Leedle is looking for answers…

Does anyone know what happened to all of the newspaper boxes at the corner of Ponce and Ponce de Leon Place? Skirt Magazine, Creative Loafing, Sunday Paper, etc have all gone missing and no one seems to know why/how. A woman from Decatur dispatch told me that she had contacted the City of Decatur and that they didn’t know either…

If anyone knows the answer, please post.  Otherwise, I think we might need to call in the Hardy Boys and/or Nancy Drew.

Sometimes I feel kinda psychic.

These days whenever I come across an article by a food writer that invokes the word “rant” in the title OR apologizes for ranting in the first two sentences, I can  accurately predict that 9 times out of 10 the name “Michael Pollan” will show up within three paragraphs.

Thus was the case this morning, when my eyes fell upon food critic Cliff Bostock’s Year-End Rant in the pages of Creative Loafing’s Year in Review.

Since its publication in 2004, Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and follow up, In Defense of Food, have really hit a nerve among those in the U.S. that have a passion for food.  Omnivore helped propel the slow/local food initiative, which today is exemplified by CSAs and in restaurants like Decatur’s Cakes and Ale, highlighting local, in season foods.

Why bring all this up (again)?

Well, a few weeks back, DMoholic Scott pointed out to me that Pollan is coming to Decatur on March 21st to speak at Agnes Scott as part of Georgia Organics 12th Annual Conference and Tradeshow.   The conference runs the 20th and the 21st and registration will begin in January, with preference given to GA Organics members.  So if you want to see Pollan, you might want to become a member if not already one.  Registration will open to the public in late-January if any openings remain.

Decatur Heights Dad forwards the announcement of a public hearing about moving MARTA bus route 125 off of residential Sycamore Drive and moving it to Ponce, Arcadia and Winn Way.   Here are the details fit to print…

January 5, 2009
Community Exchange: 6:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M. – Hearing begins at 7:00pm

Maloof Auditorium
1300 Commerce Drive
Decatur, GA 30030
Walk one block west of the Decatur Rail Station
Bus Routes: 15, 18, 19 and 123

After an especially hectic holiday run around this year, the wife and I are thinking a quiet New Year’s Eve at home is just what the doctor ordered.

But that conversation also made me realize that other than Tastings’ New Year’s Eve party,  I’m not really clued in on the full extent of New Year’s Eve activities going on in Decatur this year.

So gentle readers, once again I seek your sage advice and drunken memories:

Where in Decatur is the best place to bring in the New Year?

I walked down Ponce with the pup yesterday and noticed that the house that sits next to Watershed, which recently underwent an extensive interior renovation – along with the addition of a wheelchair ramp – finally has a new tenant.

If I remember correctly, the sign reads “Decatur Ponce Preventive Care”.  Haven’t  found any info about it online yet.

Lots of docs moving into the city lately.

Susan recently noticed this new “policy” at the bottom of the DeKalb Farmer’s Market’s recepits.

So let’s just say – hypothetically of course – that I get home and discover that the shrimp I just purchased from your lovely reusable bag-hating establishment is absolutely rancid – hypothetically.   Can I bring it back and get some new, non-rancid shrimp?

It sure don’t look like it now that ALL SALES are FINAL.

So I must smell and taste all of my food before checking out from now on?

If this is indeed how I should be reading “ALL SALES FINAL”, screw ‘em.

ALL my SALES are going elsewhere.

Andisheh points out that Besha Rodell over at his old employer has ranked Cakes and Ale as her #5 pick of top Atlanta-area restaurants of 2008.

The much baleyhooed Holeman and Fitch gastropub in Buckhead was #1.

Kelly writes in with all the essential details for Tastings‘ New Year’s Eve shindig…

NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION AT TASTINGS, 6PM-til ? (RELAX – NO RESERVATIONS REQUIRED)

Drink & Food Specials,$5 Glasses of Champagne, Champagne Toast at Midnight

For Every $50 Tasting Card Purchased, Receive a Ticket for Drawings:

Leanne Laine Art, 3 Pack of Wine, 1 Night Stay & Breakfast for 2 at Holiday Inn Decatur, and $100 Tasting Card

Hmm…those seem like some pretty substantial prizes with pretty good odds.  AND its within stumbling distance. Hmm.

Scott sends in this photo of scaffolding on the backside of the Renaissance condos and wonders if the building is already replacing its EIFS within just a few years of construction.

Can anyone fill us in?  Maybe we should try out the new construction inquiry form on the city’s website!

Dennis over at Next Stop reminds us about Decatur’s convenient Christmas tree recycling program going on now thru January 3rd.

Here’s the text off the city’s website…

Recycle your live Christmas tree in the annual “Bring One for the Chipper” event on Saturday, Jan.3. Drop off your tree at the Christmas Tree Recycling Center in the Agnes Scott parking lot. The entrance is between 184 and 206 S. Candler St.

The recycling center will be open Wednesday, Dec. 26, through Saturday, Jan 3.

Please do not leave trees anywhere else on the Agnes Scott campus.

Of course, that assumes your already motivated enough after a long, tiring holiday to strip your tree, which you swear you just put up, and haul it over to Agnes Scott.