Food Fest!

This week has been the week of delicious food! I don't think I ate at home once. For lunch I ate at Chin Chin, Eats, Chipotle, and then had a free catered lunch at work. But the best was the dinners. Actually Scott cooked a fantastic steak dinner with mashed potatoes for me one night. Well, for us, not just for me. Then on Wednesday night we went all out. It was Baby Mariah's birthday celebration so where should we go but Trader Vic's. You may think this is some sort of discount Trader Joe's but in reality it is the best Tiki bar in Atlanta! It has real dead pufferfish hanging from its thatch roof ceiling. The walls are lined with wicker type stuff and every glass in the place is festive and adorned with polynesian scenes, easter island heads, or palm trees. We started with appetizers and a kava bowl for the drinkers. In case you wonder, its a big bowl of booze with 4 big long straws. I got a fruit punch that was almost as delicious as the one I had in Malaysia. After that arrived, our 2 egg rolls and crab rangoon showed up. Mmmm, they know how to make an egg roll! I love them. So dinner arrived and it was time for the tipsy gang to get another kava bowl. While part of them wanted a diffeent fancy bowl of booze, they stuck with the sensible thing and got the same kind of liquor so they wouldn't be hungover too bad. The dinner was a bit overpriced as I can get a similar meal at chin chin for half the price, but the prawns were plentiful and delicious. Dennis was getting louder as the kava bowl diminished. Olivia and Mariah were getting silly. Once we finished dinner it was dessert time- bananas foster, creme brulee, and 3 Mai Tais please. I have never had bananas foster and it was pretty good but I was already too full from all of my food. I ate it anyway and man was I stuffed! What a fantastic meal and thanks Olivia for 1) not drinking and driving and letting me be dd, 2) for being awesome and remembering to invite me.

Apparently after I dropped everyone off Olivia and Dennis decided to continue listening to the Smiths and had a mini-dance party. Beers after 2 kava bowls and a mai tai are a bad bad idea. Somewhere in the mix Olivia lost a toenail so if you see a toenail painted black with some frilly designs on it, its hers. She just got her nails did for a wedding she will be attending and she needs the nail back.

Next: Taste of East Atlanta

This was a fun event obviously in East Atlanta. We arrived and bought dollar tickets from Ace Hardware's farmers market (held every Thursday afternoon). Then we began eat-a-rama. We went to Gravity and had a delicious tiny sloppy joe and Ted had wings. Next we were headed to Kasan Red but grabbed a soda from Grant Central (who was doing a fantastic job considering the crowds). Kasan Red had lost their minds by now so we skipped them and headed over to the Holy Taco. DELICIOUS! We both got 2 tacos and I was full. But I had 5 more tickets and I was going to use them! Australian Bakery had an awesome sausage roll (heh heh) but their cookie sucked. 3 more tickets so we stopped for an egg roll at the Thai restairant and smoothies from Slush. Slush also did a wonderful job even though they were very overwhelmed and making smoothies to order instead of just pouring cups of taste samples. To top off the evening we headed over to the Midway. I got a bruscetta type thingy. They forgot to take my ticket so I gave it to Helen to grab a half beer with it. This event was soooo fun and I can't wait to do it again! Hopefully next year will be more organized. My roommate works at Grant Central and he said people are greedy bastards and everyone was stealing tastes and pushing and shoving and acting like vultures so next year you all better behave!

East Atlanta Twister

First let me say that yes, everything is fine with me and my stuff. My friends are all okay and suffered some downed trees but nothing major. Remember how helpless you felt during Katrina and how you wanted to help but couldn't? Well this time I was able to. First I offered my freezer to anyone with perishables. I also frantically cleaned (ish) my house and scrubbed my bathroom in case the power was out much longer and then people could shower and camp at Casa de Lori. This was all for nothing 9except a clean house) because no one took me up on it. Sunday, we formed the East Atlanta Posse and collected 13 or so able and willing bodies and we tackled about 4 trees. We cleared the one blocked Van Epps first. As we were working clearing smaller limbs and trying to tackle the big stuff, the neighbor comes down the driveway and right out to help us in HIS BOBCAT! He had it laying around the back. He also had an extra chainsaw that was of the kickass variety. We next helped a neighbor clear her yard and back door. They didn't have insurance so we got the tree off the roof and made it safe enough to walk around. When we were clearing the tree across Blake and May ave. this tree company truck pulled up. Uh oh, rumble. There were so many vultures out price gouging and ripping people off. But this guy with the Timberwolf Tree Service silently got out, collected his chainsaw, and just set to work. His chainsaw was also of the awesome variety and he kicked much ass with it. His helper was the strongest short man I've ever seen. If you EVER need a tree person, I say try the Timberwolf.

So, the damage is intense and we stayed out of the heavy hit areas because there was so much going on and so many people and news crews and gawkers. It was pretty intense. I'm sore as shit today and glad I helped.