Folk Art

I’d like to introduce you to a little restaurant called Folk Art.

 It’s located in Inman Park, hidden on a little avenue, sharing a building and parking lot with three other restaurants. If you aren’t looking for it, you just may miss it. It is everything I love in a restaurant. Their slogan is “Artful Eats for Simple Folk” and they do exactly that. The food is artfully and tastefully prepared, and incredibly good, yet when you walk in, you immediately feel comfortable with the simplicity of the diner. It’s cute and rustic... and goodness gracious are their fried pickles good. They combine a lot of different flavors to create unique experiences in each meal. I got sandwich that sounded like something I order at Shane’s a lot, which couldn’t have been more different. It was technically pork with coleslaw on it but it was so unique I couldn’t even compare it… in a good way. If you ever find yourself near midtown looking for somewhere to eat, try Folk Art, AND make sure you invite me. And for the love of everything good, order The Randy for dessert. (No that’s not a reference to Julian Smith, it is bacon dipped in pancake batter, then fried and covered in maple syrup) Don’t knock it until you try it, I’m pretty sure my friend almost died of happiness while eating it.

 

Pictured:

Sweet Potato Donut holes,

Flourless Chocolate Ganache Cake,

Coffee (what’s dessert without coffee?)

Bad to the Bone Sandwich
(house roasted pork shoulder topped with collard green cole slaw, date chili bourbon BBQ, gruyére cheese, and carmelized onions)

 

Is your mouth watering yet?

Under the Sea

Seafood and I have a strange relationship. I hate everything about it except the taste. I know, it's odd. The idea of fish grosses me out, but when I make myself eat it I enjoy it every time. The only time fish hasn't freaked me out was when I had it on the beach. The thing had its head still attached people…and yet it was so good. However, take me to the farmer’s market fish section and I may or may not throw up on you. Yes, I'm a weirdo.

 

 

When we go to the Dominican, all food is better. There's something about eating a perfectly chargrilled piece of fish on the beach that is just so totally right. There is something about getting fish from a container at Kroger that is so totally wrong to me. If you enjoy fish no matter where you are, more power to ya, I'm still working on it.

I got to thinking about seafood because I recently watched the Little Mermaid with a little girl I babysit. Now, The Little Mermaid is also something I have strange relationship with. I love everything about it except the main character...exactly. Ariel is one of the worst role models a girl could have. A disobedient, discontent, girl sells her soul for guy she saw...ONCE. Not exactly a pattern you want to be following. However, the music is amazing, her friends and family are really good characters, the evil witch is a great villain, even the "handsome prince" isn't so bad, he takes in a mute girl for goodness sakes. What impacted me this time around was what a beautiful picture of the gospel it is. Ariel gets caught up in the world, literally the world above, so she sells her soul to the devil thinking she can handle it. When her world inevitably crashes, it's time to pay for her sins. Unfortunately, her all powerful father can't break the contract because it is the real deal, legally binding, so what does he do? Takes her place, it's the only way to save her. 

Now that's where the analogy stops otherwise Trident would have risen from the dead and beat Ursula himself. They had to give Eric a chance to redeem himself.  Also I'd like to clarify that the contract isn't actually made by satan, it's made by God himself. He is so holy, He won't break the rules and allow sin to go unpunished. That's why someone had to die and be punished. Thankfully for us, Jesus came and DOESN'T need us to rescue him. He conquered death Himself and that's why it works. That's why he can be our real substitution. If you think about it, Ariel and everyone else really weren't freed when Trident took her place, because now Ursula would rule, and basically ruin everyone's life. Satan didn’t win, Jesus did.

Jesus isn't Trident, he's a thousand times better. Do you know Him?

pointless piece of chicken

Can we just start with the MOST important bit of soul food there is? The Gospel.


God, Holy Creator made Man. Man (yes, that's you and I), sinned, separating himself from God. Since God is holy, He must punish un-holiness (sin). God loved the world (the people in it) so much that he gave His only beloved Son Jesus, so that whoever believes in Him (acknowledge Him as creator, acknowledge and repent of your sins, keep faith in God) will not perish (go to hell where we are punished for our OWN sins because He is holy and can't by nature can't be with un-holiness) but have eternal life (live with God for all eternity). John 3:16 (a book in the Bible which I encourage you to read).


That is a VERY basic summary of the most important information you may ever read in your life...


Don't let it blow past you.


If are a believer and you've never read the gospel of John...what are you doing with your life? It's like going through life not knowing about avocados. It's so good. Okay, Honesty check... I'll admit I've never read it all the way through... Let's form a pact. Me, google blogger, and anyone who may be reading this, I'll start now (AGAIN) and actually finish this time, and we can read it together.


As I was trying to think of food to compare the Gospel to, I just kept coming back to salt and butter, really any spice that adds flavor to food. What is a piece of chicken without spices. I mean, does it even have any flavor? It's like flavorless chewing gum. Chicken is an empty palate for a chef to paint on. Those people without the gospel, without Christ in their lives are like chicken without any seasoning, pointless. Sure someone may chew you up, you may accomplish some little thing, but in the end you'll never be thought of again, eternally anyways. Worse than never being remembered, bad, tasteless chicken gets thrown away. It's not a perfect analogy, but the gospel is ten times more important than spices, it shows us our purpose on this Earth...


 (To glorify God and enjoy Him forever, in case you were wondering)

I was only mostly dead

Hello. It's been exactly a year minus 7 days since I last posted. Shall we call it fate? Or perhaps sovereignty is a better term. Either way, seems significant enough to start up again. I know I should wait 7 days, make it an even year, then pretend like it's been exactly a year. I'm sure that would be more entertaining, but sorry, I'm not cool like that. I tried to be cool last year. I tried the whole "I'm gonna be cool without seeming like I want to be cool" thing. Not a hipster...basically just an uncool chick doing things I thought were cool, which ended up being nerdy most of the time, or cheesy. Cheesy, corny, whatever yellow food you want to call it, that's me.

So why start up again? Better yet, why did I stop in the first place? Honestly. Laziness. Sheer Laziness. I ate food without taking pictures, then when I did eat something exciting or go somewhere interesting what would I do about it? Go home and watch Youtube. Yep. I love all this honesty I'm starting out with, it can only go up hill from here right?

So, we begin again. I don't know if anyone will read this, I don't mind if they don't. I'm doing this mostly to keep myself accountable. Wait... Accountability? On what kind of food you eat? Well, no (also, when did I start having conversations with myself?). I'll still be sharing the amazing creation we call food, however I will also be sharing what I like to call "soul food." While most people like to think of soul food as grandma's incredibly unhealthy but delicious fried chicken, I mean actual soul food. The food the Bible brings us, the food we need to keep our spiritual lives and relationship with Christ alive.

I've been convicted lately of how our lives our meant to glorify God. And that's it ALL we were meant for. Now with that come all the wonderful things God has put on this earth for us to enjoy, yet if we aren't glorifying Him with all we think say and do, we're doing it wrong. So I hope to encourage myself and anyone else reading with good food for the soul and good food for the body, because we need both to live fully.

presenting...from your not so local Dekalb Farmer's market...

(If you happen to live in Dekalb, then I suppose it is local for you)

Last time I posted on the Dekalb market, I said I would post pictures. Well I obviously didn't notice the millions of signs they have that say "No cameras" and "Photography not allowed." So I couldn't get you any pictures of the actual place. You'll just have to go there YOURSELF! Imagine that...

However I did get some pictures of the stuff we got. Here's a few highlights. 

This tasted like chocolate ice cream... I KNOW. 

These my dear friends, are limoncillos. What are limoncillos you may ask? Only the most delicious fruit in the world. They grow in the Dominican Republic and have I never found them here, not even in florida. I had lost all hope of ever finding them here a long time ago and then BAM, these show up. They were just sitting there on their shelf with a little Dominican Flag above them. I almost didn't believe that's what it was (apparently in English they are called guinep). Guys, I literally almost cried. 

It was a beautiful moment. 

Of course we can't leave out our dear passion fruit. Unlike Welch's joke of a passion fruit juice, this is straight passion fruit, water, and sugar. Just like lemonade, but a million times better. 

de colores

I think it's a known fact that God is surpassingly creative beyond anything we could imagine.

 I never cease to be amazed.

 The other day at the wonderful Dekalb Farmers market, (which I mention here) I found something called Rainbow Chard. Now I know nothing about chard, except that it is Swiss and commonly green, but at the market we found naturally COLORFUL chard! 

It looks like celery with a head of spinach, but colorful! I looked it up and it's naturally found like this. No dyes or anything! 

Thinking about it, there are plenty of fruits and veggies that are colorful; oranges, apples, tomatoes, carrots, peppers...shall I go on? I guess because it is more commonly known as green chard, this seems EXTRAordinary. Then again, all our fruits and veggies are extraordinary. They do so much good for our bodies, it's mind blowing when you look it up. You should go do that... right now. 

I found a recipe online that said to use a bit of coconut oil, and sauté the chard with sunflower seeds and cranberries. The chard itself has a strong flavor. It reminded me of kale mixed with green tea. Yum.   Especially with the seeds and cranberries. They gave it exactly what you think they would, a nutty and sweet flavor. I know shocking, but still... delicious. I was impressed, and Rainbow Chard is definitely going on my "must get these every time I go to Dekalb" list...which is getting scarily long. Oh well. 

"Celebrate good food, come on!"

Birthdays have always been one of my favorite "holidays." In my family, birthdays last the week, and the best part? Birthdays are the best excuse to eat good food.

Last month, it was my sister Leslie's birthday, and we went to the ATL. We ate at a cool restaurant where the guacamole was to die for. And they dress up the plates beautifully. My friend ordered a Greek salad and it was a work of art. Did you know that Greek salad isn't supposed to come with lettuce? It's just tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and other things we would consider "toppings." Her salad was "accurately Greek", those people know what's what.

That night we decided to get cheesecake at the Cheesecake factory as well. Why not? It was her birthday! We also got lost, ahem, explored the Atlanta area, in the process, but we kept going anyways, it was her birthday! .....It was worth it, we each loved our piece. Mine was Chris' Outrageous Chessecake. I'll let them explain..."A Cheesecake Factory Original - Layers of Moist Chocolate Cake, Chewy Brownie, Toasted Coconut-Pecan Frosting and Creamy Chocolate Chip Coconut Cheesecake." I know right? It was PERFECTION. Chocolate, Nuts, and Cocunut compliment each other so well, and happen to be one of my favorite combinations.

 

no, that's not us, it's them

You might be thinking, "wow, she's a little crazy" but let me assure, I don't always get lost for half an hour just to find cheesecake... sometimes delicious things come to me.

Monday was my older sisters birthday and we went to The Flying Biscuit. If you've never been there, well... it's hard to explain. It's the weirdest place I have ever been. The have a very southern looking restaurant with the most diverse menu I've ever seen. And I don't mean diverse in a good way, I mean a weird way. It's like the owner decided what he likes to eat and that's exactly what they serve. The service is terrible, I'd give them 2... maybe. Lazy, that's what I think of when I go there. They could be so much better.

 

Why do I go back there you ask? Because the food is freakin' amazing.

 

 Excuse my language. Everything I've ever tried there has been delicious. The menu fits me perfectly. Weird but tasty. This time I had a wrap. I didn't expect much, but boy was I surprised. It had Chicken, apple wood bacon, honey Dijon mustard, walnuts, Baby greens, Tomatoes, onions, and a few other seasonings or sauces. It was incredible. Then to top it off, Meylin (older sister) brought her own cake. It was the extremely chocolatey with a touch of strawberry kind. All three of us consider that our favorite kind of cake. It was made from scratch by a super cool cake lady meylin has befriended and I have gotten to know and love through various birthday and party desserts. (she made a T.A.R.D.I.S cake for my brother in law's birthday. Need I say more? Fantastic.) 

 

Like I said, occasionally good food comes to me too.