Whimsical weekend

The weather this weekend was beautiful, despite the forecast of rain. It was nice to be able to spend some quiet time with the significant other. The past few months I've had a lot to think about career-wise. This weekend we decided to keep things simple and whimsical. Saturday we decided to go fly kites since there was a decent breeze out and the sun was shining (sporadically).

I have never flown a kite before, and the significant other was thoroughly shocked (maybe a little appalled) so we went out a bought a really cheap kite. (I think it was under $2).

First up was the SO. (Who has flown kites before). Let's see how he does!

Here he is prepping the kite..

Then he gets a running start...

And look! :) He succeeded! Hello kite! How's the weather all the way up there?

Ok, ok. Next it was my turn. (Yikes!). Here's my attempt to getting the kite ready..

I kind of got it to work!

.... I said "kind of"......

But not for long...

Nonetheless, it was still fun and now I can say I've flown a kite! :) This won't be the last time! We broke the kite down for storage and hopefully will spend another nice weekend doing this.

Projects projects projects

The weather is starting to warm up and I'm so glad! It means I can look forward to working on a few DIY projects I had in mind. The three items listed above are a few of the things that I have in my mind to work on soon. I think first, I will take on the cigar box in the top left corner. I found it at the flea market and I have great ideas for it! I can't wait to show you! As for the type writer, I was tinkering with it a while back (but I think I broke it even more) so I'm not sure which direction to take with it yet.. And the bike will be a long-term project that will be going on in the background. I want to take it apart and repaint the whole thing :). A close friend of mine was moving and so I got it for super cheap!

Spending the night in

The past few weeks have been extremely taxing. There have been a lot of challenges to deal with. One of the ways I love to unwind is to collapse on the couch with a bowl of ice cream in my lap and a good movie/show on the tv. Tonight, I've decided, is going to be one of those nights. Luckily, I have with me a nice heaping bowl of chocolate ice cream topped with heath candies. Simple, easy, and definitely soothing. What are some ways you unwind?

Food trucks (and movies!)

I'm lucky to live in a place where food truck events are frequent. The 3rd Thursday of every month, there's an event called Flicks and Food Trucks. As stated on the website, there's usually an indie film shown on a blow-up screen surrounded by Food trucks (Yaaaaaaaaaay that's the best part!!! No offense to the indie films). This post should have happened about a month ago but I'm behind on my blogging, and, like many other busy bloggers out there (I hope), sometimes I hoard content and post them at a later date! So if you're reading this now and thinking, "OH NO I'VE MISSED THE FLICKS AND FOOD TRUCKS FOR APRIL!". Don't fear...this was from when I went in February. :)

I haven't ever been to this event so I didn't know what to expect. There were a decent amount of trucks there and I'm glad I got there before the event started. A few hours into the event and the trucks had lines colliding into other trucks (it was complete chaos!). So come hungry and go early!! The earlier you go, the more time you have to scope out which trucks are going to be there and therefore you can plan your eating route (don't judge me... we all should do this! It's efficient eating!)

The trucks change up each event, so I can't tell you what will be there next time. It's actually been so long since I went that I can't even tell you which trucks were there when I went last time! I'll get better at this whole blogging thing, I promise. The next Flicks and Food Trucks event will be April 17th. You should plan to go after work. It's a nice way to unwind and stuff your face with delicious and reasonably priced food. Plus you can kick back a few beers with this food if the event is near a bar (which it was when I went!).

Vietnamese Papaya Salad

Nothing is more relaxing and comforting to me after a long week of work than having a nice homemade meal with the mom. There's always a welcoming ambiance and the food always tastes better knowing that it was prepared with love. Tonight's meal was Vietnamese Papaya Salad. Something super easy and quick to throw together, but fulfilling nonetheless.

For those of you who don't know the dish, you must be wondering how we're eating papaya for dinner, and in a savory way! Because... well... isn't papaya a fruit? Yes, yes it is. But in this recipe, we use unripe papaya so it's this nice crisp texture. It tastes akin to the texture of a daikon and celery together (just without any flavor). It's definitely like tofu in that it soaks up any flavor you add do it. AND ADD WE SHALL! First before I get ahead of myself, let me explain what all is in this super simple salad: grated unripened papaya, beef jerky, fresh vietnamese herbs and a delicious dressing. To me, there are two important aspects to this dish (other than having good, fresh, unripened papaya): the beef jerky and the dressing.

We usually use asian beef jerky in this recipe. If you've never had it before, it's different than your usual beef jerky in that it's marinated in typically a plum based sauce (it really plays on the sweet and savory note) and is dehydrated in such a way that the end result isn't a dry and brittle piece of jerky. It still retains an abundance of moisture and flavor from the marinade so that when you bite into it you get a chewy, juicy piece of jerky.

Basically you cut up all the ingredients and throw it on a plate and then drown it in the dressing. The one thing you should know about moms is that when they have a recipe they always eye-ball it (or at least mine does). So when I ask her how to make this dressing I don't get specifics like some of us are used to when cooking, it's not "One cup of Soy sauce" or "1/3 C of hoisin" it's, "This much and that much of this and that". So all's I can say is ... Sorry! I have yet to learn how to eye-ball this dressing. I can just tell you what's in it. It's a blend of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sweet and sour sauce, vinegar and red peppers. It's an amalgam of deliciousness. You get hints of sweetness mixed in with tons of umami and the acid and peppers cut through everything to remind your taste buds to stay alert, because more is coming! I usually top everything off with a hint of Sriracha sauce. And end the meal with a very satisfied (but not uncomfortably stuffed) sigh.

Atlanta, GA - Centennial Olympic Park

The Centennial Olympic Park was a hidden treasure for me. None of us planned on going there, but after the aquarium we decided to walk around the park. One, to avoid the traffic of hundreds of people leaving the premises at once, and two, it was beautiful outside!

It's this little oasis of grass in a concrete desert. A place where you can sit, relax, breathe, and pretend for a moment in time that you're not stuck in a maelstrom of deadlines, bad traffic, and urgency. There were people walking their dogs, others were having a picnic, and some were playing soccer. Yet, in the midst of all this grass, you're still reminded of the amazing city you're in. You have the CNN building, the Coca-Cola Factory, the Georgia Aquarium and a ferris wheel(!) all within reach.

I think this park was my favorite find in Atlanta. Forget the pastries and the burgers and the tourist attractions. Albeit those other places were fun and unique, this park takes the cake for me. If I lived in Atlanta, I'd be here as much as I could.

Atlanta, GA - The Coca-Cola Factory

I didn't know what to expect from the Coca-Cola Factory. I had no idea what would be inside or what we would see. Was it going to be a big assembly line of coke products being put together? Would it be a guided tour? All I knew for sure was that there was a coke tasting at the end. We went Sunday morning, and it was pleasantly less crowded than the aquarium (but still crowded nonetheless). I'm not a big soft drink person, but the guys in the group all were so they were super excited.

The pricing of tickets to get into the factory was half of that of the aquarium. Once inside, you're greeted by a plethora of Coca-Cola propaganda. (Not that I minded the pretty colors and designs of countless marketing campaigns). There were ads and Coca-Cola memorabilia everywhere!

After a while, I discovered that this place was more like a museum for Coca-Cola than anything. I learned a lot while going through it. The place was filled with Coca-Cola history and scandals. I had no idea how much trouble people went through at the beginning to hide the recipe for this fizzy, sweet drink! There were different exhibits to see. One where they showed you all quirky ads that Coca-Cola put out across the world. Another gave you the history and upheaval of the public when the company tried to change their recipe.

What surprised me was an exhibit labeled "The Vault". There was so much secrecy behind this recipe that they created an entire pseudo-vault which allegedly held the one copy of the recipe for this super popular drink! It was a pretty fun exhibit and was probably my favorite because it was so interactive.

Afterwards was the long awaited moment of tasting. Yummmmy! I thought, at first, that it would be a tasting of various Cokes from around the world (because I heard different regions had different preferences for ingredients and different gradients of sweetness). But I found out that it was a tasting of all the Coca-Cola products from around the world. I was a little sad because I was hoping to compare North America's preferences of Coke versus Asian countries or Latin American countries. I was still happy with their kiosks of continents and various Coca-Cola drinks.

Asia focused on sweet fruity flavors like melon.
Africa (my favorite) had a lot of sweet tropical flavors like banana and coconut (mmmm).
Europe had a lot of lemon flavors and bitters.
North America (home sweet home) was, well, very sweet!

And at the end of the tour, you get to take home a cute little glass bottle of Coke!

World of Coca-Cola
121 Baker St NW, Atlanta, GA 30313