Winter Break... a Look Back in Food!

Happy New Year!

It's been a while since I last wrote! Regardless, I've been eating up a storm in the last couple weeks. I haven't had as much time to bake since my family is in the process of moving to a condo in midtown ATL from the suburbs. But in between working and the move, I still managed to catch up with long-lost friends and I discovered new places around Atlanta.

I got to go to Antico with JBS and his little sister and this is what we ate:

It is supposed to be authentic Italian pizza, although JBS and his sister, who spent a while in Italy last year, didn't think so. Either way, it's a step up from the regular pizza chains (although it should be, considering the price)

LottaFrutta, in the Highlands, has lots of fresh fruit cups you can order in a variety of ways.

I realized I am not a fan of granola with my fruit. But the yogurt was still yummy!

On another visit, I tried this one too:

The cream in this is absolutely fabulous. I think it's called Cremolatta. You have to try it if you ever go!

We also tried a turkey sandwich there, and it was pretty tasty with some spicy mustard and avocados:

On JBS's last night in the ATL, his family invited me out to dinner with them. Since they are from the Sichuan province in China and greatly enjoy sweating while eating their meals stuffed with chilies, I was forced to do the same.

I was pleasantly surprised! I tend to avoid spicy foods, and generally find everything too spicy (my family thinks I'm strange) but in this case, I actually survived the meal, and.... ENJOYED it! I ate a ton of rice with everything but it was yummy. And my stomach didn't even hate me too much the next day! Maybe this is the start of something new...

This was the first dish... this meat cartilage thing with tons of peppers.

This second dish was the pork. Also spicy! We had many more dishes but we ate it pretty fast since we were hungry, and they were not as aesthetically pleasing...

A couple nights before JBS left, I had dinner at his house, and his parents cooked foods, like this:

and this

I really love eating at their house; always fresh always tasty meals!

 Oh and best of all:

My friend Zenobia is currently in Sudan for 9 months working for the Carter Center. Her parent went to visit her and they all went to Istanbul for a visit. I feel like I've been hearing a lot about Istanbul from all my friends, and all great things... I really really really want to go!

Since she knows I love baklava, she actually went and got me some of the best baklava from there:

It was SOOOOO good! So buttery, so flaky. I've tasted absolutely nothing like this in Atlanta. I thought I loved the International bakery here but I think this one wins, thanks Zebo :)

Oh and I attempted to make Hazelnut macarons with a dark chocolate ganache filling, similar to Ferrero Rocher chocolates.. I just swapped out half the almonds for hazelnuts.

 

Except I tried to reduce the sugar by a bit too much and they crumbled far too easily. But in terms of taste, they were great. I think JBS ate about 10 in a row without taking a breath... Most of the time macs are too sweet to really eat more than two. But these were definitely just right. But in terms of consistency, I may start adding more ground almonds to make up for less powdered sugar and see what happens.

I hope everyone is staying warm in this cold weather and having a wonderful weekend :)