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Book Now! – Atlanta Downtown Restaurant Week

It really doesn't matter what else is on the menu at BLT Steak as long as these popovers make an appearance. I have the recipe but haven't attempted them yet, partially out of the fear that I would break my own bread-eating record, which is an entirely unnecessary endeavor.

If I had unlimited money (and a faster metabolism) I’d go out every night of the Downtown Atlanta Restaurant Week. My budget and my belly may not be able to afford that much, but I’m heading downtown for a least a few nights for these great deals.

Here’s how it works – from July 26 to August 8, close to 30 restaurants are offering three-course meals for $25 or $35. Generally it’s a set menu with a few choices for each course. It really is a fantastic way to affordably check out a new restaurant or revisit an old favorite.

I checked out the list and there are a few restaurants I’ve never heard of, including the ones in hotels. Sear is in the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and Terrace on Peachtree is in The Ellis Hotel and I know nothing about those. I imagine they are frequented primarily by out-of-town guests, as is one of the oldest, and quirkiest restaurants in Atlanta – Pittypat’s Porch. Read the full post »

Films Al Fresco – 2010

Screen on the Green at Piedmont Park

A blanket and a comfy pillow are all you need to enjoy these films in Atlanta this summer, presented free of charge. The stars are up above as well as on the screen at these two outdoor summer film series.

Screen on the Green

The popular film series has moved back to Piedmont Park after a move to Centennial Olympic Park while Piedmont took a break from festivals to recover from the severe drought. These films are shown on the huge lawn in Piedmont Park on Thursday nights. Feel free to bring  your own food and alcohol. Just leave the glass containers, dogs and high-backed chairs behind. Presented in partnership with Peachtree TV, each film starts with music from local DJs and performances from local artists.

The series started last week and continues through June 24, with the film beginning at sunset. Here is the schedule for the remaining films: Read the full post »

New Year, New Focus

My new bff dance partner Cyndi Lauper

My new bff dance partner Cyndi Lauper

Hey y’all – it’s been a few weeks.

So I could use the excuse about it being the holidays and all for not posting to my blog. And I have been busy gnawing on Godivas, lounging in my new soft robe and trying to master the dance moves to “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” on the Wii Just Dance. Hmm – wonder  if I put on my red cowboy boots and sequin tube top  I could increase my score?

Anyway, the truth is I’ve been feeling the need to focus my blog a bit – the random bits and pieces of discarded blog posts littering my desktop made it become obvious that it was time. So on our car ride today to Tennessee I’ll give it more thought, that is in between listening to podcasts of “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me,” and trying to keep warm in the arctic temperatures that my husband favors. (Note to self – buy Snuggie for the car ride.)

Happy New Year to all of you – and see you back in 2010.

Confessions of a Kindle Convert – (And Loud Page Turner)

My new BFF

My new BFF

I’ve jumped on the Kindle bandwagon and my husband is a happy man.

I’ve always been a book person. Even as a child, my friend Lelia and I were the nerds in the lunchroom with our noses in a book, while the other kids were squishing Jell-O through their teeth and squirting chocolate milk through their noses.

Now I also write and publish books, and still can’t take even the shortest trip without carrying along several books. I have a fear of being bookless that borders on a phobia and totally identified with the story of a woman who left a child at the gate in the Orly Airport in Paris to run back and buy a book, coming within seconds of missing her flight.

Given its capacity for holding several books in one lightweight device, rather than the 87 pounds of books I generally drag along, the Kindle seems like it would have instantly been my best friend. Read the full post »

Around the World with Four New Atlanta Restaurants

Bocado, just opened on the Westside.

Bocado, just opened on the Westside.

My stove may be suffering from abandonment issues.

Once used on a close-to-Julia-Child basis, now it sits cold and forsaken, while I’ve been taking full advantage of my empty-nester status to enjoy flitting from restaurant to restaurant. Here are a few that I’ve visited in the past few weeks.

Bocado just opened on Howell Mill Road. This Westside area, where Bacchanalia first ventured and was considered a pioneer for locating there, is now burgeoning with new restaurants. And I couldn’t be happier. I live five minutes away. Todd Ginsberg, previously with the Concentrics folks, is the executive chef. Brian Lewis, who previously owned TABLE in Birmingham, is the owner.

The menu, like the décor, is simple, with 11 shared selections and 7 entrees for dinner. I loved my choice of Chesapeake flounder, and my husband became somewhat delirious with his choice of the burger stack. Made with three cuts of beef and served on buns from H&F, it was a mile-high stack of yummy. (www.bocadoatlanta.com, 887 Howell Mill Road.) Read the full post »

How to Get Your Book Published

The latest title from Schroder Media, to be released in November.

The latest title from Schroder Media, to be released in November.

Publishing a book yourself has never been easier or more affordable. That is what I do with clients with my book publishing company Schroder Media. Let’s say you are just an average person – you haven’t had sex with Brad Pitt, you haven’t had an alien abduct your chihuahua, you’re not married to your own grandpa, and you’re not a “housewife” of Atlanta. You just have a story you want to tell.

If you have decided the traditional route of book proposals, agent searches, rejections and trying to decipher the mysterious process of royalty payments isn’t for you, then a company like mine could be your answer.

I help people through the mechanics of getting a book published. You do the writing and I handle design, editing, proofing, indexing if needed, getting your ISBN number and handling everything with the printer.

If you need a writer, I can do that too. I wrote Murphy’s: 25 Years of Recipes and Memories and ghostwrote another book.

If you don’t need all those services, I can work with you on what you do need. When Jenny Levison approached me about her cookbook Souper Jenny Cooks she already had the design and writing done. I was able to help her with editing, getting the index done and found her a printer that was thousands of dollars cheaper than the quotes she had been getting. Within a few months she had her book in her hand, and is getting ready for a third printing. Read the full post »

Malted Milk Balls, Talking Trees and a Monkey: Growing Up with Lenox Square

Lenox Square as an open-air mall.

Lenox Square as an open-air mall.

This morning I attended an anniversary celebration. For a mall. But this isn’t just any mall – this is Lenox Square and it opened 50 years ago today.

At the celebration I ran into the charming Mr. Feiman, the dad of one of my high school boyfriends. He came because he had owned a popular men’s shop called Hirsch’s, and had a found a copy of his original lease with Lenox from 1959.

His rent back then? $14,887 a year, for 2600 square feet and a 2200-square-foot basement. Less than $6 a square foot. These days merchants pay around $65, and there is a waiting list for new tenants.

I went because I grew up with Lenox. Being roughly the same age, and growing up just a few miles away, I spent many, many hours there, including having two jobs, adding tens of dollars to my own bottom line.

Here’s just a few of my many memories from Lenox Square: Read the full post »

Saying iDo to the iPhone

girl-kiss-iphoneWhy, oh why did I resist its charms so long? I have been the proud, enthusiastic and smitten owner of an iPhone for three weeks now, and already we’re inseparable. And to think , I almost said no again.

My husband called me from the Apple store, where I’m fairly certain he’s known on a first-name basis and asked if I wanted one. “I’m not mentally prepared,” I cried, thinking I’d need an adjustment period. “Well, your old phone no longer works – I’ll bring the iPhone home,” he said, in a not uncharacteristic tug at me to take a leap for which I was not yet ready. 

Actually, I do  know why I resisted – as the recipient of hundreds of emails a day, I thought I’d be stressed out by having my email follow me around. Now I realize that I don’t have to have it buzz or beep every time an email comes in, plus I’m too busy playing with all its other way fun features to even look at my email.

Here are some of the things I’ve done with my iPhone in our short time together: Read the full post »