Gastroblogging: The Varsity

From J:

High on my to-do list for Atlanta was a visit to The Varsity, the famed drive-in restaurant in downtown Atlanta, near Georgia Tech. According to wikipedia,

"The main branch of the chain is the largest drive-in fast food restaurant in the world, despite mediocre reviews of the quality of its food in comparison to other chains."

What did I think? My order: a #1 combo, containing two chilidogs with mustard, fries, and an obligatory Varsity Orange Drink.


The Chilidogs: 6/10. I am partial to a good chilidog, and these were decent. The chili had a good amount of flavor without being caustic to my digestive system, the mustard was classic yellow, the buns were steamed, I think, and the dog tasted like a normal hotdog. The strength of this was the chili's flavor, as everything else was pedestrian.

The fries: 0/10. Awful. Soggy. Limp. Flavorless. I should have clarified when I ordered that I should be served fries that had actually been placed into hot oil and cooked, not just, I don't know, immersed in lukewarm oil until they're no longer hard? Seriously, these things were terrible. I added some salt to try and get some flavor into them, but that's like waxing a car in a junkyard. The only redeeming factor was the use of Heinz ketchup in the dining room, not Hunts.

The Varsity Orange Drink: 5/10. Have you had orange Gatorade? Have you ever mixed it yourself with the powder, but added too much and ended up with a gritty drink? Yeah, that's exactly what this tasted like.

The Service: 9/10. Fast. No complaints.

The Overall Experience: 3/10. I've now been there. I will not go back. This place became famous for some reason that has nothing to do with the food.

Atlanta

From A:

Last week we traveled to Atlanta for the 2010 SHS/ASQ Conference.  This was my second time attending this conference (I went two years ago when it was in Orlando), and my first time as an invited speaker.  It was an enjoyable conference to attend, and I feel like my presentation was well-received by the various healthcare professionals attending the conference.

We also had some time to see a few sights in Atlanta while we were there.  Among them, we went to the World of Coca-Cola:

 

  

Here we are with the creepy looking red-eyed polar bear.  I guess if you drink too much Coke your eyes turn red?  Somehow, the person in the bear suit was able to make the eyes blink and the mouth open and close mechanically, which was strange:

We also saw some interesting Coke artwork.  Among the notables:

More proof that the Gator Nation is everywhere:

 

For dinner one night, we went to Glays Knight and Ron Winans' Chicken and Waffles.  We had seen the restaurant on the Travel Channel on Man vs. Food and just had to try it.  We got the Midnight Train, which is an original malted waffle with fried chicken wings.  We also got a malted buckwheat waffle to try:

It lived up to all the hype and was just delicious, obviously:

Minus getting stuck for two hours in a big traffic jam just outside Atlanta on our way home, it was a great trip!  I feel very accomplished for having been a presenter at a national conference, and I'm glad we were able to have some fun while we were there.

A Warm Weekend

From A:

The weather has finally warmed up and we had highs in the 70s this weekend!  J and I took advantage of the beautiful weather by playing some golf and going to the lake.

J is such an expert golfer that he had to make the game more challenging by adapting his 5 iron:

 

Truthfully, the head of his club flew off after he hit a shot.  We estimate that it traveled about 75 yards, but we weren't able to find it.  Coincidentally, we found the head of another 5 iron, but it was for a right-handed club (definitely not J's since he golfs left-handed).

Here I am showing off my golf skills.  There isn't much to show off because I'm a terrible golfer.  I have fun, but I'm pretty sure my swing doesn't look like it should:

That's the office/trailer of the driving range in the background.  This upscale facility is complete with an old car that has a target painted on the side.

We also went out to the lake so J could get in some fishing with the new fishing rod he got for Christmas.  It was a beautiful day at the lake:

 

Some guys further down the bridge from us caught a HUGE fish while we were there, so we definitely know that fish exist in the lake.  J decided to spare the lives of the fish during this trip, but they might not be so lucky next time!

An interesting find...

From A:

While shopping, J and I came across something I've never seen before... a rock pillow:

That's right, it's a pillow covered in rocks.  At first I thought it might actually be covered in soft, plush, rock-like imitations, but no.  They're real, actual rocks.

Just to give it a shot, I tried it out.  And, in line with my initial thoughts, it's not the least bit comfortable.  Also, in addition to being hard and misshapen, rocks are cold.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong and rock pillows will be the next big trend, but I have a feeling these aren't going to sell very well.  Then again, perhaps the idea could have merit if it were to be paired with another popular product, producing...

The Rock Snuggie!

 Update (From J):

Laundry list of other funny products!

I know that selling children is illegal.  I'm not so sure about giving them away (see store for details!). Seen at Hollywood Video in Gainesville.

Slightly macabre, a pig made out of ground pork.  Irony?  Seen at Fresh Market in Gainesville.

This update brought to you by the real reason for the season. Seen at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.

Cake!

From A:

J created his Valentine's Day masterpiece today... a triple layer heart-shaped cake.  Here is the cake under construction once the second layer had been added:

 

Here is the completed cake, including with cupid's arrow (made from Hershey's kisses added to a chopstick):

The top and bottom layers are triple chocolate fudge cake frosted with milk chocolate icing.  The middle layer is spice cake, which turned out to be delicious!  Some mini chocolate chips were added to the frosted layers.  I was very surprised, and I think that J did a great job!

For dinner, we had chicken and dumplings made in my new cast iron pot.  The top layer is the dumplings, and the chicken and broth are on the bottom layer:

We had a great weekend, and hope everyone else did as well!

Valentine's Day

From A:

Since we are celebrating J's birthday tomorrow, we had our J + A Valentine's Day today.  As promised, we had slow cooker turkey chili with garlic knots.  Here's the finished product:

Both the chili and the rolls turned out being really good.  The rolls are crescent rolls tied into a knot-like shape with freshly made garlic butter brushed on top.  Both of these dishes will certainly be made again in the future.

In loosely related kitchen news, J got me the perfect gift today!   It's an enameled cast iron dutch oven so I can start dishes on the stove (to cook and brown meat), and then finish cooking the dish in the oven.

 

 

AND, it's Gator blue to coordinate with our orange dish towels, measuring spoons, and cooking spoons.  I think the color was coincidental, but it turned out working very well with our color scheme.

Coming tomorrow... chicken and dumplings + whatever dessert J has been secretly planning!

Spanish Chicken

Our Friday meal turned out being a good one.  J especially liked the fresh mozzarella cheese on top (after cooking the chicken and veggies on the stove, I added shredded cheese and placed under the broiler to melt).  I enjoyed the tangy flavor of the sun-dried tomatoes.  Here's how it turned out:

Tonight's menu is slow cooker turkey chili and garlic knots.  We plan to eat our warm chili while watching some of the action at the cold winter olympics.  Go USA!

B/V-Day Weekend

From A:

We have an exciting weekend ahead with both Valentine's Day and J's Birthday on Sunday!  To begin the weekend festivities, I made caramel walnut turtle brownies last night (J requested them for his birthday):

We also have several celebratory menus ahead of us for the weekend:
Friday - Spanish Chicken (with fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese)
Saturday - Slow Cooker Chili (with ground turkey) and Garlic Knots
Sunday - Chicken and Dumplings (requested by J)

I have the feeling that J will be working on another of his famous cakes this weekend (for Valentine's Day, not as a self-made birthday cake).  I'm not sure what he's plotting, but somehow cake mix, frosting, and marshmallows ended up in the shopping cart at Publix last night.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Shower and Super Bowl

From A:

J and I are back from a great weekend in the Orlando area.  While we were there, I was able to attend Colleen's baby shower (J played basketball -- so manly --while I was there).  It was a lot of fun, and as always, it was great to see Colleen.  Here is a picture of us after the shower:

 

J and I were also able to spend some time at breakfast with Colleen and her husband.  Colleen picked a delicious place for breakfast.  J had some heavenly fruit crepes, and I had a wonderful omelet with spinach, feta cheese, and tomatoes.  Here we are after breakfast standing in Colleen's dad's flowerbed (kinda weird that we did that, but he insisted -- I don't think he's particularly fond of the ground coverage growing there):

One day, I really hope that the four of us (soon to be five!) live closer together.  And who knows, maybe it will actually happen!

We were also able to spend time with J's friend Jeff and his family while we watched the Super Bowl.  And all I have to say is, WHO DAT?!  I still don't understand what in the world that's supposed to mean, but I guess the Saints earned the right for me to use their favorite phrase in our blog.  Jeff's dad made delicious roast beef sandwiches and a sausage and shrimp jambalaya for the game.

And as if we hadn't indulged enough over the weekend, we stopped at the Lakeridge Winery on our drive back home.  We had been to the San Sebastian Winery (their sister facility) in St. Augustine the weekend we got engaged, but we had never been to Lakeridge before.  They had a great guided tour and tasting. 

We ended up bringing a few bottles back (ones that aren't available in our local Publix), as well as getting a couple of bottles of their muscadine grape juice.  The grape juice is really tasty, but it also apparently has about 6 times the health benefits of blueberries.  I would have gotten some grape juice anyway, but it always helps to hear that something you enjoy is also healthy.  Just like chocolate, right?!?!  Best health news ever.

Work Day Entertainment

From A:

I've been asked for an update about the dishes from the last post.  The blueberry crisp was popular with my co-workers and was a welcome surprise during our staff meeting.  The sausage and spinach strata also turned out being quite tasty, and got several encores as leftovers.  J referred to it as "good" which is quite the compliment in his language.  Here is the translation I've discovered between our languages:

A's "awesome!" = J's "great"

A's "great" = J's "good"

A's "good" = J's "okay"

A's "okay" = J's "feh"

In work news, I've been enjoying the daily drama of a new business across the street from my office (my office window overlooks it).  The business is apparently both an auto detailing place as well as a fast food restaurant, which is advertised to be open 24/7, 365 days a year.  I'm not sure who gets their car detailed at 3am, but I can imagine people leaving bars are looking for some eats, so that could be a good business decision.  However, it seems that the same 3 people basically run the place (and are there all day long).  That makes me wonder... who is there all night long?

Needless to say, it has provided great entertainment value for my entire department.  Two of my co-workers have had lunch there (well, take-out they brought back to the office).  It was apparently somewhat sketchy to go there, but the food reviews have been positive and the prices are good.  Regardless, I don't plan to eat there.  Ever.

And with a final topic change, I'm looking forward to my friend (and Matron of Honor from our wedding) Colleen's upcoming baby shower!  It will be great to see her since we live so far away from each other, and it will be really fun to celebrate her first baby due to arrive in April.  Here's a picture of us from the wedding in June: