Jumpstart Ryan Gravel’s Generator

“What is innovative housing?” This was asked to a room full of folks at a seminar I attended a couple months back. It was a valid question given that we were there for what was billed as an Innovative Housing Summit. The funny thing was the event organizer and asker-of-the-question confessed that the same query had stumped him during a public radio interview promoting the event. A theater full of housing experts and presenters seemed to have their own difficulty articulating answers -- … [Read more...]

BeltLandia: a nice place to hang your hat

When you got hats -- which we do -- you need some place to hang ‘em, right? So, this hat rack. It’s a special hand-made hat rack, though, crafted with authentic BeltLandian mojo and bonafide BeltLine artifacts: The hat pegs are made from railroad spikes harvested from the BeltLine corridor and fabricated by Marty Martin’s team over at Fred Martin Welding Co. They’re a family-owned, O4W-based business since 1938 and they’ll weld anything but a broken heart and the crack of dawn. The … [Read more...]

Farmers’ Market Fridays: Goat and Roasting Boxes

This past Saturday, I took another trip to The Green Market at Piedmont Park and the weather had definitely improved since my last visit! I arrived about an hour after they opened and it was rife with patrons and their puppies, all happily perusing the booths along with me. I hadn't seen it so packed quite yet, so it was nice to see everyone walking around to support their local vendors. I trekked down to the very edge of the market to visit the Southern Berkshire Farm booth. On my previous … [Read more...]

Taste the Umami at Nexto

A couple of weeks ago, February didn’t get the memo about being cold and left March to pick up the slack. Ringing in Soup Season 2.0, I decided to step out of my kitchen in search of something hot, savory, and familiar-- RAMEN. Not the ramens of yore once picked up at Kroger and eaten while crying into styrofoam 3 minutes later in your dorm room. I searched for genuinely crafted, immortalized in Japanese culture ramen. A trip to Buford Highway was too long for me to wait out hangry feelings, so … [Read more...]

Farmers’ Market Fridays: Frisée and Escarole

This past Saturday was a beautiful day to go to the Freedom Farmers Market. As we get further into Spring, the weather becomes more agreeable in the morning and the vegetable selection expands to encompass more greens. I love roasting hearty winter vegetables but I’m not too keen to turn my oven on as much as it gets hotter. As I perused the booths, I was extremely excited to see the wide variety of roughage available! Vendors started selling more spinach and were less focused on kale. I … [Read more...]

Farmers’ Market Fridays: Kombucha and Kale

This past Saturday I went to check out the Green Market at Piedmont Park. As I mentioned last week, March 18th kicked off their 2017 season and I was itching to see what other vendors had in store. Or booth, rather! As I headed to what seemed like the front of the market, I bumped into my friend Wes, who was selling Golda Kombucha. Golda is Georgia's first kombucha tea company and is locally brewed. The two flavors they had that day were lavender lemonade and blackberry mint. I sampled both … [Read more...]

The Scoop on A Mano: A New Restaurant for Old 4th Ward

There’s a new restaurant coming to BeltLandia! Midtown resident George Demeglio is currently building a mano, an intimate eatery serving traditional Italian inspired dishes with locally sourced ingredients. Burke and I were lucky enough to grab lunch with him not too long ago to interview him and get the scoop on his new project! *************************** You had never been in the restaurant business before, right? I’m an engineer. I’ve been in  manufacturing, telecommunications, … [Read more...]

Farmers’ Market Fridays: Pork Chops and Kholrabi

One of my most recent experiences at the Freedom Farmers' Market is a testament to getting there as early as possible. I had a few things to do that morning and I finally left the house by 11:30. I had only one hour left to look through the market.  If you decide to go to the farmers' market around closing time, your produce options will be very limited. However, you may encounter a vendor looking to make a deal with you so he can unload some more product quickly. This past Saturday, I came … [Read more...]

Farmers’ Market Fridays: Rise ‘N Shine with Sweet Potatoes

The Freedom Farmers’ Market has often been an enjoyable and overwhelming experience for me. I love leisurely strolling through the booths, eyeing produce and flowers, petting friendly dogs and nibbling on samples of meats and cheeses. However, there comes a time at the market when I have to stop and assess what I came in for, what vegetables do I want to buy. And, of course, if I buy something unconventional, what am I going to do with it besides marvel at it in curiosity? This past Saturday, … [Read more...]

The Lid of choice for BeltLandians

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