CArtHop and Other Delights

I was blessed to be able to attend the innagural day of CArtHop at the Fulton Mall yesterday. In case you haven't heard about it yet, here's the story; basically food carts/trucks meets art meets music equals good times!

We arrived too early to get the full effects, (art, Kopi, crowds) but we did eat some really yummy food! Around 11 am my husband, my eldest, and myself found a parking spot at CVS (free parking if you don't stay too long!) and wandered down the Fulton Mall (a place I hadn't really explored in over 40 years. There was Summertime Pies, Casa De Tamales, Mattie's Wood Fired Pizza, and of course, Dusty Buns, making their truck's triumphant return.
We made a beeline for Summertime Pies, (not knowing about the blackberry or coconut cream, which we will try today at Manchester), where my hubby had the baked cherry, and the eldest had the pulled pork empanada, finding it even more delicious than we remembered.

We also sampled the KMK special at Mattie's, zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, bacon, onions, garlic, fresh sage, and fontina, and because I read the menu board wrong, I had to order another minus the onions.. and it was amazing! I'd forgotten how good really fresh produce could taste, and the crust was chewy, crispy, delish!.

Next on the agenda was a revisiting of Le Grilled Cheese from Dusty Buns, full of bacony,cheesy,tomatoey goodness..oh how we've missed you!
Then I went for the vegan option (gotta live dangerously sometimes) from the uber friendly folks at Casa De Tamales, the portobello/asparagus. And don't miss that homemade guac! That topped off the morning just right!

Later that evening, taking a departure from our recent French eating flight, I decided to try yet another foray into making fried chicken. Despite the fact that I am descended from a long and distinguished line of fried chicken makers, I have never been able to get it right.. leaving it to the experts at Chicken Man, or Come n Get It, to satisfy my family's fried chicken cravings. Well last nite I finally got it.. I only had to cook 3 drumsticks, so I put them in a bag with a buttload of garlic salt, onion powder, paprika, and sugar..a sort of non liquid brine, and left them for a few hours. I think dunked them in an egg/milk mixture, and coated them in flour with only black pepper mixed in. I think because I waited for my oil to properly heat up, they fried successfully..tasty and juicy inside, crispy and brown on the outside...yay me! I even made gravy out of the drippings...
no pics of that of course...you know how I am.. but really..it just looked like chicken...correctly fried chicken. :)