Category: Featured

Featured

  • Honeysuckle Gelato Savors Sweet Summertime

    Honeysuckle in the sunshine is ever so sweet. Now an Atlanta company has decided to take that decadent smell to the next level.

    There are two tastes Southern kids can always remember. One is the first time you picked honeysuckle then sipped the nectar from the flower. The second sensation is your favorite of ice cream in the summer time. Honeysuckle Gelato has combined both those loves into one outstanding product.

    Owner and founder Jackson Smith wrote “as a true southern boy, I could not resist the temptation to play around with the flavors and dessert concepts unique to the South. We now offer the South exactly what we envisioned…an ice cream worthy of its decadent culinary roots.”

    Flavors fit for ladies and gentleman (or even a Yankee palette) are available from Honeysuckle Gelato. Their Mint Julep is made with fresh herbs and the House selection of bourbon. It’s damn good as the real thing without the hangover from drinking straight liquor!

    An homage to The King, Elvis Presley, is uniquely awesome Kang. “We just wouldn’t be Southern (or inspired) without an ode to Mr. Presley’s indulgent creation,” wrote the gentlemen from Honeysuckle Gelato. “Ours features toasted banana ice cream with ribbons of peanut butter caramel. We’d add bacon, but the Feds would shut us down.”

    For a more classic taste, sample the savory refreshing Watermelon made with the real stuff as Honeysuckle Gelato doesn’t use any imitation flavors! The luscious Lavender would be ideal for a wedding or baby shower to serve alongside a piece of cake.

    Of course, Honeysuckle Gelato had to create a signature Honey flavor. The maestros whip up gelato using all kinds of local, seasonal honeys including Sourwood, Tupelo, Purple Starthistle, etc

    A full list of flavors and more information is available at www.honeysucklegelato.com. Don’t see a flavor you like? Then email the gentlemen behind the scenes to concoct your own custom creation. The boys will even be hitting the streets of Atlanta soon in their new food truck to serve up treats around the city.

    Brace yourself for some sweetness!

     

  • Jesus the Gentleman

    Jesus the Gentleman

    Jesus Christ has several names including Son of God, Emmanuel, Lord & Savior yet as Southerners we sometimes fail to notice the most ubiquitous aspect of His character.

    He was a gentleman. Look up the definition of chivalry and see how well He fits a gentleman’s suit. Jesus represented the ideals of truth, beauty, freedom and unending love which is what ever true gentleman should also epitomize.

    When it comes to defining a gentleman, one of the greatest Southerners to ever live , General Robert E. Lee wrote it best:

    “The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman.

    “The power which the strong have over the weak, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly–the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the gentleman in a plain light.”

    “The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be but the past.”

    “A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others.”

    There you have it. We can all agree that based on these qualifications Jesus was a gentleman.

  • Theatre for Southern Stars

    Paul Newman has his own seat at the Earl Smith Strand Theatre. The art space was originally opened in 1935 as a movie theatre and survived through the 60s.

    It fell into disarray until the Marietta, Ga., community rallied to reopen The Strand in 2008. Newman has a gold placard with his famous name as his beautiful wife Joanne Woodward, grew up in going to The Strand! Of course her seat also has a placard next to her late husband’s.

    Sadly there aren’t any pictures of The Strand’s original art deco glory but the renovation team made every effort to restore the theatre. The space is truly fabulous. It’s deep burgundy curtains and gold accents resonate classic elegance. Many local businesses donated either time, funds or products to restoring The Strand.

    The Strand also offers a full bar along with the usual concessions. Walk through the gorgeous theatre, up through the mezzanine to the roof top patio overlooking Marietta Square. The roof is open on Fridays and Saturdays (when the space isn’t rented for an event) so if you’re on The Square for one of the summer concerts try popping up there for a drink.

    Southern residents are excited to see their community invest so much time, effort and money into the arts. Here’s hoping The Strand will continue to be a landmark for Marietta and a treasure trove for great musical theatre.

    This summer The Strand is offering week-long day camp for rising 4th-7th and 8th-12th grades culminating in final show. Sessions are from July 11-15 & July 25-29.

    For more information visit

    – Strand Theatre | Marietta –

  • Pretty Southern Recipe: Mint Julep

    Pretty Southern Recipe: Mint Julep

    On a sunny day in the South, no cocktail tastes quite as sweet as a mint julep.

    For the perfect Southern mint julep, follow these instructions.

    mint julep

    Pretty Southern Mint Julep:

    2 oz. Kentucky Bourbon
    1 oz. Simple Syrup — made by boiling 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water, and allowing it to cool before mixing a cocktail
    3 Mint sprigs from a backyard garden
    1 oz. Soda Water
    Crushed Ice

    Muddle your mint in crushed ice, though if going for aesthetics be sure to set aside a sprig for garnish. In a cocktail shaker, pour 2 oz. Bourbon, 1 oz. Simple Syrup, and 1 oz. Soda. Shake with chivalry then pour over minted ice.

    Thank the stars you’re alive on this fine day and drinking something delicious. Enjoy the races.

  • Defining a Modern Gentleman

    Defining a Modern Gentleman

    The definition of a gentleman in our modern times is debatable. Every person has their own perception of what a gentleman means. Common terms are polite, chivalrous, loving, compassionate, and if the gentleman is a Disney prince, he has to be handsome.

    Charleston gentleman bow tie

    In “Gone With the Wind” Margaret Mitchell discusses the concept of a gentleman. She uses her bevvy of colorful characters to convey the various qualities of chivalry. Is Scarlett O’Hara’s first husband, Charles Hamilton, more of a gentleman because he died in the Civil War than Rhett Butler – the nefarious, swarthy rogue who captured Scarlett’s heart?

    Ultimately, Mitchell convey’s her definition of a gentleman through Scarlett’s Father, Gerald O’Hara:

    “A lack of the niceties of classical education carried no shame, provided a man was smart in the things that mattered. And raising good cotton, riding well, shooting straight, dancing lightly, squiring the ladies with elegance and carrying one’s liquor like a gentleman were the things that mattered.”

    Remember, guys and gals, about the virtues gentlemen of the Old South used to uphold. All it takes is having a green thumb, riding horses, accurately firing a gun which might’ve been acquired from stores like Guns Montreal, be a good dancer, an even better date, and always keeping cool at a party. Hope everyone has a day filled with gentility.

  • Margaret Mitchell: Media Maven

    Margaret Mitchell: Media Maven

    margaret-mitchell

    The best storyline of Gone With the Wind is neither about Scarlett O’Hara nor Rhett Butler — it’s the author Margaret Mitchell’s very own life story.

    Born in Atlanta on Nov. 8, 1900, Margaret Mitchell spent her childhood listening to the war stories of Confederate veterans. They told her everything about the Civil War except that the South had lost. She found that out when she was 10 years old.

    Before leaving for Smith College in 1918, Mitchell fell in love With Lieutenant Clifford Henry, a Harvard undergraduate training for active duty in World War I at Camp Gordon in Atlanta. In 1919, shortly after she learned Henry had been killed in action in France, her mother became ill and Margaret rushed home. She did not make it back in time to see her mother, and she stayed on to take care of her father and brother.

    Mitchell had many suitors, but Red Upshaw and John Marsh came to the fore as serious potential husbands. She got a job as the first woman to cover hard news for The Atlanta Journal, and married Upshaw. The marriage was short – Upshaw was a bootlegger and alcoholic. John Marsh, her other serious suitor, returned. They married and remained so until her death.

    Mitchell was forced to quit her job at The Atlanta Journal because of problems With her ankles and feet. Bedridden, she read voraciously and began work on what her friends called ‘the great American novel.’

    She showed the finished manuscript, all 1,037 pages of it, to a visiting New York publisher, and on June 10, 1936, Gone With the Wind was published.

    By October of that year, Gone With the Wind had sold one million copies, and David O. Selznick bought the rights for $50,000. At the time, it was the highest price ever paid by Hollywood for the rights to a first novel.

    Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. In 1939, Atlanta hosted the premier of one of the most popular movies of all time, Gone With the Wind, starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh.

    On August 11, 1949, while crossing Peachtree and 13th streets close to her home, Margaret Mitchell was struck by an off-duty cab driver, and died five days later. She was buried in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery with the rest of her family.

    Margaret Mitchell Grave Historic Oakland Cemetery

    Many years earlier, in an interview with her publisher, she was asked what  Gone With the Wind was about. She said ‘If the novel has a theme it is that of survival. What makes some people come through catastrophes and others, apparently, just as able, strong and brave go under?

    “It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive – others don’t. What qualities are in those who fight their way thought triumphantly that are lacking in those that go under. I only know that survivors used to call that quality ‘gumption.’

    “So I wrote about people who had gumption and people who didn’t.” (1936)

    Gumption a.k.a. spirited initiative and resourcefulness. Much like her heroine, Scarlett O’Hara, Margaret Mitchell had gumption in spades.