A little time in Atlanta

Since we were both in the South for work this week, we decided to stay an extra day and explore Atlanta a bit.

Friday afternoon we found ourselves stuck in traffic. All of a sudden cars were stopped. We got lucky and were able to dart off the highway just in time. More lucky was that this particularly exit had Mayfield Dairy.  We missed the dairy tour by 10 minutes but ice cream shop was open.  You know the ice cream will be good when there is a big cow out front. 

That evening I had big plans for us. Stone Mountain Park. This was a favorite childhood memory.  When I was around 4 years old we lived near Athens, Georgia for a bit. My parents used to take us to Stone Mountain for the laser show.  Back then it was the train and laser show.  Now it is a verified theme park. I couldn't get over how built up the area was.  

The laser show didn't disappoint. We didn't have picnic gear or blankets so it was a long wait till the 9:30pm show but I am glad we waited it out.  I was so happy to share this experience with Jordan.

Saturday morning started out at the Peachtree Road Farmer's Market.  There were so many vendors with good things.  Pretty much each table had something I wanted. There were even peaches! I couldn't justify buying a bag knowing we would be getting on a plane.  Peaches do not travel well.  But oh Georgia peaches.

The next stop was the Georgia Aquarium. We got there early and checked out most of the exhibits before the dolphin show. The shows are my favorite part of the aquarium experience.  Jordan and I both just about fell over though when the show started and a guy came out and started singing. Yes, it was a dolphin show but it was so much more than that too. It was good but not what I expected at all from the aquarium.

Other favorites were the otters, penguins and Beluga whales.

Up next was the World of Coke Cola.  The South is all about Coke.  Again I had been here before when I was little but I didn't remember too much and the whole thing had been updated since the Olympics were held in Atlanta.  There are so many Coke products and paraphernalia. It was fun seeing it all and learning some facts about the history of Coke.

Lunch was at Max's pizza around the corner from the Aquarium.  We wanted to avoid the nasty overpriced food that was in the attractions. We shared a salad and pizza. It was just the right amount of food.

I was saving room because I happened to find out that there was a Jeni's ice cream in Atlanta. Of course once I knew there was one nearby it was my mission to visit. 

Turns out that there were a lot of other cool shops and eats in the area.  I was happy and sad that we were so far from home. I would have done some major shopping damage had I been able to not worry about fitting it into the suitcase.  

Dinner was in the same section of town because there were just so much awesomeness. My brother and Sister in law recommended Taqueria del Sol.  There are a few locations across town.

Clearly it is a good thing when you show up before opening and there is already a line. We got chips, salsa and guacamole of course along with a sampling of tacos. So good and so cheap! I think we both wish we could have one of these in Connecticut.

The day ended with a lovely little Doubletree cookie split between the two of us. 

Back to California We Go: LA's Pizzeria Mozza

Saturday we jumped on a nonstop flight from JFK to LAX. Luckily the flight ended up getting in early.  6 hour and 30 minutes on a plane is a long time.  Even with the early arrival we pretty much grabbed the car and off we went for food. 

I had gotten reservations at Pizzeria Mozza.  This pizza place is the works of Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich.  It also happened to be pretty close to where we were staying.  After a long day and crappy food,  it was the perfect meal 
to end on. 

Mr. J got bone marrow al forno.  I had a little taste but it was super rich and tender.  It was served with the most delicious bread and roasted garlic cloves.  I stole the garlic.  We saw three other people order this but the lady next to us was clear weirded out. Her response was "this looks like something my dog would eat."  We offered her the bones.
 

I needed greens. A big pile of mixed greens was just what I wanted.

Each pizza is made to be eaten by one person at 10". I have been craving pizza forever but always end up ordering something fancy and it doesn't take care of my red sauce cheese pizza need. I had told Mr. J going into tonight that he needed to stop me if I strayed into the non-traditional toppings.  Turns out there were only a few traditional pizzas. 

I got the goat cheese, leek, scallions, and bacon pizza. The smoke from the bacon went nicely with the bitter goat cheese. 

This picture came out awful.  Sorry!

Mr. J got the everything meat pizza.  Toppings included Bacon, salami, fennel sausage, guanciale, tomato & mozzarella.

I wasn't planning on dessert but gelato gets me every time. We ended up with a sundae with caramel gelato, homemade marshmallow sauce and salted peanuts.  We shared this but I kind of wish I had gotten my own. It was so amazing.  

Great first meal in LA!  I cannot wait to see what else this city has to offer.

Philadelphia and Bistrot La Minette

Last week I was in the midst of St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Philadelphia. It was a gorgeous weekend.  Everyone was out and about ready for a good time.  I certainly was ready for a good time and excited to be seeing to good friends from college.

We couldn't not get a cheese steak sandwich in Philly so we hiked down past South Street to get one of the originals. We ended up at Pat's.  Geno's is a bit to flashy for our tastes.  It was massive and delicious.  We were happy we walked because the sandwiches set a little heavy and we had big dinner plans.

Although it was St. Patrick's Day our dinner plans were for a French meal at Bistrot La Minette.

My appetizer is probably one of the best things I have had to eat in a really long time. The cream sauce just dissolved in my mouth.  The egg and mussels add an extra dimension of richness, and depth.  It was huge and left me stuff.  It was well worth it.

Œuf du Pêcheur Fisherman’s-style poached egg, mussels, tarragon cream sauce

Our entrees came but it was too late.  All of us ladies were completely full.  We couldn't even bring ourselves to get one of the many amazing sounding desserts.  We did find room for the little chocolate truffles that came with the bill though.

Lapin Rôti à la Moutarde Dijon mustard-braised rabbit, house-made taglietelle

Cassoulet Toulousain Lamb and tomato stew, duck confit, lardons, garlic sausage, Tarbais beans, duck fat bread crumbs

Poulet à la Catalan White wine-braised chicken, slab bacon, thyme, Meyer lemon, roasted fingerling potatoes

It was St. Patrick's Day though and we headed across town to have some drinks.  It is amazing what a 20 minute walk can do for appetite.  I should have taken pictures of the bar because it was one of the coolest places I have ever been and had the most unique drinks ever.  EVER.  Check out The Franklin Bar.

 A few hours later back at the hotel we were so happy we had gotten our barely touched entrees to go.  We happily enjoyed our dinners (a few hours late) that were absolutely amazing.

Bistrot La Minette  /  623 S. 6th Street  /  Philadelphia   /   215.925.8000

Chicago!

Last weekend we were in Chicago.  A lovely friend of mine from Bryn Mawr was getting married and there was no place better I would have been than in Chicago to celebrate the special day with her.  The wedding happened to fall the day before Mr. J's birthday so we decided to make quite the weekend.

We were able to stay at the Drake Hotel.  The place where Princess Diana stayed when she visited Chicago. Marylin Monroe and Joe DiMaggio also frequented the hotel and bar.  It was a very neat building that overlooked Lake Michigan on one side and was the beginning of the famed Magnificent Mile on the other.  Our room ended up being a gigantic corner room.  No, we are not super rich or famous.  We just travel a ton for work.  When I am cursing to myself about a canceled or delayed flight, I think of these perks and my negative thoughts diminish somewhat.

Regardless of the room and location, any hotel that offers Peter Roth Thomas products is a grand in my book.  I made Mr. J store all of the extras in his toiletry bag.

I haven't been to Chicago for at least 10 years.  Mr. J works with Northwestern but stays north of the city when he visits.  One of our favorite things to do in a new city is simply walk around and enjoy the atmosphere. I was in awe of all of the buildings.  We got a three day Chicago Go Pass.  It was on sale for $102 per person which allowed General Admission to basically every tourist attraction for 3 days.  The first thing did was the Architecture Boat Ride on the river.  The only things I know about architecture is from what I read in "Devil in the White City".  It was interesting to learn about the different styles and history of each building.  The views were amazing.

Our passes also got us onto any ride at the Navy Pier.  I was very excited to ride the Ferris wheel.  Although this on is smaller than the first one at the world exposition way back when I was still a bit fearful.  I am not scared of heights but I kept thinking that it was stopping. 

Mr. J may look innocent but he tried to sway the seat a few times.  He was mad because I wouldn't let him sit next to me.  Our little bucket was leaning way too much for my comfort.

The ride was almost 8 minutes.  It was a long 8 minutes in my mind but again the views of the city were amazing!

Millennium Park had this thing we affectionately called "the Bean".  It was a very reflective work of art that you could walk around and underneath.

 This was the only picture we have together but you can see us in the bean.

Among the various activities in the city, we managed to walk north to Wrigley Field.  It was so small. I am used to Fenway which is by no means big but Wrigley was small even compared to Fenway.

More highlights to come, including yummy yummy food sites.   We could not have asked for a better weekend.

Where the Wild Things Are

I feel like I have neglected my time in Disney.  First, I meant to post while I was there.  Then, I had posts planned out for the week we got back.  Now we are on to week three and I have yet to even share a few highlights.

 

Mr. J's favorite part of Disney is the Animal Kingdom.  More specifically he loves the Africa safari ride.  I think he do the whole tour from memory.  Each of the guides have there own spin on the dialogue for the ride and we had quite the extreme on our handful of times on the ride.  Having one guide scream "Winning" when we caught the poachers gave us a nice laugh.

I am not sure what he likes more about this ride, the animals themselves or being able to take pictures of them.  From this trip alone we have over 300 pictures of  the animals.  Some are great, others not so much.  I was amused at his attempts to focus and shoot in the short time allotted at each stop. Let's just say his wasn't so fast all of the time.

We were lucky enough to get a couple of glances at this cute fellow.  A baby elephant that was born only 3 weeks before our visit.  Elephants have always had a special place in my heart.  Part of this is because my name is Emily.  It's an "E" thing and I feel connect. No I cannot give further explanation but he was 300 pounds of adorable-ness.

The ride lasts about 20 minutes and if you are lucky you get to see all sorts of animals.  Some much closer than I would ever choose to be.  This trip we had to wait a couple of times for the animals to cross the road so our truck could continue.  Mr. J  couldn't help himself capturing the scene even if it wasn't the best angle for the rhinoceros.

Wizards and Witches Abound

One of the most exciting parts about this trip to Disney was the day we planned on going to Universal.  I haven't been ever and Mr. J hasn't gone for years.  We probably would not have made the journey except for one thing...The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 

I have read all of the books and seen all of the movies.  I don't know when Mr. J got hooked but he was just as excited to see this last movie as I was.  Thus, when we first heard about Universal's Harry Potter park we knew we had to pay it a visit.

The park was built as the town of Hogsmeade.   It was small but so cool and detailed.  It by far surpassed all of the other sections of Universal.  We go a demonstration of getting a wand.  You know the one does pick you!

 I had to try the Butter Beer.  It was so good.  I go the frozen version and it was was like a butterscotch shake.  I have a recipe and I am going to be making it all through October. 

 Other than the three rides in this area there wasn't a whole lot to do.  However, we had so much fun just looking at all of the details and decorations.

 It was one heck of a candy store!

 It was a great day, even though it wasn't Disney. 
Any fan of Harry Potter would love this park.