company’s chips, he wrote, were not selling as well as they could for one simple reason: “While people like and enjoy potato chips, they feel guilty about liking them. . . . Unconsciously, people expect to be punished for ‘letting themselves go’ and enjoying them.” Dichter listed seven “fears and resistances” to the chips: “You can’t stop eating them; they’re fattening; they’re not good for you; they’re greasy and messy to eat; they’re too expensive; it’s hard to store the leftovers; and they’re bad for children.” He spent the rest of his memo laying out his prescriptions, which in time would become widely used not just by Frito-Lay but also by the entire industry. Dichter suggested that Frito-Lay avoid using the word “fried” in referring to its chips and adopt instead the more healthful-sounding term “toasted.” To counteract the “fear of letting oneself go,” he suggested repacking the chips into smaller bags. “The more-anxious consumers, the ones who have the deepest fears about their capacity to control their appetite, will tend to sense the function of the new pack and select it,” he said.

Dichter advised Frito-Lay to move its chips out of the realm of between-meals snacking and turn them into an ever-present item in the American diet. “The increased use of potato chips and other Lay’s products as a part of the regular fare served by restaurants and sandwich bars should be encouraged in a concentrated way,” Dichter said, citing a string of examples: “potato chips with soup, with fruit or vegetable juice appetizers; potato chips served as a vegetable on the main dish; potato chips with salad; potato chips with egg dishes for breakfast; potato chips with sandwich orders.”

“Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us,” published by Random House. Michael Moss won a Pulitzer Prize in 2010 for his reporting on the meat industry.

10 days til the Peachtree Road Race!


Memphis has Bealle Street. Chicago: the Magnificent Mile. New Orleans: St. Charles (or Bourbon, depending on who you ask). And my hometown, Atlanta, has Peachtree Street. Home to the world's largest 10K! With 60,000 registered participants and 150,000 spectators lining the street, Peachtree Street is the place to be the morning of Independence Day. Oliver and I always do the race as Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty. It's one of my very favorite family traditions (so much so that I just bought us adorable Christmas ornaments to commemorate the event)! Only ten more days - I can't wait!

Click to read: a Timeline of the Peachtree Road Race's history

These ornaments are the cutest!! I'm so happy to have found them online. Shout out to #Annalee and Sue Coffee. #LadyLiberty #UncleSam