clementine enjoyed her first record store day this morning! we went to decatur cd, which had a sizable crowd, but wasn’t too overwhelming. luckily my brother went along and could help when things got tight. clementine was a trooper and put up with the masses, she even fell asleep towards the end. i figure having gone to a record store day before her first birthday will give clementine some good indie cred down the road!

there was free beer, a ton of cool vinyl and free screen-printed bags from 88.5 wras. i grabbed the sigur rós – hvarf-heim double lp on clear vinyl and a ryan adams – heartbreak a stranger / black sheets of rain 7″ on blue vinyl, which has two bob mould covers. the 7″ artwork could be a hüsker dü album, which is fitting!

i kept things light this year as a whole, but i’m really happy with my purchases. you can check out what i grabbed last year here.

– ryan

decatur cd

356 west ponce de leon avenue
decatur, ga 30030
404-371-9090

don’t forget today is record store day! there will be lots of rare vinyl treats up for grabs, including items listed here. in atlanta, you can hit up criminal records and wax ‘n’ facts or wuxtry and decatur cd in decatur.

see you there!

– ryan

i just read that woody’s famous philadelphia cheesesteaks is now serving sweetwater 420 on tap! eating a cheesesteak or super sub with a 420 draft on woody’s huge wrap-around porch sounds like the perfect spring afternoon!

be sure to check out our previous post on woody’s.

– ryan

woody’s famous philadelphia cheesesteaks

981 monroe drive northeast
atlanta, ga 30308
404-876-1939

we just became members at the atlanta botanical gardens and totally love it! there’s lots to do and see, especially with this beautiful spring weather. it’s the perfect place to go on walks with clementine, including on the new canopy walk.

the orchid house is really amazing, you should check it out while everything is still in bloom! there are way more varieties than i expected, including lots of exotic colors and sizes. the misty, tropical atmosphere in the orchid house made you forget you were in middle of the city. i kept thinking of the movie adaptation while walking through the rare display of orchids.

last month was my first time ever to the gardens, i’m not sure why it took so many years to check it out. if you’ve never been, you should definitely make a trip before it gets too hot.

– ryan

atlanta botanical gardens

1345 piedmont avenue northeast
atlanta, ga 30309
404-876-5859

the third annual collard greens cook-off was a blast! it was $10 to participate and you were given a piece of cornbread and a spork and were off and tasting. after trying all of the various greens, there were 15 participants in all, you voted by throwing your spork in the bucket of your favorite booth. we had a beautiful cool spring day, so it was perfect for such a cook-off!

participants included farm burger, no246, bone lick bbq (the bbq guy from p’cheen), home grown, ray’s in the city, the pullman, whole foods, as well as various neighborhood participants, including momma margaret ‘the collard green lady.’

there were lots of tasty greens and some interesting styles we didn’t expect to like. home grown’s was a little sweet and had sun dried tomatoes in it. although i didn’t like it much, gub was a big fan of this one. another booth had cold greens with a basalmic base. it wasn’t our favorite, but it was quite interesting to try. momma margaret’s were hot and spicy and quite good as well.

when all was said and done, we put our spork in bone lick bbq’s bucket. their greens were tasty with a nice kick, mainly from the home-cured jalapeño bacon added. we also tried pulled pork sandwiches from them, which were awesome! these guys have been doing bbq at p’cheen on monday nights for a couple of years and are opening up a restaurant on the west side in june.

we also caught a tomato growing workshop at the market. gub found it quite informative.

one quick note, the east lake farmers market has moved from the concrete parking lot at 2nd and hosea williams to the nice shaded area right next door. the natural environment is much more fitting for the farmer’s market, and is also a heck of a lot cooler from the shade.

we can’t wait for peachapalooza this summer!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
april – october

today is the first day of the east lake farmers market, which runs on saturdays from 9am to 1pm. it’s open through october and can be found at the corner of 2nd avenue and hosea williams drive in the east lake/kirkwood area. the market features lots of local farmers selling fruit, vegetables, eggs, salsas and all sorts of other stuff.

to kick off the season, today is the third annual collard greens cook-off! you can sample great collards from both top local chefs and amateur neighborhood cooks.

see you there!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
april – october

clementine’s first trip to the high museum of art was for the modern by design exhibit last august. she was right at home in the gallery with this ellsworth kelly piece.

we also had a lot of fun checking out the new addition to the permanent collection from anish kapoor. This is the same artist that created cloud gate (aka “the bean”) for Millenium Park in Chicago.

– ryan & gub

high museum of art

1280 peachtree st ne
atlanta, ga 30309
404-733-4400

there is a new venue in atlanta called terminal west. i haven’t been yet, but the photos look pretty cool. it’s in the king plow art center over on the west side. both black lips and washed out are on their schedule, so it definitely has potential.

– ryan

i’ve always loved the steel building near the dekalb farms market on east ponce. you don’t feel like you’re in atlanta when you drive by it.

this building made me realize the pittsburgh steelers logo is just the american steel logo, also called the steel mark. who would have thought it was so simple? the colors represent the three materials used to produce steel, with yellow for coal, orange for iron ore and blue for scrap steel.

– ryan

have you ever been to henri’s bakery? it’s a deli & bakery in buckhead that’s been open since 1929. my sandwich didn’t knock my socks off, but the deserts looked very tasty and i loved the neon sign. i would definitely go again if i was in the area, especially to try some sweets!

– ryan

henri’s bakery

61 irby avenue northwest
atlanta, ga 30305
404-237-0202