In Pursuit of Local Fare... Citizen Soul of Alpharetta

This post was originally going to be an addition to a "Linger Moments" post, but after writing it, I decided it deserved its own place.  So, get cozy and prepare to get hungry as you read about Alpharetta's new offering, Citizen Soul.

Just when you thought Alpharetta didn't need another restaurant, along comes one that makes you realize what's been missing all along.  Citizen Soul is situated on South Main Street, Alpharetta, directly in front of the new Alpharetta City Hall.

Don't let their Northern Californian pub-style fare conjure up images of dark, seedy pubs.  Instead, think refined comfort food with a cozy yet bright atmosphere.

Unique furnishings include a glass-case meat cooler and wine cellar.  Their menu changes seasonally to spotlight in-season produce, and even boasts a gluten-free fried chicken.  Their charcuterie and fromage plates are an absolute must, and their remarkable wine list has something for everyone.

Executive Chef, Asheville native Sean Clark (former executive chef of Aspens Steakhouse and mentor to head chefs at multiple Alpharetta restaurants) brings it home by giving us one more reason to skip the downtown traffic and stay in Alpharetta.

In Pursuit of Irish Celebration

When Chris and I started dating, I was surprised to hear that his favorite holiday was St. Patrick's Day.  I soon learned it was more so for the Americanized day of green beer and festivities than for the patron saint of Ireland (and, surprisingly, Nigeria).  Growing up, I had always celebrated the day by *sometimes* wearing green (when I remembered) and  enjoying tolerating "Corned-Beef and Cabbage" for dinner.  Over time, the flavors of this traditional Irish meal grew on us, and when Chris and I married, I decided to continue the tradition each year.

Through the years, we've added to our celebration of the [British] man who was kidnapped by Irish pirates and kept as a slave for six years before escaping and returning to England.  It is said that after returning to Britain, he had a dream in which the people of Ireland were begging him to return and bring the Gospel of Christ to them. Thank you to my dear friend Colleen for the above picture from her 2014 visit to Ireland :)

Through pure coincidence, we started our week of Irish celebrations with the Oscar-nominated movie, Brooklyn, which told the story of a Irish immigrant who comes to American in the 1950's.  As a complete sucker for historical dramas, I obviously loved it.  I felt Saoirse Ronan well deserved her nomination for best actress.  BTW- remember that crazy movie about the little girl who was raised to be an assassin?  Same actress.  Literally just figured that out as I was writing this.  The movie completely got us in the mood for celebrating both of our Irish heritage.  And it's a book.  I haven't bought it yet, but my "books to purchase" list seems to be growing faster than it did before I started my goal of completion.

Thursday morning began with the children enjoying green eggs while wearing their green fare.

An interesting bit about the original St. Patrick's day color... Spoiler alert: it wasn't green.  Jump to 25.15 to hear Bryan McGovern, associate professor of History at Kennesaw State University share the original color and also hear about the incorporation of corned-beef into this holiday.

That night, we listened to a Celtic Pandora station during dinner and each took a turn doing a jig afterwards.

Friday night, we enjoyed our Reuben sandwiches with a cold Guinness.  I use Boar's Head corned-beef, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut along with  Publix Rye bread with Caraway seed and Thousand Island dressing.  I pan-grill them with Kerrygold Irish butter and served them, sliced in half, with kettle-cooked chips.  Again, Celtic music set the mood as our background music.  No jigs were performed this night.

On Sunday, we concluded our Irish festivities with our corned-beef and cabbage dish.  I like to let our roast cook slowly at a low heat to help it become tenderized.  I serve it with boiled potatoes and a green salad.

Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?  Is there another saints day that you celebrate?  What are some of your family traditions for these holidays?

In Pursuit of Authentic French Cooking

I (along with everyone else who had not already done so) fell in love with Julia Child after seeing the 2009 film, Julie and Julia.  The movie inspired me in more than just cooking; it was the inspiration to start my blog!  Even though I knew it would be silly to copy Julie Powell's idea of cooking through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I was intrigued about how easy or difficult Mrs. Child's recipes truly were.

A few years later, I decided to try cooking through her TV series, "The French Chef."  While her recipes didn't seem necessarily difficult, they were all rather time-consuming.  I started saving them for weekend entertaining, when I would have the luxury of a few hours to cook a meal.  While I didn't cook through every episode (sadly, Amazon gradually removed the Prime Instant Video of "The French Chef," first seasons 2-10, and ultimately all of the seasons), I did find a few "go-to" recipes that I knew were fool-proof and would always turn out tasty.

"Casserole Roast Chicken"

I was quite disappointed when I discovered Amazon no longer had any of the episodes available on Prime and decided to read Mrs. Child's biography, My Life in France.  It starts just like the movie, with her and her husband, Paul Child's arrival in Paris.  It did take me a little while to get in to it, as most of it is written as she would speak: not always coherently, and sometimes jumping around from thought to thought.  About half-way through, I started to really get into it.  I enjoyed reading the back stories of the different French Chef episodes- I could read about her traveling to to visit Professor Raymond Calvel and learning proper techniques to make French bread and follow it with the episode she filmed covering her lesson.  This was especially fun to do with the "Pressed Duck Dinner" recipe, where in the book she documented traveling to Rouen to film the ritual at one of her favorite restaurants, La Couronne.

Most recently, I was listening to a podcast of The Splendid Table's 20th anniversary show where Lynne Rossetto Kasper replays an interview of Julia Child from their first episode.  The topic is summer barbecue meals, and Julia shares her recipe for Potato Salad along with a tip about most importantly making sure the potatoes are cooked correctly.  She also expresses her preference for Ground Chuck as her hamburger meat of choice and exclaims that she "Hates fake food- you can't have any fun with that!"  Lynn and Julia then have a brief conversation on the importance of moderation and their dislike of low-fat and fat-free products. Julia proclaims
that, "People are nutty who want to watch their fat or give it up entirely.  You can't have any fun eating that kind of a diet- all you can eat is vegetables and legumes and to hell with that is what I say!"