auburn food jewels

well hey there! here's my first real post on my little baby blog. i was thinking about the stuff you end up craving when you go home for the summer...which doesn't really make sense because i live in birmingham and there are so many great restaurants there.
but there are several hidden treasures in auburn. i'll list a few today to get you started. go get them all. now.

1) the barbeque chicken pizza at brick oven. melty with a southern twang.

2) the midnight magic cupcake at gigi's cupcakes. to die for. chocolate piled high upon chocolate with a little sprinkling of chocolate.

3) the 30-a crab dip at amsterdam. the best crab dip ever, served with guacamole and hot, margarita salt-dusted tortilla chips. great to split with a friend or eat as a meal.

4) fuji's avocado roll with lots of wasabi. the perfect summer lunch. (with a skinny+vitamin boost angel food smoothie from smoothie king.)

5) five guys cajun fries. just the best.

(in a tim james voice)
makes me hungry.

how about you?

tortellini and pesto and asparagus. oh my.

well i have two things i've always wanted to do. 

1) be on broadway

2) take pictures, travel, cook and write for a food magazine

this is my little blog to make me feel like i have my own magazine.

preface to the blog:

i'm from a foodie family.

i grew up here in the south with a love of cooking and people. which is not a surprise, seeing as my mom’s family is from deep south alabama. there, no gathering has ever been complete without the food that brings us together.  dad taught me how to cook scrambled eggs when i was 5, and i've loved cooking ever since. we watched emeril on food network every night...so we soon began adding creole seasoning into our scrambled eggs. by fifth grade i knew the difference between a rough chop and a julienne.  i knew that watermelons are best if they're slightly flat and yellow on one side. and i knew that manchego is a sheep's milk cheese that goes perfectly with baked squash and tomatoes.

we hit the natural food phase a couple of years before everyone else did. and i remember spending afternoons with my mom and her friends waiting for huge trucks of wholesale natural and organic foods to pull into a sketchy back parking lot so that they could split massive boxes of kashi and five pound bags of lettuce. the terms 'locally grown,' 'free range,' and 'organic' have been thrown around my house for almost as long as i can remember.

so my background has made me love not only food but the way food brings friends and family together. when i prepare the elements of a table...the details in the floral arrangement, the silverware, and the food itself, i find a quiet comfort. 


i want to make this blog a blend of everything from nutrition...to tips on eating well at college without your mom cooking for you...to recipes...to unique facts about food... restaurants...tablescapes...pretty flower arrangements for tables...and the grandma in me that loves new kitchen appliances.

i hope anyone who reads this enjoys my little foodie blog.
and if you're in auburn this thanksgiving, i'm making a cherry charlotte. i just need someone who's 21 to buy me the brandy for it.