Southern Junk

For as long as I can remember I have been a thrift shopper. When I got my drivers licenses it was one of the first things I did on my own. I love to shop flea markets, yard sales, thrift stores, anywhere a deal on something unusual might be found. I practice this hobby to this day, and I don’t ever plan on stopping. As a matter of fact I can’t wait til life slows down and I can get back to it.

I had to back off a little ya see. For years I would buy all kinds of things at markets and thrift stores that I thought I could either use or sell for profit. Some of my best purchases have made me hundreds of dollars quickly. You have to know what something is worth when you see it, but most important you got to know where you can sell it for a profit. Buying it is one thing, find someone to buy it at a profit is the trick. One of the best deals I have found was a ten piece Le Creuset set of pots and pans for $18.00. They probably retailed for around $300.00. That was ten or so years ago and we still use them today.

I basically had a “store” that I could transport to the nearest flea market and set up business for the day or weekend. I quickly learned it was no fun packing and unpacking all the little items. Sure I could buy all kinds of cool stuff for three, four or five dollars and sell them for double or more, but how many transactions of this size did I need to do per day to really make decent money? The answer was a lot. So I started building furniture and slowly got rid of all the small items that were a pain to handle. But I miss getting in the car and spending the day going from junk store to thrift shop looking for that next big deal. Now days I go looking for something in particular like clothes or something I need. I can really save money on things I need and sometimes I find something I just gotta have, like this chair.

Ain’t it great. I was at the Value Village the other day and I had picked up two stainless steel bowls for the dogs, $2 for the pair. I found two pairs of shorts I could work in this summer, $3 each. I found a large rusty metal star that will look great on the headboard of a bed and a few other things. I was checking out when I saw this chair, right off I loved the design. The lines were great, the colors were great, it was in great condition and probably dated to the 1960’s. It also was priced $2.50! I had to have it. That’s why now days I don’t go to these shops nearly as much as I used to, sometimes I just can’t help myself. Hell a good deals a good deal.

Southern Festivals

Last weekend Stacey and I had a booth at the Inman Park Festival and Tour of Homes. We have been doing this market for the last seven or eight years. It’s a lot of fun and we always see old friends who we don’t see much otherwise. We also see lot’s of friends we get together with often. We take an ice chest full of beer and food and have a little party. It’s a large festival, they tell me about 30,000 people attend through out weekend. It was a little rainy this year and I think the crowd was smaller than usual.

Inman Park is a neighborhood much like the garden district of other towns. It is instead referred to as a historical neighborhood. You say potato I say tomato. I sold a few paintings, but no furniture. We had a great time and made a few new friends. Except for the lady that thought I was gonna hit her tent with my truck. I was pulling in to the booth area to drop stuff at my booth, backing up my truck. All the sudden I hear someone screaming really loud. Hey, HEY, WHOA, WHOA. I hate being yelled at. So I thought I would tell her so. I got out of my truck and calmly walked up to her and yelled as loud as I could “Don’t yell at me, I see ya, I got two eyes and a big ol’ brain”. She left us alone the rest of the weekend, we did not invite her to the party.

This Sunday we are gonna go down to Serenbe for their May Day Festival. Click on that link and check it out, it’s a really cool place. I have done markets down there a lot over the past two years. I do a lot of sales and custom work for the residents. Last year I built about ten bed/swings for folks there. I have sold lots of art and furniture there as well. It’s a great place for me to pedal my wears, I know tons of people that live there and they refer me to each other often. I’m looking forward to being there as I have made lots of friends over the past two years and haven’t seen most of them for a few months now.

Heading South

There are a lot of big name restaurateurs heading to Atlanta, opening fine dining spots. Check out this list.

Tom Colicchio will bring Craft to Atlanta. Craft Restaurant and Colicchio are huge in NYC, not to mention the success of his television show.

Jeffrey Chodorow has teamed up with Maxim magazine to open what else, but a steak house. Look for Maxim Prime, offering soft porn and meat in downtown Atlanta soon.

Jean George Vongerichten, who has restaurants all over the world, will open Spice Market. He is also slated to open a Spice Market in Dubai, Istanbul, Miami and Barcelona. Good company if ya ask me.

Laurent Tourondel of BLT, that would be Bistro Laurent Tourondel, will open BLT steak at the W Hotel in downtown. This is the second W Hotel to open in Atlanta.

These are really big names and I like it. I have always said I want to be around to watch Atlanta grow into one of the coolest and largest cities in the world and when I can’t take it any longer, sell out and move to the sticks. Well I think Atlanta is well on it’s way, and so am I. You can hardly tell we are in a “recession” the way things are going here in Atlanta. Sure gas is up and home sales are slow and Deltas in limbo, but all in all we haven’t suffered as much as the rest of the country. I think all these big names heading this way is a sign of how well we are doing here and also how much “Southern Culture” is being embraced far and wide, not just here in the south.

The names above are just the folks that will be new to Atlanta, there is also a large list of local restaurant groups that are growing by leaps and bounds. It is amazing the growth that continues here. Everyday there is a new condo/loft development, restaurant or some other business opening here and if they offer a good product they usually succeed.

I said it before, we’re Southern not Stupid

This pie is a s good as it looks!

This is the usual end to a Saturday night at our house.

I took these flowers from my neighbors yard.

Is this considered Southern Hospitality?

Last night around 11 p.m. I had my last sip of moonshine, then the dog and I went off to bed. Stacey had gone to bed about a half hour early, so George and I settled in for a good nights sleep. We had the fan on for a little “white noise”. We had it on the “coma” setting so we didn’t hear the wreck on the highway and we didn’t hear nobody pray. We didn’t hear our neighbor call us the first time and when he did beat on the door it took us a minute. Then he called back and said that wern’t no wreck on the highway, somebody had just crashed into Stacey’s jeep and drove off. It wern’t pretty. Just look at this.

So we called the cops and they gave us a case #. The neighbor gave a description of a truck and of a lady that got out, looked around and then left. We just stood in disbelief. Damn, we said, this really sucks, and here’s why.

#1 Stacey just put a full tank of very expensive gas in her car.

#2 Last week we had new brakes put on the car. $335.00 DAMN

#3 And this is the biggest DAMN, We made the last payment on the car in January 2008. DAMN DAMN DAMN

But no big deal, it was all made better when we woke the next morning and found this note on the crashed car.

I AM VERY SORRY I HIT YOUR CAR, PLEASE CALL ME @ 770 %$# &*^% VERY SORRY signed CAR WRECKER

That makes it all better. She is VERY SORRY. I bet she was VERY DRUNK. I may have done the same thing if I was in her shoes. Wait til I was sober to deal with it. But I bet shes gonna get arrested for hit and run. DAMN

Southside Thai and the Pig Palace

East Point just got a new restaurant, The White Elephant. It is owned and operated by the guy behind Wasabi Sushi. Stacey and I have eaten there twice and enjoyed. It’s you basic Thai fare, rolls, lots of curry dishes, fried rice and a few specials. It’s a nice space as well. There is outdoor seating, a bar you can eat at and plenty of tables scattered around the room. They had not received their liquor license last time we were there, so call ahead and BYOB if that is still the case. They will get their license, there is no problem, just waiting for Fulton county to do their thing. As a matter of fact they say they are gonna have some unique cocktails and Asian beers.

Stacey met the Chef on our first visit. His name is Supalerk Pornpongboonvit, that is correct, you can call him Chef Porn. He is a young man and recently cooked at another Atl restaurant. Anyway get there when ya can, I’m sure you will enjoy. For hours and more info click here, WHITE ELEPHANT.

There is another new restaurant that just opened this week, I guess I should refer to it as a pub instead of a restaurant. If you go to their site, HOLMAN FINCH PUBLIC HOUSE, you will see they really want to be a pub. The site is basically their business card. If you click on the “what is it” part of the card it will tell you what it is. What it doesn’t tell you is that they serve all kinds of pig parts that, they themselves have cured in- house. I have seen the space and it is beautiful. Stainless steel, glass, a little wood and other metal textures are used. One of the owners is also a bartender and from what I have read a very good and popular bartender at that. Check out this article about him. That being said I haven’t eaten there yet, when I do I’ll share my thoughts. Oh yea, I hear they have some really cool art hanging.

We’re Southerners, we’re not stupid

Congratulations Krispy Kreme, you have just joined the ranks of the top bull shitters of America. Just like all the other top bull shitters, it’s all marketing and your trying to hoodwink us. I won’t be fooled, you fool.

EPG, estimated miles per gallon. Bull shit. Check it out, these people are allowed to really miss the mark when it comes to letting us know the true EPG of an automobile. Look at the mortgage industry, that was some neat stuff they pulled off. Televangelist, those guys are great. Send them money and you will get closer to god. I bet not one of these guys could buy their way into heaven or out of hell. Once I went to the eye doctor because my vision was getting really bad. They said I needed glasses. This was the kind of place that examines you and sells glasses. $500 and two pair of glasses later my vision was no better.
What the hell? I didn’t know any better, I had never had eye problems. Turns out I had cataracts. Did the guy wanting to sell me glasses tell me this? NO of course not he just sold me useless glasses.

Anyway so goes Krispy Kreme. A southern institution is hood winking us. I will still eat KK doughnuts. I’m a southern, I’m not stupid. Check out this article.

Krispy Kreme drops trans fats

By Elizabeth Lee | Monday, January 7, 2008, 12:31 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Krispy Kreme announced Monday that it has dropped trans fats from its menu. That means its doughnuts and other foods and beverages contain less than a half-gram of trans fats.

But the original glazed doughnut is still a 200-calorie indulgence of white flour, sugar and fat, deep-fried in a blend of vegetable oil and palm oil that’s higher in saturated fats than the previous formula.

The bottom line: An original glazed doughnut still contains 200 calories and 12 grams of total fat. It now has 6 grams of bad fats (all saturated) rather than the 7 grams of saturated and trans fats that it had before.

The doughnut hounds in the newsroom didn’t notice any change in taste, although, of course, they complained that they were sampling cold doughnuts instead of hot ones. (It’s the first formula change for the original glazed since the ’80s.)

Does removing trans fats from Krispy Kreme doughnuts affect whether you’ll eat them? How about in other restaurant foods, like French fries?