A tribute to the man with the business plan. Since 1988, Allen has been the hidden “X factor” for many of the restaurants you know and love. He has dedicated his life to helping entrepreneurs understand the fundamentals of business from A to Z and not one has failed. Please join us as we, his food service clients, honor a great human being.

RH and I recently joined many of Atlanta’s top chefs and restauranteurs for an evening of wonderful food, cocktails, company—and gratitude. Allen Jones has served as a business consultant and expert resource to many of Atlanta’s top businesses, from day spas to markets and, most notably, restaurants. His current and former client list reads like a who’s who of the city’s dining scene, including the likes of Restaurant Eugene, Miller Union, 4th & Swift, Bocado, Local Three…

…and little old me.

I know first-hand the benefits of Allen’s expertise, expansive network and matter-of-fact demeanor. I must admit that when one of the evening’s speakers referred to Allen’s specialty as making dreams come true, I got a little misty-eyed. I’m tremendously grateful that I has the opportunity to work with him as I pursued my dream of opening a bakery.

The event featured some of Atlanta’s finest bartenders, like the guys from Leon’s and mixologist extraordinaire Greg Best from Holeman & Finch.

Isn’t Miles Macquarrie a-freaking-dorable??

I know it probably sounds weird, but this savory cheesecake was delicious:

We loved seeing our friends from Staplehouse and couldn’t help sneaking an extra tasting of their amazing dish:

Chef Linton Hopkins had some really nice words to say about how much Allen has helped him and Gina with their restaurants:

Remember the meal of the century that RH and I enjoyed with some friends last year? Chef Steven Satterfield is also one of Allen’s clients. (And he referred to the French macarons I gave him last year as “very memorable.” I guess that means my baked goods are legit!)

Allen gave a very heartfelt speech:

And we learned that this whole thing came about because of Chef Jay Swift’s resolution to show more gratitude. Bravo, Jay!

Allen, thank you for everything you do for Atlanta diners…and dreamers! I can’t wait to visit the new restaurants your clients are getting ready to open—and to raise a glass in celebration of their dreams come true.

Would I return to Cabo?

Definitely!

Head over to their blog for the full rundown on these beautiful and delicious dishes.

If you haven’t had the delight of attending one of their underground dinners, I highly recommend signing up for their email list. The dinners usually sell out within a few minutes of each email blast, so you’ve got to be quick! If you’re hoping to attend with a dinner companion, discuss your availability on Sunday evenings ahead of time so that you don’t have to consult with each other once a new dinner is announced. Those few minutes can make all the difference. Good luck!

We can’t wait for their real-deal restaurant to open! I have a feeling they’ll be seeing our faces a good bit once it does.

I’ve been trying to take my camera around more often, so I snapped a few photos of pretty flowers. It’s not as spectacular a display as it is in the spring, but there is still a lot of color to enjoy these days.

The backside of the Garden is also a great place to snap the Atlanta skyline.

The only disappointment in our most recent visit was that the Garden was PACKED with people—way more than usual. When we arrived, traffic was backed up and parking in the deck was running low. The lines to enter were ridiculous! Then we learned that most of the people there had Groupons and had waited until the last minute to redeem their entry deal. Fortunately, it didn’t feel overcrowded for the most part. The drink lines were really long, but we didn’t stand in them so it didn’t really bother us.

The extra time we spent getting in meant that we didn’t have much daylight in the Garden. We walked through the Canopy Walk in near darkness and realized that it’s a lot more enjoyable when you can actually see that you’re 40 feet in the air, in the midst of beautiful trees.

So we didn’t stay very long, and after we left, we headed to Holeman & Finch, where we had a great meal, topped off with a legendary Holeman & Finch burger. I am not a huge burger fan, but let me tell you that their burger is legendary for a reason! It’s perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked, and there are only 24 available—only at 10 p.m.—unless you go for Sunday brunch. Their website has an entire page dedicated to the burger…it’s that big of a deal.

Despite the recent less-than-stellar experience, I’m looking forward to heading back to the Atlanta Botanical Garden again soon. We’ll definitely go back for the annual Scarecrows in the Garden event they host, when the Garden is filled with more than 100 scarecrows decorated by local businesses, schools and civic organizations. If you haven’t been before, I recommend checking it out!

Alas, I am a busy girl. And busy girls need to take vacations. Apparently I only find time to blog after I take vacation, so maybe I should vacation more.

Hmmmm….

RH and I recently took a return trip down to Seagrove Beach, Florida, for some rest and relaxation over Labor Day weekend. It was wonderful, even if the sun didn’t shine the entire time.

This photo is from one of our many wonderful meals on the trip. We ate like kings! And we have the extra pounds to prove it.

Now that we’re back, we’re on a mission to take better care of ourselves by eating right, working out, and getting more sleep. For dinner tonight, I made a delicious chicken sausage stew with beans, wilted arugula, and rosemary from my urban container garden (read: from the pot sitting in front of my door). It was hearty, healthy and delicious! And then we topped it off with some ice cream from Morelli’s.

And my Weight Watchers Points Tracker tells me I still have nine points left for the day.

We have leftovers to last a few meals, so I’ll be lunching on stew tomorrow. That takes care of eating right. In order to work out, I need to get more sleep so that I can wake up early and hit the treadmill. I’m almost 24 minutes past my self-imposed 10:30 p.m. cutoff time for technology as I wrote this. I find that I stay up way too late putzing around on the computer, whether it’s working, surfing, shopping, or what have you. My theory is that if I power down and give myself time to mentally wind down—say, with a good book on my Kindle (which is not part of the late-night technology ban)—I will have an easier time falling asleep at a decent hour. Which, in turn, will enable me to get up in time to get a few miles in before I head to the office.

We’ll see how well I can stick to this plan. Perhaps I’ll even blog about my progress.

How novel!

Before I sign off, I’ll leave you with a few of my latest obsessions:

RH and I recently spent a week in Oregon.

It was wonderful.

We ate a lot of really great food, saw a lot of cows, drank incredible beer and wine, and rediscovered the joys of a good rain jacket. I’ll try to post more pics and highlights from our trip soon!

When his dad suggested that he pick some flowers to give to his mom, this cutie pie became very serious about picking just the right bloom and presenting it in a very impressive ta-da! moment.

Then he had a blast dressing up his mom’s hair with the flowers. He alternated between being really sweet and deliberate and downright hysterical.

There was fun with a Spiderman costume—complete with a cape!

And finally, all of the running around took its toll, and I was able to capture the stillness of moments like this.

I had so much fun photographing this family, and I hope I get to capture the new addition to their family someday soon!

But it was, quite possibly, the meal of the century.

A few months ago, RH and I went to a silent auction at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center. We thought we’d enjoy a few hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, and maybe we’d leave with theatre tickets or some sort of small kitchen appliance.

Instead RH ended up in a feather boa.

And we won two awesome items in the auction. One of them—which we haven’t enjoyed yet—is a private tour and catered reception at Fay Gold Gallery. I can’t wait for that! We also joined forces with one of RH’s co-workers to win a private dinner for six from Chef Steven Satterfield of Miller Union, complete with wine pairings from the personal cellar of an Art Center board member.

It was a pricey item, but it was worth every penny! We held the dinner at a lovely home in Druid Hills. Steven and his crew were top-notch professionals—and just plain nice. It was great learning about each dish in an up-close-and-personal way. Not only could we ask questions about the ingredients, but we could also watch the dishes being prepped and prepared. And we really enjoyed chatting with our server, who was seriously in-the-know about the Atlanta restaurant scene.

Some of the highlights of the evening were the buckwheat blinis with chevre, country ham and shiitake mushrooms and the fried Appalachicola oysters with hot pepper mignonette we enjoyed with champagne before we sat down at the dinner table. The oysters were seriously INSANELY good, bursting with juicy flavor that had us all trying to snag the last one. I have already had the buckwheat blinis at Miller Union since the dinner, but I can’t wait to go back for the oysters!

From the five-course meal, I was especially smitten with the Carolina flounder (again, so much that I ordered it on my next visit to the restaurant). For dessert we had a bittersweet chocolate tart with fig and orange, served with whipped cream and a splash of bourbon from our hosts’ bar. I am not exaggerating when I say that every bite (and drop! wine pairings with every course!) of the meal was outstanding. And it was very cool to hear Steven say it was great fun for them to be able to focus on one meal, one table over the course of the evening. It made us feel quite special.

We were sent home with menus, each handwritten by Steven. I passed out parting gifts—little boxes of French macarons I had baked. And I let out a heavy sigh of sadness that the evening was over.

Overall, the food was amazing, the setting was lovely, and the company and conversation was fantastic. It was an incredible experience! I’ve put together a short piece with some video and photos I took—if you’ve made it this far, do take a couple of minutes to watch it!

St. Patrick’s Day photo booth! Fun!

RH and I recently took a few days to spend time in the North Georgia mountains. It was very, very relaxing. We rented a great place that I’ll call a “cabin-house” because—while it had the stylings of what I would call a cabin—it was really big and nice, like a super-comfy, traditional house.

It was full of the usual mountain home décor: bears, bears and more bears.

We visited a winery we’d never been to before, and that was fun. We did a wine tasting and admired the scenery and vineyard animals (two dogs and several chickens, from what we could see).

We made some quick and easy vegetarian chili, and what cabin-house trip would be complete without s’mores? We made s’mores a few times, both inside with gas logs and outside at the wood-burning fire pit. While I preferred the crackle and hiss of the fire pit, you can’t argue the convenience of flipping a switch and roasting a few marshmallows in the comfort of home.

It was a really nice weekend, full of little surprises like the black lab that joined us for a belly rub one evening and the unexpected bout of motion sickness I got while traveling the winding roads of the area. The scenery right outside our cabin-house was gorgeous, and I hope we can go back in the fall when the leaves are changing colors!