Day 53

Antelope Patty Melt: After checking out a reading at SCAD by one of my favorite authors, Chuck Klosterman, me and the GF headed over to the Westside location of 5 Seasons Brewery (www.5seasonsbrewing.com) for a late dinner. I'd heard good things about their food and beer, so I was hoping to find something blog-worthy on the menu tonight. To my surprise, there were a few items that featured ingredients I'd never had before. One in particular caught my eye - the antelope patty melt. I love all things burger-related, so I was curious to try this version made with ground antelope instead of beef. I don't have much experience with wild game, so I couldn't resist.

Our server brought my food, and it didnt look anything like the patty melts I'd had before. Instead of griddled toast, the bun was made from grilled rye flatbread. On top of the sizable ground antelope patty, there was melted white cheddar cheese, bacon, and sauteed mushroom/onions. Yum. My first bite was awesome, but honestly didnt taste any different from ground beef. It was a little greasy, but not so much that it was bothersome. I was hoping for some sort of new flavor experience, but it didnt really deliver in that department. However, it was really good - one of the better burgers I've had in awhile. It also came with a side of smoked potato salad, which was also excellent.

I'm really glad I tried 5 Seasons. If you're in the market for upscale pub food and good beer, check it out.

Day 52

Belyashi: After a lengthy Asian food binge as of late, I figured it was time to change things up a bit today. I love Eastern European food, especially the smoked fish and pickled stuff, so I headed out to a couple different locations with the GF to find some. We hit a great little market off Clairmont called New Odessa (2793 Clairmont Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30329), where we picked up some savory pastries for dinner. They also had some really tasty imported candies, but tonight's post is all about the meat pies, also known as belyashi. It's basically a round pastry filled with ground beef, then pan fried and baked.

After getting the belyashi home, I decided to heat it in the oven instead of the microwave - I didn't want the dough to get soggy. Once it was hot, I cut into it and took a bite. Delicious. The pastry was nice and flaky, and the ground beef was almost like a well-seasoned hamburger patty. Surprisingly, it wasn't that greasy. The crust reminded me of a knish, another one of my favorite foods. My only regret is that I wish I'd bought a few more of these, but I'll definitely be making a trip back to New Odessa to sample more. In addition to  homemade foods, they also have a great packaged and cold section. Highly recommend.

Day 51

Topokki Snack: As you might have noticed, the past few days have been devoted to several different Asian snacks, all of which I picked up at the Super H Mart in Duluth last week. I normally haven't been stockpiling new foods that much, but my schedule was a bit unpredictable last week, so it was better to be safe than sorry. However, I did find quite a few interesting things on the last Super H run.

Tonight's entry is called "Topokki," which I assumed would be some sort of crunchy chip or cracker. The packaging described it as a "red pepper paste dipped snack," and I noticed that the ingredients (thankfully in English) included wheat, flour, and a "topokki paste" made from refined sugar and red pepper paste. Sweet and spicy at the same time? I'm in.

I opened the bag, and I swear it looked like someone had put some dried ziti with marinara in there. Strange. I took a bite, and it was a crunchy chip-like thing, covered with the slightly sticky red pepper paste. I first noticed the sweetness, but the pepper flavor had a nice little burn as I finished chewing. Pretty tasty. Once again, I'm pleasantly surprised by an Asian snack. They're often very different from what I expect, but that's bound to happen with this kind of cuisine. I'd try this again, for sure.

Day 50

Red Bean Jelly Candy: I'm not gonna lie - sometimes this project has been a pain in the ass. Like tonight, for example. I was hanging out over at the GF's house, and I realized that I hadn't yet made my daily blog entry. It was 10:00 PM. Oops. I didn't have any food with me, so I had to run home and eat something to get my post in under the wire. Blowing it off isn't part of the deal, and I guess I should have known there would be times when this wasn't easy.

Anyway, today's entry is another find from last week's trip to the Super H Mart in Duluth. Someone told me last week that I was choosing too much Asian food, but it's hard to ignore the Asian influence in the markets here. And, I've had some great finds in that area, so expect to see many more. This "candy" was in the snack aisle, and there wasn't much English writing on it other than the list of ingredients.

I opened the package, and the candy was encased in a foil wrapper. Once opened, it looked like a shiny, sticky tube of solid candy. It had a gelatinous texture on the outside, and it reminded me of the canned cranberries that are popular around the holidays (right as they're dumped out of the can, of course). I cut a piece off, and it definitely had the sweet red bean flavor that I've experienced a lot lately with Asian desserts. The texture was sticky, chewy and a bit grainy at the same time. While the main ingredients were red bean, brown sugar, and glutinous rice flour, I mainly tasted the sweetness. This one was OK, but nothing I'd care to repeat. My last visit to Super H was a bit rushed, so maybe next time I'll do a bit more intensive browsing.

Day 49

Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit: This was another find from Your Dekalb Farmer's Market in Atlanta. I'd seen these off and on in markets, and when I noticed them at the same time as the dragonfruit I posted about previously, I decided to try. I didn't know anything about the eating method or what it would taste like, but that's exactly why I'm here - to find out.

I read online that the best way to eat it was just like the dragonfruit - split lengthwise down the middle, and scoop the pulp out with a spoon. Easy enough, but when I started handling it, some of the remnants of the thorns that were previously removed got stuck in my fingers. Ouch. It took some intensive tweezing to get them out, and I think one of them is still in there. Anyway, once that crisis was averted, I got down to the eating.

Once it was split open, the fruit revealed a juicy white center, filled with seeds. I scooped out a piece and took a bite, and it didn't taste at all like expected. Kind of like a honeydew melon, and not much fruit flavor to speak of. The extremely hard seeds kept me from chewing too much of it, since I was afraid of cracking a tooth. I got a little of the pulp down, but spit the rest in the trash can. The taste was OK, but not anything I'd care to repeat. With the little thorns and the tough seeds, this was a high maintenance attempt.

Day 48

Matdongsan Peanuts Crunch Snack: I know it seems early in the day to be blogging about snacks, but I'm on the road this weekend, and I may not have interwebs access again today. I committed to doing this every day with no excuses, so here we go. Today's entry is another find from the Super H Mart in Duluth. I love their Asian snack aisle, and like yesterday's entry, I couldn't really identify this by looking at the package. "Peanuts Crunch Snack" didn't explain much, so I decided to try.

The picture on the bag made it look like some sort of cracker or pretzel, but I suspected my findings would be different. I tried one, and it tasted like a pretzel covered with a thin coating of peanut brittle, then sprinkled with sesame seeds. My suspicions were right, and they were actually pretty good. I let my drummer try one, and he said it tasted like a "candied pretzel." I always like hearing other opinions on what I'm eating, and his was fairly close to mine. If you like crunchy, peanutty treats, then definitely track these down at the Super H.

Day 47

"Korean Cracker": OK, so I know that description is sort of vague, but I'm not sure what else to call it. I found this oddity in the snack section of the Duluth Super H last week, and by now, you guys should know how I feel about things I can't identify. The only English description on the box simply said "Korean Cracker," so that's what we'll go with. The word "choco" was also strangely on the cover of the box. It looked like it was going to be some of cookie with a chocolate filling, which was interesting enough for me. Let's try it.

I opened the box, and there was a small plastic bag inside containing the snack. It consisted of these tiny little round cookie things that were about as big around as a nickel. They also each had some sort of cartoon character printed on them. I popped one in my mouth, and it was a lot like what I expected - a small, thin cookie shell filled with a little bit of semi-soft chocolate. Pretty good, and the cookie provided a nice crunch when combined with the "choco" filling. I ate the whole bag quickly, sort of like you would with M&M's or any other candy.

I've been really happy with all the Asian snacks I've found so far, so if you're looking for new snack-y treats, head up to Super H or any other Asian market - there are plenty in the ATL area.