Like a good neighbor...

...Aimee was there. One of the other residents in our building (who also happens to be a resident at Emory) asked us if they could borrow a couple of eggs to make some cookies. It occurs to Aimee that never before has she had the chance to do such a neighborly deed. She relished the opportunity and handed over two very brown, very cage-free, very salmonella-free eggs.

No borrowing was required for our tasty dinner on Saturday night. We made horseradish encrusted salmon. It was very simple: salt and pepper the fish then top with a mixture of

bread crumbs, EVOO, a healthy dollop of prepared horseradish. Then bake until done.

And what goes better with some salmon than a small glass of Corzo Tequila (compliments of the Castillo's) -- served neat of course. I don't know really. I think that's right.

On the topic of visits...

1. I told Megan we were evaluating yet another brunch spot so that we would fully know the lay of the land when she comes to visit. Sunday's brunch this time was at Einstein's (not the bagel place). We were quite pleased with the fried green tomato eggs benedict and the banana pancakes were pretty good too. Anyway, we're hoping it works out for her to visit us over Columbus Day!
   
   
2. In other visit news, a really nice note arrived from Fr. Tom this week. It made us realize that we need to figure out a time to get up to Chicago to visit our friends and neighbors from the north. So we're pretty seriously looking at October 15th-17th to head up there. Thanks for the note Rev -- it was wonderful to hear from you!
   
   
3. Found out my parents are coming down for a weekend in September (the 17th weekend). We are super excited to have visitors and show them around Atlanta a little more than last time (when we basically just got lost all the time).

A few more plugs before I go [to bed]:

• Friday's dinner was at a place called Farm Burger in Decatur that specializes in grass fed beef and locally sourced ingredients. They had a lot of great creative options and we both loved it! One -- we'll call it an observation -- but there were a lot of kids there. It kind of felt like a McDonald's for yuppies at one point.
• Sunday night we ate at Thai Chili and we both got a curry which was very nicely done. I will likely go back.
• No hyperlink for this one. The aforementioned cookies, straight from the oven, were delivered to our door 30 minutes later. They were phenomenal. I guess being a good neighbor goes both ways. Too bad they already had sugar; surely there was a witty Outkast quip lurking in there somewhere...

Staying Busy in Atlanta

Happy Sunday all! This past week I was in Austin for a few days visiting my colleagues and the client there. Good trip but man it was hot. They should work "Hot" into the name for Austin and leave Atlanta to be something like "Humid-lanta" because that's all it's been lately. (Do any actual Atlantans use the exonym Hotlanta?)...

Let's see where to start... here's the latest family picture with Aimee and me sporting our new Emory t-shirts. On Friday night, donning our collegiate gear, we went to La Fonda Latina (umm, it's a restaurant). We had some great Cuban/Latin fare. I highly recommend.

Thought I'd share this cute picture of Crowley. As a reminder, all of our Atlanta pictures are on our Picasa site.

In shopping news, several fun purchases were made! We went to Atlantic Station and hit Banana Republic and Ann Taylor Loft. Aimee got some nice new work clothes on sale. And I.

I finally got a Blu-Ray player! I had it all picked out at Best Buy but ended up going through Amazon -- it was hard to ignore the price difference. Despite some warnings that Atlantic Station is fast becoming "thugged out", we made it through. Nice area really!

Brings us to today which started with a trip down to the Old Fourth Ward for brunch Highland Bakery. We got ricotta pancakes with blueberries and a breakfast BLT -- great start to the day!

From there we finally got to the Atlanta Botanical Garden adjacent to Piedmont Park. Couple things. One is that they have been plugging this canopy walk, inviting us to "tip toe along the treetops". I'd say they rounded up on that description. Here's a better one: "we've created a new walkway that is long enough to not be considered a ramp but short enough to not serve any real purpose except drum up business". I guess I was just underwhelmed. The rest of the gardens were great though. We saw no fewer than two carnivorous plants (Venus Flytrap pictured below), a beautiful conservatory of rare orchids, and waterlillies that appeared as if they were placed by an artist's brush.

Mass at IHM at dinner at Shorty's with Michael was a great close to the weekend. Their baked potato and bacon pizza was a fond reminder of our trips to East Lansing to Georgio's pizza. Have a great week all!

p.s. for those who mistakenly thought Aimee was at Old St. Pat's this weekend, she'd like you [Wes] to know that she is updating her Facebook privacy settings.

Weekend Update

Another weekend is coming to a close. It started out with a piano lesson and then dinner at Bhojanic for some Indian. We order the Pani Puri and it was delicious and nice to do something other than the usual Chicken Tikka.

Saturday we had Aimee's colleague, Daniella, and her husband and little Noah over for dinner. It was so nice to have people over. In fact, we even re-arranged the furniture to commemorate the event. Surprised? Many likely are not. Dinner was balsamic roasted chicken, compliments of the Giada cookbook, served with garlic basil pasta and steamed broccoli.

A few pictures below include Daniella (with her chocolate cake, whipped cream frosting, and fresh berries), Matt with their little boy Noah, and Noah himself, checking out Crowley's bed (cross-reference post on Aug 9).

Speaking of Crowley, she had quite a weekend. It included a trip to Gotham Park (which is the park near us) and a trip Sunday morning to the new dog park at Piedmont Park. She loved it and it's huge there -- plenty of room for the happy little dogs, and the big mean dogs to co-exist. Anyway, she does this thing where she bellies up to the water dish and just drops her face in it, ostensibly out of pure exhaustion but it's adorable.

Mass this Sunday was at Christ the King for the Feast of the Assumption. And since it was the Cathedral, they served it up with all the fixin's (extra incense and what appeared to be more clergy). Aimee sang with the group and I played the piano for the psalm (this part was unexpected but super kind of the director). I hope it was suitable. We're really enjoying seeing how other churches operate with respect to music. Overall, a very hospitable group with great musicianship. Off to Austin this week for me...

A couple random thoughts and updates

I guess this is partially what a blog is for anyway right? First things first, my "T" key is experiencing about a 60% fail rate right now so please excuse any awkward mis-spellings.

Couple updates on the weekend. We went to Antico for some pizza napoletana. I was more than impressed with the fact that their website uses the .it top-level domain so I knew it was going to be special. It was. Phenomenal pizza in a very unique environment. As you can somewhat see in the picture, the seating is in the kitchen. Freshly made pizzas come out on those industrial strength cookie sheets and you eat wherever you can find a spot.

Saturday night we met up with Megan's cousin Bobby for some Thai at Surin of Thailand. Always great to spend some time with Bobby. If there's any chance in the world that I end up here, we can thank Bobby.

Sunday's mass brought us to IHM and then to the directors' home for a fabulous dinner with some new friends. What great people. I got a text from Fr. Tom that our ears should have been burning that night; it was mutual as we were telling our hosts about how Tom has inspected our lease to ensure it is, in fact, only 12 months! We're very blessed to have found a great parish in IHM. Jeff, Michael, Noah, Shannon, and Nimalie -- thanks!

That said, we're also pretty excited about meeting the group at XRex (Cathedral of Christ the King) too. Aimee thinks we're "two timing" but we're really just taking the opportunity to find the right place. More to come.

This week is a normal week of work for Aimee and me. Friday I have a piano lesson. I've found a great teacher at Emory in Dr. Laura Gordy. I love being able to take lessons again! Currently studying: Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 10, no. 2; Chopin's Nocturne in F minor Op. 55, no. 1; and a few pieces for piano and soprano by Fauré.

In closing, before I go watch Entourage with Aimee, here's an especially cute picture of Crowley from a couple days ago: