Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

vacation: atlanta, ga

If you are looking for a recipe...this post isn't for you, sorry!

This past weekend my boyfriend and I drove down to Atlanta to see two of our very good friends, Ashkan and Cindy. Atlanta reminds me of a bigger version of Charlotte that has really bad traffic, tons of great restaurants and never ending activities. It seems like every time we visit Atlanta, there is always some type of fun event going on. During our trip to Atlanta last spring, the four of us went to Baconfest at Inman Park. I was thinking the festival would have random bacon creations like bacon ice cream, chocolate covered bacon and bacon beer...ok just kidding about that last one. But I was a little disappointed when we arrived and realized it wasn't exactly the bacon food festival I had expected. Instead it was unlimited make your own BLT sandwiches, PBR and Terrapin beer and very random entertainment (wheelchair obstacle course) that turned out to be a blast!
This past weekend we decided to go to the Decatur craft beer festival after obsessively checking craigslist to find tickets. Apparently they sold all 4,000 beer fest tickets in 2 hours. Two weekends ago I went to the Charlotte Oktoberfest and was impressed with the 100+ breweries that were there and had so much fun that I couldn't wait to do it all over again. Pre beer fest we went to Highland Bakery and had a delicious brunch. I ordered the Cowboy Benedict (top left picture) which was two white cheddar quesadillas topped with two poached eggs, homemade hollandaise and a spicy corn relish served with a side of spicy corn relish. If you are in Atlanta, Highland Bakery is worth a stop... it was one of the best brunch dishes I think I've ever had.

Then came the the 5+ hours of drinking. I went in with the 'if I don't like it then I'm not drinking it' motto so I could actually attempt to try a beer from every one of the breweries without passing out on the sidewalk before the event was over. I didn't try them all but I think I managed to find every single pumpkin or Oktoberfest beer that was there plus my two favorites, Purple Haze and Sweetwater Blue. Oh and I discovered people wear pretzel/snack necklaces to beer festivals! This one guy at the beer fest (bottom left picture) took pretzel necklaces to the extreme. He had one huge pretzel necklace and then another necklace lined with slim jims, crackers and cheese. He told me that the pretzels are for 'cleansing' your palate in between beers and the slim jims, cracker and cheese are a drunk snack. And if you forgot your pretzel necklace at home like we did, you could buy a pretzel necklace at the beer fest for $2 but they sold out. Next beer fest, I think I might be wearing a pretzel necklace...

Saturday, October 1, 2011

vacation: los angeles, california

My sister in law, Morgane, took these two pictures. I took the same pictures and hers were 10x prettier.
Check out her website.
I'm back from vacation! I managed to eat my way around LA without seeing one single celebrity, just my luck. But the celebrity homes tour we took was almost as good as seeing a star considering we got to see the houses of Sandra Bullock, Katy Perry, Jennifer Aniston and another two dozen stars. I asked our tour driver to show us where the Housewives of Beverly Hills ladies lived and he replied 'this isn't a D list tour.' Maybe next time...

I made a list of all the food stops we made in the five days I was in LA and I would go back to any one of them. I don't have a favorite because honestly all the food was great but if I had to choose one food day to repeat it would be Friday. At Joan's on Third, I ordered the short rib grilled cheese sandwich that was stacked with tender meat, melted jack cheese, arugula and red onions on grilled white bread...seriously, delicious! Then we went to the famous New York based bakery, Magnolia's, right down the street and ordered the best banana pudding. It was extra fluffy, rich and creamy because it's made with sweet condensed milk and homemade whipped cream. For dinner we went to Akasha in Culver City and the fig and prosciutto pizza hit the spot, I can never find figs in Charlotte so it was such a treat. After dinner we stopped by Diddy Riese and waited in a line of 50 plus people for one of their famous cookie sandwiches, it was well worth the wait. They let you design your own cookie sandwich so I picked vanilla ice cream sandwiched between a freshly baked chocolate chip walnut cookie and a chewy peanut butter cookie.

Friday
Joan's on Third: short rib grilled cheese sandwich
Magnolia's Bakery: banana pudding
Akasha: grapefruit mojito and a fig & prosciutto pizza
Diddy Riese: $1.50 ice cream cookie sandwich

Saturday
Uncle Bill's Pancake House: sourdough bread french toast
Al Hamra Halal Cafe: chicken tikka masala

Sunday
Lemonade in Abbot Kenney: rosemary watermelon lemonade
Urth Caffe: the 'New Yorker' pastrami sandwich
Bay Cities Italian Deli: pastrami sandwich
Sweet Lady Jane Bakery: slice of apple pie (voted best of LA)
Tender Greens: grilled prawns salad

Monday
Umami Burger: manly burger, umami burger & onion rings
Pink's Hot Dogs: chili cheese dog
Millions of Milkshakes: justin shake with snickers and bananas

Tuesday
Tea exchange: mango coconut tea
Cupcakes Couture: apple pie cupcake
Cafe Rio: mahi-mahi fish tacos
Simmzy's: bacon & blue cheese burger
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