A SCIENTIFIC FOOD STUDY

Stacey and I have been having this conversation/conducting this scientific study for about two months now. It is a very complex and intricate food study. It required some really deep thinking on our part. It also required us to eat a lot. Because of the complicated manner in which we came to our conclusions we don't expect the average person to completely grasp the results of our study.
But, we will try to explain it to you.

About 4 years ago Stacey and I were at a food event and ran into the the guys who ran the kitchen at The Feed Store. The Feed Store is in our south side neighborhood and has been open for 5 or 6 of years at that point. So when Stacey and I came across The Feed Store booth at this event we were kinda surprised as we never saw them at other food events.

We had been at this event for hours and had had our fill of food and drink by the time we came across The Feed Store booth. We were on our way out, but we had to stop to say howdy and confirm it was in fact the same restaurant in our neighborhood.
There were two chefs manning the booth. Peter was the Executive Chef and Cooper was the Sous-Chef de Cuisine. We ask if they were in fact the Feed Store in Collage Park ? "yes" they were. Pete quickly added that they were the new chefs. He said he knew that the old Feed Store sucked and told us he and Cooper had fixed that. We told them we never thought it sucked, told them it was hit or miss, but it never really sucked They told us about some of the dishes they were cooking, they seemed pretty excited, which made Stacey and I excited about trying the Feed Store again.

So we did. It wasn't long before we bellied up to some really good food It was like having a new restaurant in the neighborhood. And we hit it hard for a long time. Most times we didn't even see a menu. Usually Cooper came out and told us not to order that he would cook for us. I bet every time Cooper saw us walk in he thought to himself let's see what I can get the Hartleys to eat this time.

So that's how it was for a long time. Then Cooper left the Feed Store for Restaurant Eugene. Being considered the best restaurant in town by many, this was a good move for Cooper. But, Cooper wanted to cook. On line, in the kitchen, in the middle of all the chaos from a slammed front house. And he wasn't getting to do that at Restaurant Eugene. So his next move was Livingston. Not sure how long he was there, but not long ago, four or five months ago, Peter went to work as the executive Chef for a huge wing and beer chain. So along comes Cooper, back to the Feed Store. Top Dog. Head Chef. With a big ole new tattoo.

So, Cooper has just come out with a new menu there at The Feed Store. It is not completely new, there was lot's of good stuff left from Peters menu. But, I'm sure Cooper was eager to get his own menu out. It's a good menu and it was a important part of data for our Scientific Food Study.

So this is how our food study went. It's complicated so try and follow. What happened was this. I had a hundred dollar gift card for Rathburns. Everybody knows Rathburns. One of the hottest restaurants in town. He actually has three restaurants in Atlanta. Anyway we had that and we had another gift card for about the same amount at another one of Atlantas best restaurants, Holman & Finch. So this is what we did. Read carefully, it gets complicated.
What we did was one night we went to Rathburns for dinner, the next night we went to Holman Finch for dinner and on the third night we rose form the dead. Just kiddin we didn't rise from the dead we went to The Feed Store for dinner. This is where we came to the startling conclusion of our food study. We concluded that the meal at The Feed Store was as good as and in some cases better than both Rathburns and Holman & Finch.

Which led me to the conclusion that if you have yet to dine at The Feed Store your stupid.

LOCAL THREE

BACK IN OCTOBER I WAS INTRODUCED TO THE GUYS AT LOCAL THREE KITCHEN AND BAR. A VERY NICE LADY WORKING WITH LOCAL THREE THOUGHT MY PAINTINGS WOULD BE A GOOD FIT FOR THE IDEA BEHIND THE REHABBED DINNING ROOM. WELL ONE THING LED TO ANOTHER AND I ENDED UP BUILDING TONS OF STUFF FOR THEM.

THIS HERE BAR WAS AN OAK TREE THAT FELL IN THE ATLANTA AREA. WE HAD A GUY SLICE US TWO PIECES THAT WERE EACH 4" THICK, 12' LONG AND ABOUT 40" WIDE. WE CUT OFF A PIECE ABOUT 14" WIDE FROM EACH AND I JOINED THEM TO MAKE A THIRD PIECE. I FINISHED THEM AND NOW THEY ARE THE BAR AT L3.

THE THREE PIG PAINTINGS ARE MY WORK AS WELL AS ALL THE TABLE TOPS YOU CAN SEE. THERE ARE MORE YOU DON'T SEE. I DID ABOUT 30 TOPS FROM ANTIQUE PINE FOR L3.

LOCAL THREE WAS RESTAURANT JOEL IN SEPTEMBER 2010. NEXT THING YA KNOW IT IS L3 AND THE ORANGE GLASS TILE WALL JOEL HAD INSTALLED HAD TO GO. THE ORANGE TILE WAS BEAUTIFUL, BUT IT WAS THE SIGNATURE PIECE OF THE JOEL DINNING ROOM. SO I COVERED IT WITH SALVAGED MATERIALS. SHUTTERS, ROOFING TIN, OLD LUMBER ECT. AND MADE IT THE SIGNATURE PIECE OF THE LOCAL THREE DINNING ROOM.

A BAR CRAWL IN OLD SAN JUAN

Stacey and I have been to San Juan, Puerto Rico. maybe a half dozen times. We like it there. The rooms are cheap, the beach is always nearby and the restaurants are good.

Last time there, we took a taxi to Old San Juan and did a little "bar" crawl.

Stacey and I had mapped out some spots to visit in Old San Juan for our latest trip. We had rented a studio cond across the street from the beach and only about 15 minutes from Old San Juan. We were there for a wedding, but Monday we were free and we wanted to find a few places we had read about. Places to eat and or drink. Old restaurants and hotels we found in magazines and travel books. Places we hoped would not be full of tourist.

We were to meet up with niece and husband Monday a.m. but we had no luck getting them on the phone. Not being able to reach niece on the phone and knowing that niece had danced with the label of "BLACK" the night before at her brothers wedding, we thought she might be hurtin.
So we headed off to a near by spot for a Bloody Mary. It was the worst restaurant and the worst BM I have ever had in my life. The reason we went to this place is cause the day before I looked in the front door when we walked by and thought it might have a nice view. This is what we got for a view. We were able to sit in that window and have a bad drink. With that view. Not bad.


We continued to reach out to niece and husband and finally they called and said "where are you?". We said "at the Hotel El Convento in Old San Juan come on and meet us". And they did. Good times.

Stacey and I were walking through Old San Juan trying to find a tapas bar we had read about. We had read how good and authentic the food was. Just like a tapas bar in Barcelona. When we found the address it was at the Hotel El Convento. When we ask about the tapas bar we were informed it was not open until 5 p.m. It was about 1 p.m. so we ask where we might get a drink and the bellmen told us the bar in the court yard was open and he showed us the way.

This was an awesome place. To start with some guy was playing a classical music on a piano.

We looked around and saw no one. Just the guy playing piano. We walked toward the bar as the bar tender showed up. We ask if he was open, he said he was, we ordered drinks and ask about the hotel we were in. Bar tender handed us a pamphlet, told us to go sit and he would bring our drinks.

Looking through the pamphlet we learned that Hotel El Convento was once a convent.Built in 1651. In 1995 15 million dollars were spent on a renovation. It still looked old to me. Which was a good thing. It had been beautiful restored. Click here and read about all the changes the place went through Between 1651 and 1995. We sat in the bar in the courtyard surround by balconies about 4 stories tall. There were trees in the court and tons of vegetation. We actually met the lady who's job was to take of the plants. She was very proud. The 4 stories of balconies accommodated the guest rooms. Outside each guest door were 4 chairs and a table. Looked like a nice place to have a morning coffee or afternoon cocktail. I really want to go back and spend a couple nights in this hotel. I bet is it haunted with old nuns.

After a couple beers in the courtyard bar we headed out to find La Mallorquina. Founded in 1848 La Mallorquina is advertised at the oldest restaurant to operate nonstop in the same spot in America. Some how we knew we wanted to have a drink here. We had read about it some where. We were greeted by a lovely man who was about 90 years old and 4' tall. He invited us in and he told us about the two lunch specials. We sat at the bar took in the oldness of this place. Straight out of a Humphrey Bogart movie. We had a drink and decided to split one of the lunch specials just to check out the food. It was good. Rice and pork wrapped in a banana leaf. With black beans of course. We had another drink.

We learned the third spot we wanted to visit was no longer open so we though we would walk a while. Old San Juan is great to look at, but soon one feels crowded by all the tourist. So we ducked into the local brew pub.

Thank you, I know smart move. But, a totally different atmosphere. Everything was new. Big open kitchen and they were getting ready for a busy night. There were 3 chefs and they were all hard at work. We did a tasting of about 5 beers. Good stuff. We then left for a meal at Varita.

Varita is one of three restaurants owned by Chef Wilo Benet. I did not know this, but he was on one of the Top Chef series. The place was real cool to look at and the food was good. I had a huge piece of roasted pig. We had lot's of different food and it was all good.
check it out here.

Here are some photos Stacey took. It was a good trip and I can't wait to get back and check out those restaurants on the beach.

A WEDDING IN SAN JUAN

Ah, beautiful San Juan. Well kinda of beautiful if you don't look to close. It's the same so many places we go, someone needs to pick up the damn trash. Santa Domingo, Belize, Panama, St. John USVI and San Juan all suffer the same problem. At the resorts and hotels and all, things are nice, but once you leave those grounds usually you see trash everywhere. I don't get it???

Anyway we are there for a reason. Nephew is getting married. Their plans were for those invited and willing to fly to San Juan, meet at their hotel Sunday at 2 pm, where we would all board a small bus and drive about an hour, up into the rain forest. And that is what we did. It was by far the coolest wedding I have ever attended.

The drive was nice and it gave us a chance to see parts of San Juan we never get to see. As we drove down the coast we pasted hundreds of outdoor restaurants. Most were just four post, a tin roof and a big fire. Looked like all the food was cooked over this open fire and it looked like the offered BBQ and seafood. If I ever go back and have a car I will drive there and eat like a crazy man. I will try everyone of those restaurants.

We then were driven up into a rain forest. It is a national park. It was easy to tell we were in a different environ. It was wet, and green and lush and cool. The wedding was held on a stone bridge at the Grand Bath which was the large pool of spring water from the mountain top.

The Bride and Groom wrote their vows and I wish I could have heard them, but the water coming down the mountain was loud. It drowned them out. But, it was still a beautiful wedding.
The reception was fun as well. We ended up back at the beach near those shacks/restaurants I mentioned above. We had been on the bus awhile and everyone was ready for food. When we hit the restaurant snacks were laid out and I consumed about 15 of the best fried shrimp I have ever had in my life. We also had dinner and it was very good. Who ever picked this place did a great job. We drank, danced and party til dawn.

Still kickin

Stacey, aka Lil'Lady, keeps a calendar at work where she writes down what we do each week. Not a lot of detail, but the date, where, what and with whom. Since I have not been very good at posting blogs for the last few months I ask Lil Lady if she would send an email with what we have been up to for the last few months. I want to catch up and start posting a few times a week. I'm not sure too many folks read my blog regularly, but looking back on past post I realize how glad I am that I have written a lot over the last three years. It's a great way to look back and remember what we've been up to. I think I realized I'm writing for myself and Lil Lady most of all. I've keep journals for years and I now know this is just another journal. If others read and enjoy that's great, I love to share, but I'm writing no matter what. It's so much fun looking back at our busy lives. I look forward to 20 years down the road and looking back at all the fun we have had. And if you do read this blog you know we have fun. Whatever our short comings you can't say Lil Lady and I have not had a good time living life.

Now I need to decide if I want to go back and catch up. Do I want to go into detail about all we have done in the past three months or do I just want to touch on each event and move on to current events. These are some of the dates and things we have done lately.

9/10 = dinner at pratt and steve------ Pratt and Steve are our friends that live near us here in Atlanta. Our connections go back to Mobile. Stacey and I bought our house in Mobile from Pratts Mom and Dad. Over the years we have gotten to be good friends with all four. We see P and S a good bit here in the ATL. We eat at each others house and at restaurants often. They love to try new restaurants as much as we do. Further down this list you see we dined in Mobile with them. It's noted because P and S had a few bottles of special wine and want us to join them in cooking a meal to match the wines. It ended up we did it in Mobile at our cottage. It was fun, like I said we always have fun with Pratt and Steve.

So this is it for now. I have been stuck in this house for about a week now. It snowed very heavy and then with the temps staying below 30 all week it's been inpossible to drive. Tomorrow is Saturday and I'm getting out no matter what. Later I will touch on some of the things we have done on the list below. I will also try and stay current with my post.

9/11 = livingston for lunch, con fed of dunces

9/17 = party at feed store for peter leaving

9/25 = roller derby, pura vida dinner

10/7 = streak o lean

10/9 - dinner at keith and mikey

10/14= dinner at Muss Turner

10/16 = beekeeping class

10/17 - dinner at our house - butch, shawn, katie, marsha

10/23 = dinner in Mobile with Pratt and Steve - wine

11/6 - 11/9/ = san juan - jeff and emily wedding

11/10 - dinner at feed store for commercial

11/19 - dinner holman finch

11/20 - dinner rathburns

11/25 = thanksgiving in bham

12/1 - L3 party

12/7= tsh epgtc - walked to tavern for beers

12/4= high mus - salvadore

12/9 = dinner L3 peter/wife

12/17 = Jeffery 40th at Feed store

12/24-12/27 = Mobile Christmas

WHY I WANT A SMART PHONE

In Paris, A Display From Hockney's Pixelated Period

by Susan Stamberg

December 7, 2010

Enlarge David Hockney

From the exhibition "Fresh Flowers," a drawing created by artist David Hockney with the creative tool that's been fascinating him lately — the iPad. Untitled, 10 July 2010 is one of hundreds of digital works showing on 40 screens in the Paris exhibition, which runs through Jan. 30.

David Hockney thinks his current exhibition may be the first one that's ever been 100 percent e-mailed to a gallery. The 73-year-old artist is standing in the space in question — the Pierre Berge-Yves St. Laurent Foundation in Paris — trying to talk about the works, when his iPhone rings.

"I'm right in the middle of an interview," he says, laughing. "I'm sorry — wait a minute — I am, actually." Then, to the reporter: "I'll turn it off."

And he does, though it might have been more fun if he hadn't: He might have made us a new artwork right on the phone — a little vase of flowers, or a face, or a landscape.

When Hockney first got the device about two years ago, he immediately realized it was a new medium for creativity.

"Incredible little thing, really, because it was like a sketchbook and a paintbox all in one," the artist says. Better, even: "No cleaning up. No mess."

That's because he's painting with an app called Brushes — a small virtual paintbox on the phone's screen, into which Hockney dips a finger — or 10 — and makes pictures.

"He started out sending out these images — little images that he would make on his iPhone — to his friends," says installation designer Ali Tayar. "You wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning, and you're trying to go back to sleep, but on your computer is one of his images," Tayar says. "That is a treat — a 'Hi,' a little flower."

Capturing The Morning, With Light Instead Of Inks

Hockney started making these vibrant digital "paintings" early in the morning at his home in Yorkshire, England.

Enlarge David Hockney

Untitled, 8 July 2010

"From about late April to July, the sunrise would hit me in bed," he explains. But "if I'd [only] had a pencil and paper by the bed, I wouldn't have drawn a sunrise."

Black lead, white paper; not that much to get up for, really. But Hockney had his iPhone by the bed, so he could draw the sunrise on the phone, in color.

Then the sun hit a vase of flowers near the bed. Hockney painted that, too. More mornings, more paintings, until he'd made hundreds and hundreds.

"Some were drawn quite quickly," he says, "Some were drawn over two or three mornings, meaning I'd go back to them. And I sent them out — lovely thing was, I could send them out to my friends. ... Often they were getting the sunrise that they'd missed."

As you might guess, the people on his list — a couple of dozen or so — said they loved receiving those early-morning e-mails.

For A Few Weeks, 'Fresh Flowers,' And Then A Sudden Fade

Then Hockney heard about the larger iPad. The artist has always carried a small sketchbook with him. Now he carries the electronic equivalent. The creative experience is different on the bigger device, he says.

"On the iPhone I tended to draw with my thumb," he says. "Whereas the moment I got to the iPad, I found myself using every finger."

And he really gets into it, reports curator Charlie Scheips.

"He says he sometimes gets so obsessed that when he's going, he rubs his finger on his clothes to, like, clean his finger — as if he was using real paint."

Scheips coordinated the Paris show, a riot of non-paint paintings on luminous digital screens. One wall at the gallery is hung with 20 iPhones; a second wall carries 20 iPads. (The Berge-St. Laurent Foundation paid for all the devices — it's not an Apple-backed effort, it says.)

All the gadgets are turned on 24 hours a day, and from time to time Hockney e-mails a new work to one of them — a kind of artistic status update.

The show, called "Fresh Flowers," closes at the end of January. And then, installation designer Ali Tayar says, all the art will disappear.

"It's not the traditional painting," he muses. "It really doesn't exist. It's just light on a screen."

Enlarge David Hockney

Untitled, 16 April 2010

You could print a Hockney e-mail, if you were lucky enough to get one, but it would lose something in translation without that brilliant backlighting. The work only lives on these gadgets.

There's another hurdle, of course.

"We haven't figured out how to get paid," Hockney says. "At the moment it doesn't matter, but I will have to figure it out like everybody else."

Meantime, he's having fun making art with this newfangled but basically old-fashioned instrument. So are loads of other artists who are bringing back drawing this way, making works on digital devices.

Curator Scheips says Hockney has always been forward-looking — years ago he made collages with Polaroid pictures, and used home copying machines for other works. This new phase, Scheips thinks, is just the logical next step.

But it's a big step, artistically.

"These things are all about surfaces," Scheips says. "It's all about mark-making. ... These drawings — they may be small physically, but they're big and important in terms of his total oeuvre. And he thinks that this medium is gonna change the world."

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

I woke up this a.m. and as usual started my espresso then checked emails. Like always the N Y Times was there. I found an article critiquing this guys show at the Beacon Theater last night. I had never heard of Mr. Stevens, but liked what I read. Stacey came in and glanced at what I was reading and inquired. Don't know I told her, but check this out. I showed her how in less the a minute we could hear samples of his songs on Amazon.com and purchase them if we like. 99 cents and they are downloaded to your itunes page right away. The article about the show talked about images projected on a large screen throughout the show. It mention some of the images were from an outsider artist, Royal Robertson, a Louisiana sign painter. So of course I needed to know about him. When I googled Royal Robertson I found, among other things, the article I have copied below. I love being able to do this.

Sufjan Stevens' musical 'Age' is still maturing

by Taylor Baker
Contributing Writer

Arts | 10/19/10
Posted online at 1:46 AM EST on 10/19/10

Media Credit: Marzuki Stevens/Asthmatic Kitty Many songs on 'Adz' were inspired by Royal Robertson.

It's funny that no matter how much someone changes, they still stay the same. That's what first comes to mind when thinking of Sufjan Stevens' new album, The Age of Adz. In his most recent album, Stevens lays on the electronica to his usual combination of intricately layered vocals, soaring choruses, orchestral arrangements and a slew of other instruments that all add up to his unique sound. For anyone familiar with Stevens, his new album will be a bit of a departure, despite the fact that he released an electronic album in 2001, which, in my opinion, was not enjoyable at all. Unfortunately, it seems that his 2001 album was a precursor to his new one.

After abandoning his 50 States project-Stevens planned on releasing one album for every state of the Union but later revealed the attempt was a gimmick-Stevens released several other albums. One album consisted of B-sides, another was a compilation of Christmas songs, the third was an instrumental album inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in New York City and he also released EP that was a prelude of sorts to Adz. The Age of Adz is Stevens' first full-length album without an overarching theme of a state, like his previous two Michigan and Illinois. Instead of providing narratives of being bitten by a wasp in Palisades Park or of a man living in Michigan slowly losing the grip on his life, Stevens indulges listeners with much more personal, romantic and apocalyptic narratives.

Now, don't get me wrong. The Age of Adz is not a terrible album-there are some really great songs and there are certain parts I could listen to over and over again. Moreover, I'd say the introduction of electronic elements to Stevens' sound is not a horrible idea; however, there are some points where the screwy sound effects bear down on the music and the listener.

Adz starts off with "Futile Devices," a song that could have easily been on any of Stevens' previous albums. The song consists of a simple melody, a guitar and Stevens' timid, somewhat haunting voice. Then, as if to say, "That was then, this is now," the next song, "Too Much," comes to life with an aquatic, electronic beat. In "Too Much," Stevens melds the relatively new, electronic sound with his usual intricate orchestral sound. This is one of the standout songs of Stevens' album-it's an introduction to how personal the album will be. Also, at certain points, this song is very cinematic. It reminded me of an intergalactic space war, which is most likely an homage to Royal Robertson, a paranoid schizophrenic painter whose art often depicted futuristic space scenes of the End of Days. Stevens' website confirms that The Age of Adz is partly inspired by Robertson's art.

There is also a futuristic, cinematic sound in the next song bearing the same name as the album. Age of Adz is familiar in that it soars in some places with compounds of sleigh bells, trumpets and choirs and then quiets down in others with only Sufjan's melancholic voice and guitar. It is in this song that Stevens introduces his apocalyptic and Biblical allusions, a trademark of sorts in his music: He includes everything from the glory of God being in everyone to the prospect of eternity and the Earth's breaking apart. All of these images aside, Stevens finishes the song apologizing for his selfishness, shortcomings and inability to persevere.

Other high points on Stevens' album are: "Get Real Get Right," another song with vivid imagery, trippy, electronic beats and backing choirs echoing the haunting message of the song and "I Want to Be Well." The latter song is the most honest and aggressive one on the album. The explicit despair over a messed-up relationship and desperate search for peace yield an exquisite, heartbreaking, haywire vocal bridge.

I think The Age of Adz can be summed up in its last song, "Impossible Soul," the album's 25-minute opus. The song, like the album, can drag at times and get a bit overbearing with the electronic samples but is redeemed by some truly magnificent parts. The third part-I broke up the song into four parts in order to better digest it-which starts at around the 14 minute mark, proves to be the best. It is upbeat and expressive, and the electronic effects meld perfectly with the layered vocals and instruments.

For the most part, The Age of Adz works. It's exciting to see Sufjan Stevens' sound evolve: We just might need to wait a bit longer for that evolution to reach a less awkward stage.