boiled nuts

Midtown and the Highlands had a slew of activity this week, most of which I missed due to prior commitments and travel. Besides the homicide/suicide at the Bank of America building Friday, there were several shows in the vicinity, including a live performance at the Plaza that had fans dressed up like characters from Adult Swim while crowding the sidewalk. Traffic from the annual Inman Park Festival/Parade spilled over and the Tour de Georgia crossed through on Sunday.

Events are a part of any city and while I try to avoid them because of the banal nature, I feel obligated to take photos because they still affect the community. Ponce itself doesn't have anything in the way of festivals or events but pieces of other gatherings tend to overlap and I hope to include them, even if like the Pride Parade, they only cross the street for a moment.

One thing I did manage to get around to was paying a visit to Raymonds food stand at the corner of Moreland and Ponce. The stand is an overgrown shack with buckets of tomatoes, watermelons, and assorted garden foods. The signature product however, is boiled peanuts. According to the hand painted sign, Raymond's Boiled Peanuts are world famous.

The last two times I went up there the nuts were out of stock but my third trip led to the purchase of a bag of regular and a bag of cajun for a buck each. Unfortunately, I could not find Raymond for an interview and the vendor assured me he was not Raymond. The nuts are served hot from the vat and distributed in plastic bags. I carried them home and got many looks from passing drivers since carrying two clear plastic bags of soggy nuts is not a common accessory. At home, I unwrapped and tried both types. I prefer cajun style. Next time I'm going to meet Raymond and have him divulge more of his nut tactics.