Tv Food and Photo – August 8
The view from my seat in the production control room. We were giving away a Life Cycle that hour. Explaining the cave people would be too much work. Draw your own story.
The Dark ‘n Stormy
Be very careful when you fix yourself a Dark ‘n Stormy. Making it incorrectly could land your ass in the slammer.
The drink is actually protected by a trademark owned by the Gosling family, makers of Gosling’s Black Seal Rum. So technically, if you use any other brand of rum to make this cocktail, you are breaking the law.
Posted 1 month ago at 7:28 pm. 4 comments
Chicken Stuffed with Gouda, Prosciutto and Pecans
Chicken is easy to abuse. It’s so simple to prepare, it’s good for you, it’s filling, it’s abundant, it’s inexpensive, and it takes a real genius to burn it. So, if you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself making that aching sigh at the grocery store that translates into “ugh… again?” as you grab your favorite thighs, drumsticks or boneless breasts and toss them unenthusiastically into your basket, the way Mary Richards did in the opening of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Posted 1 month ago at 11:17 pm. 2 comments
Athens Food and Drink, Day Four
By far, one of the best meals I had in Athens (aside from the grits that resulted from an over-the-stove cooking lesson from Mama Granberry) had to be at The Last Resort Grill. Round-the-clock busy, we had been deterred once already by an hour or so wait to get a table for just two (which led us, quite fortuitously, to Casa Mia just across the street.)
Our second attempt to hit up The Last Resort was for Sunday brunch and MG wisely decided to get us there early enough to beat the post-Church crowd, and it was a brilliant idea. Our party of five was seated almost immediately, right next to the kitchen. Normally, this would be my least favorite spot to sit in a restaurant, but the spectacle of meals that made their way past me on their way out to the rest of the restaurant made up for the unfavorable table. Drifting past me with the regularity of New Year’s Rose Parade floats, the gorgeous food kept my jaw dropping for the next ninety minutes. Having witnessed it, I firmly believe it’s next to impossible to order a bad meal from this place.
Captured in the front yard of Matthew and Amanda Granberry - Cleveland, Georgia
This is Matt and Amanda Granberry's backyard. I'm jealous. If it wasn't for the brutal humidity, I'd be insanely jealous.
Spinach Feta Grill at The Last Resort - challah toast dipped in egg batter, then grilled to perfection, topped with poached eggs, mushrooms, artichokes, feta, roasted red pepper sauce and spinach
The Last Resort Grill - 174-184 West Clayton Street, Athens, GA
No one seems to do brunch as well as Georgia. Wanna see more? Click below!
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago at 11:03 pm. 2 comments
Athens Food and Drink, Day Three
Over 1600 Waffle Houses grace this great nation of ours, mostly in the South.
Their signs, plain and tall, beckon you from the interstate. The melody to “Prop Me Next to the Jukebox if I Die” by Joe Diffie pings off the countertops. The Waffle House’s vibrant, laminated menus are reminders that theirs is an establishment where quick cleanups and a rarely changing food roster are keys to success. Patrons are conditioned to know what they want and how they want it before they push through the glass door. When a stuffed truck driver vacates a booth, the employee wipe-down process is so instantaneous that the seats are still warm when a family of Sunday churchgoers claims them next.
Eat, drink, pay, get out. That’s what the Waffle House strives for. And the customers seem happy to comply. All except me, of course. I was the only one in the place who, instead of scarfing down my meal the moment it arrived, began photographing it. Our plump Waffle House waitress, Roxie, observed my actions with a mildly bemused grin before asking, “Ya’ll aren’t from these parts, are ya’?”
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago at 11:50 am. 2 comments
Athens Food and Drink, Day Two, Part Two
Two things I will not soon forget about Athens, Georgia:
1.) The bats no one bothered to tell me about ahead of time.
2.) The downtown bars with great big wooden rocking chairs open to customers who enjoy a little soothing sway while they drink themselves half into the bag.
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago at 10:57 pm. 8 comments
Athens Food and Drink, Day Two, Part One
When you wake up in Los Angeles, you might be greeted by the L.A. Times at your doorstep, or some sushi delivery flyers, perhaps that morning’s Variety or Hollywood Reporter. In Athens, Georgia, don’t be surprised if your west coast expectations are challenged. The following was taped to my mirror:
Really, what else can be said? If I had a few more days here, I might take Nature’s Harmony Farm up on their very generous offer. The photo opportunities alone would be worth it.
I took the daytime tour of downtown Athens and the University of Georgia yesterday. The mercury was hovering around 100 and despite the abundance of tree-provided shade, it was, as my friend Steve always put it, “hotter than a shit house in July.” The campus was established in 1785 and has over 30,000 students in attendance. The historic buildings and gorgeous landscaping make every turn of the eye a treat. Click on the images below for a high-res version, and then back-button to return for more:
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago at 12:36 pm. 2 comments
Athens Food and Drink, Day One
Athens, Georgia is home to the University of Georgia and the Georgia Bulldogs. And in case you didn’t know that before arriving here, you quickly learn.
If you want to increase your business, I’m told all you need to do is incorporate the word “Bulldog” into your name or plaster the image of one on your front window. Incidentally, if you want to go out of business in a rapidly declining spiral, substitute the word “Gator” for “Bulldog.” The residents of Athens are not particularly partial to the University of Florida.
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago at 4:49 pm. 1 comment
Theme Song Graveyard: “Sweepstakes” (NBC 1979)
Greetings from Delta flight 101, seat 33C, 32,000 feet in the air and currently over Lubbock, Texas. I am a little less than two hours from destination Atlanta and my extended weekend with the Wild Granberries. I neglected to charge my laptop so I’m blogging from my phone. That makes listing recipe ingredents and explaining preparation techniques too tedious to attempt, so instead I bring you one of the catchiest television theme songs from the tail end of the disco era, “Don’t Be Afraid to Dream” from the late 1970s NBC mega-flop, Sweepstakes.
Is there anyone else out there who remembers this show? Having landed in our living rooms several years before the Reagan prosperity bomb went off, one would think American tv audiences would have been hungering for a weekly one hour drama about the lives of finalists in a million dollar sweepstakes featuring new celebrity guest stars each week, but apparently the only one who tuned in was me. And to be honest, I wasn’t as into the show as I was its theme song and opening titles featuring piles of cash and lucky lottery tickets showering down from a sunny blue sky. The song is performed by Ron Dante, best known for singing the lead for the cartoon rock band The Archies and producing and singing back-up for Barry Manilow through most of the seventies. Knowing that, you should not be surprised at this song’s super slick production, infectious melody and uplifting key change towards the end. Wow! A television theme song long enough to afford time for a key change. Is it possible? Find out for yourself below.
Continue Reading…
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago at 1:39 pm. 3 comments
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pine Nuts
It’s July in Hollywood. The way you can tell is that everyone in town is tan… except me. Well, Robert Pattinson and me.
MG is in Athens, Georgia visiting his family, and I’ll be joining him in a little less than a week. I keep hearing the same two things about Georgia: I’m going to be amazed at the food, and I’m going to be dripping wet from the humidity. Earlier this week, I was prepping a GSN Live phone contestant who was calling in from Atlanta and I asked her if she had any advice for how I could handle the heat when I’m there. Her answer: “Stand still.”
I’m choosing to not overly concern myself with The Peach State’s current 53% humidity. Instead, I’m focusing on the fun I’ll have with MG’s family, the beautiful scenery, visiting UGA, having smothered, covered, chunked, diced, peppered, capped and topped hash browns at a Waffle House, and the numerous “chicken trucks” I’ve been told I’m going to see on the roads. MG has also promised to take me someplace where I can see some authentic “hill people,” which I still don’t really believe exist.
