Really awesome event coming up in August to support the Save The Hooch campaign by the Upper Chattahoochee River Keeper - the End of Summer BBQ Party!!
Details: Saturday, 8/14 1-4pm at Canoe. $25+. Live music, great food, a one-year membership to UC Riverkeeper, and all the Sweetwater beer you can drink!
This is a great cause and a great value too! Save the Hooch and enjoy a fun afternoon in the process!
The awesome team (Dave and Beth) at Atlanta Culinary Tours have a brand new gourmet adventure they are launching next week that will delight all you coffee junkies out there! Go behind the scenes at Batdorf & Bronson, one of the best local coffee roasters here in Atlanta!
Details: Tours on Weds 7/20 & 8/10 7-9pm at Batdorf & Bronson. $25.
On the tour you will learn all the ins and outs about the roasting process, working with sustainable raised coffee, meet ‘Head of Bean Knowledgy’ Jason Dominy (@jasondominy on Twitter) and visit his secret brewing lab.
You’ll also take home half a pound of freshly roasted B&B beans!
So if coffee is your passion, be sure to take a deep dive into the beans with Atlanta Culinary Tours and Batdorf & Bronson!
Lots of fun events over the last couple weeks/months, including hanging out with some great peeps from the ATL social media scene!
Mashable’s Social Media Day Meet Up - 5 Seasons Brewing West
(Upper Left clockwise: @KatieMAnderson, @AJCBuzz, @DavidAtlanta, @Hellow_KittyATL, @RestaurantsATL, next pic - @suerodman, @lynnATL, @Bunkycooks, lower left - Bob Townsend @AJC, @5SeasonsWest Brewmaster Crawford Long, lower right - Brianna @GeorgianTerrace, @RestaurantsATL)
Several of us adjourned to Bocado across the street to nosh on their famous burger. So good! Hung out with @bocadoatlanta and just missed chef and owner Todd @atlchef.
Another fun event - the first ever Dine Out For Dad’s with Sauced!
Matt and Ed from Dad’s Garage and Ria, owner and chef at Sauced and Ria’s Bluebird invaded CBS Better Mornings to let people know about the event and also have some improv fun with show personality Jocelyn! Big thanks to Amanda Harley at CBS for helping make it happen!
Also big thanks to everyone who came out and dined at Sauced to benefit Dad’s Garage on June 23rd!! It was a huge success!
Check out this video of their segment on CBS Better Mornings!
I know what you’re thinking, another burger joint in Atlanta? Really? I would normally tend to agree with you that we’re somewhat overrun when it comes to delicious burgers… but is that necessarily a bad thing? Having too many options of great places with great burgers, shakes and sides is pretty awesome in my opinion!
Enter the latest contender in the hot burger space - Smashburger!
Details: Smashburger, 2625 Piedmont Rd. NE (Buckhead)
Founded in Denver, Colorado by Tom Ryan (former Chief Concept Officer at McDonald’s), Smashburger has a great story about success in the craziest of circumstances, built around one thing - a really great hamburger. Ryan is the genius behind the McGriddle and crust-stuffed pizza, with more than 20 years experience in the packaged goods/restaurant biz.
Sure, with more than 90 stores across the country you could call it a chain, but did you know each location has a customized menu with items that are special to that area? At their new Buckhead location you will be able to get the Atlanta Burger with peach barbecue sauce, Wicked Pimena cheese, grilled jalapeños and Vidalia coleslaw on an egg bun or the Atlanta Dog with the same. The Wicked Pimena cheese is made locally in Rome, GA!
Other great menu offerings include fries 4 ways - sweet potato, rosemary (my fave), regular, and veggie frites (flash fried asparagus spears, green beans and carrot sticks). Also Haagan Dazs milkshakes. Seriously good.
I got the chance to meet Tom and make one of their famous Smashburgers and it was a serious business! They have perfected the process and the result is one tasty burger. Tom and his team taste tested over 100 different types of Kraft American Cheese to get the one that works best with their burger.
They are also really big on giving back to local and national charities and also taking advantage of social media. On opening day, they texted out to their mobile club a coupon for a free drink!
So yes, we are blessed to have a ton of great burger joints in Atlanta and there is always room for more - especially if they are this tasty!
Next location will open in John’s Creek later this Summer, so Smashburger will be ITP and OTP!! Follow them on Twitter or Facebook for deals, coupons and latest happenings.
Lots of excitement around the announcement that Music Midtown will be back this year in Piedmont Park! Tickets go on sale 7/16 and the line-up is pretty awesome!
Details: Saturday, 9/24 at noon. Piedmont Park. Tickets $55+.
Line Up: Coldplay, The Black Keys, Manchester Orchestra, Cage The Elephant, Young The Giant, The Joy Formidable, Band of Skulls, The Constellations, The Postelles and Mona.
There are three levels of tickets - General Admission, VIP and Super VIP. For the break down on what access each of these tickets grants, click here.
This year a portion of the event’s proceeds will benefit Mayor Reed’s Centers of Hope initiative.
This is a great Atlanta event for music fans, so don’t wait to buy your tickets!
I saw some friends had signed up for a Pie Party on Facebook and was excited to see what it was all about. I envisioned a big group of gals coming together and sharing recipes and delish bites, so was surprised it was a social media/virtual Pie Party instead!
Anyone can participate, you just need to have baked a pie by Tuesday, July 5th and then show off your pie on Twitter, your blog, or on FB (or all three!).
I’ve never made a pie before, so thought of this as cooking/baking challenge. Besides, I had a 4th of July BBQ coming up - so what’s more American than Apple Pie and being here in Atlanta, a Peach Pie would also be a must.
For the Peach Pie, I went with a base recipe from AllRecipes.com that had a high rating and lots of comments. I love AllRecipes for this reason, since all the people who comment contribute how they improved the recipe for themselves. It makes for some great reading! So a basic peach turned into a Peach Blueberry thanks to Krista V’s comments.
Great pie baking tips I received:
- To get the skins off peaches, boil them for 1 min and then put in cold water, the skins slide right off!
- To get the lattice crust right, watch this cool video! Includes a tip about applying an egg wash to the crust so it browns evenly and has a great shine. I also topped with some sugar for some sparkle.
- Split up your cooking time, 450 for 15 mins, drop down to 350 for 30-35. After it’s ready, turn off the oven and let it sit for an hour or so and it will set the pie.
- Cover the edges of the crust with foil or a crust shield, as the edges will cook faster/burn without it. Remove when you have 10 mins left on the cook time.
The Peach Blueberry Pie turned out great! Huge hit at the party with the host requesting another one soon. The Apple Pie wasn’t as successful (in my opinion), as I didn’t have enough apples in it, but no one seemed to mind and it also got gobbled up.
I want to thank the organizer of the virtual pie party for giving me the push I needed to jump into the kitchen and try my hand at pie baking. It was easier than I thought and I really enjoyed sharing my pies with friends.
Recipe: Peach Blueberry Pie
6 fresh peaches, pitted and sliced
1 Pint Blueberries
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 heaping Tbsp of corn starch
1/4 cup butter
9 inch top/bottom crust (pre-made from store works great)
1. Mix flour, both sugars, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter into crumb stage.
2. Place one crust in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Poke bottom/inside crust with a fork 4-6 times. Combine the sliced peaches and blueberries with the crumb mixture and pour all of it into the bottom crust.
3. Top with lattice strips of pie crust. Apply egg wash to lattice crust and sprinkle with sugar. Protect edges of pie crust with tin foil or pie crust shield. Remove when there is 10 mins left on the timer.
4. Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes and then 30-35 mins at 350 degrees, or until crust is golden. Turn off stove and let sit in oven for at least an hour. Allow pie to cool before slicing. Best when eaten fresh.
The cool cats over at Creative Loafing want you to weigh in on what you think are the best things in Atlanta. Everything from food trucks to bands - be sure your voice is heard!
There are 315 questions in the survey, but don’t feel like you have to answer them all. I have no idea what the best Elementary schools are in Atlanta - but I do know radio personalities (go Mara Davis!) and of course my favorite landmark has to be The Big Chicken! If you are a foodie - lots of hard decisions to make with all the amazing restaurants out there!
The good news - you only need answer 5 questions for your ballot to count.
They are also looking for best local Blog and Twitter feed! If you like what you read here or on my Twitter account, please vote for me!
Local Blog: ExploringAtlanta.tumblr.com
Local Twitter Feed: @ATL_Events
Thanks!!
