Ria's Bluebird

Today is the last day of the conference that I came to town for, so after attending a last session this morning, my husband and I headed over to Cabbagetown for brunch at Ria's Bluebird before visiting  Oakland Cemetery. (We have weird ideas of "fun," I suppose.)

I ordered a "fat stack" of buttermilk pancakes (three pancakes).

Also: a homemade sausage patty and skillet potatoes.

Cuts Steakhouse

Still being in Atlanta, Georgia, until Sunday, my husband and I decided to have a very good dinner at Cuts Steakhouse this evening. (All this fine dining is difficult!)

I tried the goat cheese risotto fritters.

Of course my husband ordered the special bacon appetizer.

My husband ordered one of the specials, a steak with crab.
He was a very happy camper.

I had the lamb burger, which came with a side of fries.

I also ordered the pimento mac & cheese. (Because I love
mac & cheese. Apparently I'm still 12.)

Alma Cocina

I attended a meeting at a regional affiliate organization related to the international writing center conference this evening, after which a massive group of us (well, maybe about 20 of us) headed out to dinner at Alma Cocina.

Several of us shared this appetizer, which was my favorite
part of the meal: fried Chihuahua cheese with salsa Verde.

This was part of the salsa and guacamole tasting: chips and
fried plantains.

Quite a few of us also ordered the Masa fried Mississippi
catfish, which came with yellow Indian woman beans and
charred corn.

Fandangles

I'm in Atlanta, Georgia, for a conference, with my husband is tow. We arrived in town this afternoon, so after cooling off in our hotel room, we headed downstairs to one of the hotel restaurants, Fandangles, for dinner. I admit that our primary motivation for staying put was the weather: mugginess and heavy rain after a long day of travel made us lazy. I'm also not usually a fan of hotel restaurants - they're not bad, the food gets the job done (to so speak), but I prefer trying new places outside the hotel. That said, tonight's dinner was very good.

My husband and I shared a wedge salad.

We also shared some smoked chicken spring rolls...

...and the hummus sampler. (My husband, good
man that he is, ate most of these appetizers.)

I had the grown-up's grilled cheese sandwich, which came with
2-3 types of cheese, bacon, and basil; a cup of excellent
tomato soup, and fries. This was outstanding.

T. G. I. Friday's

By dint of not being able to get seats on a flight back to Salt Lake City, my husband and I spent New Year's Eve in Atlanta, Georgia, this year. No one really wants to spend New Year's Eve in an airport, and we were rather worn out from our 12-hour flight from Rome, but extremely grateful that we got seats at all (we got two of the very last seats available on the plane; stand-by can be very exciting), so while we considered our options, we had dinner at one of the several T.G.I. Friday's at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

I'll note that we had had a truly wonderful time in Rome and had eaten extremely well, but we had had a bit too much pizza and pasta - we found few alternatives during our stay, although I'm sure we could have looked harder - and we very nearly didn't get seats on the only flight from Rome to Atlanta that day. (There tend to be few international flights, in this case exactly one to an airport that would offered a transfer back to Salt Lake City.) I'll also note that it's been several years since I've been to this particular chain - it's not one I seek out - but partly because I was so delighted to be back on American soil and eating something that wasn't Italian food, I enjoyed this meal probably much more than I would have otherwise.

Because it was New Year's Eve, I said to heck
with it all, and got a mojito. I like mojitos and
I drink alcohol extremely rarely, but again:
New Year's Eve! In the proper country!
One of the last available seats on the only flight
from Rome to the U.S.  that day! So, mojito time.

We shared a three-for-all appetizer plate, which came with
loaded potato skins, pot stickers, and boneless buffalo wings.

I was itching for a burger, so I ordered the New York
cheddar and bacon burger.

Goldberg Bagels

Our flight home to Salt Lake City was a bit of a mess; bad visibility brought on by snow in Allentown caused our flight to be delayed for four hours, which meant my husband and I missed our connecting flight in Atlanta. There was one last flight of the night from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, and although we were at the top of the standby list, there was only room for one of us, so I sent my husband on ahead.

This meant that I was stuck in the airport overnight - a 10-hour wait. (I was not offered a hotel voucher, and I had to ask for food vouchers. GRUMPY.)

In any case, with my dinner voucher ($8), I bought two Auntie Anne pretzels (protip: they do not hold up well once they get cold), and with my breakfast voucher ($6), I went to Goldberg Bagel, the only place nearby that was open all night. (To be fair, the McDonald's a few gates down only closed for two hours, between 3 and 5 a.m.).

I...do not recommend bagels from a place that stays open all night.

I bought a sesame bagel that was so stale, I
nearly cut myself eating it.  And the lox cream cheese
did not taste like anything - even cream cheese.

I also ordered a brownie,
which tasted very mildly chocolatey.

Freshens

Because there are no direct flights from the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, where my parents live, and Salt Lake City, a suburb of which my husband and I live, whenever we fly to see my parents, there's a layover involved, usually along the lines of Denver, Detroit, or Atlanta. On our way home from our visit during Christmas, we changed planes in Atlanta, right at about dinner time.

We were neither of us especially hungry, but it's an approximately four-hour flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, and we thought it prudent to eat before we boarded the plane. A gate or two down was Freshens, which serves yogurt, smoothies, and crepes.

I got the very good Strawberry Oasis (which didn't lend itself to being photographed): a strawberries and juice smoothie that was low-cal and had no sugar added.

My husband got the chicken caesar crepe, 

which I didn't sample, but which looked pretty good.