Friday, July 27, 2012

Dinner Out: Thrive!

While in Atlanta, my coworkers and I went to my favorite downtown restaurant, Thrive! 


I have been here a few times in the past and it just continues to be wonderful every time. It's got an amazing contemporary interior and wonderful food. Here is my first Ginger Mojito, a concoction that I recommended to them 2 years ago and they have since placed on the menu.

A classic Mojito using their Ginger Beer instead of soda water...Yum!
Yeah, I had 6 of those...who could resist? Everyone knows how I feel about Sushi, but this restaurant has sushi items on the menu that are flash fried...they fry everything in the South. Because these are gently cooked I don't run into the usual texture problems I have with raw Sushi.

The Dragon Roll!
It consisted of spicy tuna and salmon, avocado and a spicy cream cheese. It is then flash fried for mere moments to perfection. I have got to find a place around here in Maryland that does this!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Filed Under: Things I Probably Wouldn't Eat

This southern delicacy was proudly featured in one of our meal areas at the convention I just worked.

Two great tastes...tastes great together!

I say "Southern Delicacy" because this is something I have never found in my grocery store. I suppose I should have tried it so that I could accurately report upon it's flavor and texture. But really, I couldn't make it past the packaging on this one.

While it kind of looks like Paté , I can't imagine that this concoction from Oscar Mayer is anything like Paté  Anyone ever tried it? Let me know what it's like in the comments.

A Little Fun Before I Go

As I leave for the beach this morning, I found this cute little video. Enjoy it, before the Disney corporation sues the pants off them!


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Outta Here!

I know, I just got back from Atlanta, and it was ok. But now I am off on vacation to Rehoboth Beach and I can't wait. Look, I'm already packing!

Yep, the bar is in that cooler!

Packing for the beach is completely different than packing for my business trips. I start by making 5 lists...one for the clothes, one for the bar, a list of toiletries, the electronics get a list, and finally...there is an ETC list for things that don't fall into any of the above categories. So much more is involved in vacation packing. You have to have 3 outfits a day, the pool outfit, the lunch outfit and then later the dinner/bar outfit. Sometimes the dinner outfit can't be the same as the bar outfit, so then you have to have 4 outfits for that day.

I take a lot of mix and match stuff. T-shirts that go with shorts and later dress up with a bowling shirt for a bar outing. One thing I do not take are any kind of shoe that entirely encloses the foot. This is vacation and it's flip/flops and sandals from here on out!

I'll be sure to post about the first Mojito sipped while at the pool!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

My Second Least Favorite City

Many of you have heard me talk about how much I don't enjoy Las Vegas Nevada. Now maybe if my work travels allowed me any chance to enjoy anything other than The Strip I would change my mind. But they don't and I haven't.

My second least favorite city is pretty much the same deal.

I can't believe they actually held the Olympics here?!?!?

Atlanta in July. The second worse place to be in the United States. I know, one of my favorite TV shows films here (The Walking Dead), but still it's unbearable. It's 100 degrees in the shade this time of year! UGH!

Also, I am downtown, not the best part of the city. Now maybe if the convention center were in Bucktown (Gay!) or Midtown (Slightly less gay) I'd be a little more enthused about it. Downtown you have a choice of about 6 restaurants, well unless you want to eat everyday at the CNN Center food court. But who wants to do that???

There isn't even a chance to run into Anderson Cooper, he's based out of NY!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

A Summer Without Candles

I've always felt that burning candles in the summertime was counter productive to keeping the house cool. I know, how much heat could a candle put off? But how much heat could a bunch of candles put off? Enough, I think!

I have been looking for a candleless alternative and finally found it at Pier 1. These are cute little paper lantern lights that are LED and remote controlled. They take 3 AAA batteries each and the batteries last a good long time. I've gotten about a week out of a set.

Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE a remote!

Now, not only does the remote let you turn the lights on and off, it also lets you set their on time for 2 or 4 hours. Pretty cool, something I didn't know and the documentation doesn't even mention is that it also remembers what time you turned the light on and turns it back on at that time each day. Totally cool feature that they should say something about somewhere. I thought I was going crazy with the lights coming on without me turning them on.

Here are some photos of the gorgeous result.

The Drag Queen Lamp

I love how they light up the wall

And light up the table

And light up the bar

The lantern that started my lantern fetish

So there you have it, a great way to light up a lantern without creating a lot of heat. I also picked up an assortment of small round mirrors which I placed in the bottom of the lanterns to help reflect the light. They really made a difference it how bright the light is. Head on over to Pier 1 if you have any lanterns to light.