another picturesque boardwalk & beach town to visit in maine is old orchard beach, which is just north of kennebunkport and york beach. there’s lots of kitchy places to explore along the boardwalk and pier; from clam shacks & pier fries to awesome souvenir and gelato/ice cream shops. the old wooden pier is really awesome as well, although it was raining during our visit so i didn’t get photos.

there is also an old fashioned beach amusement park called palace playland. it’s been open since 1902 and looks reminiscent of coney island!

we’d love to stay at a bed & breakfast or a beach cottage in old orchard beach some day!

– ryan & gub

old orchard beach

old orchard beach, me 04064

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

our friend mike made some tasty luther burgers for the super bowl! for those who never made it to mulligan’s when it was around, a luther burger is a bacon-cheeseburger on a grilled krispy kreme doughnut. it’s an amazing experience to say the least!

– ryan & gub

i tried out the recipe for country apple dumplings that i posted a few months ago. my results didn’t look nearly the same as the one i had at r&a orchards, but they were still super tasty!

– ryan

r&a orchards

5505 highway 52 east
ellijay, ga 30536
706-273-3821

country apple dumplings recipe:

ingredients:
2 large granny smith apples (peeled and cored)
2 x 10 oz cans crescent roll dough
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 x 12 oz can mountain dew

directions:
– preheat oven to 350 and grease 9″ x 13″ baking dish
– cut apples into 8 wedges each and cover with cinnamon & sugar, set aside
– separate crescent roll dough, and roll each apple wedge up in the dough
– pinch the edges to seal and place in dish
– melt butter in a saucepan and stir in the remaining sugar and cinnamon
– pour syrup mixture over apple dumplings and then pour mountain dew on top
– bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown
– serve with vanilla ice cream

we were recently in ellijay, ga for fall festivities and stopped by r&a orchards for some country apple dumplings. they were amazing to say the least! you can find their recipe below if you want to try it at home.

– ryan & gub

r&a orchards

5505 highway 52 east
ellijay, ga 30536
706-273-3821

country apple dumplings recipe:

ingredients:
2 large granny smith apples (peeled and cored)
2 x 10 oz cans crescent roll dough
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 x 12 oz can mountain dew

directions:
– preheat oven to 350 and grease 9″ x 13″ baking dish
– cut apples into 8 wedges each
– separate crescent roll dough, and roll each apple wedge up in the dough
– pinch the edges to seal and place in dish
– melt butter in a saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon
– pour mixture over apple dumplings and then pour mountain dew on top
– bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown

a co-worker brought in a box of sublime doughnuts this morning! how exciting!

– ryan

sublime doughnuts

535 10th st nw
atlanta, ga 30318
404-897-1801

the east lake farmers market is up and running again 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.

with tomato season finally upon us, we picked up some beautiful heirloom tomatoes from ora farms on our last trip to the market. we grabbed an early girl and an orange blossom. check out our july 4th blog post for a great tomato pie recipe we used with these wonderful tomatoes!

we also grabbed a couple of lemon cucumbers, which we had never tried before. these were quite interesting. the inside was slightly sweeter than normal cucumbers with a little softer texture, but the outside texture was very course and bumpy with small black seeds and they were the size of lemons. they were odd, but worth trying.

this saturday is the 2nd annual peachapalooza at the east lake farmers market. it’s a juried cooking competition celebrating all things peach! stop by to sample some amazing peach creations!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
may – october

the summer heat is right around the corner but luckily the king of pops is back with his handcrafted popsicles! we stopped by the other day for our first ones of the season. we had the green apple lemonade and arnold palmer (sweet tea & lemonade), which were both awesome.

you can be find the king of pops in the highlands at the corner of north ave and north highland ave from 3 – 7 pm on weekdays and 12 – 7:30 pm on weekends. he also lists his daily menu on twitter. today’s menu is: orange basil, raspberry lime, pomegranate margarita, banana puddin’, grapefruit mint, chocolate sea salt and mango, papaya & lime.

– ryan & gub

king of pops

1079 north avenue ne
atlanta, ga 30307

the varsity, an iconic atlanta fast food chain, has amazing homemade fried pies. they are along the lines of ones you find at mcdonalds, only way better. we tried the peach and apple pies during our last visit and loved them. they were tasty and definitely lived up to the hype!

the packaging for the pies is great as well! it looks like they haven’t changed the design since the varsity started serving them.

– ryan

ps…i succeeded in my goal to write a blog post every day this month!

i recently went inside the west egg cafe for the first time and loved it! i’ve had their food before, but never had the pleasure of going to the actual restaurant. the interior was decked out with old classroom desks, science tables, a photobooth and even a card catalogue where you found the coffee sweeteners! i really liked their school/industrial design and thought it worked well in the space. i started to take a few photos and realized they had some nice postcards, so check out their great photos!

if you’ve never been to west egg cafe, their food is amazing! they feature an eclectic mix of tasty southern delights, although i’ve only had their lunch. i’ve tried their fried green tomato blt and fried egg sandwich, both of which i would totally recommend. they have another sandwich called the redneck cuban, that comes with sweet tea basted turkey breast, jack cheese, cole slaw, coca-cola barbecue sauce, grilled on white. crazy!

west egg cafe also has a bakery (home to their famous cupcakes), a full coffee bar (serving locally-roasted batdorf & bronson coffee), and various beers on draft. you can’t go wrong with those options!

check out their breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner menu.

– ryan

west egg cafe

1100 howell mill road
atlanta, ga 30318
404-872-3973