Getting out in the AM

Ramblings Post #270
It is said that you can't keep a true player down. When he falls off in one spot he just pops back again somewhere else, with brand new game and does it all over again. That might be Iceberg Slim or a seventies blaxplotation movie, I'm not sure. Or maybe a urban interpretation of Kipling. But since I consider myself a true player, FROM THE HIMALAYA, it's time for me to pop back somewhere with a new hustle.

I took this with phone. So attribution to me. Sucka!

This is not an ad for Starbucks, or an endorsement, but as a method of "re-acclimating myself with society" after accidentally turning myself into a hermit I've taken up residence at the local coffee establishment. And let me tell you, putting on pants daily is a wild experience! I'm kidding. But this does get me out of the house, up the street and into the company of other people trying to get their hustle on. After many, many years in a strictly office environment, the number of folks who have the freedom to wander in and pay four dollars for a cup of coffee in the middle of the morning is astounding. I shouldn't knock the hustle, but wow!

At 10:30 am the joint is packed, every table being used, every seat full, people standing at the counter, the drive thru humming. Yes, I realize most of you already know this happens, but I'm not a big coffee drinker. I actually use my coffee maker at home to make tea twice week. If I don't have a cuppa in the morning, I only lament wasting the coffee I've already purchased, scared it might grow stale. But my brother swears by Starbucks. I was considering getting a library card (and I still intend to get one) but this is more lively I must admit.

It is an interesting cross section of people. I've seen job interviews, business presentations and proposals, group meetings and seen people studying. One guy in the back has his own porcelain mug. The way one guy bobs his head in his headphones, I think he's mixing music, while others are just sitting and chatting or just checking email, folks reading the paper and maybe even plotting a coup in a unnamed Central American country. Or they could have been discussing a charity event, I'm not sure, it kinda loud in here. Young and old, sweater vest or baseball hat tipped to the side it seems like everyone comes to Starbucks. Maybe the library would have been better.

So, what's the point of this post? None, really. I haven't been posting in a minute, and since I'm now a "regular" I thought this would be nice filler. I do try to switch it up - some days morning, others its the afternoon. Sometimes a different Starbucks... and for the love of Georgia do not get their Sweet Tea. I just remembered that. They know coffee. Think about that for a minute.

They do play some nice jazz though.

Barkeep, no I don't want a double half caffeinated mocha latte frappa-whatever with a shot. Can I get just a coffee? Plain coffee.

We 'bout to get Turnt Up! (Within Reason)

Ramblings Post #248
You can tell all my pets, and all my Harlem coquettes, that Mr. Otis regrets, that he won't be around. You can tell the mailman not to call, I ain't coming home until the fall, I might not get back home at all, 'cause Lulu's back in town.

We been getting Turnt up! Where you been?

It's NYE 201... do you say last year or the next year? NYE 2014, yeah, works for me.

All them lies you meant to tell this year become null and void at midnight, so I suggest you speak fast. I got a bottle for party, some Pineapple Orange juice for the ladies, and half gallon of ice tea for me. I been down this road before and I thinks I know the turns. It was gonna be home with a strong drink and cheap cigar...but when opportunity presents itself.

It's a been a long strange year, one I hope to not have to repeat. Yes, I realize technically I can never actually repeat this actual year, but you get my drift...circumstances man, circumstances. If you're going out, stay safe, if you're staying in...hey, this blog is a fairly good read, goes back while. Heck, you can even leave a comment. Pop some popcorn and tell me what I should have done. Write me a poem. A dirty limerick. I even accept pictures of kittens.

In any case, I'm headed to the turn up...see ya next year! (Ha, I said it first!)

Barkeep, start me with the Buffalo Trace in the first two, then it's all sweet tea for me..

A Quick Restaurant Review - J. Christopher's

I looked back over my past few entries, and damned if I omitted...or forgot...to include my write up for J. Christopher's. I breezed through a Saturday ago with Schmoopy, one of my older buddies. I don't want to give the impression I eat out a lot, but as much as I love cooking, I cannot stand the clean up. So to avoid the clean up I don't cook as much as I want to. That and my hours right now really ain't conducive to firing up the stove that often. That said, I bake a mean biscuit.

J. Christopher's for those who don't know is one of Atlanta's quirky little breakfast spots (we have a lot of those now that I think about it) that the locals fall into and eat up, then don't tell a soul, because they don't want it get so big they end up standing outside for an hour like at another little Atlanta eatery I know. The waitstaff is friendly (I once gave them one of my pens), the restaurants have some great art and the food is usually smoking.

I hadn't seen Schmoopy (who reads this blog, hey girl!) in like forever, and since then she's gotten married and everything. We were going to sit down, have a meal and just catch up.

We popped into JC's in Marietta, although I love the one on Ponce, and only had to wait five minutes for a table. The whole chain only serves breakfast, brunch and lunch. That's it. No dinner. But I've yet to walk into one that wasn't crowded, so it might be worth waking up at a decent hour on Saturday to trek down to.

She got one of their omelets, I got a pancakes with eggs and bacon and a side of bacon. I would have a much more detailed description, but it's been a few days, and don't want to lie. I will say this however....they make real good sweet tea. Yeah.

I've known Schmoopy for seven years now, we've worked together and she's one of the women who asked me to marry her. As I told her last Saturday, I probably should have taken her up on it. But that's past now, and so we talked about her business ventures (she's very ambitious) and my current dilemmas. She has joined the growing ranks of friends who believe I need to either cut back or cut out Sporty all together. Looking from the outside must be a vastly different view.

The food was great that I remember. The pancakes a little more bready than I like, but good. The eggs and potatoes cooked just about right. Schmoopy told me she was full, but couldn't stop eating the omelet. We laughed and talked and chatted and basically caught up. And although I had three other things to do that day...Walmart (ugh!), auto body shop, and Home Depot, after that meal I went home sprawled on my couch into a deep ass sleep.

This would be a sign of a good meal.

Barkeep - man, let me tell you 'bout this breakfast I had...gimme an OJ

A Quick Restaurant Review - The Busy Bee Cafe

Sunday was supposed to be a busy day. Up at eight and at the gym, some grocery shopping then home. Breakfast, start some laundry and clean up, then finish putting the primer on the final wall in the kitchen. After that I was going to buckle down and get together the notes of the book I've been working on...forever...in addition to the film...and the other book(s)...and the short stories...and around dinner time go to the movies with Sporty.

I woke up at 10:30. It didn't pick up from there.

As it was around 11:30 Slim called and invited me to supper (not brunch) at this little soul food spot called the Busy Bee Cafe down on MLK. A quick shower and I was out the door, further throwing my schedule into further disarray. But then it was one of those Sundays.

The Bee is in a closet across from Publix. I'm exaggerating a bit, but it is a spot that some reviewers would call cozy. Small is the proper term. Four more feet on one side and it would be a wholly different place. Decorated in early "Spot" it's small tables and ample booths are overlooked by photos of black celebrity who've stopped in for a bite. I saw Don King, Danny Glover and most of the cast of Good Times from my vantage. If they let me know when Thelma's coming back, her meal is on me.

Looking at the porkchops that were placed down on the table next me, I got the impression this might be good. And when Slim, who is a vegetarian, added the fried fish to her order, I was sure. Mulling it over, I ordered the smothered fried chicken with a side of rice, and green beans with yams on the side. And Slim I settled in for what was a suprisingly short wait.

The crowd there is a mix of the just out of church crowd and the I ain't even thinkin' 'bout church crowd, packed into a space the size of my mother's living room and dining room. It's a close grouping of booths on one wall, tables in the middle and a lunch counter, with well dressed grandmothers getting plates to go, ballers waiting for tables, and a deacon enjoying okra and pulled pork. As I watched the food whipped out of the kitchen so quickly, and the servers snatched it up so swiftly, it was wonder no one was sloshed with gravy. I hoped whoever's grandma they had in the kitchen got a smoke break every now then, because they were seriously cranking it out.

And on a side note...the sweet tea was the bomb.

Our food arrived, in Atlanta restaurant time, so fast I barely had to time for light and witty conversation. I tasted the rice, which honestly they could have let cook just a bit longer, but the gravy tasted like gravy should. They'd served up a whole breast and wing, the yams weren't too sweet and along with my other sides and the warm soft roll, my only wish is that the meal lasted longer & that my plate was a little bigger. The smiling portrait of Whitman Mayo (Sanford and Son's Grady) smiled down looking like he wanted a bite or two. He's a great and all, but bruh, order your own!

In friend news, Slim has now got her house on the market after a ridiculous number of break-ins. There are times I marvel at her tenacity. She got a veggie plate and although she said she only wanted a little piece of fish, she scarfed down the tilapia doused in some hot sauce with a quickness. I had wanted a taste, but I feared to ask.

The Busy Bee is a very homey spot, taking me back to old church dinners in the country and lunches at the spot in college where you had enough left over for seconds. When my waiter asked about dessert, I told him only if they had a cot in the back to go with it. I tipped almost 25%.

If you really want some good soul food, head on down to the Busy Bee. I know I will.

Barkeep...more tea. And see if they still got some pie in the back.

A Quick Restaurant Review - Tap

So last night Sporty hits me on the text and says she wants to get a drink. I'm not drinking, but I can always watch someone enjoy. So I flipped through the old mental rolodex of places we've been meaning to go, and picked the new gastropub Tap out of the air. We met up at around 6:30.

How do you describe this joint?

Tap is...well, something. It's a crowded little space on the corner of 14th and Peachtree in the lobby of the apply named 1180 Peachtree, the building in midtown with the wings on top. It's dark. The bartenders were friendly. They had a crowd on a slow Thursday. It's a really nice building, the building Tap is in. Real nice. Wings.

I'm really trying to be positive here.

First, this is the second spot I've been to this month that did not serve sweet tea. Quite frankly, I'm appalled at the ego it takes to do that in Atlanta. The was the first bad step. And it's a really small space, which means everyone is on top of the next person, which might work in the north which where you had to be from to think of this as a) a spot to stick a pub and b) to leave sweet tea off the menu. But never mind, as long as the food is good.

Um. They put the burger on a English muffin. Sporty was about to go athletize so she was carb loading, and she took the bartender's advice and got the burger with the shoestring fries. I got the Cuban. How was the food you ask? At the end of the meal, I gave Sporty a few bucks so she could stop by McDonalds on the way home. A burger on an english muffin may sound like a creative gastronomic variation, upmarket and all that, but in practice...not so much. She basically had a hamburger steak. My cuban was extra dry, and the slaw was still in the cup when I threw my napkin over the plate.

We will now address the fries. The shoestring fries get a separate mention, as for the first time the hostess literally stopped us and apologized for the fries as we left. I've had shoestring fries. Good shoestring fries. These were not they. They were fried too hard, so they were like potato sticks, which means you couldn't get at them with a fork, you couldn't pull them apart with your fingers, you couldn't ...eat them. The hostess said the chef had just come back off vacation. She promised us they were working on it.

Sporty wanted to go out for drink because she is disgusted with recent changes to her job and wanted to talk. We work at the same place and lately it's been getting rougher to work in her area. Someone just left, so they're down a person. But management doesn't want to hire anyone and says they're fine, then if someone wants time off they claim they're short of staff. They apparently want it both ways. Either way she's now looking for a new gig. Which is fucked up plus - first she got a man, then she's leaving the job. I'm still working thorough the guy shit, and if she quits I'm not sure I'd stay here much longer.

So the night started out on a down note, and the restaurant didn't exactly help.

Now if you want to drink, Tap might be the spot for you. It's very Abercrombie and Fitch (including the couple in their 30's across from us in matching sweaters!) but the bar has a full selection, with a few things you don't normally see on draft, and for the first time in Atlanta that I've seen, Wine taps! It's cozy, parking is complimentary, but it does get loud. If I had been drinking, this might have been okay.

Barkeep...Sweet Damn Tea. Well send down the street for some then!