The National and Ciné's Dinner & A Movie happens three nights a week, Sunday through Tuesday. It’s a great way to try out celebrity chef Hugh Acheson’s The National restaurant for a reasonable price. Plus it makes a great date night since the Ciné movie theater is just next door. You can check out the latest Dinner & a Movie menu here and the Ciné movie schedule here. Make sure to make reservations by calling 706-549-3450. The National is at 232 W Hancock Ave. in Athens, Georgia.

Wordless Wednesday: Dinner & a Movie at The National in Athens, Georgia #ww is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

We adore the Local Republic and anytime we’re near Lawrenceville, we try to stop there for a meal. The restaurant fills up quickly, so try to get their early – like before 6 pm – even during the week. They have an amazing craft beer selection, and their specials are terrific no matter if it’s fish, wild boar, or beef. However, my favorite is a small plate of chicken liver – so delicious, so good.

Local Republic - 225 West Crogan Street, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30046, 678-205-4782. Open Mon-Thu 11am–10pm, Fri-Sat 11am–11pm, and closed Sundays.

Wordless Wednesday: Dinner at the Local Republic in Lawrenceville, Georgia is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

At the Food Blog South 2013 conference, the food was provided by Saw’s Soul Kitchen, Jim ‘n Nick’s Bar-B-Q, Southeast United Dairy Industry Association, Juban’s (alligator and frog leg gumbo!) along with awesome beer at the Good People Brewing Company.

While I was there, I also had a a mixture of Greek and Southern food at lunch at Johnny’s Restaurant in Homewood, AL and breakfast at Over Easy in Birmingham, AL (purple grits with Gouda, eggs over easy and gluten free toast – wow!)

Wordless Wednesday: Food Blog South 2013 Food #Alabama #FBS2013 #wordlesswednesday is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Last December, my husband and I had an amazing dinner at Tristan in Charleston, South Carolina. (We left the kids back at the condo we were renting.) Paul had the wine accompaniment. I had a glass of Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka on the rocks. The menu is below. We ordered variation on the five course menu and shared when we had different dishes. Our favorites were the scallops and the risotto, followed by the starter course and the desserts. The presentation, taste and service were all superb.

You can connect with Tristan on Twitter @tristandining or on Facebook. Call for reservations at 843-534-2155 or book online through Open Table. Tristan is also able to work around food allergies and food sensitivities – just mention it when you make your reservation so your server and the chef can be prepared for your visit.

Wordless Wednesday: Dinner at Tristan in Charleston, SC #WordlessWednesday is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Last month, I attended the  Buick Encore Lifestyle Event in Atlanta as the “plus one” of my friend, Eileen Calandro, the Chief Mom Connector of Mom Central. She was invited to test drive the new Buick Encore before it hits dealerships in February, 2013.

I was looking forward to spending time with Eileen while driving a luxurious crossover around the Atlanta metro area including a stop at a local Toys “R” Us to shop for the Toys for Tots program. However, I was just about out of my mind that we would meet celebrity chef and Top Chef Season 10 judge, Hugh Acheson at his restaurant, Empire State South, and tour the Love is Love urban farm. Have fork will travel!

Love is Love Farm at Gaia Gardens

Driving through suburban Decatur, Georgia, you’d never know the Love is Love Farm at Gaia Gardens is there. Yet over 15 years ago, the housing development East Lake Commons was built to include a working, organic farm. The farm grows a surprisingly wide diversity of crops, enough to accommodate a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

Our Buick Encore Lifestyle group met with farmer, Joe Reynolds, who showed us around while explaining how the farm manages planting, irrigation, composting, and crop rotation. Joe also told us that the Love is Love farm has a close relationship with many Atlanta restaurants that provide the vegetable scraps for their impressive composting piles. In turn, the farm sells them organic, hyper-local produce, big bags of which we loaded into our Buick Encores to be cooked up for our dinner at Empire State South.

The farm tour was fascinating and I loved Joe’s passion for local, sustainable organic farming. It made me wish I lived closer so I could take advantage of their CSA.

Dinner at Empire State South

After a quick stop back at Twelve Atlantic Station at our gorgeous suite (complete with a full kitchen), Eileen and I were driven in one of the Buick Encores to Empire State South for dinner. Our group hit the bar for cocktails, appetizers and charcuterie. I had two unique cocktails, Orchard Punch, a bourbon drink, and Death on the Moon, made with absinthe. The charcuterie was marvelous, and I’d order it again as a meal, along with a glass of red wine.

Then it was off to a private dining room for a cooking demonstration from Hugh Acheson! He was as funny, personable and down to earth as he appears on Top Chef. He told us a story about appearing on a food panel with Paula Dean. While he likes Paula a lot, he doesn’t agree with her that Southern cooking means fried foods and tons of butter and sugar. Instead, his philosophy is cooking with traditional foods grown in the South, in a modern, sophisticated way.

While he demonstrated his Turnips and Their Greens Risotto (recipe included below), Hugh told us about the Southern goodness of Carolina Gold rice and making your own chicken stock in the slow cooker. (Loved that tip!) We sampled the risotto along with our dinner.

First course was Local Lettuces with roasted Brussels leaves, beets, pickled carrots, ESS fromage blanc, and served with a crisp sourdough. Second course was a choice of Roasted Georgia Trout, Chicken Roulade, or Prime Ribeye. (I had the rib eye, which was served rare with celery root and bread gratin, roasted kale with shiitakes, and a shoyu vinaigrette.) For dessert, we had Meyer Lemon Parfait clementine, bergamot brioche, candied cranberry, and sweet potato sorbet.

Eileen and I agreed it was a fabulous meal. I can’t wait to go back to Empire State South with my husband!

Turnips and Their Greens Risotto

Serves four as a lighter supper

Ingredients:

• 3 small hakurei turnips
• 2 tablespoon olive oil 
• 1/2 cup minced yellow onion
• 1 cup Caroline Gold Middland's broken kernel rice
• 4 cups homemade chicken stock
• 2 cups finely chopped turnip greens
• 1/2 cup finely grated (rasp) Parmagiano
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon finely cut bias cut onion top for garnish

Directions:

Very thinly slice the turnips. Drizzle with olive oil and sea salt and set aside. These will finish the risotto.

Warm your chicken stock in a pot and place a ladle in it. Keep this on the back of the stove. Place a good pot on the stove over medium to medium high heat and add the remaining olive oil. Add the minced onion bulb and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon until the onion is translucent but not charred at all, about five minutes.

Add the rice and lightly glaze the rice. From the moment the rice goes in, the is about 17 minutes to completion, so keep an eye on the clock. You should be stirring a lot but no need to stir all the time.

Start adding the stock, about a cup at a time and stir and cook until the stock is absorbed. Then add more. Repeat. After a while you will see this luxurious, starchy liquid surround those little rice kernels. This is good. After about 15 minutes taste your rice. it should have a slight crunchiness to it but you have to soothsay what it will taste like after two to three more minutes as it sits in the bowl before consumption.

Let's finish this up. Add the butter and the parmesan - and stir well to fold those beautiful finishes into the risotto. Then add the turnip greens to wilt them into the risotto. It's done. When it gets in that bowl it will set up well. Spoon into shallow bowls and garnish with the raw turnips and some more Parmagiano.

EAT.

More about the Buick Encore Lifestyle Event

Eileen posted about the Buick Encore and our Toys “R” Us shopping spree for Toys for Tots at Luxurious, Affordable Design with the New Buick Encore at Mom Central’s blog. If you love cars and auto design, you'll love her post.

Don't forget to check out the Buick Encore, too! My favorite color is Ruby Red with the Saddle interior. What’s yours?

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Disclosure: I was invited to an all expenses paid editor’s trip by Buick. I also received a signed copy of Hugh Acheson’s cookbook, A New Turn in the South, and some promotional items. All photos except for the Empire State South collage were provided by Buick. All experiences and opinions are my own.

Getting foodie at the Buick Encore Lifestyle Event is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Hyman’s Seafood is THE restaurant to go to when you visit Charleston, SC according to everyone we talked to from neighbors to coworkers. It’s very family friendly. The service is terrific. The amount of food you get is enormous and delicious. And Hyman’s even has a gluten free menu (just ask)!

From upper left going clockwise: Hushpuppies, Grouper with the Gluten Free Prep, their signature appetizer – the Wadamalaw Delight (fried green tomatoes served on grits with a Carolina cream sauce), and a glass of Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka on the rocks with a slice of lemon.

Wordless Wednesday: Dinner at Hyman’s Seafood in Charleston, SC #wordlesswednesday is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Quail on Sweet Potato Mash, Noodle Stir Fry, Meatball Sub, and Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder from lunch at the Motor Supply Co. Bistro in downtown Columbia, South Carolina.

Wordless Wednesday: Lunch at Motor Supply Co. Bistro in Columbia, SC #wordlesswednesday is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Lucie and I took my mom for English tea at the Madison Tea Room & Garden while she was visiting during Thanksgiving. I highly recommend it as a terrific girls’ day out for lunch. Lucie and her mémé loved it. And any excuse to wear funny hats, drink tea, and eat little sandwiches and desserts is A-OK with me, too!

English tea at the Madison Tea Room & Garden in Madison, Georgia #wordlesswednesday is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Moving to Athens, Georgia from Colorado has been made a bit easier by finding new restaurants. I’m blown away by the variety of places to eat out here from barbecue and Southern (of course) to Mexican and Vietnamese. There is even Jamaican restaurant here that serves amazing jerk chicken!

As I’ve explored local restaurants, I’ve been looking up reviews on the YP.com  app on my iPhone, which you can download in iTunes or on Google Play. (For other devices, check out the list of app downloads here.) The app has helped me discover new places in whatever neighborhood I’m driving through at that moment. I use their search function to find a list of nearby restaurants or search on types of restaurants, like “barbecue,” that I’m always on the look out for.

You can also use the YP app on your phone to find the cheapest gas available nearby. I don’t use it this way, because I live down the street from the regularly cheapest gas station in the Athens area! However, it would come in handy if I was traveling around the state, however.

One of the other neat features of the app is the deals section, which points you deals from local merchants. I find using the YP.com website offers even more deals, so this may be something you want to check out on a regular basis at home or work.

Overall, I’ve found the app very easy to use – from finding new places to adding pictures and entering reviews. Plus, you can go to YP.com to find additional features and even make edits of your reviews if you find a typo or want to add additional information. It’s a very user friendly app for those who like to share their opinions of cool (or not so cool) places around town. Try it out!

Welcome to the South – now eat some Cuban food

One of the biggest surprises was finding a Cuban Style restaurant – Cali-N-Tito’s – here in Athens. (Above is a picture of their Cuban Fried Rice Dish.) You can read my review of the restaurant here. However, I still need to update the YP website with the restaurant’s hours. (I like that they let customers do that.) It’s my little way of giving back to the folks in Athens and promoting some places I really like.

I’ve also done some non-restaurant reviews of places like Trader Joe’s and Model Citizen, my fabulous new salon . You can check out all my reviews here, too!

Do you like to share your opinions about local restaurants and merchants on apps like YP?

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Disclosure: Thank you to YP for being a sponsor. Check out the latest YP app or YP.com to find food nearby fast! YP is your local companion for making decisions on everything from where to eat to where to find cheap gas. This post is in conjunction with my relationship with the Clever Girls Collective, and all opinions expressed here are my own. #YPcrave

Where do you want to eat tonight? A review of the YP.com app #YPcrave #spon is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Shrimp and Local Grits from the Melting Point in Athens, GA – Georgia Coast Shrimp Sautéed with Shallots, Garlic, Bacon Confit, Tomatoes, Mushrooms. Served Over Red Mule Farm Yellow Grits.

Wordless Wednesday: Shrimp & Grits at the Melting Point in Athens, GA #wordlesswednesday is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!