ATL Weather and Moon Phase
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Just a quick little review of Farmstead 303 in Decatur. It’s only been open a couple of months, so it’s early to make any longterm judgments, but here is my first impression:
Our server was adorable and very sweet. She did a good job. The first thing they bring is herbed biscuits with honey butter. They were delicious. Soft, sweet, slighty herby goodness!
We ordered the Chicken Liver Bruschetta appetizer. It was hit and miss. The chicken livers were lightly fried with a lovely brown sauce – that was the hit. The “bruschetta” was, unfortunately the miss. It was a 2″ piece of doughy french bread on end rather than cut on the bias. Bruschetta should be crunchy! The point is to have a crunchy garlicky toasted bread with the topping as counterpoint. It was fair.
I had the duck breast with Hoppin’ John and the boys had the smoked pulled pork special. I’ll start with my dish:
 Duck @ Farmstead 303 The duck was just ok. It was a bit overcooked and not crispy at all. (Mine is about 100x better, put it that way.) It was also bland and unseasoned – BIG no-no. The so-called Hoppin’ John was plain white rice with some blackeyed peas tossed in. Um, NO that’s not hoppin’ john, dude. This was also bland and unseasoned. The corn garnish was actually the tastiest part of the dish. The corn was in some sort of turmeric laced sauce, which is why it’s neon yellow. The baby arugula was pretty but added nothing to the dish. Overall, I’d give it 2 stars out of 5. Meh.
The boys both had the dinner special. It was pulled pork with a vinegar sauce, hushpuppies, whole fried okra with sweet and sour sauce, and collard greens. The pork was how I like it: soft and moist like ropa vieja. The vinegar sauce was interesting. The hushpuppies were bland. The greens were pretty good. The whole fried okra, while fresh, was a miss. The whole pods retained all the slime and it came oozing out when you tried to eat it. GROSS. There’s a reason the traditional recipe is to CUT IT UP. It was also bland. Overall, the special was better than my dish, but I’d only give it 3 stars out of 5.
Farmstead 303 is a great idea and *could* be a great restaurant. While this trip was a bit disappointing, we’ll try it again in a few months. It’s a bit pricey for the quality, IMO. Another thing to note is that the space is VERY noisy. Between the boominess of the main room and the live music coming from the bar, it’s not really conducive to having a conversation. They might consider some acoustic dampening tiles or something for the main room.
Overall, I’d give Farmstead 303 a 2.5 star rating (out of 5).
This recipe was in the paper, but of course I changed it and made it 45 mins rather than several hours. I also added turkey to it, so you can leave that out for a veggie version. Doing so will change how much liquid you need, so you’ll have to eyeball it.
1 pkg ground turkey or chicken (about 1.25#)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 cans chickpeas (garbanzos), drained
2 med eggplants, partially peeled (stripes of skin) and cut into 1-2″ chunks
2 med onions, halved then sliced longways into strips
10 cloves garlic
1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes with juice (you can add another if you want lots of toms, but drain it)
2 Tbl tomato paste (or one small can)
1 small can tomato sauce (optional, I needed it to loosen up the stew)
3/4 cup chicken stock (again, optional, as needed)
1 Tbl Aleppo pepper (OR 1/2 tsp cayenne and 2.5 tsp sweet paprika)
1 tsp allspice
big handful of chopped fresh parsley
1/4c red wine vinegar
2Tbl sugar
fresh squeezed lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
chiffonade of fresh mint for garnish
crumbled feta for garnish (completely optional)
Prep:
Partially peel (make stripes) the eggplants and dice up. Put in a colander and give a good rinse. Generously salt and let it rest.
Slice onions. Crush and peel the garlic, leaving half just crushed and chop the other half.
Cook:
Sauté the turkey in a stew pot or dutch oven with olive oil. Season with S&P and a bit of allspice. When done, set aside in a colander to drain.
In the same pot, add more olive oil and the eggplant (dry it off if it’s gotten a bit wet) and sauté until golden. Do in batches if there’s too much for a single layer. When done, put eggplant in the strainer with the meat. Then add a bit more olive oil and sweat the onions. That means turn down the heat and let them cook until translucent. Add the whole crushed garlic here.
When onions are ready, add in the chickpeas and turn up the heat. Stir for a minute then add back in your meat and eggplant. Now add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce and chicken stock (if needed), chopped garlic and the spices. Check for S&P balance. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cover. Simmer for 15 mins. This is a stew, so you want it thick but loose. Use tomato sauce and stock to get the right consistency. As I said, making this as a veggie dish will change the need for extra liquid, so use your judgment, don’t just dump it all in or you’ll end up with soup.
Turn off heat and add parsley, vinegar, sugar and the juice of one lemon. Check again for seasoning and spices. Feel free to add more if you like. (You add the vinegar and lemon at the end so it won’t get bitter.)
Serve:
Serve a generous portion in a bowl. Garnish with the mint and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I think crumbled feta cheese would also be a wonderful garnish for looks and taste! Enjoy!
From Pat Benatar’s Innamorata
Written by P. Giraldo/N. Giraldo
Dirty Little Secrets
It seems I loved you for so long
It seems like all of my life
Just like a child who doesn’t belong
You’d run, ’til even the sun became your shadow
And I know you better that I know myself, you know
So why pretend you’ve got somewhere else to go
Sometimes I believed, what you had to say
Then I watched you bleed, all the truth away
Somewhere in my heart, there’s a place I know
Where all our dirty little secrets go
Nobody’s perfect, certainly not us
We’ve all got secrets to keep
I would have kept yours safe in my heart
You would have always known where to find me
And I hate you in your innocence, you know
But I hate myself even more for lovin’ you so
Sometimes I believed, what you had to say
Then I watched you bleed, all the truth away
Somewhere in my heart, there’s a place I know
Where all our dirty little secrets go
Sometimes it hurt so bad that you cry
Then there’s the times you wish you had died
Sometimes the truth is worse than the lie, sometimes
Sometimes it’s best to lock it away
In a place that’s secret and safe
Sometimes you just pretend you don’t know
Sometimes it’s best to let go
Sometimes I believed, what you had to say
Then I watched you bleed, all the truth away
Somewhere in my heart, there’s a place I know
Where all our dirty little secrets go
If you’re a Benatar fan, I strongly suggest getting Innamorata. It’s a beautiful record.
This appetizer is from Anne Burrell with little modification other than the ham. It’s simple, quick and VERY delicious!
Pint of Mission Figs (10 or so)
Chèvre (goat cheese), any flavour. I use Fig flavoured!
Ham or prosciutto (original calls for prosciutto, I use plain deli ham)
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive oil
Cut off the stem of the figs and cut them in half longways. Make a dent in the center of the fig. Sprinkle figs with some balsamic. Put a bit of goat cheese in the dent. Cut ham in strips and wrap around the fig and cheese. Secure with a toothpick. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Either grill them until hot or bake them until hot, about 8 minutes. Enjoy!
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Which is why I’m ready to leave this PIT
Yesterday, I got a hate filled comment from
IP 68.157.129.235
Bellsouth.net
Atlanta GA
I believe it was from one certain dude who now lives in an ostentatious mansion (with a fountain!!), who is still dickhurt from my blunt but truthful comments about his complete pussy-whipped and never make a decision life. He is so passive aggressive that he can’t EVER say anything to my face or even SIGN his lovely piles of shit he leaves. What a sad little man. It’s awesome to be criticized by someone who has never had a problem in his life: no student loans, no mortgages, no unpaid bills, no joblessness, NOTHING. He has just glided along, going with whatever path is easiest. La la la. Must be fucking NICE. It’s a testament to his true asshole personality that he continues to troll my blog and leave his pent up frustrations in my comments. GET LAID, DUDE and stop fucking bugging me!!! Or go ahead and leave more of your nonsense. It gives me something to laugh at and post here about. Troll.
Anyway, it just reinforces my strong desire to get the fuck out of this shit hole. The cartoonist group is about to be put out of its misery. No one in this elitist, cliquey town has any desire to share their knowledge – unless it’s with THEIR homies. Whatevs. I’m tired of trying to fight against the nature of this place. I really do not feel any love for Atlanta or the cooler than thou hipsters who infest the art scene. There’s much TALK of an all inclusive attitude, but I don’t feel it. If that were so, then why are there no less than 5 comics or comics related groups of less than 10 people and not one is interested in forming a larger group? CLIQUES, that’s why. Very undermining to creating a group who will have impact, IMO.
As for trying to get myself out of this horrible rut, I’m going to start working with silver again. Next classes start at the end of August. I might do more once I see how that feels. We’ll see.
I’m also leaning heavily towards taking a road trip to Raleigh NC to go to a Benatar book signing then see her show that night in Cary NC. It’s Sep 2, the Thu that DragonCon starts. And I really don’t care. I’d rather take the road trip, truthfully. I am not wanting to buy tix to D*Con this year. There’s no point, really. I figure we can wear an old badge and get past any hotel bullshit. I’ll prolly copy someones current one and stick the copy onto an old one. No one will notice since we’ll not be trying to enter any official con events. We shouldn’t need ANY con badges to enter a public hotel, but the D*Con jerkoffs take great pleasure in locking down the hotels in the name of the Fire Marshal. So, it’s better to be prepared. I do want to go to Kelly’s party on Saturday!
So for any of you trolls who are just looking to take out whatever on me and my blog, go ahead and knock yerself out. Everything is moderated so you won’t get to see your bons mots lighting up my day, they’ll just be deleted, or like the one from yesterday, modified and then posted in order to be mocked.
I have no patience for stupid people from the past. I’d rather look towards the future with me NOT HERE. So just don’t bug me, ok? It’s really not worth your time. Go back to FaceBook.