Atlanta Botanical Garden - 30 acre botanical garden in midtown next to Piedmont Park. Features children’s programming, edible garden, outdoor kitchen, rose garden, hydrangea collection, dwarf and rare conifer garden, water plants, conservation garden, Japanese garden, Fuqua conservatory with tropical rotunda, desert house, orangerie, high elevation house, orchids, and… more, actually. Even more. If you’re local it’s worth it to get a membership and go often – they have a ton of programming, including free cocktails and chef demos in the garden every Thursday May – September from 6 – 10pm. Right now they’re doing Sculpture in the Garden and the Garden of Lights programming in winter is not to be missed. Adults are $18.95 and you have to pay for parking.

dragonflies with shoes at the Atlanta Botanical Garden's winter show

Bike the Trails: The Freedom Park and Silver Comet Trails are two favorites. The Freedom Park Trail winds around a park and can take you from Stone Mountain to downtown. (Stop for tofu tacos at Across the Street and tea at Condessa Coffee.) Note that the Silver Comet Trail is about 13 miles north of Atlanta, but it is awesome – I like to start even further up, in Rockmart. More about bike trails in and around Atlanta. Here’s some info about monthly bike rides with the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. The beltline’s current trails. (I’m still learning about the Beltline Project – more soon, I hope.)

gratuitous picture of our bikes

The Center for Puppetry Arts – Hey, I’ve got a whole post about this one! One of my favorite places to go in Atlanta. Center hours: Tuesday-Friday, 9am-3pm; Saturday, 9am-5pm; and Sunday, 11am-5pm. Extended hours during evening shows. Closed on major holidays. Around $10 – $15 per person.

skeksis from "The Dark Crystal" on display at the Center for Puppetry Arts

Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum - Think Stanford’s Cantor museum, only way smaller. The Carlos calls itself “one of the Southeast’s premier ancient art museums with major collections of art objects from ancient Egypt, Nubia, Near East, Greece, Rome, ancient Americas, Africa, and Asia, as well as a collection of works on paper from the Renaissance to the present.” Current exhibitions include “Embodied Seeing: Modernist Works on Paper“, and “‘For I am the Black Jaguar’: Shamanic Visionary Experience in Ancient American Art“. They also have great lectures. Hours are Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sunday 12 noon – 5 p.m. Closed on Mondays and university holidays. Admission is a bargain: $8 for adults and $6 for students, seniors and children. You can rent an audio tour device for $2.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History - Contains permanent and visiting collections. “Giants of the Mesozoic, on display in the atrium of Fernbank Museum, features a 123-foot (37 m) long Argentinosaurus (the largest dinosaur ever classified) as well as a Giganotosaurus. The permanent exhibition, A Walk Through Time in Georgia, tells the twofold story of Georgia’s natural history and the development of the planet.” (Sorry, I got lazy – thanks Wikipedia) There’s also an interactive section on the top floor and an IMAX theatre. Exhibits range from the ethereal – Mythic Creatures, which Nate and I enjoyed last year – to the everyday – upcoming “The Scoop on Poop” focuses on digestion. Monday – Saturday 10 am to 5 pm; Sunday Noon to 5 pm Adults are $17.50, kids are $15.50.

The High Museum of Art – yup, covered this one, too. “It’s the leading art museum in the SE US and is one of the most-visited art museums in the world. Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown, it’s a division of the Woodruff Arts Center. The High holds more than 11,000 works of art in its permanent collection, including 19th and 20th century American art; European art; decorating arts; modern and contemporary art, and photography.” There’s also a special emphasis placed on supporting and collecting works by Southern self-taught artists, such as Howard Finster of Paradise Gardens. (Thanks, Wikipedia.) Didja know that when I was a little girl I tumbled through the original Paradise Gardens and sat on Finster’s knee? Sure did! My parents were big fans, and I grew up not too far from the site.

If you can make it out on a Thursday, tickets are half-price from 4-8pm. Otherwise, adults are $18 and kids are $11. Hours are 10am – 5pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10am – 8pm Thursday; 12pm – 5pm Sunday. Closed on Monday.

Living Walls Conference - from the website: “Living Walls, The City Speaks, is an annual conference on street art and urbanism that began in August 2010 in Atlanta. The Conference set out to highlight a number of problems facing the city – not just showcasing art, but building a platform for much-needed dialogue in the city. The idea behind Living Walls is to put the work of a very small subset of the population (street artists, graffiti writers, etc), people who actually interact with space, and people who spend their time in discourse about public space all under the same roof. Our intentions are simply to broadcast to the attendees a wide spectrum of ideas about public space, hoping that everyone leaves the event looking at the city, its walls, and how we interact with space differently.” See the amazing inaugural year murals here. And 2011 here.

Living Walls does an annual conference, lectures, workshops, and gallery exhibitions. Make a “Living Walls” day by taking your bike and public transit around to as many places of the map as possible. Note that due to the living nature of this work some might not be there. But my favorite, by Swampy, (seen above) still stands proud on Dekalb. You can get maps on the website or by googling.

Oakland Cemetery – Atlanta’s oldest cemetery, it started out as six acres but is now 48. A wonderful walk with rolling hills and so much to see. “Notable residents” include Carrie Steele Logan, Margaret Mitchell, Maynard Jackson, Ivan Allen Jr., and Bobby Jones. It’s also right across from Ria’s Bluebird, which is totally where you should have breakfast or lunch before your stroll through the cemetery. Admission is free but the visitor’s center is open 9 – 4 weekdays, 9 – 8 weekends.

a view of one small part of the giant graveyard

Psst: don’t forget to go to Ria’s Bluebird! Open every day, 8am – 3pm! Lookit these tasty options:

I’ve had the bionic breakfast and the veggie philly wrap. Both were absurdly good. I also had a bite of the southwest scramble, which is definitely the best in the city!

Young Blood Gallery and Boutique – when Isa and John came to down last winter, I advised them to visit two places: Sevananda and Young Blood. And they loved both! John got junk foods at Sevananda, and they bought a buncha cool stuff at Young Blood. Young Blood is a store of well-curated indie crafts with a gallery in the back. The shows I’ve been to have all been great. Excellent place to get birthday and holiday cards and presents. 636 N Highland Ave. Atlanta, GA 30306 Sun-Thurs: 12-8 | Fri-Sat: 12-9 And once you’re in the neighborhood, you can walk about thirty feet and have a meal at Soul Vegetarian II. Yeah, buddy!

Y’all: there are tons of other fun things to do in Atlanta, but these are just some of the biggies. Maybe I’ll make a follow-up post (or two, or three) sometime later. But this should get you started. Enjoy!

None of my typical snacks, no refined sugar, and a focus on fresh fresh fresh. For those of you who know me well: brown rice at dinner must stick out like a sore thumb. (I haven’t had it since I got violently ill with food poisoning in 2008.) Volume of food aside, it might even look a little light.

The reason? I’m going mostly raw in May!

It’s an arbitrary challenge that I’m excited to be setting for myself. I’ll share my reasoning tomorrow, promise. But for now, know that I’m healthy, happy, and looking forward to a really different way of eating for the next 30 days.

/ one down, thirty to go. More soon!

April just turned out to be so busy. It’s like everyone decided to come out of hibernation and do all of the things at once. Like, travel. Nate spent two weekends away from me (Arizona, NYC) and then we both went to TN & MS for a wedding. Saturday we travelled to Chattanooga with the lovely Jacquie for an afternoon at Sluggo’s. It’s been fun, it’s been active, but I still regret my absence here.

Often when I’ve been away for a while and have a lot to catch up on I like to do a picture post and kinda cover it all at once. It’s a lot, but by the last picture you’re completely updated on my recent goings-on. For besties/super fans only? Nah. Too many good cat pictures and food pr0n to miss out. Let’s do this.

Alright ma. Show me watcha got.

Click more… (below) to keep reading

The yummiest thing I ate in April: seitan pot roast with local organic veggies. My own recipe, I made it for our March monthly anniversary (we still celebrate every monthly 30th). It’s so good.

Meanwhile: Perl.

Nate kicked off April fool’s day by leaving for Scottsdale, Arizona at 8:30am. He was there through Wednesday for JSConf. I asked him to take pictures of cacti for me because one of my favorite parts of travelling is seeing native flora. Plus, cacti are awesome.

Not so sure about this one.

View outside the hotel.

I occupied myself caring for Siggy and Maddy, Jacquie & Syl’s little babies. Siggy above, Maddy below. Love em.

The more cats the better. Here, Unix meets her first monarch:

“Herro.”

*reach*

*bonk* can’t… get… flutter thing…

Another delicious April dish: tempeh red curry with all the local organic veggies. The secret was caramelizing the red onions with a buncha sugar at the start.

Easter at my Aunt Mary’s house in Cartersville. I provided the bbq tofu slabs, new vegan Laurel (my cousin! my beautiful wonderful cousin!) offered up pasta salad. The food was great, but I love any opportunity to hide plastic eggs for kiddos.

When Nate got back from JSConf he took me to Blossom Tree, a Korean taco place across from Georgia State University that I’ve been wanting to try for a while. The tacos did not disappoint!

Best part was the free iced genmai cha. I had about twelve cups.

Post-Easter I was mostly preoccupied with helping a cat at the Cobb County (kill) animal shelter get adopted. Miss Sammy Joe, pictured below, stole my heart. She was dumped at the shelter after her owner passed away. In addition to soliciting donations from cat lovers on facebook, I had a bake sale.

Bake sale at Nate’s work:

Between the donations received through facebook and the bake sale, we raised enough to adopt Sammy Joe!

Sweetest girl.

She now lives with Laurel and John and their two kids in Cartersville! The elder son is just absolutely in love with Sammy Joe, as she is with him. Shelter pals are the best!

Good deeds done, I took myself out to lunch with a new old friend from Meeting.

We talked Quaker gossip and life plans and just generally became acquainted with the awesomeness that is one another over a vegetarian lunch. I had the Veggie Philly Wrap made vegan. It was super!

Too bad I couldn’t get a decent picture.

Sadly, just a week after Phoenix, Nate packed his bags for a late flight to NYC. But first, dinner at his favorite BBQ place, Burnt Fork in Decatur:

Mural on the side of the building. Story: “Burnt Fork BBQ is the namesake of Burnt Fork Creek,which supplied the city of Decatur with water from the early 20th century through World War II. The creek originates near Tucker and flows for six miles until it reaches the South Fork of Peachtree Creek. The confluence of the two creeks is just downstream from the stone bridge depicted in our logo, a relic of the Old Decatur Waterworks located near Toco Hills in Mason Mill Park. The mural on the side of our building, painted by Lisa Kemp, portrays the bridge surrounded by some of the native plants and animals that reside in or along the creek.”

So there you have it. Nothing to do with charred utensils.

I love getting to see vegan co-owner Cara, the wonderful woman who makes the following happen:

Local organic french fries, local organic kale topped with pecans, chewy gooey spicy savory yummy BBQ tofu.

Nate made it safely! I was so worried.

When he sent me this picture, worry turned to jealousy.

But I had my own fun, taking the opportunity to visit my momma up in the country. Here’s a view of her recently-installed raised bed gardens. The field in the distance is part of the property I grew up on.

Delicious garden. Several types of lettuce, collards, spinach, cilantro, and carrots peeking up.

A new friend! Have I ever told you the story of Adrienne and the Fuzzy Caterpillars? When I was a kid I had to walk about a half mile home from the bus stop every day, since the bus didn’t come down our narrow, windy, ultra-rural route. One day I was walking home by myself and saw this exodus of fuzzy caterpillars crawling from one side of the road to the other. It was a wondrous sight – hundreds of fuzzy caterpillars following each other. Now, our road didn’t get a lot of traffic, but I sure feared for those caterpillars. I spent the next couple of hours carefully picking up caterpillars and taking them to the other side of the road. I didn’t leave til every caterpillar had safely crossed. Who knows what became of them? My mom was just happy to finally have me home.

Some of mom’s spinach.

I welcomed Nate back to the glorious south with a vegan twist on a traditional supper. Butterbeans, cheesy grits, and mom’s butter lettuce topped with Georgia pecans and shaved Dr. Cow nut cheese. Oh, and don’t forget the iced oolong to drink.

I also surprised him with two new booster packs of Magic cards. Yep, Magic cards. The game your little brother played in middle school. Turns out, Magic’s pretty fun. Nate taught me how to play a few years ago and while I don’t play with the new cards, I enjoy a game every once in a while. I’ve even beaten him!

Well wouldja look at that. One of his little booster packs held a $20-something valued card. Some kind of vampire or something? All I know is that Nate was beyond thrilled.

At some point I made this veggie shrimp (using vegetable-based fake shrimp, not actual real was-once-alive shrimp, because if you eat shrimp you’re not vegetarian, let alone vegan /clarification) curry thing. It was okay. Nate really liked it. I found the veggie shrimp to be a bit too “real”.

But, listen. You could have given me your portion.

I would have eaten it right up.

Fine, then.

April 24th was my dear sweet friend Jenny’s birthday, so I sent her a box of extracts to help with her side baking business. Extracts are necessary but can be expensive, I love giving practical gifts, so why not send extracts? Yay! She loved them.

My goodness was rewarded with a box of kyotofu mini vegan chocolate brownies. Sweet packaging.

I did days’ worth of spring cleaning, which inspired Nate to finally get his office/studio (AKA our guestroom) in order. It’s nice to have a place to play music.

The third weekend of April was earmarked long ago for my cousin Jackson’s wedding in Mississippi. My aunt had trouble getting a vegan option from the caterer and asked if I wouldn’t mind bringing food for us + 1 other guest to the rehearsal dinner. No biggie. My food is outstanding.

Perl worries over our trip with her new friend Platty. Don’t worry, Miss Perl. Miss Jacquie will be taking care of you and your wicked sister while we’re gone. (And what an incredible job she did, too! I came back to beautifully groomed, well-adjusted girls. But that’s getting ahead of myself a bit…)

We kicked off the Mississippi wedding trip with Nate’s first visit to Ria’s Bluebird. He got the scrambled tofu pictured above while I went for the Bionic breakfast below.

***

Welcome to Alabama the Beautiful

Welcome to Mississippi, Birthplace of America’s Music

At the hotel pre-rehearsal dinner. Nate’s not sure about this suit situation.

Rehearsal dinner! I made the stroganoff and the roasted vegetables. The caterers provided a dry baked potato and a decent marinated salad. I doused the dry potato in cashew dressing I had brought for salad.

A terrible shot of my lovely Aunt (mother of the groom) making a toast, but what can ya do?

The lovebirds.

Mama and me at the fancy rehearsal dinner

Wedding day: reception location. The DeSoto Arts Council – Banks House Gallery.

I enjoyed the room with bird wallpaper.

Pleased with Nate for capturing this pretty, if blurry, picture of Jackson and Leesa Marie cutting the cake.

Me, the monkey in the middle. I was asked the assist with the cake cutting. If you squint you can see the little braid I put in my hair just for the occasion.

Wedding obligations met, we took off 25 miles north to Memphis for dinner at Imagine Vegan Cafe, Memphis’ first and only vegan restaurant.

The view outside. Neat record store next door.

The view inside. Homey, friendly, fun.

Dinner: bbq sandwich, beans, fries.

CAKE!!!!!!! We didn’t get any wedding cake so we actually started out meal with this big hunk’a frosted love. Mmm hmm.

Sated, we headed home to Magnolia Grove, our accommodations for the second night of the trip.

Magnolia Grove is beautiful inside and out. I’ve stayed at bed and breakfasts before, but never a historic home like this one.

Our room. I think we got the bridal suite? Lots of nuptial imagery. The best part was the door, pictured above, that opened out onto a private second floor porch. I spent Sunday morning there drinking earl grey and journalling about the weekend. There was a fair bit to process. It was divine.

Another view of our room.

After check-out we headed back to Imagine for special Sunday brunch. Because the owners are awesome, they celebrated Earth Day (that day) with Buy One Get One Free French Toast! We kicked off the meal with soysages in blankets.

Nate: “I was never much of a french toast fan, but this stuff is phenomenal.”

I was really into “The Memphis Slam”, two biscuits split and covered with soysage, brown gravy, tofu scramble, and homemade white cheese sauce.

The amazing Imagine Vegan team. Left to right: Kimberly (co-owner Kristie’s sister), Savannah, Kristie (co-owner, mama), a little one (Sierra?), Adam (co-owner, dad), Madalynn. They have another kiddo, too, not pictured. With plenty of space, a full kids’ menu, crayons, coloring books, and even a kids’ area, Imagine is super family friendly. The decor is warm and unpretentious. Anyone would feel welcome there. I honestly can’t say enough nice things about these gentle, generous, talented people if I tried. Such sweethearts, such talent, such devotion to their family and community. So proud to know them!

Home from travelling, I purposely made quick, fast-foody type meals to help wean us off of restaurant food (fatty, salty, sugary) and back onto my home cookin’. Tacos are delicious but I never made them. (I think I made them maybe twice in 2011, and this was the first time in 2012.) With a fridge full of Portland-based Heidi Ho hazelnut cheese I went to town on toppings.

Welcome back.

One day last week Nate called me from the bus to excitedly ask me out to a “black gay drag musical about the LA ballroom scene” – Leave It On the Floor - that was closing at the Plaza. Would I miss out? No way.

Plaza lobby.

Plaza schedule.

Creepin’ on the popcorn man.

The Plaza is owned by vegans, so of course there’s nutritional yeast at the topping station.

The sad part of last week was taking Perl to the vet and dropping her off for a urine sample. It was hard being without her for most of a day. (Update: she’s okay.)

We consoled ourselves with veganised chick’n biscuits, Nate’s first.

Friday I volunteered at the Atlanta stop for the Dinner & Bikes tour with feminist bike blogger Elly Blue, her partner Joe Biel (founder/director of Microcosm Publishing), and the travelling chef himself Joshua Ploeg.

I helped unload, set up, and folded a lot of t-shirts.

I was rewarded with a plate of Joshua’s unforgettable grub.

The master surveys his work.

Insightful slideshow. Learned a lot. Recommended. Bought all the zines.

Backing up a bit, before I volunteered at Dinner and Bikes I made a bunch more cookie sandwiches for two benefits: the Plaza and the Atlanta Vegan Bake Sale 2012 to raise funds for Atlanta’s first Veg Fest. I hope they all sold.

Plaza poster.

Bake sale friends.

Saturday Jacquie, Nate and I travelled north to Chattanooga with the express purpose of dining at Sluggo’s, the best vegan restaurant in the southeast. I finally met the owner, who was pleased as punch to have us. He and the rest of the team took really good care of us – it was all even better than I remembered. Above, the wings. Reigning champ, best vegan wings in the US, beating out Chicago Diner and many others.

Sorry for the smeared pictures. I got grease on my hands, I guess, and then the lens, and hence. Above and below, my pecan dusted seitan plate.

This dish comes closest to memories of mom’s porkchops from childhood. I’m pretty sure they pound the hell out of the seitan before dredging it and frying it, just like she did. Cruelty-free and ultra delicious.

Jacquie’s mega noms sandwich. She was able to eat most of half of it.

Aah. back in atlanta. The May calendar suggests similar activity, so I’d better get some rest. See ya on May Day!

The chili that’s familiar to me is a heresy to some, I’m sure. I don’t start with whole dried peppers that are toasted, soaked, and pulverized. Since I make chili so rarely, I use a combination of good-quality preground chili powder and an on-the-fly spice mixture. I use tomatoes. I am a vegan. I add spinach. I eat it with a Chinese soup spoon. There are lots of ways my chili is “wrong” from the start, but for those looking for a decent idea of how to make something tasty in a pot, here’s my method.

• Always start with a fried onion. Everything tastes better with a fried onion. Cut it however you like (today I did small, slender pieces), and saute it in a tablespoon of oil.
• Once it has softened, add some chopped bell peppers. Add freshly minced garlic. Let cook and soften.
• Add rehydrated TVP or seitan to the frying onion-pepper-garlic mixture. Today I used Upton’s Naturals seitan because it was quick and I was already hungry. Several of my friends like to use the Boca brand frozen crumbles from the supermarket. Boca crumbles are vegan, but Morningstar Farms brand is not vegan. (Almost every MF product contains milk and eggs.)
• Make a spice blend and add it to the pot. Today I used approximately 1.5 tbsp chili powder, a teaspoon of dried organic oregano, a half teaspoon of chipotle powder, a teaspoon of cumin, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, several crunches of black pepper.
• Allow the spice blend to toast and become aromatic in the pot, stirring almost constantly, about 1min.
• Add 28 ounces of chopped organic tomatoes, or a bowl of several fresh tomatoes, cored and chopped; add 1 teaspoon brown sugar. Add 1.5 cups of hot vegetable broth mixed with several tablespoons of organic tomato paste. **If you think the chili is going to be thin by the addition of all the vegetable broth, just add it slowly, stirring, til it looks the right consistency. Remember, tomatoes will break down as they cook. Chili should be stewy, not watery/thin.**
• Stir well. Grab a bag of spinach from the fridge. Dump pretty much the whole bag on top of the stewy mix. The volume will be impressive and perhaps disconcerting at first, but spinach shrinks. Put the lid on the pot so it can steam the spinach. Steam a couple minutes, then take off the lid and stir the spinach into the mixture. It will continue to shrink. Your chili will not be leafy. The spinach will become succulent and full of saucy chiliness.
• Add three cups of cooked and rinsed beans, whatever variety. Today I used great northern and black beans. Incorporate well. Taste and see if it needs more of anything. If it does, add it. If it doesn’t, don’t. Today, my chili needed more onion and garlic, so I just added several teaspoons granulated of each.
• Allow the chili to simmer for a while so that the flavors can meld. Chili is great because the flavor will become richer and more complex as it sits.
• Chop up about a half cup cilantro (if you’re not averse) and incorporate well. Massage, cut, and squeeze half of one lime over the pot. Sit well. Serve soon and save the leftovers for later or a friend.

Chili!

I’m not in the habit of ending posts with questions, but I really wanna know – what does chili mean to you? Were you raised in a cultural context that viewed chili as a “this, not that” kinda thing? Is there another “recipe” that’s so free-form that you’ve never had to write anything down? It’d be nice to read your comments. :)

But reading the menu, it might not be immediately clear where your choices are. That’s because instead of just subbing tofu for the meat like a lot of places do, Across the Street veganises three separate meaty-meat tacos with three different vegan proteins: tofu, tempeh, and TVP. The Chipotle Shrimp Tacos becomes the Chipotle Tempeh with mango salsa; the marinated steak or chicken, TVP, and “The Best Fish Tacos”, vegan cornmeal-battered-and-fried tofu.

beans, rice, tempeh taco, fried tofu taco

It’s likely that you can veganise other menu options, like the enchiladas or chimichangas, by simply holding the dairy products. But that’s not something I’ve tried yet, because the tacos are so dang scrumptious. Chips and salsa come free with the meal. If you don’t go on Wednesdays, order a taco plate with rice and beans. They’re not just filler sides – they actually taste great. If the weather’s nice, sit on the charming patio overlooking the Freedom Park trail. It’s a good way to dog watch.

Words of caution: if you check Across the Street out on Yelp, you’ll notice that they have a boatload of bad reviews. Almost all of these reviews have to do with slow service rather than food, ambiance, or value. I think I’ve been to ATS two or three times, and the first time it was absolutely splendid. Tasty food, comfortable atmosphere, great prices, and best of all, attentive, quick service. The second time we went on a Wednesday taco night and they were swamped (there was also a giant party taking up almost all of the main dining room), so I understood the slower service. I am not planning on avoiding ATS because of service because I haven’t had bad service yet. But if you tend to get impatient easily (or are planning on going very hungry) just go at non-peak hours – aka, early or late lunch or dinner. HOURS: Tue-Thu 11 am – 10 pm, Fri-Sat 11 am – 11 pm, Sun 10 am – 10 pm, CLOSED MONDAYS.

Also, I don’t really drink, so I can’t speak to the cocktails/margaritas. If you’re into that, check the Yelp.

Across the Street is located at 668 Highland Avenue, Atlanta GA 30312. Park on the bridge overlooking or wherever you can find a spot, but not in the Highland Bakery’s lot. (404) 781- 0931. WEBSITE 

First, the High. Yeah, yeah – it’s kind of small as major art museums go.

It doesn’t have the most highfalutin’ permanent collections. But it’s our art museum, dammit, and I’m going to defend it! (With this post and my $150 Young Patron membership, of  course.) Today my oldest friend Jessica came into town with her two kids. For the first time – and without having to travel to NYC – they got to see Matisse’s Dance (I), Mondrian’s Trafalgar Square, Picasso’s Girl before a mirror, Warhol’s self portraits, Calder’s spider, and Jackson Pollock’s giant Number 1A. They enjoyed running around the giant sculptures on the second floor, and circled KAWS/Brian Connelly’s works with curiosity and appreciation.

we took MARTA cuz it's SMARTA...

a curiously small door on the second floor.

G. beholds the KAWS wall.

Spencer Finch's "Bright Star (Sirius)"; fluorescent lamps, fixtures, filters, aluminum

Without the MoMA partnership, area families would have to have the time and means to travel to NYC to see these works. A lot of us don’t have either of those luxuries. The High brings the world to us, piece by piece, year after year. We might have to do a lot of borrowing to put on a good show, but hey, it works for us! (I featured the last MoMA series, Modern By Design, in another post.)

If you can make it out on a Thursday, tickets are half-price from 4-8pm. One adult ticket, usually $18, is $9; seniors and students, usually $15, $7.50; children (6 – 17), usually $11, are $5.50; children 5 and under always free. Fulton county residents get free admission on the first Saturday of the month. Caution: the museum’s hours are fairly limited – 10am – 5pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10am – 8pm Thursday; 12pm – 5pm Sunday. Closed on Monday. Nothing stinks more than making the trip to discover they’re closed. :-(

If you’re used to having access to a great art museum, you might skip the High. But one you shouldn’t miss is the Center for Puppetry Arts! The Center opened in September 1978, with Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog cutting the ceremonial ribbon. Recently, the Center was gifted with the bulk of Henson’s permanent collection, and the plan is to build a giant Jim Henson wing. Currently, though, the museum is split between a historical tour of puppetry throughout the world, a large Henson exhibit which features the Muppets (Rolf, the Swedish Chef, and Ernie are just a few), The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Emmet Otter, and more. It’s a small but fascinating place, one of my favorites for out of town visitors.

***

an old picture (2008) of me with the Chef. BORK BORK BORK!

The CfPA has a regular schedule of seasonal shows, but I highly recommend one of the guided tours. The World of Puppetry tour of the permanent collection is given Tuesday – Friday at 1pm. The Life and Legacy of Jim Henson is a special in-depth Henson tour given on weekends at 2pm. There’s also a Behind the Scenes tour on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 11am. I’ve been to the first two and enthusiastically recommend both. The tour guide was approachable, well-paced, and knowledgeable.

there's an interactive area where kids can put on several different types of puppet show, including shadow with dinosaurs.

G seemed most excited to learn about Labyrinth and, especially, the Dark Crystal. He kept asking about the Dark Crystal, the issues between the Skeksis and mystics, and made up lots of whimsical extratextual Skeksis stories. :-)

horrible Skeksis

When we got home I showed them the trailer for The Dark Crystal and insisted upon ordering the DVD for them immediately. (C’mon, it’s just $7.49!) I hope it’s not too scary for the younger one. She found the skeksis appropriately disgusting, but seemed to enjoy the trailer!

Interestingly, the highlight of the day – apart from the Dulce Vegan cupcakes afterwards – seemed to be riding on MARTA. My favorite is this shot of G. lost in thought as we zoom past Streetela. Their first trip, but likely not the last!

It’s easy and wise to use MARTA to get to both museums. From Five Points (the center/connecting station for all lines), you’ll just go North on the red line to Arts Center Station. Arts Center Station is right across from the High Museum. It’s less than a ten minute walk (with kids, faster with adults) to the Puppetry Arts museum. Then it’s less than ten minutes back to Arts Center Station. Check out a map here if you’re unfamiliar.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s important to demonstrate how easy, appetizing, and fun veganism can be in a world that summarily writes it off as bereft of fun, flavor, and convenience. But I’m already batting for the V team, y’all. To me, a successful blog has way more to do with cultivating community around compelling personal content and creative recipes than with proving (or selling, ugh!) something. For these reasons and others, LV and FFTF are definitely among my faves.

We met up at Takorea on Juniper Street in midtown. I was embarrassingly – ok, mortifyingly – late, and had to barter with the surprise valet to get my car parked. (Take note: arrive with $3 cash if you want to park in their lot, or be prepared to surrender your keys as collateral til you can get to an ATM.) Thankfully, R & K turned out to be total dears about my social misstep, and R even loaned me the $3 to cover parking. (I’ll pay you back in baked goods, promise!)

Our server was wonderful, waiting patiently and checking in unobtrusively as we chatted oblivious of the menu. In due time we put in orders for three tofu tacos, bibimbap, and a giant salad with sesame-soy dressing.

***

I didn’t get a picture of the bibimbap, but it’s just as well – hopefully K or R will post one! I recommend Takorea to midtown-bound vegans. The kimchi isn’t veg-friendly (boo!) but the service was quick and attentive, and the food was tasty. Plus, there’s a Scoutmob for it through June 4, so you can try all the vegan items at 50% off! And if you manage to secure splendid company like I did today? Icing on the cake.

I took a picture of the savory food menu board to share with folks who enjoyed yesterday’s post.

It’s in chalk because it changes, but many of these items have been around for a while. Given their popularity – and deliciousness – I don’t really see them going anywhere soon.

For those unable to use the photo, here’s what it says:

Dulce Vegan Lunch

• Served 11am to close
• Soup of the day: Side $2.50 Small $3.95 Large $5.95
• Simple side salad with greens, cucumber and tomato – combo $2.00 a la carte $3.45
• Walnut orange side salad – combo $2.50 a la carte $3.95
• Red pepper hummus sandwich with tomato, arugula and cucumber – $6.95 ; add tofu for $1
• TLT sandwich: tempeh bacon, lettuce, tomato, and chipotle aioli – $6.95
• Walnut Orange Salad – fresh oranges, walnuts, marinated tofu, and greens with apple cider vinaigrette – $7.50
• Balsamic Marinated Tofu Sandwich – with walnut pesto, tomato and greens – $7.50
• “Chicken” salad – gluten-free – $7.50
• Local organic ingredients / Bread baked in house

Breakfast

• Biscuit – $1.95
• Bagel – $2.25
• English muffin – $1.95
• Earth balance – 0.25; “cream cheese” – 0.50
• Breakfast sandwich – $4.95: pick two: “egg”, “bacon”, “sausage”, Daiya “cheddar”; additional toppings 0.75 each; add chipotle aioli or tomato, 0.50
• Granola – gluten-free – $4.95

Not included in this post is the drink menu or a picture of the baked goods cases, which contain cakes, scones, cupcakes, and other pastries. They also make gluten-free biscotti.

Remember how last October I participated in VeganMoFo and shared, for the first three weeks, about how awesome Atlanta is for vegans? I featured one of the US’ most beloved pubs, our extraordinary in-town co-op Sevananda, my favorite restaurant Sauced, our Chinese vegan options, and even our bloggers! But then I stopped and promised to resume the theme at some point? Well… it has taken me four months, but I think I’m finally ready!

One of the motivating factors for the return to a focus on Atlanta is the awesome popularity of the newly-added “ATLANTA” tab at Cracktheplates.com. When a dear friend asked for Atlanta-area veg-friendly recommendations, it finally clicked: I needed to write a city-specific dining guide. Since I’d already done a lot of work to that effect just by blogging, I compiled the ATLANTA resource based on previous posts, and then added a few other places friends suggested. And I’m still adding! It’s a work in progress, so keep checking back for updates.

My hope is that by sorting through backlog of pictures on my desktop and meditating on all that Atlanta has to offer vegans this month, I’ll find a fun and easy to update the ATLANTA resource page. To me, it’s one thing to give a list of names and addresses of restaurants that accommodate vegans. What really helps me out when I venture to a new city are personalized recommendations (and pictures!) from folks-in-the-know. For example, I wouldn’t know the first thing about Memphis, Tennessee’s abundant vegan friendliness without Bianca’s exuberant documentation at Vegan Crunk. Reading through her posts not only gave me the confidence that Memphis would treat me kindly, but it inspired to start making a list of the “not-to-be-missed” places. I hope I can do something similar here at cracktheplates for my dear City in the Forest.

What will these posts be like? Some will be long, others will be short. Most will focus on food, although I have at least one post lined up that is an interview with the only area vegan I know who is a licensed real estate agent. My purpose is to help fill in the gaps of the resource page, so sometimes that might just mean offering a picture of one of my favorite things to eat at a particular restaurant. That’s what I’m up to today, so get to droolin’ over these photos of Dulce Vegan breakfast sandwiches:

Giant fluffy biscuit with bean-based sausage, “egg”, and cheese. Everything is freshly made in-house except the Daiya cheese. (My hope is that they come up with their own replacement soon. Daiya’s fine and all, but I’d love to see a totally DV sandwich.)

Another view.

Homemade sourdough english muffin with house “egg”, tempeh bacon, and chipotle aioli. Everything on this sandwich was made by the wizards at Dulce Vegan –  no tempeh bacon-from-a-bag here.

In case it’s not evident by the photos: these are GIANT sandwiches. I have a hearty vegan appetite, but one (especially made with a biscuit or bagel) will fill you up completely.

So, how do you get one of these amazing sandwiches? Dulce Vegan is located at 1994 Hosea L. Williams Dr. NE Atlanta, GA 30317. Their hours are Tuesday – Friday 7:30am – 6pm, Saturday 8am – 6pm, and Sunday 8am – 2pm, CLOSED Mondays. Breakfast sandwiches are served all day. For around $5 for a basic sandwich, choose your bread: biscuit, english muffin, or bagel. Pick two of the following: bacon, egg, Daiya, sausage. You can pay extra and add more of the first list, or do other add-ons for about .50 each: tomato, chipotle aioli, even arugula! Ingredients are locally-sourced with a strong commitment to organics – last time I checked, DV used almost exclusively organic ingredients.

Dulce Vegan is definitely a must-add to your “must-go” list when visiting Atlanta. When Isa (Queen of Veganism) and John (Lord of the Laziest Vegans) flew here last October for a visit/booksigning, it was on their last stop before heading back, and they seemed to really enjoy everything. Be cool like Isa and John – and all of us in Atlanta, of course – don’t miss DV!

I can put up with the exclusive use of “vibrate”, but I’ve gone too long without pictures, dang it. Pictures help me remember. Skimming through the past two weeks, I only have about four. Were I with camera, there’d be many, many more. It’d help the blog, too. I’ll never switch to tumblr, but wouldn’t pictures liven this place up a bit? Doesn’t this one?

That’s Jenny from Chicago. She came for her annual visit last week, Wednesday – Saturday. First stop off the plane was her favorite, Soul Vegetarian West.  The daily specials were perfect: jerk tofu, greens, sweet potatoes, not-sweet cornbread, and macaroni and cheese.

Yum.

We did a lot of other fun stuff, too, but since I didn’t take any pictures, I can’t remember any of it. Just kidding. We went to Oakland Cemetery, Harmony, the Buford Highway Farmers’ Market, Village Theatre, Dua Vietnamese Noodle Shop, Criminal Records, Sevananda, Charis. She had vegan cheese grits (my recipe) for the first time and swooned. I love it when Jenny visits.

Wednesday I went thrifting with my mom and grandma. I couldn’t resist this image of a graveyard of technical books. Usually there’s a shelf or so, but three?!

Strange to think we’re solidly into generations who will never know the glorious sound of dial-up. I’m pretty sure hours spent listening in anticipation laid the foundation for a later love of noise. :16 – :26, crank it up!

In more recent news, today I gave a talk at (quaker) Meeting about my early and recent experiences with the Christian holy text, often referred to as simply “the Bible”. (I have a hard time calling it “the Bible”, since I’m so painfully aware of its brokenness as the disparate texts of communities, eras, and languages, among others. I prefer to refer, when possible, to the first or second testament, or better, individual “books”/letters/etc.) I did a really nice job and was encouraged by the moderator to write up my thoughts for the newsletter, which has a fairly wide reach. I didn’t put a lot of time into preparation because when I sat down to write, like so many other assignments, it seemed to just flow out of the tip of my pen. It might not be evident from my casual blog, but I’ve always been a fairly thoughtful, compelling writer. When it’s not about my life, I enjoy writing and find it easy. Personal blogging, on the other hand, often feels unreasonably awkward.

In other unfortunate topics, Nate’s in Arizona, which means I’m sad and lonely. We haven’t been apart since his grandfather‘s funeral last November. Of course it was easy to see him off then – he was grieving and needed to be with his family, and I would have gone too had it been financially feasible. But now he’s yukking it up with fellow programmers in Scottsdale, eating all the yums on an expense account and staying at a fancy resort. Heh. I must sound bitter. But honestly, I’m happy for him. Would I like to be there? Maybe. But we all need our “me” time, and I’m happy he’s getting the time to focus on his passion with like minds. I just hope we can rustle up the funds to go on a vacation this year. :)

So my company’s the cats, who have invaded the new bed. They destroyed the thrift store sheets we’d used for years so I splurged on a new set from Ikea. It’s sweet to sleep in purple. Now, if only I can get them to stay on the fleece blanket.