Southern Hospitality

I hate winter. I hate the bitter cold, the dirty slush, the wind whipping up the snow, the added weight and girth of outdoor winter wear, the time involved in donning all said outdoor winter wear, the bare trees, the dirty cars, hazardous road conditions, the racing around involved in avoiding the sub-zero temps and the sheer length of the all around nasty season.

Yeah, I hate winter. So give me a chance to escape it and I'm all in. Add my honey to the mix and I'm even more in, if that is even possible. Time in Atlanta? Sign me up. (And he did!) I left my winter jacket behind with Julia after she dropped me off at Dorval and headed off to some much needed warmth, relatively speaking. After my sweetie's flight arrived, we headed to the hotel; once there, he decided we should do room service, so we settled in to a fantastic indoor picnic. The next day, I was treated to a most excellent surprise - plans had been made for me to enjoy an hour long facial and hour and a half long massage at the hotel's on site spa. Holy smackamoly! I was SO spoiled and drifted back to my room on a sea of complete and utter bliss! The intimate spa is just divine, uses organic products and the service is both warm and professional. If you go, ask for Pamela - she is exceptional at her craft and if I ever win the lottery, I will fly her out to wherever I am weekly! Later that evening, we made our way to the movies and caught a showing of The Artist, a silent, black & white wonder. If you have already seen it, I don't need to explain how good it is. If you haven't yet, you are truly missing a pure gem! Go see it - you will quickly forget that there is no dialogue and be taken in by the story and talent with which it is presented. (Look for the stairway scene - it was our fave!) Later, we enjoyed a late dinner at Rain, a terrific Thai restaurant. We devoured the kai satay and then made our way through their steamed sea bass with ginger, pad thai, and a chicken dish that I cannot remember the name of, prolly due to the raspberry martinis and bottle of wine we also enjoyed! We popped in to the hotel bar for a nightcap before heading upstairs ... and thus ended a truly spectacular day. Thank you, baby!  ❤ 

The following day, after finally hauling out of bed, I ventured out into what the locals dubbed as 'the cold'. (I found that to be really amusing as the whole time we were there, it never got below +7C!) I walked around and explored the area and reveled in 'the cold' of Atlanta. That evening, we decked ourselves out for our traditional 'dress up date', dining at Ruth's Chris Steak House. While I learned that this is a chain of over 120 restaurants located across the US and some international locations, it feels nothing like a link in a chain. Rather, it has the feel of an older, well established steak house. Posh and lowly lit, the place was filled with chattering diners. Once seated, we were treated to a jumbo shrimp starter. The shrimp, almost as big as my head, was breaded and fried crisp; light and perfectly cooked, it was a great beginning to a great meal and a really nice touch on behalf of the restaurant. I then sank myself into a Key Lime martini, sighing happily with every sip. So incredibly rich and delicious, I could have easily saved this to enjoy as a dessert replacement. While sipping on our drinks, we shared an appetizer - two jumbo lump blue crab cakes, sizzling in lemon butter. We then slowly made our way through succulent filet mignon, some fresh asparagus with creamy hollandaise, and an au gratin potato casserole with three cheese sauce. Frank, our server, was both attentive and completely unobtrusive. When we were finally finished with our wine, we decided to share a warm bread pudding with whiskey sauce, which Frank graciously offered us on the house! It was heavenly - light and not overly sweet; the whiskey sauce silky and warm. The restaurant really hit it out of the park and I would highly recommend it!

Sizzlin' Blue Crab Cakes / Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Friday, there was more more exploring, a lil shopping and s'more enjoying of the Atlanta 'winter'. I have said it before and I will say it again - there is nothing like the friendliness of the people of the south. Where else can you find joggers who smile and say 'hi' as they pass you on the sidewalk? I stopped at a red light, waiting to cross the street (yeah, they do that there! Imagine!) ... the people already waiting at the same light turn and smile, 'Hey, how y'all doin'?' You cannot set foot outside anywhere without getting a warm, fuzzy feeling from everyone around you! Dinner that night was at Maggiano's. Pomegranate martinis (ok, so I'm on a kick!), Italian sausage flat bread, Salmon Oscar for me (think salmon on a bed of orzo that has been studded with sun dried tomatoes and asparagus, all topped with a lemon-basil sauce that includes crab meat. Decadently delicious!) and stuffed jumbo shells crammed with crab, goat cheese, spinach and more deliciousness for him. We crowned the evening's meal with their mini dessert sampler - Tiramisu, Crème Brulée, Apple Crostada, New York-style Cheesecake and Chocolate Zuccotto.

Salmon Oscar

All good things must come to an end, they say (Hmm ... what do they say about marvelously fantastic things?) and this one ended much too quickly. We had our traditional stop at Chipotle before heading to the airport to catch our flights. It was an interesting airport experience - the terminal was bursting at the seams with Mary Kay reps, who had just spent 4 days at a convention in the city. Everywhere you looked, there were women made up to the nines and coiffed to the heavens, decked out in black and pink outfits and carrying matching black and pink makeup bags (which were more the size of carry on luggage). 10,000 of them ... everywhere! It was like being on another planet ... a professionally made up, tweezed, and hair sprayed planet! Arriving at Dorval, I was welcomed back into the bosom of a good ol' Quebec January, complete with howling winds, sloppy 'sloche' and the remnants of a snowfall from the days before my return.

Did I happen to mention how much I hate winter?