shop local advent calendar

Advent calendars are a fun way to count down to the big day of gift-giving. In my house, we were never into the chocolate or tiny toy variety. We have done a month of good things to help others, a month of fun things to do together, a month of Legos to build, and the like. For locally minded shoppers I have put together an advent calendar of some of my favorite products and small businesses I like to support.. What better way is there to shop than from the storefront of hopes and dreams, to reinvest in the community you call home?

 

I found a tree limb in the yard, spray painted it silver and planted it in a vase full of lentils and Christmas baubles. I found these neat printable numbers on StudioDiy.com. They are fantastic because the size is the exact fit for the top of a Mason jar. A Mason jar advent calendar would be very cute and very fun to find small gifts or good deeds-to-do to fit inside each day. At our house, each number on this tree is a clue to where to find the gift or good deed. But here, each number coincides with a local favorite.

Day One

 

Beautiful Briny Sea Salts from Suzi Sheffield are a favorite hostess gift and stocking stuffer of mine. I have been a fan of the Truffle Salt and French Picnic but thanks to The Indie Craft Experience, I have a new favorite, the smoky Campfire. My favorite places to purchase are the Peachtree Road Farmers Market and Beehive. And neat-o information: The Lapsang Souchong salt on top of the hand cut ice on The Unsung Hiro at Miso Izakaya was a special commission of Beautiful Briny.

The Unsung Hiro at Miso Izakaya with ice topped with Lapsang Souchong infused sea salt

Day Two

Mike Lowery Illustration

 

Atlantan Mike Lowery has the cutest, silliest point of view. His work has been seen in galleries and publications across the globe. I am enchanted by his illustrations of things like charcuterie, birds (Gunther Vogelmeier is my favorite), and even beards.

 

This is what I purchased at The Indie Craft Experience this year.

 



Day Three

NaturAlmond

 

All natural, made locally with just two ingredients: almond and salt. My favorite way to eat it-- off a spoon, straight from the jar. I like to purchase mine from The Peachtree Road Farmers Market so I can talk with owner Jamie and pick up a bag of her almond flour. It is great to coat chicken or pork before frying or baking. Jars can also be found at Whole Foods and Star Provisions. Click here for an extensive list and a bit of history on Jamie's grandfather, her inspiration. It fits in a stocking; I know because I gifted jars last year.

Day Four

Doux South Pickles

 

Local, Organic, handcrafted pickles by Chef Nick Melvin. Inside each jar is more than tasty pickles, it's the continuation of a family tradition of pickling the goods from his family's garden n Louisiana with his mom. I get mine (my favorite: Honey Kissed Turnips) at local farmers markets (East Atlanta, Peachtree Road), but they can also be found at Alon's, Pine Street Market,  and Star Provisions. As Nick says, Stupid good. Doux South also ships!

from http://www.erinsmithart.com/

Day Five

Erin Smith Art

 

Erin Smith creates sassy art from photos of relatives. I have given her cocktail napkins and bar towels as hostess gifts and as stocking stuffers to the delight of the recipients. My favorite place to shop for her whimsy is Heliotrope in Decatur but you may also purchase from her website.

 

Day Six

Emily G's Jams

 

Emily G's Jams are the perfect size for stockings. My favorites are the Pear Honey and the Pepper Vinegar. When I first tried the Pear Honey, I ate it with a spoon. It really is the perfect toast topper though. The Pepper Vinegar is used daily in my kitchen. It adds a zip and acidity to soup, my go-to breakfast. Emily's jams and sauces are all-purpose and the website includes a slew of recipes both sweet and savory for trying the mixtures. You can really taste the love in each jar.

 

Day Seven

Brother Journal

Brother Journal is a quarterly journal from Ryan Smith, Andrew Thomas Lee, and Alvin Diec with a specific focus on people who make "good, honest food the right way." The first issue beautifully traced the journey of pastured chicken from farm to table, chock full of all the good story bits. It really is a thing of beauty. Gift one here.

Day Eight

Phickles Pickles
 

Phickles Pickles began in 2009 in Angie Tillman’s home kitchen and has since moved to a facility in Athens. The entire family pitches in from the filling of the jars, sticking on the labels, and delivering the boxes. Each jar is hand packed with locally sourced veggies and fruit. I love all of the pickles but Rasta Beans are my favorite of the bunch. Rasta Beans came about as a gift to a local Athens restaurant that served a few dishes with jerk seasoning. They now have quite a cult following. Rasta Beans are not always available but she will make them to order. Look for Angie and her sweet booth adorned with heirloom linens at farmer's markets and local shops.

 

Day Nine

Pine Street Applewood Smoked Bacon

 

Pine Street Market meats begin with local pork from Berkshire hogs from Gum Creek Farms in Georgia. Humanely raised pigs forage off the land using a rotational grazing method without antibiotics, pesticides, or herbicides. CIA-trained Rusty Bowers is a skilled craftsman in the art of salumi. His house-cured meats made on site in Avondale Estates and aged in custom-built, climate controlled curing caves. My favorites are the speck and the applewood smoked bacon. My kids call it the “good bacon” when they are asking for it.

Day Ten

H&F Bottle Shop Bloody Mary Mix

 

 

It’s not a spicy mix but that is easily remedied with the addition of hot sauce and a few of those Rasta beans mentioned above. I love the mix’s  brightness and thickness. The mix begins with hand-milled tomatoes, not juice, but tomatoes and includes hand-squeezed lime juice, Worcestershire, horseradish, Trappey’s hot sauce, celery seed, and cream Sherry. The bottle encourages you to add to it what will make your bloody Mary best for you. I absolutely love the handwritten batch date on the label.

 

Day Eleven

Sweetgrass Dairy Green Hill Cheese

 

 

 This creamy, buttery, and smooth cheese with a thin bloomy rind and golden color is similar to Camembert. Jersey cow’s milk gives it the gorgeous color and I am convinced being made with love gives it its taste. Sweet Grass Dairy is a family owned and operated farm in Thomasville where the cows live as cows should and cheese making grew out of new found joy at a cheese-making class. It’s delicious, local, and sustainable.

Day Twelve

Tickets to team Hidi 2.0 Benfit

This event, scheduled for January 26, 2014 again at King Plow Arts Center will be one of The Giving Kitchen's largest fundraising efforts. Get  tickets for the Giving Kitchen benefit with over 30 of the Atlanta area’s best Restaurants and Farmers, the city’s finest beverage bad asses and their libation inspirations, a wicked Live Auction and rocking music by Yacht Rock Revue and Big Mike Geier! Join the Atlanta community in surrounding Team Hidi with love. What a fun and delicious way to help The Giving Kitchen give back to our city's restaurant employees when crisis occur.
Can’t attend?  Consider making a donation to thegivingkitchen.org.

Day Thirteen
Indigo Bath and Body Soaps

With soaps imbued with farm fresh ingredients from their farm and local farmers (from our farmer's markets) that you know and love, to the honey and beeswax raised in local apiaries, you'll find local ingredients in over 95% of Indigo Bath and Body products.  My favorite item is the Multi Fruit Antioxidant lip and eye balm. I keep it on my nightstand.

Day fourteen

Book: Buddhist Catnaps...

Buddhist Catnaps and Broken-Down Hymns is a collection of short stories by Decatur writer Tommy Housworth that I find witty, endearing, and honest. I get lost in the soulful characters and transported by the many references to music. Buy it. Read it.

Field of Greens 2012

Field of Greens is Atlanta's greatest effort in showcasing the importance of traceability, the supply chain from farm to fork. I cannot wait to slip on my boots and head to Whipporwill Hollow Farm this Sunday, September 30 for Field of Greens. This has consistently been my favorite festival for years because it is laid back (yet well organized) on a working farm with some of my favorite chefs and local artisans. The farm is gorgeous and fun to tour. The food is outstanding. Last year Linton Hopkins’ hot chicken blew me away, literally and figuratively. I came away with bags full of local products and a bevy of silent auction winnings with Slow Food Atlanta as the recipient of the dollars spent.



Foraging pig apron from here

This year Todd Mussman of Muss and Turner's, Local Three, and Eleanor's will host a pig roast at 4 p.m. Fresh off his win at the inaugural  Heritage Cochon BBQ Competition (along with Nick Melvin, Jay Swift, and Tommy Searcy), Todd is masterful at this process.

After I peruse the market including some of my favorites (Emily G's Jams/sauces, Pine Street Market meats, Phickle Pickles, Decimal Place goat cheese, Garlic Clove Foods quinoa, Beautiful Briny Sea Salts, King of Pops), I will head to the tasting tent to be dazzled by small bits. The vendor area is the perfect place to purchase items for the holiday baskets I am planning. I have seen mention of many specials. Here is blurb about my favorite local things.

The restaurant line-up for the tasting tent which opens at 12:30:

Ron Eyester - Rosebud, The Family Dog (last year, the chicken and biscuits were like no other dish served. Amazing comfort food)

Robert Phalen - One Eared Stag, Holy Taco (The trotter terrine was my favorite dish last year. I hovered over this table)

Dave Larkworthy - 5 Seasons Brewing Company

Eric Ottensmeyer - LEON's Full Service

Linda Harrell - Cibo E Beve

Justin Keith - Food 101

Lance Gummere - Bantam+Biddy

Asha Gomez - Cardamom Hill

Shane Devereux - The Lawrence

Stephen Herman - Haven

Matt Swickerath - Valenza

Todd Mussman - Muss & Turner's, Local Three (the meatballs last year!)

Marc Taft - Chicken & The Egg

Chad Clevenger & Jeffrey Gardner - Alma Cocina

Craig Richards - Ecco

Zeb Stevenson - Livingston Restaurant + Bar, Proof and Provision

Cathy Conway - Avalon Catering

Eddie Hernandez - Taqueria del Sol (my first taste of Huitlacoche ever last festival)

Edward Russell - PARISH (last year’s pork pate’ was a favorite)

Billy Allin - Cakes & Ale

Dan Latham - Farm Burger

Whitney Otawka - Farm 255

Jay Swift - 4th & Swift

Todd Ginsberg - Bocado

Duane Nutter - One Flew South (his lamb sausage with blueberry pickled onions last year…holler)

Megan McCarthy - Healthy Eating 101

Nick Oltarsh - ONE. midtown kitchen

Ryan Smith - Empire State South (his deviled ham roulade last year!)

Alison Leuker - Sun in My Belly

Marc Sommers - Parsley's Catering

Todd Richards - The Shed at Glenwood

Britt Cloud - Sprig (I tasted their offering already. So, so good.)

Keith Schroeder - High Road Craft Ice Cream (last year it tasted like bourbon!)

Brian Horn & Joe Schafer - JCT Kitchen

Suzanne Vizethann - The Hungry Peach, Buttermilk Kitchen

EJ Hodgkinson - Woodfire Grill

 

Get your tickets here.

Wish: My favorite local things

Someone on twitter mentioned that there were only 104 days until Christmas today. I wasn’t ready to entertain the thought until I thought of Wish parties. Each year during the holiday season a group of girlfriends and I gather for a fun night out and exchange gifts. Sometimes we set a limit and sometimes there is a theme. My favorite evening was when the gift to bring was a re-gift of a piece of jewelry or accessory that you just didn’t wear but loved. I came home with a gorgeous scarf that came with a story. I gifted a necklace that was so pretty but had never been worn.For years it sat lonesome in a box in my bathroom drawer. Now I get to see it regularly on a friend who adores it. Besides giving a loving home to things we couldn’t let go of otherwise, the narrative behind each gift was the best part of the evening. When I host a Wish party this year, I am going to combine the stories with a basket much like Oprah’s favorite things episode she used to produce. Each guest will bring a number (depending on the number of guests) of their locally made favorite item. Everyone gets one of each and goes home with a basket full of goodies. My ideal basket:

 

Sweet Grass Dairy Green Hill Cheese

This creamy, buttery, and smooth cheese with a thin bloomy rind and golden color is similar to Camembert. Jersey cow’s milk gives it the gorgeous color and I am convinced being made with love gives it its taste. Sweet Grass Dairy is a family owned and operated farm in Thomasville where the cows live as cows should and cheese making grew out of new found joy at a cheese-making class. It’s delicious, local, and sustainable.

 

French Broad Chocolates Vanilla Bourbon Caramel

True perfection. They had me as a loyal customer at our first meeting a couple of years ago but my intense love for Jael and Dan Rattigan stems from their business plan: "To explore our perpetual lust for culinary creativity through the medium of chocolate. To create a beautiful space and a beautiful menu; to witness the emotional impact of our creations on our patrons; to further hone our place in the community and lighten our environmental impact, all the while living as decent human beings." Many business owners say things like this this, but Jael and Dan actually have achieved their objectives. I love everything about French Broad Chocolates, from their meticulous sourcing, their Willy Wonkaesque factory harnessing the sun to roast the beans, to the lovely packaging. My friends know of my great love and make sure to stop for me each time one of them is in Asheville. My favorite confection right now is the Vanilla Bourbon Caramel filled with Knob Creek bourbon. Sweet, rich and at the same time a lil smoky from the bourbon. Runner up: Lavender & Honey truffle with local lavender & wildflower honey and  Peruvian dark chocolate. It is layered bits of the Blue Ridge Mountains wrapped up inside of exotic dark chocolate. You can smell, taste, and feel the lavender bits and the honey. Pretty sure it tastes like sunshine and bluegrass too.

Emily G’s Berbere Sauce

Inspired by a spice mixture that is the flavor foundation for Ethiopian cooking, Emily G’s Berbere Sauce makes grilling or crock pot dinners easily exotic. Super inspired by the spice combination, Emily woke with the flavor in her head and worked all day crafting a batch that eventually became this sauce. The “love” that is printed on her jars can be tasted. She tries to create jams, sauces and relishes simply, naturally, and with the best ingredients available. I can’t wait to get my hands on a jar of pear honey which came about after she tasted an amazing pear from South Georgia and dreamt up a slow cooked, thickened version of it with just a hint of honey. It’s much like how her Emily G’s story began- a mom (who also happens to be a classically trained chef) on a strawberry picking play date in Lawrenceville with buckets full of fresh berries. The play date turned into a jam making day. This is how Emily’s grandmother from Alabama did things. When you have a fresh ingredient in excess, you put-up. Friends and family loved what they tasted, wanted more, and Jams of Love was born.

If her curry ketchup collaboration with Rosebud is ready by the holidays, I might put it in my wish bag too.

 

Southern Gal Bath and Body

These are luscious lip balms that I use every day. I have one in my purse, one in my car, one in the kitchen, and one right next to me at my computer. It began with a crafting whim at making soap and has grown into a full bath and body line. Tricia’s soaps are beautiful, creamy, and have lasting scents. Making them allows her to be an amazing mom at home. For the holidays this past year I bought soaps, candles, scrubs, and lotions for everyone from Southern Gal Soaps/ Bath and Body.

Beautiful Briny Sea Salts

Beautiful Briny Sea Salts are made here in Atlanta. I especially love the truffle salt and the lavender salt. The blends are made with hand harvested salts from around the world and certified organic herbs. All ingredients are sourced from the growers with sustainability as a focus.  More importantly, they are incredible delicious.

Garlic Clove Foods: Gluten Free Garden Pilaf

The D’Angelos make delicious, healthy, and quick cooking foods a family affair with Garlic Clove Foods. Everyone pitches in to produce blends made with a combination of 100% Whole Grains (Quinoa, Bulgur & Millet), Vegetables, Legumes and natural herbs and spices.  The Gluten free Garden Pilaf is a mixture of organic millet and organic quinoa with vegetables, herbs, and spices. I love being able to gift something made near my home by a family trying to bring better food to everyone's table. My gluten free friends will love it!

Phickles Pickles: Rasta Beans

Phickles Pickles began in 2009 in Angie Tillman’s home kitchen and has since moved to a facility in Athens. The entire family pitches in from the filling of the jars, sticking on the labels, and delivering the boxes. Each jar is hand packed with locally sourced veggies and fruit. I love all of the pickles but Rasta Beans are my favorite of the bunch. Rasta Beans came about as a gift to a local Athens restaurant that served a few dishes with jerk seasoning. They now have quite a cult following. Rasta Beans are not always available but she will make them to order. Look for Angie and her sweet booth adorned with heirloom linens at farmer's markets and local shops.

H & F Bottle Shop Bloody Mary Mix

It’s not a spicy mix but that is easily remedied with the addition of hot sauce and a few of those Rasta beans mentioned above. I love the mix’s  brightness and thickness. The mix begins with hand-milled tomatoes, not juice, but tomatoes and includes hand-squeezed lime juice, Worcestershire, horseradish, Trappey’s hot sauce, celery seed, and cream Sherry. The bottle encourages you to add to it what will make your bloody Mary best for you. I absolutely love the handwritten batch date on the label.

Pine Street Market Cured Meats

Pine Street Market meats begin with local pork from Berkshire hogs from Gum Creek Farms in Georgia. Humanely raised pigs forage off the land using a rotational grazing method without antibiotics, pesticides, or herbicides. CIA trained Rusty Bowers is a skilled craftsman in the art of salumi. His house-cured meats made on site in Avondale Estates and aged in custom-built, climate controlled curing caves. My favorites are the speck and the applewood smoked bacon. My kids call it the “good bacon” when they are asking for it.

 

NaturAlmond Almond Butter

 





When Jamie Foster couldn't find almond butter in stores that could compare to her grandfather's, she began making her own. With the enlivening support of friends and family, NaturAlmond was born and continues to grow in Chamblee, Georgia. Handcrafted using just two ingredients, roasted almonds and sea salt, it is both delicious and nutritious.

photo from Milepost65.com

Jack Rudy Tonic

This small batch cocktail syrup made in Charleston is gorgeous in apothecary bottles with letterpress labels. Besides quinine, the tonic is composed of a blend of lemongrass, orange peel, sugar, and citric acid. It is concentrated and can be used as a sweetening agent for a cocktail or traditionally as “tonic water” with the addition of fizzy water. I confess that I have yet to try it but I have had stellar cocktails from Brooks Reitz at Fig Restaurant in Charleston. What’s not to love about a handcrafted tonic from a southern gentleman who named his product for his grandfather?

Field of Greens 2011

Field of Greens is one of my very favorite food events of the year.  More than anything, I think it is because of the people it attracts.  We gather on the farm not to look nostalgically but to look forward to sustainability and celebrate local food with the partnerships between chefs and farmers. Many of the restaurants involved base their menus around the week's harvest.

Like last year, the day was as gorgeous as if we had ordered the perfect day.  Before the tasting tent opened I strolled around the market area and picked up some goodies:  tomatoes from a local farm, a jar of Wedgies and Rasta beans from Phickles Pickles and bacon from Pine Street Market. I headed over to the silent auction area to place a few bids to help farmers in need.  While bidding I could check out the vendors nearby. I tried a bit of High Road Craft Ice Cream and smelled the delicious Jittery Joe's coffee while friends bought caramels from Sugar-Coated Radical.

The aromas emanating from the tasting tent was too much and I made my way in. Restaurant areas were well spaced and I never had much a of a wait for a bite. 



Delicious house-made lamb sausage with blueberry pickled onions
 from Duane Nutter of One Flew South

Butterbean hummus with pepper jelly on sweet potato chips
from Leon's Full Service

 



From Brickstore Pub-I could have eaten 10

One Midtown Kitchen goodness from Drew Van Leuvan

#246 African squash soup with pumpkin seeds





Pork pate from Parish

Ryan Smith from Empire State South--deviled ham roulade with pickled veggies and radish on bacon-mustardd crackers.



Robert Phalen from Holy Taco/One Eared Stag
made this trotter terrine. (I may have had more than my fair share)



Nick Melvin of Rosebud serving up some comfort (chicken and biscuits)

Muss and Turner's/Local Three meatballs. ( I had seconds)

Food 101's pork belly slider with kimchee

Chef Justin Burdett preparing  house-made pork sausage, stewed greens, shaved radish
over chestnut puree. I thought he said he drizzled something with thyme over the top. It was
perfect.



Huitlacoche Quesadilla with poblano from Taqeuria del Sol
Huitlacoche is a fungus that grows on corn. It is expensive
and delicious.



 



My favorite dish, Tennessee Hot Chicken from Linton Hopkins
of Holeman and Finch and  Restaurant Eugene.
So hot, so tender, so wonderful. Do you know about Price's Hot Chicken in Tennesee? Watch this

After all the yummy bites and bowls I headed to the  F'n' Chef Competition

emceed by my favorite radio personality, Mara Davis.  Three chefs, Terry Koval (Farm Burger), Nick Melvin (Rosebud) and Eric Ottensmeyer (Leon's Full Service) battled it out with White Oak Pastures' beef and local veggies. 

 Ottensmeyer took the win!

Master of ceremonies, Ron Eyester of Rosebud.

All in all, a beautiful day on delightful Whippoorwill Hollow Farm with delicious food, smiling people, great market items and silent auction winnings. All this fun in the the name of good will towards farmers in need and promoting local food. Can't wait to hear how much money was raised for Slow Food Atlanta.