Earlier in the week, I was combing through the archives, looking for commemorative bottles to include in an exhibit we're helping to put together for the Ghent Museum of Design in Belgium.  We have lots of interesting bottles, but this one in particular caught my eye.  It's a commemorative bottle made in 2002 for the release of the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  How fortunate of a find, seeing as today is the opening day of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part Two -- or HP7P2 to all you fellow Potterheads out there.

Whether, like me, you grew up with HP, read the books to your children, or became a child at heart again through them, I know you won't want to miss seeing the final film in theatres.  So let you imagination free this weekend and enjoy two of your favorites: Harry Potter and ice cold Coca-Cola.  I know I will.

I recently did an interview for Gene Kansas for the Sidewalk Radio program on WMBL 1690 here in Atlanta.  The program is a monthly, 25-minute, special feature that thematically focuses on art, architecture, design, development, city planning and preservation.  The episode I was a part of was titled "Atlanta Drinks," and also included an interview with Holman & Finch Mixologist, Greg Best.  Gene approached me after seeing the painting (pictured above) we have on display at H&F.  The program discusses the impact Coca-Cola had on the city of Atlanta in advertising, art and culture.  Click on this link to listen to the show.

The video below is the second part of my interview with Gordon Muir at The Varsity in Atlanta.  In the first video, we covered the long heritage between Coke and The Varsity.  This video focuses on the famous food, how the drive-in works and the introduction of New Coke at The Varsity in 1985.

We have had a great deal of fun filming these videos at local Atlanta restaurants and I want to thank the West Egg, Holeman & Finch, Carver's Country Kitchen and The Varsity for their time and acting skills! If you have missed some of those videos, just look down the list of videos on our YouTube Channel and check them out.  We are already making plans for new videos in 2011 and they should be alot of fun.

I wanted to highlight a fantastic resource for chefs or foodies.  When I worked at the Atlanta History Center, one of my favorite collections to browse was The Coca-Cola Company Collection of Antique Cookbooks.  The collection was assembled for the Company by Dr. Clifford A. Shillinglaw who, from 1961 until 1979, was a Senior Vice President of the Company .  On November 29, 1979, The Coca-Cola Company donated the collection to Atlanta History Center to make them available to the public.

While the collection of nearly 500 books primarily focused on books of Southern origin, it also contained several early English volumes including The Queens Closet Opened (1655) and Court Cookery (1725.)  One of the earliest American cookbooks is The Frugal Housewife or Methodical Cook (1796) by Susanna Carter while the earliest Southern book is The Virginia Housewife (1836) by Mary Randolph.  Many of the cookbooks were published by church groups and civic organizations including Eastern Shore Cookbook: containing famous Maryland Recipes, (1901) by the Holy Innocence, Chapel Ladies Guild of Claiborn, Maryland and the Atlanta Woman's Club Cook Book (1921.)

The History Center has continued to add to the collection over the years.  If anyone would like to browse the collection on-line, I have provided alink to Terminus, the on-line catalog for the History Center.  If you do a search under the term "cookery" more than 700 results are returned.  If you are ever in Atlanta, make sure to visit the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center and see the original book.

We have not posted a recipe or food post in a while, so I wanted to share a Coca-Cola cake recipe someone e-mailed me.  I love the name of the blog "Cupcakes Ate My Soul" and while we have done cupcake recipes in the past (including this video from the West Egg,) I think that Elli's English phrasing makes it sound even better.  US readers will have to pull out their conversion charts for this one, but I can't wait to try it.

Photo courtesy of Cupcakes Ate My Soul.

Several weeks ago we posted our video of the interview we did with Sharon Carver at Carver's Country Kitchen and we promised to give you her famous chocolate cake recipe.  As you can see from the video below, she does it old school with a hand held mixer and lots of love.  I can't wait to try it. Download Carver¹s Country Kitchen Coca-Cola Cake Recipe

We have not posted any recipes in a while so while we finish editing our video where Sharon Carver shows us how to make her famous Coca-Cola cake, here is BBQ recipe.  A friend recently sent me this Beer Can Chicken recipe from the Food Network website and I can't wait to try it.  The recipe was developed by grilling legend Steve Raichlen and was featured on the Food Network program BBQ with Bobby Flay.  It looks delicious and the comments on the recipe all point out how good the sauce is.

Today is National Donut Day. Celebrated on the first Friday of June, the day was created in 1938 by Salvation Army volunteers who first served coffee and donuts to soldiers on the front lines of World War I.  Here is a 1954 advertising dangler from our collection that features a Coke and donuts.