Atlanta part 3

Currently craving: lunch!

My sister wanted to plan a fun girls evening for her, my mom, and me, so she took us to an event called "Martinis and IMAX" at the museum of natural history in Atlanta. The museum is gorgeous and driving up it really looks like a perfect wedding venue. My sister mentioned that they held the "med school prom" there one year.

We picked a movie about polar bears in the arctic and picked martinis to go with the movie. Afterward, we went downstairs where there was a DJ and swing dancing. It really was Gatsby-esque, and I was sad Charlie wasn't there to dance with me.


And from outside:

(No cute ones of them, just dinosaur ones of them).

The next day Charlie was supposed to pick me up but had too much work to do, so I called his cousin Jason to hang out. I wanted to give my mom and sister some alone time, since I live a mile away from my mom and my sister lives across the country!

Jason and I went to get some drinks and even had pickle backs with some friends he ran into. Pickle backs are whiskey with pickle juice. Sounds gross but they are delicious!



(these were pretty big shots!)

The next day we met Charlie halfway and had dinner all together. I somehow didn't get a picture, shock!

Once I got back to base, it was only a few days before we went to Lake Martin, posts coming soon, but first I must backtrack even more!

Atlanta part 2

Currently craving: honeydew melon, even though I just ate three slices. Also, the Big Bang Theory. I haven't watched it in about a month and I am craving an episode! Maybe when I'm done blogging I'll see if I can find an episode to watch online.

The night we stayed at my sister's house, she and her boyfriend Jason (Jay-z), randomly brought up the fact that they walk every single night, and that there are lots of dogs in their neibhorhood. They decided they would offer to walk their neighbors' dogs, since they walk anyway, and Jason LOVES dogs. We were joking that it was their new business venture, and Jason started working on an actual flier.

Tell me that's not hilarious - he made up an e-mail for it!!

Odge must have a friend in their neighborhood who saw the posting because Jason got this e-mail:

I live in Las Vegas.
Can you walk me and my brother and sister?
My owners will testify to the fact that I am not at all obstinate, know how to turn right and also turn left and I will never run away and hide when you come to pick me up for walks.
I am interested in hiring your service for the week of October 20th.  Please can you check your calendar and let me know if you are available?
Licks and barks,
Odge

And Post Dog Walkers response:

Dear Odge,

Thank you for your interest in Post Dog Walkers Inc. For a dog, you have a remarkable grasp of technology, e-mail, and English, and we have no doubt that you will succeed in Post Dog Walking Academy.

Licks and barks, Post Dog Walkers  

Hehe, cracks me up every time. The reason for going to Atlanta besides seeing my sister was for a conference through the Center for Israel Education. Well, my mom picked awful timing to share these e-mails with me. It was literally during a lecture about the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and I had to try so hard not to crack up out loud.

My sister and Jason dropped us off at the hotel on Sunday morning:



The conference was A-MAZ-ING. Seriously, amazing. Not a detail was left behind. It was so well run, and the content was so intense, overwhelming, and amazing. At several points my mom looked at me and said "for all the years dad has been trying to explain so and so to me, I finally get it". She specifically said this concerning the Israeli political system.

There was food at the conference ALL THE TIME.  Breafkast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, evening snack. There was also always a line up of coffee, sodas, and fruit from which you could choose. The food was amazing - different every day and really gave me some ideas for future meals once I have regular access to a kitchen again: chicken stuffed with mushrooms and spinach, halved tomatoes with tuna salad, tofu kababs, chicken "breaded" with pecans and a peach sauce, and on and on! I loved it. Here is some stuffed whole fish I had:

The white stuff is white asparagus, not slimy french fries!

And here is another delicious meal:

That was salmon with mango sauce and I definitely took a few bites before remembering to snap a picture!

One of the mid-afternoon snacks was a watermelon and feta salad! If you remember my post about my mom's creative cooking, you may recall that one of the salads she makes is this exact one, but she adds mint. There wasn't much left by the time I got to it so it doesn't look appetizing, but trust me, it was delicious.


I didn't really get to take too many pictures while there so that's all I got.

The first day of the conference, we ran into a woman named Felicity who my mom somewhat recognized, and they realized they both moved to Israel from South Africa around the same time and lived on kibbutz together. Felicity was wonderful and has a niece who blogs as well, and I had just told Felicity about chia seeds when we pulled up Cara's blog and saw a post about them! Cara's blog is http://eatdrawlive.com/ - Jessi, follow this, they have a lot of paleo stuff!



It was wonderful for my mom to reconnect and she even picked up some of her old South African sayings such as "put on my costume" instead of bathing suit. I definitely lol'd at that one.


Two of the main leaders of the conference with the Adelson teachers.

When we exhaustedly finished the conference on Friday afternoon my sister picked us up and we went to pick out her bridesmaid dress. We ran to trader jos (oh how I have missed you) and even got some burrata cheese! Burrata cheese is essentially mozarella, one stage before, so it is very creamy in the middle. I made a mini little sandwich


My sister has been dabbling in cooking and made a savory bread pudding:


Recipe adapted from here.

More on the Atlanta trip in the next post, I don't want to bore you to death in one post, so I decided to split it up. Speaking of splitting things into trilogies, I have not read nor do I intend to read the 50 shades trilogy. I heard that not only are they poorly written and beyond awful, but that the books don't "end"; as if the author wrote one long book and arbitrarily split it into three thinking "I can make more money this way". Well ha! I just 50 shades of grey'd my long posts about atlanta into a trilogy. I'm sure I was much more enticing.

Let's back up two weeks: Atlanta part 1

Currently craving:  a body pump class with Jessi!

I've fallen off the wagon. I think blogging is like working out - when I'm into it I am so good but when I fall out of it, I struggle to get back into it. Yes I have had spotty internet access, but I have a confession: I fell off the wagon.

The week leading up to the 22nd of June I spent with Charlie's dad and step-mom Pat. I came back on Friday and we were supposed to go to Atlanta but decided to leave the next morning. We went to see The Avengers on base that night (for those not familiar with military bases, it's my understanding that most have a movie theater). The movie was good but I hadn't seen or really known the backstories of any of the characters. A few days later I watched Ironman 1 and 2 and LOVED it. New favorite superhero. Maybe. I do love the x-men.

I will blog soon about the week at Charlie's parents and even about meeting a house broken goat! That's right. I'll also include a recipe of some citrus jam cookies I made up. But for now, let's look at our weekend in Altanta.

We drove out on Saturday morning with a bunch of guys and a few wives from Charlie's flight. We went to lunch at a chicken n waffles place called Gladys and Ron's chicken and waffles, and Charlie's cousin Jason met us there. I have never had chicken and waffles and really have no interest in trying it.

I know, sue me.

Lunch was very good besides my meal arriving AFTER everyone else had finished. But then I had the most delicious peach cobbler - if you go to this restaurant you must try it.

After lunch we went downtown to go to the aquarium and coke factory. Charlie and I were meeting my mom and sister that evening, and we wanted to go and see Uncle Will (Charlie's Uncle from his mother's side), and his family, so we chose one and if you know me at all of course we chose the Coke Factory.






yummmmmmmmm



There was a chance to get a picture with the polar bear.

The polar bear commercials are my favorite, especially the one with the penguin party!! I can now officially say that the coca cola polar bear has flirted with me, tee hee!



We tasted the different coke products from around the world and Charlie made sure I didn't buy anything. Afterward we went over to Lawrenceville to visit with the Perrys. We got there a bit before they came back from a vacation so Charlie went and got a haircut while I had a starbucks. I noticed that starbucks had a new coconut lime frozen drink, but unfortunately it was after I already had mine. I haven't seen it again to get it, since it's only at "limited locations".

We had a great visit with Uncle Will and Aunt Jackie, as well as their kids Jackson and Emily (Happy 16th birthday, Em!). Charlie may or may not have backed into Uncle Will's mailbox. We are driving a jeep while we are here and it's really nice but the blindspots on it are awful (or maybe Charlie forgot to look back). Crossed that off our list for future cars. Charlie now knows the price of every single mailbox. While we were driving in a different neighborhood the other day he said "oh wow these mailboxes are expensive".

After the visit we met up with my mom, sister, and Jason (my sister's boyfriend) at the Yard House at Atlantic Station. Charlie's cousin, Jason is the manager so we got to see him too. Due to the two Jason scenario, and not wanting to call my sister's boyfriend "Adva's Jason" or "Chinese Jason" (his family moved to the US from China when he was 5), we have officially dubbed "Adva's Jason" Jay-Z, since his last name begins with Z.


Charlie and Jason


"Jay-z", Charlie, and Jason, and a great "dessert trio" in the middle of the table.


Mom and daughters


Sisters and the men in our lives.

We stayed at my sister's that night and had a great time hanging out and laughing. My sister and Jason....Jay-z, excuse me, are adorable.

Oh, and here is Charlie looking up mailboxes online while Jason is coming up with his new business idea, to be posted about in part 2.

Welcome Elsie Anne!

Where have I gone?
To a land where internet is scarce. I promise posts soon. With pictures.

Let me sneak a quick one in.
Cravings: the two batches of cookies I'll be making later, and a movie night out with Charlie. Also, a white chocolate kit kat. I'm sort of sensing a theme.....

But for now let me say, MAZAL TOV/CONGRATULATIONS to my dear friend Jaren Rabe, her husband Roger Rabe, and little Clara Rabe (our flower girl fyi), on the birth of their second daughter Elsie Anne. Love you already E-Anne.



She looks like Clara. I think.

A hotel room meal

Cravings: a real meal, not a sandwich! When you're living in a hotel room, most of your meals are sandwiches. Ughhhhh.

Disclaimer: I wrote this about 5 days ago but could not post it due to no internet access.

These posts are going to be very all over the place since so much has happened and my connection is so spotty. I have many pictures and do not remember the order of everything, especially since half are on my camera and half are on my iphone!

What I do know is that last Friday I decided to make chicken in the microwave. Charlie's flight was grilling but we wanted to go see The Avengers (base movie theater was showing it), so we didn't have time to grill. The result was mediocre, but mostly due to lack of seasoning. The chicken actually cooked decently.

I bought a package of chicken "tenders" - basically breast strips w/o fat or skin chopped into thinner slices.

The recipe can be found here.

Along with my microwave chicken, I had a salad. 

Charlie made the point that I don't have to buy all of my salad ingredients and prepare them myself, but that we live in a country where they actually do that for you. Wow, I have been overworking myself! I bought one of those salads that has all the ingredients in little pouches, and it was delicious! All I needed was a fork and bowl. And my mouth.

Look everyone - I need my scissors, I am so happy I brought them! (For other things you may need when living in a hotel room, please reference this post).

I also had a brown rice microwavable packet. You literally just open the container and microwave for one minute. I usually buy these at trader jos or costco, but found these at the commissary and they were great as well.

I hope if you are living in a hotel room, that this meal has given you some inspiration to eat something more than a sandwich! It can be done :-)