Offbeat Auburn Podcast — India Garden
Inder Pannu takes advantage of a short post-lunch lull to sit down with us for a chat. Just click on the button below to listen or check us out on iTunes!
To understand how happy (overjoyed is probably more accurate) my wife and I were when news that the restaurant India Garden was coming to Auburn, a little bit of personal background is probably in order. When we moved to the South from the Midwest nearly three years ago, we moved into a region with one of America’s most beloved culinary traditions. Sadly, it’s a cuisine we appreciate largely from a distance because we are long-time vegetarians. It’s humble roots and tradition of making a lot out of a little means that a host of rice and veggie dishes owe a portion of their flavor to the addition of a nice piece of pork.
Southern cooking shares a lot with one of our favorite cuisines, and one of the most vegetarian-friendly, Indian cuisine. Both feature relatively simple base ingredients and both put a premium on slow cooking. What really distinguishes them, though, is the use of spices…lots and lots of spices. When you walk into Auburn’s India Garden, there’s definitely something in the air. Indian cuisine is first a feast for the nose. The spice trade literally put India on the map, for Europeans anyway, and Indians have had centuries upon centuries to devise ways to combine those spices with spinach, potatoes, and vegetable of all kinds into a seemingly endless array of dishes.
All that being said, don’t think that a trip to India Garden isn’t a delight for omnivores as well. One of the key elements of Indian cuisine is the clay oven called a tandoor. Tandoors cook hot, they cook long, and they’re most often used to cook meats to succulence. Well, so I’ve heard, but clearly it’s a hit locally based on the way people load up their plates with tandoori chicken at India Garden’s lunch buffet.
India Garden is located at 1251 Opelika Rd. and opens for lunch featuring a buffet at 11:00 a.m. Full dinner menu begins at 5:00 p.m.
– Kelly Walker
Offbeat Auburn Podcast — Lee County Humane Society’s Best Friends Calendar Contest
We talk with Stacee Peer of the Lee County Humane Society about their 2011 Best Friends Calendar Contest and Woofstock. Just click on the button below to listen or check us out on iTunes!
C'mon, Henry has self-esteem issues!
First, let’s get one thing straight. I needed a photo to illustrate this story and Scout and Henry are as worthy as any of the other 50+ entrants in this year’s Lee County Humane Society 2011 Best Friends Calendar Contest, right? I mean the fact that I’m friends with their people, Allyson and Bailey of Sundilla, has nothing to do with it.
Awww…who am I kidding? Of course I’m biased. But, seriously, just look at them!
The LCHS’s annual Calendar Contest has got to be one of the truly great fund-raisers around town. Not only does it bring in good money for a great cause, but how often does participating in a contest include looking at dozen of pictures of highly photogenic pets? So, drop a dollar and cast a vote. You have until the 10th annual LCHS fundraiser Woofstock on September 11th.
The Lee County Human Society is accepting votes for the 2011 Best Friends Calendar Contest at leecountyhumane.org until the Woofstock annual fundraiser, which is Saturday, September 11th at Kiesel Park.
– Kelly Walker
Offbeat Auburn Podcast — The Southeastern Raptor Center Owl Release
Liz Crandall takes us an unforgettable visit with the residents of the Southeaster Raptor Center in advance of their next owl release. Just click on the button below to listen or check us out on iTunes!
Photo by Heather May
When I was in grade school, the Wolf Sanctuary outside St. Louis brought a wolf to visit. They were relatively new then and doing a lot of outreach, so they brought their star resident, Rocky, out and about in the community as they raised funds. For me, it was an formative experience and my interest in wildlife conservation probably began with that visit. When we were in Bloomington, we were close to Indiana’s Exotic Feline Rescue Center, which offered us up close visits with an amazing array of big cats. Unlike the wolves in St. Louis, the residents of that acreage outside Terre Haute will live out their lives there, unable to be returned to the wild. Not so with many of the birds who come to Auburn’s own Southeastern Raptor Center.
Members of the Auburn family are, of course, very familiar with raptors. The flight of the War Eagle before home games is one of the great traditions in college football. Those birds call the Southeastern Raptor Center home and its mission extends well beyond stirring the Auburn faithful on game day. Wounded and orphaned raptors from all over the region are brought to the center for evaluation and, hopefully, return to the wild. The latter portion of their mission happens again this week when Barred and Eastern Screech Owls who have been fostered at the Center are returned to the wild in an event at Kiesel Park. As it turns out, several of the owls were brought to the center as orphans by well-meaning people who did not realize they were healthy fledglings, so the Center will provide an educational session before the release as well.
The Southeastern Raptor Center, in collaboration with the City of Auburn Parks and Recreation Department, will release owls into the wild at Kiesel Park on July 8. An educational program at 6:30 p.m. is followed by the owls release at 7 p.m. People are encouraged to bring a picnic and to enjoy the park at Kiesel while watching the unique event.
– Kelly Walker
Offbeat Auburn Podcast — The Market at Blooming Colors
Ginger Purvis joins us at a table overlooking the landscaping at Blooming Colors and the fresh produce in The Market. Just click on the button below to listen or check us out on iTunes!
In the course of a week, I pass through the intersection of College and Donahue several times, so I couldn’t help but notice as Blooming Colors began to build a substantial new addition in their nurseries a little over a year ago. In the interest of full disclosure, my complete ineptitude as a gardener meant I didn’t pay very close attention at the time to what I figured would be a new greenhouse or some such. While I failed to inherit my parents’ love for digging in the dirt and considerable green thumbs, I do love to eat and to cook, so my attention was piqued when the sign went up for The Market at Blooming Colors and not long after, The Crepe Myrtle Cafe.
Now, a year after The Market at Blooming Colors opened, it has established itself as a destination for anybody who knows that a great meal begins by getting as close to the farm as possible. The tables and bins are filled with fresh produce from local and regional farms not to mention honey, relishes, pickles and much more. If the allure of the riot of colors and smells is simply too much, Crepe Myrtle Cafe is next door serving up crepes made from The Market’s produce as well as a dizzying array of baked goods. With alfresco dining and the free WiFi, it’s a tempting destination to while away the entire afternoon.
The Market at Blooming Colors is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. next door to the Crepe Myrtle Cafe at the corner of S. College St. and S. Donahue Dr.
Offbeat Auburn Podcast — Dean Road Ceramics Studio’s Day in Clay
Sara Hand and Cari Philen get down and dirty about the Dean Road Ceramics Studio’s Day in Clay. Just click on the button below to listen or check us out on iTunes!
People have been making ceramic art for a long time, and by a long time I mean a really long time. Pottery shards found in a cave in southern China have been estimated to somewhere around 18,000 years old.
And you thought the bowl on your parents’ knickknack shelf you made when you were in grade school had been sitting there a long time.
I guess pottery’s long history is part of the reason people still grab hunks of wet clay and make all kinds of things out of it. Well, that and the fact that playing around in wet clay is so much fun and the end results are so satisfying. Years ago, my wife was working at a day camp and the kids were making pottery. Of course, she couldn’t resist and brought me home squarish blue and purple thing with a lid. I’m not really sure what to call it, but I love it.
So, really it’s no wonder the folks over at the Dean Road Ceramics Studio are so passionate about the space they’ve created. It’s outfitted with just about anything you’d need and they provide classes for all ages to help you craft your own masterpiece. Just look at how much fun those two are having!
Dean Road Ceramics Studio hosts a Day in Clay on Saturday, June 26th, 1 to 4 p.m. at 307 S. Dean Rd. in Auburn. The studio is also open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and offers classes for all ages year ’round.
– Kelly Walker
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