Quick and Dirty

I have no time or enthusiasm for blogging anymore, obviously. But I just can't bring myself to shut this place down. So, we do a quick and dirty update since the last post pre-vacation:

* I played in one poker tournament in Biloxi. Finished somewhere in the high 40's, and top 27 got paid. I had terrible cards for most of the day so even lasting that long was really surprising, and actually made me feel pretty good about my effort. I had nothing to work with, but I made it work well enough to outlast some really good players.

* The sexism in poker still gets to me, but I'm finally used to it now. I actually had a guy lay down pocket queens to my bet, and it was an older guy who had been super-flirty with me to that point. (He saw me on my cell phone at the break and asked if I was "texting with my boyfriend," kept calling me "hot stuff," etc.) Now he said he was laying them down because he had gotten burned with them several times already, and I think that was at least partially true. But I also think he was trying to do me a favor, which is fairly condescending. Of course, I had pocket jacks so I was happy for the fold, but I didn't tell him that. He had been very chatty with the whole table, trying to play the "I'm just a dumb first timer, you must be really good at this" role...meanwhile before the tournament started he was bitching about how lousy the comps were for poker players when he had gambled over $2mil. in MGM owned casinos in the last year. So, notsomuch.

* It was raining when I got to Pensacola the first day of my vacation, so I decided not to play in the Tuesday poker tournament and instead stayed all morning in Fla. to get a nice long walk on the beach in before I had to leave. It was wonderful. Despite normally not being a big Hampton Inn fan, I have to give it up for the Hampton Inn on Pensacola Beach--it is way nicer than most of the chain and I would totally stay there again. Although their "heated pool" was so cold I nearly died.

* I ate at a restaurant on the beach called Peg Leg Pete's--also highly recommended. The food was delicious and the company was good too. However, I did have an older retired couple from GA there start talking to me about why they moved to Pensacola, and at one point the guy did a quick look around the bar and then just launched into an incredibly racist statement. (Something about how the locals all call this one beach "chicken wing beach" because "that kind" hang out there.) I hate it when things like this happen, because I realize it would do no good to chide him for saying it, but I also don't want to be complicit in his racism and act like it doesn't bother me. So, inevitably, I end up sitting there with an uncomfortable look on my face, hoping he will realize he shouldn't have said it but that I am too polite or weak or whatever to flat out call him out for it. And then I wrapped up my drinking and left soon thereafter.

* In Biloxi, I lost a lot of money and ate a wonderful meal at Mary Mahoney's, as is my annual tradition. Still the best seafood gumbo I have EVER had. However, they cannot make a gimlet to save their damn lives. Here's a hint: it should not be over ice, and it should not be fizzy.

* After Biloxi, I drove back to attend a friend's show at Smith's, and the next morning on little sleep and much hangover, I flew to Vegas. We stayed at the Mandalay Bay this time, and I much preferred it to the MGM Grand where I stayed in May. I again lost money, but had a couple big slot machine wins ($350 oncer, $200 at the airport) and some good blackjack play. However, overall the trip was pricey because my gambling would swing hard in both directions. Not as bad as T., who was with us, and who lost $800 in about 20 minutes on 8 $100 hands of blackjack! LIVING THE DREAM.

* We ate our way through Vegas, and that seriously has to be the best foodie town in the universe. First night we had Border Grill mexican food that was delicious, the next day we had Burger Bar for lunch (it says a lot that this very tasty meal ended up being the least impressive of the trip but was still good), then Nobu for dinner where SOME PEOPLE ordered kobe beef steaks cooked over hot rocks at $32 an ounce, then the next day for lunch I had a lamb burger and fried dill pickles at BLT Burger that was TO DIE FOR, and finally we finished it off with an excellent Russian fusion tasting menu at Red Square. All of it was yummy.

* Good thing I went on that "crash vegas" diet...I lost 7 pounds in 17 days, and I wasn't even trying that hard for the last week or so. But I gained 4 right back in Vegas! (I've taken off 2 of those in the last week since I've been back and hitting the treadmill again.) This really inspired me to rededicate, because I do feel so much better when I am working out 4 days a week at least. Also, with the cooler weather, I am going to try walking outside on weekends more often. I still hope to get myself half-marathon ready by January...

* The craziest moment of the entire Vegas experience was when I realized while eating lunch at BLT Burger in the Mirage that my wallet was gone. I didn't know if I had dropped it, been pickpocketed, or left it in the cab I had arrived in 45 minutes earlier. I have to give major, major props to the staff of the Mirage, who got the security folks to find the cab number of the cab I got out of through their security camera footage, called the cab company and fought their way through the labyrynthic maze to reach the driver, and discovered that he had my wallet and made arrangements for him to bring it back to me. It completely saved my vacation, and then I tipped the entire world for their help. I will also probably stay at the Mirage next time I am in town, because I feel like I owe them for going over the top for me when I was not even a guest on their property.

* Speaking of next time, there is already a movement afoot to go back for Thanksgiving. I don't think I can afford it!

* This was only my second "real vacation" (i.e. not a long weekend or Christmas/Thanksgiving holiday trips home to family) since I graduated from law school. Twice I have managed to take an entire week off from work, in 10 years. This is sad. This needs to be remedied.

I am weak

My vegan experiment made it all of 3.5 days. Thursday night was by far the most difficult, as I left work late and had zero desire to cook. I also realized there was pretty much nowhere I could stop to pick up something that would be animal product-free. I nearly bailed on the whole thing, but as luck would have it, my friend in DC who has been eating vegan periodically for religious reasons called and gave me a pep talk about her delicious vegan sandwich, and I found the will to cook a veggie burger when I got home.

So, what did I learn? First, I cannot live without at least a small glass of skim milk every day. I just really crave that calcium and the comfort it gives me as part of my bedtime ritual. I ended up having milk for 2 of the 3.5 days because I just couldn't resist.

Second, there is a limit to how many roasted beets I can eat. I LOVE roasted beets, but after having them at 3 consecutive meals I was peeing pink for three days*, and that really freaked me out. I have one big serving's worth leftover, and I have not been able to stomach the thought of eating them. Maybe tonight.

Third, the easiest part of this was eating fruit for breakfast, which I already do. That is a daily change that I can easily make for good.

Fourth, I really hate tofu. I got vegetarian pad thai at a restaurant on Friday for lunch, and even though it was quite tasty, I just could not bring myself to eat the fried tofu chunks. However, vegetarian spring rolls saved my life.

Fifth, if you buy the light whole wheat hamburger buns, unless they are hiding them in there somewhere that I cannot see, there are no egg or dairy ingredients. These, plus Boca all-american burgers, saved my life.

Sixth, you can have my mayonnaise when you pry it from my cold dead hands. Also, eggless aioli is a myth that cannot be created at home no matter how hard you try. The many glasses of olive oil dressing I attempted to whip into a froth with my immersion blender are proof of this.

Seventh, while cutting meat out of my diet is an easy way to drop extra calories during the week (and why I'm going vegetarian, but not vegan, this week), the deprivation caused by having to exclude dairy and egg is really too much to ask. Luckily I was only doing this as an experiment and not for real due to either a dietary issue or a moral/religious reason--so if I screwed up a bit, it was no big deal. But I have renewed appreciation for just how difficult life must be for people allergic to eggs or dairy, or for those who choose to be vegan for some reason.

Eighth, as usual my attempt to adopt a strict diet did not reap the weight loss benefits I was seeking. I lost 1.5 lbs. despite feeling tremendously deprived for much of the week. I could have lost the same amount by sticking to Weight Watchers. In part, I think this is because the only satisfying options I did have were all relatively high carb or contained oils & fats (or both)--such as sweet potato fries, chips w/ guacamole, mixed nuts, pasta/noodles, or vegetables cooked with olive oil. It really does prove that moderation wins out over deprivation every time.

Ninth, I was never actually hungry while eating vegan, and I had loads of energy. I'm not sure why that is, perhaps the increase in carb intake? I felt great all week, for some reason. It definitely was an unexpected bounce, and a reason to consider trying it again at some point.

Tenth, I remain convinced that the single most important factor in my weight loss last year was my adoption of regular exercise. Unfortunately, I am still having trouble working in time for that. I have to make it a priority to spend 5 hours a week on the treadmill, otherwise all the good eating in the world doesn't make enough of a dent.

So anyhow, that's what I learned. This week I will be eating vegetarian for as long as I can stand it, but if I get the urge for a little animal flesh, I am not going to deprive myself. And thank God, alcohol is 100% vegetarian.

*I'm sorry for mentioning the pink pee, but I really really wanted to talk about it to someone all week and I just couldn't bring myself to tweet it. I guess I figure I have fewer blog readers than twitter followers now, so you all don't mind, right? And at least I did not mention the other way beets affect my body...

Twigs & Berries

Tomorrow, just to see if I can do it (and also to see how much it impacts my weight in a given week), I'm starting a 5 day vegan cleanse. Basically, I'm not eating any animal products for as long as I can stand it. This will be hard for me, but I think I can manage. Here are some of the meals I plan to make:

Tuesday
Breakfast: pineapple
Snack: orange
Lunch: Humongous salad (since I won't have time to prepare anything tonight)
Afternoon snack: popcorn
Dinner: Roasted beets, sweet potatoes, zucchini, peppers, summer squash and portobella mushrooms sauteed with couscous, sun dried tomatoes and olives

Wednesday
Breakfast: cantaloupe
Snack: vegetables with garlicky egg-free aioli (if I can perfect a recipe)
Lunch: Roasted vegetables and large salad
Afternoon snack: strawberries
Dinner: Sweet potato enchiladas, grilled corn, baked tortilla chips & guacamole

Thursday
Breakfast: pineapple
Snack: Orange
Lunch: Roasted vegetable tacos with refried beans & guacamole
Snack: Cucumber salad
Dinner: Grilled Portobello mushroom sandwich with sweet potato fries

You get the point. I am out to prove I can make 5 days worth of delicious meals without any animal products. I might waver on Friday night and Saturday, but if so I will try to make up for it by several more days next week. The hardest part will actually be giving up dairy--I drink a lot of skim milk and love greek yogurt. But I'm happy to find out that the pita bread, whole wheat couscous and whole wheat pasta I have in my cupboard do not contain eggs or dairy, so I should have options. If I come up with any particularly great options I will share the recipes here. There are so many delicious dishes and snacks that are 100% vegan--olive tapenade on water crackers, roasted garlic hummus and olives on grilled pita, vegetable fried rice (w/o eggs), pasta with lemon, garlic and pine nuts, mushroom burritos, etc.--that I am excited about the nearly infinte possibilities.

Also, I will probably be dying for a hamburger or piece of bacon by Thursday. I am realistic about this.

But, if I need motivation in addition to the health benefits of cleansing my body of bad foods for awhile...mama's gotta be able to wear a swimsuit in public in just 3 short weeks!

Of Diets and Such

One provision of the recently passed healthcare reform legislation that I did not know was in there will require every chain restaurant to post nutritional information for the foods they sell. As someone trying to carefully count Weight Watchers points, it has been beyond frustrating to not know exactly how to account for restaurant meals. But thanks to similar legislation in California and NY, many of the popular chain restaurants have been forced to share their nutritional information in menus that have been posted online--and what they reveal is terribly eye-opening. When I was in New York last December, I was trying to decide what to eat at the airport before my flight. Having to face down the calories in a Nathan's hot dog and fries (900 or so) really forced me to make a smarter choice. Talk about your hidden calories!

Speaking of hidden calories, last night while picking up tequila and margarita mixer at a liquor store I came across a bottle called "Skinny Girl." I read the back, and it is a margarita made with silver tequila and agave nectar, and purports to come in at 100 calories for a 4 oz. glass. I bought it to try, and it wasn't bad. But then, googling the calories in a regular margarita for comparison's sake, I discovered that a 4 oz. margarita clocks in at nearly 500 calories! Holy shnikies! This skinny girl drink is a concoction created by Bethenny Frankel, who was on one of those Real Housewives shows and apparently also has a diet book, so I'm sure it will be the next big thing. The folks at the liquor store said apparently they can barely keep it on the shelves. If you're dieting, and like margaritas, I can verify that it doesn't suck. (Particularly if you add a splash of Patron Reposado.)

Tonight, I'll be blowing my diet by visiting a restaurant in Dallas that sounds amazing--Abacus. It is owned by Kent Rathbun, brother of local Atlanta megachef Kevin Rathbun. This blog post about the place has my mouth totally watering...so damn the torpedoes! (P.S.--I took my workout gear with me too so I can work it all off tomorrow.)

In which I sound like a shill for a diet plan, but have a serious point under it all

So, I haven't been around much lately. (I'm sure all six of you noticed.) Work continues to be insanely busy, my personal life experienced a short-lived but dramatic uptick in activity, and I really just find political and legal developments too depressing to even talk about.

But there is something I've been meaning to write about for awhile, so here goes...

One year ago, on March 7th, I got up and registered with Weight Watchers. The morning before I had caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and realized that I just could not live with how I looked a second longer. I had always been resistant to the idea of organized diet programs, believing that I could do it on my own using common sense food choices and portion control. The problem was, of course, that I'd never actually used that common sense to lose any weight.

Being a technology lover and resistant to anything involving meetings or expensive food programs, I decided WW was the right option. For a monthly fee, I could enter my daily food and exercise into the tracker and it would calculate my daily and weekly point limits. I wasn't terribly busy at work at the time, so I quickly realized that the more I worked out, the more flex points I could save up for the weekend. I had bought a treadmill 3 years earlier but never used it, so I decided now was a good time to start. I walked on the treadmill while watching on DVD entire seasons of TV shows like Dexter that I'd been meaning to watch. Every other weekend, I'd try to do a longer walk (perhaps with less incline or at a slower speed) while watching a movie. I got to the point where I could do a 7 or 8 mile walk every once in awhile, though the last mile or so was usually pretty brutal. I had never been a regular exerciser, and I came to really enjoy it.

I also figured out that I could eat anything I wanted, as long as I planned for it. A week of fruit for breakfast and Lean Cuisine meals for lunch would mean I could eat relatively "normal" dinners and still have my 35 flex points saved up for one weekend day of drinking and eating bar food with friends. If I went out to dinner, I just tried to either have points saved up or only eat half of whatever I ordered, and I started looking up point values on the internet if I wasn't sure. I switched to Amstel Light, which is terrible but is the most widely available light beer that I can stand to drink. As a friend remarked to me recently, it wasn't even that noticeable of a change for my social life, since I could still go to the same places I always did, but just had to be careful about what I chose.

I lost 20 pounds and dropped a dress size in 5 months from March 7th-August 15th. That was a huge milestone, but about 15 pounds from my goal (which would put me back where I weighed in college.) That might sound huge to some people, but when you're 6 ft tall, 20 pounds is a mere drop in the bucket. But it still felt good to have people notice. It felt good to have my jeans become too big to wear because they were falling off and baggy in the butt. It felt great to wear a bikini in New Orleans in July for a bachelorette weekend and not feel completely self-conscious about it.

About once a month, I also went off the wagon for a few days entirely. First it was a trip to New Orleans in late March, then it was Easter Sunday with my family in April, then it was my birthday in May, then it was a conference in Vancouver in June, then it was the bachelorette in July. Every time, as long as I limited the damage to a few days and got right back on plan afterwards, I avoided any real backsliding. It slowed down my progress, but also kept me sane.

Then, in September I got busy again at work. I recall that over Labor Day weekend in Biloxi, I ate whatever I wanted and didn't work out at all, but I also was only eating one real meal a day so I didn't gain anything. I had no time to work out, though, so I knew I would stall out. Then I got sick at the end of September, and ate whatever I wanted while I was recovering. I got sick again in October, and again in December, and again last month. I might have worked out maybe 5 times in that time span until last week, because between billing 200 hours a month at work, the holidays, and constantly struggling with illnesses, I just couldn't muster the energy or the time. I also used my busy-ness at work and the holidays as an excuse to go off the wagon on tracking my points. By the new year, I had gained back 10 of the pounds I'd lost.

By last week, my one year anniversary, I'd decided I had no excuses left. I worked out 4 days last week, and I got back to calculating my points. It was hard (particularly because of some personal life drama that decided to emerge late Friday night and make me want to eat all of the fried food and chocolate in the known universe) but I stuck to it. And I'll hopefully keep sticking to it, because in 3 weeks I need to be able to wear a swimsuit in Vegas without wanting to cut myself.

I'm not writing this as some sort of testimonial for Weight Watchers or seeking a pat on the back. I'm writing this because up until a year ago I was one of those people full of excuses and distrust when it came to diet plans or my ability to get anywhere with something like this. I said I "only run when chased," I talked about my bad knees and back, I made fun of the cultishness of WW meetings. I said I knew everything I needed to know to be healthy, but food was just so delicious. I was a skeptic of the highest order, and yet a year later I have been proven wrong. And I know so many people who are in those same shoes--making excuses, doubting they could ever do it, giving all the reasons why the mere thought makes them so uncomfortable. But I want them to listen to me and think about giving it a try.

And I'm hoping that by this time next year, I'll weigh less than I did in college. Which would be awesome. If I meet this goal, I'll post a picture of myself in a bikini as proof. I make this promise to you now.

I'm also thinking of running a half marathon. Yes, really.

Grading Myself

I have a group of friends who I have been posting with on various forms of social media since 2001. (First we were on messageboards, then we were moved to something that tried to be like myspace plus messageboards, then about 18 months ago we moved to Facebook.) Every year, we make our new year's resolutions and then in the following December we review our list to assess our progress. Sometimes one of the people in this group will remind us that we've been resolving every year since 20o7 to leave that job or lose those 25 pounds, which makes the annual resolution review particularly painful. Not that I speak from experience or anything.

So yesterday, someone suggested our annual resolution review and I immediately felt sick over the annual recriminations after realizing I have still made no progress on my list. But then when I went and found my blog post on the topic, I realized I kind of DID make some progress on several of them, and that was a pretty cool realization. Here's my list for the past year:

1. Resolve my job situation on my own terms.
If by "resolve," I meant "realize I am stuck here until the economy turns, and make the best of it," or perhaps just "don't get fired in the worst economic disaster of my generation," then yes. I resolved. But I am still in the same job I have had since January 2006. So, you do the math.

2. Become more frugal, in order to save money for a new mortgage.
I saved over $10K in the past year, and did get a new mortgage. I also blew all those savings on home renovations that currently carry a pricetag of almost $20K, and climbing. Oh joy. But yay, I finally got that mortgage, and the crushing debt load that comes with it! (Sometimes, adult milestones don't make you feel like you thought they would.)

3. Cook dinner more often at home, and eat healthier.
I barely cooked at home at all this year, but I did manage to follow Weight Watchers for 6 months and lose 20 pounds. (I've undone 6 pounds of that in the last 3 months though, and need desperately to get back on the program in 2 weeks when the holidays are behind us.

4. Cut caffeine from my daily diet.
Oh this is just too funny. I think I reduced my intake for like a month before I gave up. In fairness, I did say it would be the hardest one on the list to stick with. I think it was when I started dieting in earnest that I realized trying to quit caffeine while trying to quit every delicious food in the world is like the single most masochistic thing I could have attempted.

5. Begin exercising regularly, including attempting to start running on a regular basis by the end of the year.
In March I started working out on a regular basis and by May I was working out 5 nights a week on a treadmill. I even managed to do several long distances of 9 or 10 miles at a time, without dying. But then I stopped because I got sick in September, and then work became unbearably busy. I also never graduated to running. But, I am resolving to get back on the horse in the new year on this one. And by horse, I mean treadmill.

6. Remove as much stress from my life as possible.
Ha! What a fool I was.

7. FINALLY finish decorating this house--just need 2 rooms painted, and possibly a new desk in the guest room.
Or, y'know, I could decide instead to completely renovate the outside of the house and make zero progress indoors. The closest I got to progress on this front was having new light fixtures installed in my kitchen, and picking paint colors for my bedroom. BUT, I hope to finally get that painting actually done in 2010. Maybe.

8. Spend more time with family, since my grandparents are here now and both rapidly approaching 90.
This went well for the first half of the year when work was slow, and badly for the second half once I got super busy at work. Sunday dinners are hard to make it to when you work every Sunday. My grandpa is declining fairly steadily, though, so I really do need to make more time to be around him while I still have the chance. He turns 90 in January.

9. Focus on my writing, and really push myself to take the time for quality over filler.
Yeah, not so much. I had a couple decent blog posts this year, perhaps ones I will even assemble into a top 10 list if I find 10 I am at least halfway proud of. But for the most part, this year was slow on the writing front. I resolve to do better next year. (She said, as she wrote a blog post that could arguably be deemed "filler.")

10. Do something big and out of character. Details to come.
So, now that I didn't do it after all, I can reveal that my plan was to run a half marathon on Thanksgiving day. That obviously didn't happen, nor will I be running the March half marathon at Disney World that I was thinking of trying. However, I do want to try and complete a half marathon at some point, so I am going to try and carry this one over to the new year as well. But I did do something fairly out of character this year, and it was scary as hell: I went to Biloxi by myself and played in a poker tournament. I nearly got hives just thinking about doing it, but I'm glad I did. Even if I lost a lot of money and came away having yet again underperformed against the big boys.

Despite what this list might indicate, 2009 was a big year for me in several ways. As I look back, I'm pleased with where I've traveled to and hopeful that 2010 will be a year of even more change. I'll be thinking about my resolutions for 2010 in the next few weeks (several of them will be virtually identical, of course), but for now I think I give my progress in 2009 a B-. But of course, I resolve to do better next year, too.

Obsessive Hostess strikes again

I'm having a Fourth of July cookout, and the amount of work and cooking to be done is starting to bear down hard upon me. I have decided on the following menu:

Appetizers:
Vegetable tray with dill dip
mini lobster rolls
bacon wrapped dates stuffed with bleu cheese
chips with salsa, guacamole and queso

Mains:
Burgers (of many varieties)
Hot Dogs
Grilled Chicken Breasts

Sides:
My should-be-famous potato salad
Pasta Salad with zucchini, tomato and feta
Grilled vegetables and corn
fresh cut fruit

Desserts:
Lemon cupcakes
Strawberry shortcakes

Drinks:
Sangria
Beer
Water and sodas

So, um, yeah. It's a lot of food. I still need to shop, and then tomorrow I will spend the whole day cooking. The beauty of this menu is that it can ALL be prepared in advance, except for the things that need to be grilled the day of the cookout.

The far bigger issue is that hosting parties makes me suddenly hyper-aware of all the things I meant to fix up in my house but never got around to. I meant to finish paining the living room, and to paint my bedroom, and to paint over that water damage spot on the cieling, but I never did. Now I am trying to calculate...can I get all those done tomorrow? (No, and I shouldn't even try. But I still might.)

I also have let my deck languish this year, and haven't bothered to clean it or set it up properly at all. I have a basement full of cutesy things to decorate the deck with for a party, but the thought of actually putting all of that together and making it look nice is so exhausting. So, I cajoled my parents into coming and helping me with that part. Nothing like free labor!

Once the actual cookout comes, I will feel the wash of a sense of accomplishment, but until then it is nothing but worry. I worry that 36 people still have not RSVPed and so I have no idea how much to cook. I worry that my house is small and if somehow 40 people show up, where will I put them all? I worry it will be insanely hot and my air conditioner will crap out again. All of these things are, sadly, eminently possible.

I also am trying to figure out where would be the best spot to go to watch fireworks near my house. I am surrounded by several massive multi-story trees, so I doubt we could see much from my deck. However, I am less than a mile from Piedmont Park, which should have a good view of several fireworks shows. Anyone know any other good spots relatively close to Virginia-Highland where I can take my merry band of friends for a good ooh ahhh view of fireworks? Let me know in the comments.

Many wonder why I take on this sort of thing when it carries this much stress, and it's hard to explain but the truth is that I do love it. I love having an excuse to cook for other people, and to see them enjoy a great meal that I prepared. I love bringing friends from a variety of circles together and watching them have a good time. I love playing hostess, even though I try too hard to make everything perfect. It may not appear like it as I worry and work, but I live for this sort of thing. I promise.

Restaurant review: Varasano's

If you have never heard of Jeff Varasano, congratulate yourself for successfully avoiding one of the most bizarre and annoying internet phenomena here in Atlanta. Years ago, Varasano moved to Atlanta from New York and lamented our lack of authentic New York style pizza. He then set out to re-create his favorite slice from NYC institution Patsy's, and documented every painstaking step on his website. Varasano had to rig up his electric home oven to run the clean cycle in order to reach the desired 900 degrees for perfect crust "char," and he also had to agonize for what seems like years over proper fermentation of the sourdough crust and the right variety of tomatoes for the sauce. If you think I'm obsessive about my cupcakes, you ain't seen nothing yet.

After a few years, he thought he had the perfect recipe and began hosting pizza parties in his home to show it off. Varasano built a following, trashing a few local and national pizza restaurant stars in the process, and it seemed inevitable that he would eventually open a restaurant. In March, he finally did in a shiny new space in a condo building on Peachtree. I'd heard both good and bad things about the pizza available at Varasano's restaurant, but the really interesting thing was how strong the opinions were on both sides. A discussion of a preliminary review at Creative Loafing's Omnivore blog became known as the Pizza Wars, it was so contentious. (A later review after the usual new restaurant kinks had started to work out was more favorable.) Varasano had both many fans of his pizza and many detractors hoping he would fail. I found myself pulled in the latter direction.

And so, last night I walked into the restaurant both hoping for a great meal, and yet eager for a delicious taste of schadenfreude. I wanted Varasano's to not live up to the insane hype. We went with a group of eleven, and decided to each order our own pie so that we could share different varieties amongst the table. It sounds insane to have each person get an entire pizza for themselves, and yet I think out of 11 pizzas only four slices left in to-go boxes. It just so happens that Varasano's pizza is so delicious that you feel compelled to keep eating.

I had a simple salad first, romaine lettuce with roasted peppers, a few sparse croutons, and a lemon and olive oil dressing. The dressing was delicious, but the salad was nothing special. Two other friends tried the Caprese salad and seemed moderately disappointed. Perhaps that was our mistake for not focusing solely on the restaurant's raison d'etre, the pizza.

For my pizza I ordered the margherita, the archetypal pizza that started it all for Varasano. I paid the extra $5 for bufala mozzarella, though I'm not sure it was necessary. The pizza had just the right texture, with obviously very high quality and delicious ingredients. My only complaint was that I would have liked more basil on the pizza, but that was my mistake for not requesting it in advance. It certainly did not stop me from eating all but one slice, which I gave to a friend. I savored every bite.

I also had a small sampling of a caramelized onion and emmenthaler cheese pizza, which was also very tasty but a big departure from what I had already been eating. I would order it again, but you have to be a lover of onions and a strong cheese flavor in order to appreciate a pizza like that. Others had pizzas topped with arugula and lemon, salami and spiced olives, and a dessert pizza with medjool dates, honey and walnuts. I did not sample those, but heard no complaints and many rave reviews.

The space is nice and modern, and feels more like any other trendy restaurant than a pizza place. Waitstaff was mostly attentive and helpful. The bar does not serve beer on draft, which many found odd, but the beer and wine list contained many interesting oddities. The desserts that others sampled, an espresso panna cotta and the famous Italian donuts, seemed to be good though I did not try either one.

All in all, as much as I hate to admit it, I would recommend the pizza at Varasano's to anyone. I intend to go back very soon.

Coca-cola cupcakes

For a housewarming party on Saturday I was inspired to create a recipe for Coca-cola cupcakes. The "Co-cola cake" tradition is one of my favorite discoveries upon moving down south, but the cake is such a strange concoction that I wasn't really sure how well it would translate into cupcake form. For starters, co-cola cake is traditionally glazed or iced rather than frosted, but that makes for not so pretty cupcakes. However, I didn't find any great cola frosting recipes on my many Googles, so I became concerned that the presence of cola in a buttercream based frosting might destabilize it, much like real lime juice did when I made lemon lime cupcakes a few months ago. I also was worried the cupcakes would be lacking if they didn't have that traditional glaze element, because the icing is the best part of a co-cola cake.

I decided to give it a shot and wing it with an amalgamation of a few recipes, and thankfully things turned out right on the first try and it was simply divine. My worries about unstable frosting did hold, however: these were starting to get a little drippy after 2 hours on the cupcake stand at the party. However, if you keep them refrigerated and serve them pretty quickly, then you won't even notice the frosting issues.

For Cupcakes:

2 2/3 c. cups plain flour (I used Swan cake flour)

1 ½ c. sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1 c buttermilk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter

8 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 ½ c. Coca-Cola

1 c. small marshmallows

For Coca-Cola icing:

½ c. unsalted butter

3 T unsweetened cocoa

6 T Coke

16 oz. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

For Coca-cola frosting:

1 c. unsalted butter

5 to 6 cups powdered sugar

¼ c. milk

2 t. vanilla

1 to 3 T Coke

1 to 2 T cocoa

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In a separate jug, mix together the egg, buttermilk and vanilla.Gently heat the butter, cocoa and Coca-Cola in a heavy saucepan until melted, then add marshmallows, turn off heat, and stir until melted. Add mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon. Add the buttermilk mixture to the batter and stir well until everything is incorporated.

Portion out the batter into paper-lined muffin tins. Fill to about two-thirds to three-quarters full. The recipe should make about 24-30 standard sized cupcakes. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely (or overnight) before icing or frosting.

To make icing, melt 1 stick unsalted butter in saucepan with 3 tablespoons cocoa and 6 tablespoons Coke, stirring until all butter has melted. In bowl, add butter mixture to 16 oz. powdered sugar and whisk until lumps disappear. Stir in vanilla. Poke holes in cupcakes with fork and spread icing on each cupcake just to glaze the top. Chill remaining icing for at least 1 hour.

To make frosting, combine 2 sticks unsalted butter and 4 c. powdered sugar in mixer at high speed. Add vanilla and milk and mix until smooth. Add 1 c. sugar and cooled remainder of coca-cola icing and mix on high until well-blended. Add 1 c. sugar, 1 T coke, and 1 T cocoa, and mix until well-blended. (You will have to play with the amounts of coke, cocoa and sugar to make sure frosting reaches desired consistency.) Chill in refrigerator at least one hour, then pipe or spread onto cupcakes over coca-cola glaze. Decorate as desired. Cupcakes will retain their frosted shape best if refrigerated for at least an hour after frosting.

Makes 24-30 iced and frosted cupcakes.

The butterfly decorations in the photo were purchased online from Baker's Nook, and are fully edible (made of sugar). The daisies are from Wilton, and were purchased at Michael's.

NOLA (updated with a couple pictures)

I wrote a post about my trip, but Blogger eated it. No, seriously, it was almost done and then it went poof.

So, here's the highlights:

Drank too much, stumbled and twisted my ankle so I walked gimpy for the rest of the weekend, yes those things might be related.

Ate wonderful food: boiled shrimp and red beans & rice at Desire, shrimp po boy and gumbo at a restaurant on Jackson Sq. that I forget, beignets and frozen cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, wonderful dinner at Brennan's (shrimp remoulade, gumbo, veal with lemons and artichokes, chocolate cake that I thought was too rich), beignets at the airport that were actually better than CDM!

The power was out to the first 4 blocks of Bourbon St. from Friday about 6pm until Saturday at 8pm. This killed most of our eating plans as the restaurants we inteded to patronize were all within this radius. Sorry, Arnaud's, I will try you next trip.



Hurricanes are the devil's drink.

When I of all people am the voice of reason that convinces you to keep your clothes on, it is time to call it a night. It was pretty funny to look up on a balcony of beaded men begging women to flash and see one guy who looked directly at me, raised his camera in one hand, and gave me a nodding thumbs up with the other hand. But my goodies stayed covered.

Strangely enough, all of the women that I saw flashing, and there were several, were over 40. Some were WELL over 40. What is up with that? And I felt truly sorry for one woman old enough to be my mother who flashed a balcony and got no beads thrown at her. Perhaps that should have been a sign?

All the bars in New Orleans with live bands play the same 10 songs on an endless loop. I know this because in the world's longest walk back to the hotel with drunk people who wanted to go in every bar, I heard all of them at least 4 times. Did you know that everyone in New Orleans (other than me) knows the Cupid Shuffle? And loves to do it over and over again?



In the end, I got to do most of the things I wanted to do with the exceptions of riding the streetcar and eating raw gulf oysters. I lost the $200 I intended to lose in the casino, though it took me a lot longer than I expected. I met some great people and had a lot of fun. I neither removed my clothing nor made out with a random boy, and I had opportunities to do both. I think my ankle will heal, eventually.

New Orleans, I want to be back to see you in the fall. I hope I can make that happen.

If this lawyer thing doesn't work out...

I could probably give it a go as a cupcake baker. Behold my creation for my father's birthday:

Zucca pizza now open in Decatur

For years, my friends who live in Smyrna have all been going to Zucca and its next door neighbor Vintage Tavern. I have spent many a night there with them drinking and noshing on the unexpectedly fantastic pizza. I've shared it with friends who have remarked on how delicious it is, and wondered where they could get some. But sadly, until now the answer was only in Cobb county, a long drive for ITP Atlantans who like a little beer with their pizza and don't need to be risking DUIs.

I'm very excited to learn that Zucca has now opened a location in Decatur on the Square. Gonna have to try this out soon. If you like thin crust NY style pizza, you should too. I'm not shilling for the place, I'm telling you that I know somewhere new where you can get delicious pizza. Check it out.

Dine Out Wednesday to help catch John Henderson's killers

Local restaurants are donating 20% of their profits Wednesday, January 28th to the Crime Stoppers reward fund for information about the murderers of Standard bartender John Henderson. A lot of great local restaurants and bars are participating, so come have a meal and some brews and do your part! Here's the restaurants participating:

* 97 Estoria
* Agave
* The Albert
* Atkins Park
* Blind Willie’s
* Brake Pad
* The Cavern
* The Corner Tavern (all locations)
* Dakota Blue
* The Glenwood
* El Myr
* Flatiron
* Food 101
* Fontaine’s Oyster House
* Front Page News (Moreland Ave. location)
* Genki Noodles & Sushi
* Grant Central Pizza
* Highland Tap
* Holy Taco
* JavaVino
* JCT Kitchen
* Limerick Junction
* Little Azios- East Atlanta
* Mehan’s Public House
* Midway Pub
* Milltown Arms Tavern
* Moe’s & Joe’s*
* No Mas Cantina
* Octane Coffee
* The Pool Hall (Buckhead)
* Radial
* Ria’s Bluebird
* San Francisco Coffee
* Six Feet Under (both locations)
* Steamhouse Lounge
* Steinbeck’s
* The Standard
* U Joint
* Vickery’s Bar and Grill (Glenwood Park & Midtown)
* Vortex, Little Five Points
* West Egg
* Zaya Restaurant

Fifth Group Restaurants

* El Taco
* La Tavola

HomeGrown Restaurants

* Doc Chey’s Noodle House
* Osteria 832 Pasta & Pizza
* Stella Trattoria

U Restaurant Group

* Beleza
* Cuerno
* Fritti
* Sotto Sotto

Other participating businesses

* Jac (boutique)

*Where I'll be. If you come to Moe's & Joe's on Wednesday, you can even heckle Griftdrift running trivia AND help contribute to the fund!

Random

I don't have the mental clarity or time for mutiple blog posts, so some tidbits bouncing around my brain to tide folks over:

* Troy Davis dies in a week. I really want to go to protest outside the execution, but I don't know if I will be able to get out of town in time. If not, I will sit on my front step that night and light a candle, and pray. I encourage all who find the decision to execute this man without full consideration of the grounds for his appeal to do the same.

* Tonight I am going with a group of folks to try Taverna Plaka. I haven't had greek food in ages, so I'm very excited! Review forthcoming as soon as I find the time.

* This weekend, I'm going to the FSU-Virginia Tech game. Considering that we lost the Miami game I went to last year, and the 3 home games I went to the year before that, I am a little apprehensive about whether I might be jinxing the team. However, I bought new gear to wear in the hope of exorcising the old demons.

* My darling Red Sox are out of the playoffs, but they really overachieved in making it to game 7 of the ALCS given the injuries they were struggling with. Now I have to root for the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays, since I grew up in central FL. However, I suspect most Braves fans would be rooting against them because if the Rays win they will have eclipsed the Braves' "worst to first" record in 1991...when the Braves lost in the World Series.

* Pretty much everything I watch on TV these days is disappointing and doesn't seem worth the time. Grey's Anatomy sucks, True Blood is cheesy and porny (and badly written), Project Runway was a mere shell of its former self in this last season on Bravo, I lost interest in Fringe after 2 episodes, I couldn't get back into watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles or Pushing Daisies, and Heroes is clearly in the category of one-season wonders previously occupied by Friday Night Lights. Even Gossip Girl isn't as good this time around. Are there any shows that are lighting up your TV screens that I should be watching? (Excepting those on Showtime, which I don't have.)

* This weekend, I attempted Operation Convince the Family to Vote for Obama. It didn't go so well. My grandparents aren't going to vote at all (which is better than a vote for McCain, I guess), and my parents are both so afraid of Democrats having unfettered control of government that they won't be swayed. At least that is their reasoning, rather than fear of a secret Muslim or focus on his alleged relationship with William Ayers. But still, Habersham county is apparently McCain country.

* I bought Mario Kart last weekend for my Wii, and I can't stop playing it. The race that takes place in a shopping mall is so incredibly hard, I want to kill myself every time I try it. But I keep trying it anyway.

* Work is busy, but busy is good. Even though the tension in these parts is pretty thick right about now. Everyone's waiting for the other shoe of the financial crisis to drop, and wondering if it will fall on them. Not the greatest of environments in which to spend my days.

* The election cannot get here fast enough. I am officially sick of it, and ready for Obama to just WIN ALREADY.

Economic downturn = restaurant promotions

In a sure sign of the rocky economic times, more and more restaurants are putting on promotions to get people in their doors. Upscale restaurants take the hardest hit of a bad economy, since eating in restaurants is a luxury many people quickly cut when they tighten their belts.

But this week, Buckhead Life restaurant group (responsible for places like Chops, Nava, Kyma, Atlanta Fish Market and Pano's and Paul's) is having another one of those "restaurant week" prix fixe promotions. $29 plus tax & tip gets you an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert from their preset menus at any of their restaurants. If you have a little disposable income, now is a great time to try some of their offerings. Check out all the menus here. I'm swamped this week, or I'd be trying to organize a dinner myself!

Restaurant Review: Canton House

Awhile back you may recall I was interested in getting a group together to go try one new and interesting restaurant a month. The response was fantastic, and despite my delays in actually organizing anything, last night we finally had our first dinner. Since I was picking the first restaurant on my own, I wanted something that would be accessible but still a little risky and I decided that we should try one of the many dim sum restaurants on Buford Hwy. While I originally tried to schedule it for a Sunday, we quickly discovered that day was no good for practically anyone. Once we moved the dinner to a weeknight we settled on Canton House almost by default as it was the only local restaurant that I found offered dim sum on weeknights.

Do not be fooled, for Canton House does not REALLY offer dim sum on weeknights. Oh, sure, they have one steam cart and one fried cart. But as we discovered when attempting to order a few dim sum dishes and a few entrees, the selection is drastically limited. (If I recall correctly, there were 4 or 5 options in the steam cart, and 3 in the fried cart.) We had some shrimp dumplings, siu mai, taro cakes, and sesame balls...and then we moved on to ordering entrees off the main menu. The dim sum portion of the evening was tasty but disappointingly limited.

Thankfully, the entrees at Canton House are very tasty. I ordered comibination pan fried noodles, which had a ton of fresh seafood and vegetables on cantonese noodles topped with a garlic sauce. It was very good and exactly what I was expecting. I also sampled other peoples' dishes, including spicy garlic pork (good), salt and pepper squid (very good), mongolian beef (excellent) and pan fried green beans (something I had wanted to order, but was disappointed by when it arrived. The sauce was a little too glutinous.) After eating more than I should have, I went home thinking I certainly would be happy to eat there again, despite the lack of real dim sum options on a weeknight.

The ambience and service were a little lacking, mainly because the back of the restaurant suddenly filled with several large tables with screaming children. The wait staff seemed geared towards these tables primarily and it sometimes felt like we had to wave our waitress over to our table. If I were using a star system of rating, I'd deduct half a star for the service and ambience issues.

Overall, I liked Canton House and greatly enjoyed the company. I can't wait until next month's dinner. Now if only we could figure out where to try next...

Hey Foodies

Next week is Atlanta Restaurant Week! Here's the list of places where you can get a fabulous meal for only $25...anyone want to go? If so, post in the comments or shoot me an email and we can try to pick a night and restaurant and make a reservation. I could do Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

I love love LOVE this idea

Via Fresh Loaf's link to Disposable Income, I just read about the Rogue Apron "underground supper club." Check out the fantastic menu, pictures, and info on their website. Basically, they host a dinner with a different theme and a different location every month. People sign up to be invited and then make a reservation if they are fast enough when they get the information about the next event. The idea is to bring together interesting people for not only a great meal experience but an interesting social mixer element as well.

I really, really wish I had enough free time (and a bigger house!) so that I could start something like this myself. I would love to host monthly dinners with new and interesting people. Maybe next year. Instead, for now I will ask: who wants to go sign up at the Rogue Apron website and come with me to the next one?