20 Things: Favorite Dishes Around Atlanta

In an attempt to blog more I am stealing the lovely Amanda Hunter’s idea of making a list of 20 things (okay so she’s doing 25 but I wanted to keep it simple). The lists will vary widely from topic to topic but it will be fun to share my thoughts this way.

This time around is all about food (after all so much of my life focuses on that!). So it’s my 20 favorite dishes from various restaurants in Atlanta (and the surrounding areas).

1. Tamarind Mango Chicken Tacos from Taqueria Del Sol  (Westside/Cheshire Bridge/Decatur).

2. Crispy Calamari appetizer at Ru Sans (Midtown).

3. Fried Pickles at Fox Bros BBQ (Little 5 Points – ish).

4. Toffee Donut from Sublime Donuts (Westside).

5. Bistro Steak at Two Urban Licks (Downtown).

6. the Belgian Waffle dessert at Food 101 (Buckhead/Dunwoody).

7. Fries with  at Leon’s Full Service (Decatur).

8. The Peachtree Plate at West Egg Cafe (Westside).

9. YaYa’s Eggplant Steak Fries at Rathbun’s (Downtown/KrogStreet).

10. Steak & Blue Pizza at Maddio’s Pizza Joint (Toco Hills).

11. Lobster Quesadilla at Nuevo Laredo Cantina (Westside).

12. Nutella + Burnt Marshmallow Milkshake at Flip Burger (Westside/Buckhead).

13. Brie BLT at the Fickle Pickle (Roswell).

14. Shrimp Corn Chowder from Taqueria Del Sol (Westside/Cheshire Bridge/Decatur).

15. Prociutto and Green Chilie Macaroni and Cheese from Cellar 56 (Buckhead).

16. Kari-Kari at The Vortex (Little 5 Points).

17. Griller Ravioli at 5 Seasons Brewing Company (Westside).

18. Thai Chicken Tavern Chips at The Tavern at Phipps (Buckhead)

19. Sea Scallops ‘Hong Kong Style from Prime (Buckhead).

20. Chinese Broccoli at BBQ Corner (Chamblee)

Is this the quarter-life crisis everyone talks about?

It’s hard to believe sometimes that is is 2011 and I will be 27 years old this year. I know I’m a fully fledged adult (and have been for quite some time) with my own salaried job, car payment, rent and bills. I do all my own grocery shopping and cook all my own meals (although I never turn down a dinner at mom and dad’s!). I get up on Saturday mornings to clean the apartment, empty the dishwasher, run errands, workout and do laundry.

Yet there are times when I still feel so damn young, inexperienced and immature. I don’t feel like I’m at the same level as my peers or my friends and I often feel like I’m getting left behind in life. I always imagined that by 27 I would be married, settled in my career and possibly getting ready to start a family. Instead I’m trying to finish graduate school, involved in a serious relationship, working at a job I enjoy but that’s not nearly part of my long term career goals and not quite sure where exactly I will be a year from now.

I’m at a point in my life where I am realizing how few friends I really do have. I can count on one hand the number of people outside of my family that I can  call on when i need a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen to me vent, or simply someone to gossip and giggle with. Of the 6 girls that I have called my “best friends” over the years I only still talk to 2 of them. And one of them is busy with her husband and her soon to be one year old son, I feel guilty intruding on her life as I know she has so much more going on than I can  even imagine. I’m slowly getting back into contact with one of those friends, however it’s difficult when she lives too many states north to count! But at least we’ve got IMs and those stray text messages every once and a while.

Right now I feel so lonely without a net of friends around me. It’s not to say I don’t have any friends, but most of my friends are married and focusing more on their family life. And my friends with boyfriends seem so wrapped up in them you’d think that nothing else in the world existed on occasion. I just know I’m in a different place than most of my small circle of friends and I know I really need to branch out and find more people who are at that same point in their life.

However, it’s difficult because I’m not really sure how to make new girlfriends. I feel like I’m really bad at making  and keeping friends given my track record, but I know it’s something I am sorely missing in my life. I want a group of friends (or even just one or two girls) that I can go out to dinner with. I need girlfriends to go shopping with and get their opinions as I try on new jeans, dresses and shirts (it helps to have someone there when you cry in the fitting room because things don’t fit). I want friends who will go and grab drinks with me after work, brunch on Saturdays and take workout classes with me at the nearest gym. I want some girlfriends who actually like to do all of the girly stuff. I feel like there should be a “dating” site that matches women up with people who make good friends for them, (and I’m sure it’s out there I just haven’t really looked).

And even things that seem still are still changing

So, it’s been quite a while since I last updated (Abra kinda yelled at me for that…)….to the point where my life is in an entirely new place. It’s kinda hard to believe how much things have changed in just a few short months, but that’s definitely the case here. I’m hoping that part of this new change will include me updating this blog a bit more regularly and I have an idea of what I’d like to do more of, so I guess we’ll see if that works out!

So, a week and a half ago was my last day at Apple. It’s still bizarre to think that I don’t work there anymore…it was my home for four and a half years. Leaving the store on Friday was quite rough and I’m not  (completely) ashamed to say that I bawled my way out of the store. As frustrating as that job became and as stressful as that store was, the people (well most of them) felt like my family. The things that we went through together bonded us and those are very unique experiences.  I’ve worked with those people for so long and most of them became very dear friends to me. Now, I know I won’t necessarily be losing my friends, but it will be different now that I’m not seeing them nearly every day. I’m very greatful for the opportunity that I had to work with them because each and everyone taught me soemthing and helped me to grow.  It was really tough to walk away from that, I hope they are aware of that and just how much they impacted my life.

It’s safe to say I’m starting down an entirely new path in my life and I’m looking forward to it. I’ll try my best to update this with what’s going on and what I’m working towards, there are so many exciting opportunities!

I guess this is hello to a new beginning! Bring it on world. =)

The decade is winding down

Today is December 31st, 2009, the last day of the first decade of the 2000s. I can’t even begin to describe how I feel to be leaving this decade behind me; it’s a mix of emotions and they are all fighting to spill over and I’m struggling to keep them just below the surface. I’m not ready to deal with that yet.

The last ten years have, understandably, been the years that shaped me the most as I’ve gone from 15 to 25 over the course of the decade. I’d be willing to argue that for most people the time between your teens and your mid twenties is one of the most fundamental times in your life. This is when you have the chance to discover who you are, what you want to do, where you want to go and who you want to be. Now, I’m not saying that you’ll have it figured out by now, lord knows I don’t yet, but you’ll definitely be a lot closer. The difference between me as a 15 year old girl and me as a now 25 year old woman is staggering and most people who knew me in high school probably wouldn’t recognize me now. And I’m perfectly fine with that.

The amount of growing I did as a person over the last decade is hard to measure, but i can quantify it in different momentous occasions: I learned to drive, had my first boyfriend, graduated high school, went to college, fell in love once, lost my virginity, had my heart broken (more than once by the same person), moved to England, traveled through Europe, learned how to survive while dead broke, made new friends, was able to drink legally, lost trust, graduated college, saw my best friend get married,gained trust, moved out on my own, started a job I love, babies were born, saw loved ones die, lost friends, learned how to date like a grown up, learned how to survive a break up like a grown up, moved more times than I care to think about, became financially independent, started graduate school, decided on a career path, became a grown up and eventually learned a lot about who I did and didn’t want to be.

I’m spending New Years Eve at home on my couch watching “Star Wars”, drinking champagne, chatting with a few friends online or through text and chilling with my puppy; I honestly could not think of a better way to spend tonight (well, there may be at least one other). I had a few invites to go out to a few different parties, but I was not in a party type of mode tonight. I think that after the last few years I had entering 2010 in the peace and quiet of my apartment was the perfect start to a new decade.

After all I went through the last ten years I’m excited to see what sort of momentous occasions happen in the next ten. I’m certainly ready for it now.

Letter #3: Newcastle

So, I didn’t write a letter yesterday because I got swamped with schoolwork. And I guess I’m kinda cheating today because I’m not writing to a person…I’m writing to a place. But, it’s a place I love dearly and I get nostalgic for it this time of year. So here we go!

Dear Newcastle,

It’s been 4 and a half years, almost to the day, so I left on a plane headed back to the States. That plane ride was one of the longest of my life as I cried about the people, places and memories that I was leaving behind. The year I spent in Newcastle helped me to grow as a person in ways that I don’t think I can fully describe, yet I know the change was obvious to my friends back home. I came back a different person that when I left and I often had difficulties figuring out how this new me fit into my old life.

Newcastle was the first time where I was truly on my own, it was the farthest and longest that I’d eve been away from my family. I was forced to be completely independent of them and it was a valuable lesson. Through that independence I learned the importance of developing new “family units” and solid friendships to get you through whatever rough patches might occur. And I was blessed to have found a family unit that stayed solidly together the entire year that I was there. A unit that allowed me to be exactly who I was and encouraged me to grow into the person that I was becoming.

Newcastle you will forever hold a special place in my heart as I’m pretty sure I left tiny little pieces of it, along with my soul, scattered around the city. It’s impossible to pick them back up, yet I swear I could feel them settling back in place for a few brief days when I was “home” almost two years ago.

There’s a cozy little flat that overlooked the campus of Northumbria where I spent many nights sipping tea and laughing with my french boys. There’s the room downstairs where I spent nights staying up until the sun rose watching movies and sharing stories with the ucog girls. There’s the spot on the bridge that overlooked the A1 where I would escape to watch the world move past me. There’s the table in the downstairs of Starbucks where I shared confidences and stories with a good friend. There’s the bench on Northumberland where I would sit with my iPod and people watch, smiling at what I saw. There’s the corner booth at Pacific where we spent many nights laughing over pitchers or drinks and signing at the top of our lungs. There’s the room across the hall where I spent my time curled under the blankets talking quietly and sharing smiles until the wee hours of the morning. There’s the kitchen where I listened to a multitude of languages as I weaved my way through our party guests.

The list of places goes on and on, each one somehow seeming more special than the last. So much of my time over there was spent laughing and smiling and radiating happiness and now all of those memories cause tears to spring to my eyes. I suppose that’s how it’s meant to be and I value the level of emotion it stirs in me because I know that is a result of the profound impact it had on my life.

It’s amazing how easy it was to fall in love with the city, once I opened myself up to the possibility. It’s a love that I think I will always feel, no matter how much time has passed. Newcastle became my second home and I treasure the memory of that.

Love,

Sarah

Letter #2: John

Dear John,

Well, this is an interesting letter to write and to tell you the truth I honestly don’t know where to begin. I chose to write to you today both because I’ve been thinking about you lately and because this is one of my easier letters to write. I’m very drained right now and I don’t have the mental capacity to tackle some of the harder letters. But please don’t let that lead you to believe that this letter is any less important than any of the others. In fact it’s ease of writing makes me feel like you should feel a little more special than they do because everything I want to say to you kinda just flows out.

It’s funny to me that I’ve known you going on four years now, because at times it seems both longer and shorter. I mean, I was so quiet my first few months at Perimeter that I don’t really remember talking to you all the frequently. And I think I sorta shocked you when I began to speak up more and all sorts of unexpected things came out in conversation. I still remember you telling me once that I didn’t look like a nerd at all, in fact I looked pretty preppy, but then I opened my mouth to speak and there wasn’t a doubt in the world that I was a class A nerd. =) I think most of our earliest, nerdy conversations centered around Magic the Gathering and how awesome it was that we both played. Heh, I was glad that we had something in common as it made me feel instantly more comfortable around you.

You were one of the people that I knew I’d miss seeing every day when the opportunity for me to transfer to Lenox came up. Yet, we started talking more because we saw each other less. I always enjoyed our conversations we had on your late night drive home from work and it was fun to vent and bitch and giggle with you. The only downside is that the conversations always seemed to be cut short, either Jack would come home from work or you’d reach your house long before the conversation ran out. It made me happy that we’d developed this friendship out of seemingly nowhere and it was flourishing as well as it was.

Your friendship came at a time when I had a rather large hole in my life and you filled that space quite nicely (I’m pretty sure I never told you that…). I had recently started to distance myself from my best guy friend due to some complicated situations. I needed a guy in my life who wasn’t romantically involved with me, but who was there for me when I needed it. And you were. It gave me the support I needed in a year where I felt I was getting beat down from all sides, it was comforting to know that you always had my back.

It surprised me (even though it shouldn’t have) just how much I missed you when you moved to California… even though we already didn’t see each other all that much when I transferred to Lenox and you went to MoG. But now you’re on the complete opposite coast from me and that was a lot harder to deal with than I initially had thought it would be. There have been some interesting situations we’ve found ourselves in over the last year, some of which I don’t think would have happened if you hadn’t moved away. So, I suppose I can concede that it was eventually for the best. However, I still think you need to eventually move back here, or I need to move to the west coast so we cna hang out more!

I’ve missed you a lot over the last year and a half, but even more so over the last three or four months. I’m not sure exactly what happened that caused us to stop speaking as frequently and that caused the text messages to dwindle and become rare. Whatever it is I’d like to fix it as much as possible, I don’t want us to keep going forward and letting the divide get bigger and bigger. I’m scared that if I let that happen that it will widen the gap too far for us to build a bridge over.

You’re an amazing person John and I consider myself lucky to have been granted the opportunity to cultivate a friendship with you. I just can only hope that my efforts to stop this widening gap will prove to be effective and we can resume a closeness in our friendship once again. After all, I do love you and I know that you know this already. I can’t wait ’til you come and visit and we can hang out an eat brownies and drink beer =).

Letter # 1: Amy Jennings

My Dear Amykins,

I’ve picked you to be the first to receive one of my “thirty letters” because I’ve been thinking about you a lot recently. With this past tuesday being your 26th birthday it hit me that we’ve now been friends for almost twelve years! That’s this entire decade and then some! It’s incredible to me that our friendship has been maintained through so many years and so many different stages of our lives.

Isn’t it amazing to see how far we’ve come from those awkward skinny girls who met in Mr. Roger’s ninth grade geography class? Back then we would spend fifth period giggling over the boys we thought were cute and complaining about our seemingly never ending mountains of schoolwork. That was all it took to cement a friendship that took us through high school with movie nights, double dates, school dances, afternoon “study time”, chinese takeout, shopping trips and sleepovers. You and I always being the only two girls out with our group of nerdy boys and loving every minute of it.

Making the transition from high school to college was a lot less stressful knowing you were right there beside me the whole time. It was much easier navigating GSU with you there to laugh with me about our adventures. I could always count on you to have lunch with me, to skip class with me and to be there when things got too crazy to bear. We mocked the less fortunate classmates, helped each other with schoolwork and kept each other smiling even when it seemed impossible. I know there were times that first year when things got rocky for us and our friendship, but we kept on right through it and definitely came out stronger.

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever quite thanked you for what you did for me our sophomore year. That year was by far the darkest year of my life and yet, without me even asking you were right there to help me through. It hurt like hell to have my heart break into a million pieces on what felt like a daily basis, yet you never judged me, or told me I was silly to keep loving him. Instead you let me cry, rant, rave and remember all I wanted. And when I was done you’d tell me to get dressed and we’d go out to dinner and attempt to distract me from thoughts of him. It meant so much to me that even though you had a boyfriend and I knew you wanted to spend as much time as possible with him, you still made time for me. That was one of the only things that got me through that otherwise long and lonely year.

After that year time seemed to speed forward for us, in no time at all I’d gone to England, come home, we graduated and we started moving towards our adult lives. It seemed insane to me that we were college graduates with full time jobs and thinking about our futures. Yet, it seemed perfectly normal and the exact order of things when you and Dan finally got engaged! I had always know that he was the one you’d be spending your life with and I was so glad when it happened. I love Dan for how happy he makes you and for how perfect you two are together, it’s what I want for myself!

I consider myself extremely blessed to have you as a best friend and to know that no matter what you will always be a part of my life. It makes things easier for me knowing that i’ve got you to lean on and call when things start to overwhelm me. You’re one of the few people who’ve actually seen me cry (over something that’s not a movie) and for that alone, you’re not allowed to get away from me that easily! Just as I was lucky enough to be your Maid of Honor, you bet your ass you’ll be in my wedding! And I can’t put into words how excited I am for April when I get to be Aunt Sarah to your son! I can’t wait to meet him and buy him all sorts of nerdy toys =) (You know I plan on turning him into a complete Star Wars nerd, right?)

I love you Amy and I’m glad I’ve been able to share the last twelve years of my life with you. It’s good to know that our friendship can survive just about anything life throws at us  and still continue on just as strong as before. Thank you for all that you’ve done for me and know that I’m always here for you.

~Sarbear

(for the record this post contained both laughter AND tears, as is only fitting when reliving this particular friendship)