The Geekend That Was, 10/23

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Remember last weekend, when practically no protein invaded my weekend? This weekend was practically the opposite. Friday night, Michael's company got us tickets to the preview party for Taste of Atlanta, which was a limited entry, limited-menu version of the full event. The good news: all you can eat/drink. I'd looked at Taste of Atlanta before, but admission ($25 in advance) only gets you 10 tickets, and most "entrees" cost 3 tickets; desserts are 1-2. There are over 100 restaurants participating! You can buy extra tickets for a buck each, but I don't want to have to go through that kind of decision process!! That's not my idea of fun. Being let loose in a corral where I can sample whatever I want, however, is just my thing. Bonus: We saw some friends we hadn't seen for *years*! And one of them has me almost convinced to try aerial silks. The food was awesome (especially the pork belly taco from JCT Kitchen...ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I'VE PUT IN MY MOUTH), but there weren't that many (i.e., NO) sides. The only disappointing thing, really, was that they ran out of cupcakes before we got to that tent. =( However, we were able to sample four different ice creams from High Road. This stuff is SERIOUSLY good. We had three pints in the freezer already (they sell locally at Whole Foods) and Michael went all fanboy on them, so they gave us a branded ice cream scoop. Too cool. It turns out they do factory tours on Saturdays; we are so going to do that one weekend.

Saturday was not too egregious in the protein department, but Sunday we went to the Park Tavern because I had bought a TravelZoo voucher for a Salt Block Experience.

 

Since our "VIP cabana" (and those are air quotes due to the extremely LOUD group replete with stone-throwing children that bled over into our cabana) was outdoors, and I figured nice, warmish days were going to be really few and far between from here on out, we booked it for 1pm.

I was overdressed (unusual for me)...though this is a "nice" restaurant, it's right by Piedmont Park, so there were dog-walkers and joggers eating alongside us. Whatever; fashion never apologizes, right? ;) After edamame and a green salad (yummy), the hot (800 F) salt block and a swath of roll-making ingredients arrived at the table.

 

Salmon, tuna, butterfish, wagyu beef, sticky rice, and nori wraps formed the basis of the rolls, but you were left to experiment with the additional ingredients of avocado, cucumber, jalepenos, cilantro, crispy garlic, sesame seeds, ponzu sauce, mustard sauce (NOM), wasabi, and pickled ginger (double NOM)!!!

So fun to hear the meat sizzle on the stone, though the (slight) smoke from the spicy marinade made me cough a bit at first. Figure out the prevailing breeze before you sit, LOL!

 

All in all it was a very fun experience. I told Michael I was glad it worked out, because I did absolutely no research whatsoever; it just sounded fun and unique. He said it was both, and that maybe he was going to give up planning from now on. Noooooooo!!! =)

JiffNotes
Much healthier than last weekend. (PLEASE TO IGNORE THE AMOUNT OF ICE CREAM CONSUMPTION.)