Thyme Bombe

Doing the Java Jive

Ahhh! Weather is back to feeling good, as evidenced by these two blissful sunbathers!

This morning Jeff and I got dressed early and headed over to Decatur’s outdoor farmer’s market. There weren’t too many vendors out today since spring hasn’t officially sprung, but we were still able to snag a few special items.

I’ve been wanting to get my hands on some farm fresh eggs for a while now! These were so beautiful in their varying colors and shapes.

You can really feel how much thinner and more delicate the shells are since these chickens haven’t been fed a bunch of crushed oyster shells, bone meal, and calcium tablets like the factory farmed chickens are.

Can’t wait to eat one of those nearly raw tomorrow morning over rice for breakfast!

We also got some awesome granola full of candied ginger. I’m such a huge ginger fan, this is going to make me very happy sprinkled over a bowl of chopped fruit and drizzled with almond milk.

And when we saw a vendor selling fresh tamales, we had to restrain ourselves from buying more than one pack! These will make a delicious dinner for tomorrow night.

After we got home and put everything away it was time to meet up with Emily and John for brunch at Java Jive.

Jeff and I had never been here before, but I heard about the charming 50’s diner decor and antique kitchen appliance memorabilia online.

We waited in a cute little area surrounded by old pastel-colored stoves and rusty old oscillating fans.

Everything was so cute! I loved all the silly knick knacks and charming collectibles.

I did quit snapping pictures long enough to eat. I started out with a latte and the garden scramble.

I loved all the fresh veggies, and that biscuit you see there is easily the best I’ve ever had! It was the perfect flavor, texture, doneness, butteryness, flakiness imaginable!

Jeff got the gingerbread waffle with lemon curd. Oh yeah, it was amazing!

It had a great spicy flavor and was perfectly crispy on the outside while soft on the inside. I kept sneaking little dollops of lemon curd to put on my biscuit, it was delightfully tart and not too sweet.

We loved Java Jive and will definitely be going back. Now what to do with the rest of the day?

Tonight’s my blogger meet-up with other fellow Atlanta bloggers, some that I haven’t had the chance to meet yet, so that should be a good time. Tell you how it went tomorrow!

March 12, 2011 author

Alayna

Discussion comments

3 comments

Recent Eats

Just as predicted, the nice weather didn’t last and this week has been awash in shades of gray and just literally washed with buckets of rain.

I’ve spent several days feeling a bit moody at being trapped indoors with the memory of sunny walks into town that took place such a short time ago. I’ve used the “opportunity” to practice a few extra-long yoga sessions in the dining room, trying not to fall out of pose onto one or more curious cats.

But sometimes you just gotta get out of the house!

We hit up Garlic Thai again this week for a spicy little reminder of approaching spring. I got the fruitiest, springiest cocktail I could find on the menu; one with lychee, ginger, and sake. It was fruit-tastic. The maraschino cherry makes it fancy. 😉

Jeff got a barley shochu that was a bit lighter than he was wanting, but it was still good.

We both shared a plate of the prettiest spring rolls I’ve ever seen.

Love the basil leaves pressed perfectly between the layers of soft and chewy rice paper.

I got a miso soup. This one was pretty salty and inauthentic. Pretty sure it was a powdered mix or something and it had the wrong kind of seaweed in it; tasted like thick lettuce.

I got a glass noodle salad called Yum Woon Sen that had minced chicken and grilled shrimp all in a spicy lime-flavored sauce.

Unholy gates of hell! This was the single spiciest thing I’ve ever put in my mouth! Jeff asked for his curry to be Thai hot, and my dish was listed as mild on the menu. I think they got switched because I was sweating and breathing hard and my lips were huge and painfully red.

Jeff’s panang curry, on the other hand, was sweet and delicious. It had some heat to it but not nearly as much as my little salad did!

Still love Garlic Thai though. I can’t wait until it’s warm out again so we can drink fruity cocktails on their nice patio.

Tonight we got out again for sushi at Sushi Avenue. It’s not the best sushi place ever but it’s only a mile from our apartment so I can’t complain.

I had an Asahi Black beer which I love. It’s so roasty and malty, tastes a bit like toasted buckwheat or roasted barley. We both got seaweed salads to munch on. I was telling Jeff how much I like the sound it makes in your head when you crunch on the seaweed! Yeah, he thought that was weird.

Of course we ordered takoyaki, and it was just as awesome this time as it always is.

For sushi we got 2 inari, a crunchy eel roll, a spicy tuna roll, and a scorpion roll. Sushi Avenue is bad about cutting their pieces too large and packing too much rice around the rolls. It all tastes great though.

And here’s something I made at home earlier this week…

Miso-glazed salmon with stir-fried bok choy and shiitake mushrooms. It was so, so, so good! I love this dish, it takes so little effort to prepare.

Well, the weather is supposed to perk up a bit for this weekend, so maybe we can get out a bit and not feel so cramped up in the house.

I’m excited that I’ll get to attend an Atlanta blogger meet-up at 5 Seasons this Saturday!

What are your weekend plans?

March 10, 2011 author

Alayna

Discussion comments

7 comments

Raw vegan orange pistachio bars

(For another raw vegan treat, check out my recipe for raw nectarine dream cookies!)

Oooooo! These are so good!

I just love the combination of orange and pistachio together! These bars are so soft and citrusy, they remind me a bit of lemon Larabars, and yet they’re totally different from any Larabar I’ve ever had.

Here’s what you’ll need for these little emerald gems:

3/4 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup raw pistachios
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1 tsp. agave nectar
1 tsp. coconut oil
1 tsp. chia seeds
zest and juice of a small orange such as a clementine or satsuma
desiccated coconut for dusting

Start by pulverizing the nuts in a food processor…

Then add the chopped apricots…

Then grate over the orange zest and add the remaining ingredients…

Blitz it til it pulls away from the sides and looks fully incorporated…

So green!

Now you need to mold it into bars. I lined a loaf pan with wax paper to help pull the bars out with later and then poured some desiccated coconut in the bottom so they wouldn’t stick to that.

It took a while to press it all out flat in the pan, just keep working at it until you get it to reach the edges.

My loaf pan was just a bit too big so these didn’t quite make it all the way to one side. After spreading it out I topped it off with more coconut.

These should get popped in the freezer for a while to make them easier to cut. I chose to cut mine into little squares.

They are delicious! The bright orange flavor really stands out and contrasts with the earthy and slightly bitter green pistachio flavor. They taste so springy and fresh!

I’ve been keeping them in the fridge since they have orange juice in them that could go bad if left out. It also helps them to hold together better being that they’re very soft at room temperature. They are even more refreshing nice and cool right out of the fridge anyway.