Shanghai Saturdays

Lately I've been posting a lot of rants, but I haven't posted about food since I've switched from Blogger to Moveable Type. But today that all changes.

Last week, my parents and I went to Atlanta to buy this Springs' hottest new garden accessories at Americasmart. Most meals were consumed either at the Market Cafe or at chain restraunts near our hotel on the perimeter. But, on Wednesday night we went out to eat with our Atlanta cousins at one of their favorite Atlanta-original restraunts called dish. (Beware of cheesy music on loop.)

This place offered a unique, modern atmosphere that incorporated indoor and outdoor dining. Dish specializes serving an inovative array of seasonal international favorites. My meal started with an excellent appetizer of a thick-sliced fried green tomato served with grilled shrimp, hummus, and a green tomato sauce. I would have never thought to put this combination together, but it was absolutely amazing. Somehow the hummus was able to really connect the grilled and fried flavors together.

For my main courseI had a pan roasted skate wing. This was my first time to eat skate, which is actually the wing of a ray fish. The texture reminded me of scallops while the taste was entirely unique. I often find that when eating fish it's hard to balance being full with great taste, but this skate wing filled me up and tasted great. The skate was served over baby spinach and seasoned with a brown butter sauce. Grilled potatoes finished off the dish.

What a great meal. Next time you're in Atlanta and you want to try something different, drive over to the Virginia Highlands neighborhood and check this place out. The web site will give you directions.

Posted by Gordon Fellows at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight I was crusing around Mlblogs.com and I learned something really cool. Hall of Fame Baltimore Oriole's third baseman Brooks Robinson has a blogg, ...Brooks Robinson's Hot Corner.

In a quick skim over the archives, he talks about everything from coaching little league to his World Series experiences. It's probably worth looking at, and it has a link to Tommy Lasorda's blog.

Posted by Gordon Fellows at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A WISEMAN ONCE SAID THAT SARCASM A TOOL OF THE WEAK. I DON'T CARE, I'M DOING IT ANYWAY.

Hey look, that's a picture of my favorite baseball player ever, Will "The Thrill" Clark. He was probably the best firstbaseman the game has ever seen, I mean, gah, he hit a homerun off Nolan Ryan during his first major league at bat. In his fifteen major league seasons, he hit 285 homeruns, 1205 RBI's, stole 67 bases, and had a .303 batting average. Clark even won a gold glove for his unparrelled work in the field. Name me one first baseman that has better numbers than that. I KNOW you can't!!

But it wasn't his on-the-field talented that seperated from the other dominant players of his era, it was his good heart. Kids everywhere loved Will Clark. His kindness and love of the game were inspirational to an entire generation. According to one highly regarded former big league pitcher and Clark fan, John Rocker, "The Thrill was so great for baseball because he understood the game was about the fans, more specifically the kids."

Kids understood this, and during the late 1980's a cult of personality began to develop among Clark's younger fans called "Thrillermania." Clark understood that he had a rare opportunity to have a positive impact on kids lives everywhere, and quickly began to use his fame to remind kids "to just say no" to drugs, tell their parents to end aparthide in South Africa, and love their neighbor like they love themself.

And it was this characteristic, loving his neighbor, which is best exemplified by Clark's never ending willingness to sing autographs, spend time with sick fans, and share his financial wealth with his home community that was Clark's biggest contribution to the game of baseball. Clark was a great player on the field, but an even better person off the field. This is why we here at Rants and Cravings look forward to seeing Will Clark in the Hall of Fame.

BLOGGUS NOTUS: ALTHOUGH THE STATISTICS CITED ARE TRUE, EVERYTHING ELSE MENTIONED IN THIS POST IS A COMPLETE FABRICATION OF THE AUTHOR.

Posted by Gordon Fellows at 07:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...Chuck Norris. That's right, the man that "doesn't sleep, he waits," "counted to infinity, twice," and "can touch MC Hammer" has just published his second Christian based book, "The Justice Riders."

Although this is his first novel, the man with the most devestating round house kick the world has ever seen, has already published an autobiographical work with the cover shown here:

Although I've not read either of Chuck's works, I'm imagine his writings have some similiarities to one of my favorite Christian writers that also made his fortune in the 1980's. This guy:

Anythoughts on either of these books would be appreciated.

Posted by Gordon Fellows at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was privledged a few nights ago to hear directly from an all-female group of researchers about new important data they had just finished gathering. These women are considered the authorities in their field, so needless to say, their presentation was interesting. I'm sure that their analysis and insight will make our country and our world a better place. Who where these scholars? A group of Senior Sorority girls from MSU and Ole Miss. What was their topic of study? Marriage More specifically, they were focussed on high school sweetheart matrimony. Suprise Suprise.

These girls (who shall remain nameless because I'm scared they'll hurt me) argued that high school sweethearts change so much during college that it is almost impossible for them to stay together, and that the strain of this phenomena becomes even harsher if the sweethearts attend different schools. The scholary sorority sweeties concluded that high school sweethearts that attend college together have 1 in 600 chance of going through with tieing the knot, and that 1 in 800 high school couples that attend different univerisities will one day know each other the way Adam knew Eve.

These statics, like most numbers, would normally go in my right ear out my left. But it just so happened that the next day my old roomate Preston Whittington was meeting his high school sweetheart, Anna Prevost, at the altar. So I took interest in what the research showed, but I was glad yesterday when Preston and Anna beat the odds and exchanged their vows.

Wedding highlights include an incredible combinations of a string quartet, fluet, organ, piano, and a harp music and watching groomsmen Patrick Kelso have to walk by himself in front of a couple hundred people. At the reception, there was a plethora of good food including black-eyed pea and bacon quice and skewered chilled prime rib and shrimp. I didn't even get around to trying the cake.

Preston and Anna have been through a lot in their nearly six years of dating, including long periods of seperation since they attended different schools. Through it all they have grown together, and I know they will be happy together for a long time. They are two wonderful, bright, talented people. Preston and Anna, Rants and Cravings wishes you all the best.

Posted by Gordon Fellows at 07:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)