Less Snow, More Avocado...

So I don't have much music stuff this week; first week back to my last semester of college means a lot of rap and radio dance hits, but I have been missing Miike Snow. We listened to a lot of Miike Snow while I was in ATL, but because I wasn't able to find a free download (guilty, remember- college student), I haven't listened to it much lately. This group is a pair of award winning producers who have worked with Britney Spears types and a lyricist/vocalist who lays down addicting melodies with some heavy meaning atop funky and unique beats. Listen to the tracks Sylvia and Animal on myspace or last fm, you'll be hooked. Also, just want to remind you all about Mama's Love, they're touring so look for dates near you on Jambase or their myspace page.

On to food, but back to Atlanta; I forgot to write about the biscuits we got before we left. They were from a little breakfast place called the Flying Biscuit, and they were fluffy, huge, satisfying, and flavorful, which you don't always find in a biscuit. They had a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon and something else that gave it a kick. Your senses are awakened when you eat this biscuit, in a way the no pastry has ever done for me. Served with a unique apple butter, these biscuits keep for days and satisfy endlessly.

But when I got back to school, I had to start making food again so I went to the grocery store and spent way more money than I should have. I came home with lots of beans, as if I used the excessive cans of beans I had from last semester. So I rushed to make a quick dish that could be used multiple ways and keep for a while. Obviously rice, and I used a can kidney beans, red beans, and chili beans, and a can of corn, each with most of the liquid drained out. Mixed them in with the steamed rice, sauteed carrots, onions, and tomato, and mixed that in, too. Then I ate it with delicious wheat homemade bread. The next day, I heated it on a tortilla with cheese on top (should have used salsa and sour cream and avocado, too) and wrapped it up. So filling and tasty. Then tonight, I cut an avocado in half, turned each side over and light made a slice down the skin, so it peeled right off and I had two little avocado boats. I sprayed these with a little cooking oil and grilled them on either side, put them over greens, and put the heated rice and bean mixture on top, with a dollop of daisy and a spritz of balsamic. MMMMM. If you love avocado, you need to "stuff" them, and you can do it with a variety of foods, including meats, that you enjoy with this creamy fruity veggie. I also wanted to use Panko bread crumbs, but my dish had rice, so I restrained myself, but it would be good.

I'm going to be honest, Iron Chef America is on. Gotta go, xo.

Mama's Love-in' ATL

So I went down south to Atlanta, Georgia this past week. It was not warm like I wanted it to be- in fact, it was colder there than in my hometown of DC. So to make up for that, I ate a lot. Justified? Maybe not, but I have some good reports for the nobody reading this. 

I've been down to ATL a few time, and my favorite restaurant in ATL is, without question, is Taqueria del Sol. They have a few locations throughout Atlanta, and one up in Athens (which I also visited this same week), but the best on in Decatur. This place is simply genius- my restaurant, Good Stuff Eatery, tries to emulate this same business model but we don't pull it off nearly as well. You wait online to place your order and pay. The menu is limited- a few platters (chicken, steak, etc), tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and appetizer dippin's like queso and guac. The queso is to die for, it's a little spicy but if you can take the heat, the stuff is melty and thick and perfect for the homemade tortilla chips. And they make a rita on the rocks that is the perfect compliment to the meal. My boyfriend orders the same thing every time- and I should learn to follow suit. He gets the best fried chicken tacos- 2 of them- I've ever had. So I get one; it's two little fried chicken strips, tomato, and a kicked up mayo. We both add the queso, but these tacos are good on their own. This time, I also tried the fried fish taco, which came with jalepenos and creative tartar sauce. Up in Athens, I got the Carnita- a local favorite, red meat with some homemade salsa- and the Veggie taco which was very very spicy. Two delish taqueria meals, I can't wait to get back there.

We also hit up the Vortex, because you simply can't visit ATL and not go to the Vortex. It's the craziest little bar/restaurant jam packed with people all the time for their famous burgers. You have to be 18 to enter, you can smoke inside, and you can't see a piece of wall anywhere even if you moved some stuff around. They have tons of old concert posters, ATL street signs, old advertisements, and notoriously a motorcycle hanging from the ceiling, in addition to a billion other doodads hanging off the walls and ceiling. When we finally got our table (we went at 7 o'clock on Friday, expect a wait), I ordered the guacamole burger. They have so so so many creative burgers, like the Elvis burger with peanut butter and bananas or the heart attack, a burger sandwiched between two grilled cheeses, with tots. Their epically delicious tots. So my gauc burger was so nom nomy- you may be thinking 'guacamole on a burger??' but remember, I worked at burger joint- I got creative with my burgers. It this one came with especially good guacamole, a particularly well flavored burger on a bun that could hold all the juices in. And the mound of tater tots they provide could not be ignored, so it was devoured. The tots might have been better than the burger, but I'm a sucker for anything fried. 

We also went to this bar called Twains in Decatur. It was a little expensive, but they had a live band playing and we could play pool (for ten dollars!). We got a pitcher of one of Twain's home brews, a light ale called Mad Happy- it was delicious, like a Magic Hat 9, but a little hoppier. And this guy that was playing, his name was John Gradsen or something like that, but he gave up his post for a while and started doing an open mic thing, which I thought was great. They have live music fairly frequently there and it's definitely a great Decatur hang out. 

You might be thinking, 'that's all the music you got? some open mic night?' but no, don't think I would ever stand for that. At the end of my trip, we stayed a night in Athens, which is a fabulous little town absolutely dominated but college and grad students. A pretty great scene, if I do say so myself. We went to this place called Tasty World to see a friend's band, Mama's Love. The bar was not huge, probably  150 max, but they brought in a lot of kids and the audience was really into it. The band that went on first, called The Moderate, was just as the name would imply  which is only one reason why that's a bad band name. They were decent though, a lot of heart and soul, very 90's pop rock influenced, and with a sax, which you can't go wrong with. These kids were from DC, so they drove a long way like me to perform for kind of a weak audience. But toward the end of their 45 minute set, a lot more people had showed up and they got a lot of cheers and screams. Mama's Love came next, with about an hour and a half set. They set up lights and a fog machine and opened their set with a bang. The whole thing was funky and creative, pushing boundaries, a perfect combination of Phish jams, String Cheese-y playfulness, and Widespread Panic-like lyrics and vocals. Two of the members of Panic were supposedly going to be at this show, but I'm not sure if they did. In any case, Mama's Love brought the house down, there was an undeniable energy in the crowd that reflected the compositions, and after the show, the band said it was the best they'd played yet.

That's about all I got for you, definitely check out Mama's Love- they're the next big thing. I still haven't touched on my Phish of the week, but I can start that next time. xoxo gossip girl?

The Two Loves of My Life

Happy 2010!! I don't believe that it's already here, I'm supposed to graduate college this year! It has been a year so far off my whole life, I never thought it would come. Two thousand ten, almost as dramatic as year two thousand itself. And if I'm going to graduate college this year, it better seem like I've just completed a four year course of study in writing. In those efforts, I've begun this blog. If any one but me ever reads it, great, but if not, it's for me to write, react, commit, and work on something. So what do I write about? Well, I can only think of the two loves of my life- music and food. More specifically, Phish and fish, but we'll get to details later.

I love music of all kinds and, like many people, I can't and don't want to imagine a world without it. I love to listen to live music, you sense the energy and feel the emotion and the music is transformed into something entirely different. But I go to all types of shows, from acoustic sets to electronic DJ's to jam bands to punk rock to singer/songwriter types to local bands doing their first gig in an empty bar. Here, I plan to write any reactions to shows I go to, as I'm lucky enough to witness a decent amount of live music.

For example, on New Years Eve, I saw Lotus and MSTRKRFT at the Electric Factory in Philly. The venue was decent, I hate the PA law that separates 21 year old from underage kids, I went to the show with my 20 year old sister and couldn't stand with her? Lame. But I guess the show was a little rushed (MSTRKRFT did have to to get to NYC by 3 am) because Lotus went on at 930 exactly. They opened with Grayrigg, which was a nice way to ease into the night, followed by a Dane Jeer Us into Da Funk, a Daft Punk cover, back into DJU and into a great jam, quick, high energy, right into Jump Off. Halfway through the first set, the crowd finally filled up and the first floor was really bumpin'. They closed first set with Simian, Wax with a DAY TRIPPER tease in there, which could have been better but was still pretty tight. Then they pulled out Blacklight Sunflair and Tip of the Tongue, which had a 7 Nation Army tease. Pretty good first set, but you could tell kids were waiting for something better. It was almost like Lotus was waiting for something better too, and they brought it, but only after MSTRKRFT rang in the New Year for us. They played a fairly heavy set, but I knew they were itching to get out of there. A three hour drive up to New York is no simple task and they had only three hours. So in between Lotus and MSTRKRFT each time were the Playloop and Plex DJ's which were not that impressive, but when Lotus got back on they brought it hard for the rest of the night, which went something like this: Spiritualize with a Kids (MGMT) cover squeezed in, Tarasque with The Ocean (Zepplin) cover, Bellweather with an Enter Sandman (Metallica) cover. So so good, they really brought the house down with these three. Then Dowrn, 128 with a hot jam, Hammerstrike, Sunrain into Flower Sermon which had a Crazy Train (Ozzy) cover, ending with Sunrain. The set was really incredible, really high energy, and really on point. Way to go, Lotus, thank you for a great New Years rager.

If you're still with me, or rather if I'm still with me, let's move on to the second love of my life- food! This blog will help me explore new recipes and start cooking more often. If I want to live on my own and stay healthy, I have to start cooking- that's the end of it, there is no other way. Thankfully, I got a starter cookbook for Christmas. It's got all the essential cookware I need, like different sized pots and pans (nonstick, of course) and mixing bowls and yaddah yaddah. They give me basic directions about cooking, like when to sautee or fry, or when to use oil over butter, or basic temperature things. A very helpful cookbook overall, I look forward to using it back at school. As for now, I brought in the new year with chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and eggs. I ate that before the hangover hit, so that was basically all for the day. Dinner was some raviolis, which I always recommend be eaten with tomato sauce. Tonight, I made salmon with carrots and onions, broiled (I believe) at 400 for 20ish minutes. And mashers with the peel and carrots. Nom Nom Nom Nom!!! Very yummy.

I didn't even proclaim my endless love for Phish in this post. There will be plenty of time for that I guess, after all, we've got all of 2010! More next week.