My wife Susan is a foodie and she can really cook. She watches food network shows, makes her own recipes (that are actually good), and reads extensively about the subject. After a less than perfect visit to the Corks and Forks event at Grant Park on August 28th I need a bit of redemption. The Corks and Forks event itself was nice and the food and wine was good too. The problem was more specific to my driving and parking portion of that day's activities. Susan and I never argue, except when I drive. I'm usually driving somewhere and she's telling me how to do it better. You're going too fast! You're going too slow! You need to be in the right lane! Don't tailgate! At Corks and Forks my immediate task was to find a parking space at Grant Park. To my ultimate dismay I offered to let Susan drive and exited the car while looking for a space. Mind you, I was following the advice of a coworker. He and I had previously discussed driving with our better halves and he apparently had the solution. Afterwards I realized that he might have embellished the success of the often discussed but little used You Drive maneuver. This maneuver is usually initiated as such - Here, You Drive! Following my own initiation of the maneuver I stopped, put it in park and exited the car. Susan hopped into the driver's seat and found a great space to park. Good we're here! Nope, not so fast! She sat in the car with the windows rolled up and me still outside the car trying to get her out and calm down. She did eventually get out of the car but the damage was done. The next 90 minutes were spent with Susan saying "you've ruined my day" and me apologizing for my gross error in judgment.
Here are a few images from the event. You might notice in one of the images Susan walking about 100 feet in front of me. At that distance you can't see the steam coming out of her ears.
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| 2011 Corks & Forks |
Fast forward two weeks to Sunday, September 11th. This year Susan and I planned full day of things to do for our anniversary. I even swore off blogging and training for the day. The plan was to wake up, have some breakfast, go to the movies in the afternoon and later on eat dinner at a nice restaurant and see a show with some friends.
We saw the movie Contagion. It was good. After the movie I wanted to stop at Wal-mart for some canned tuna, bottled water, Purell, and shotgun shells. I got a watch battery instead.
After reading a few on-line reviews Susan decided she wanted to go to The Shed at Glenwood for dinner. I might have recommended pizza and a coke at COSTCO but I didn't want to die. Susan made our reservations on-line and we arrived at around 6pm. The weather was great so we decided to eat outside. Our friends, Jim and Susan, accompanied us. It was their idea to go to the Variety Playhouse afterwards. We placed our drink order and looked over the rest of the menu. The area of east Atlanta where the restaurant is located has had a resurgence over the past few years. It sits in a new building on a corner lot amongst new condo developments and new craftsman style single family homes. Susan and Jim ordered the sliders and my Susan and I ordered the shepherd's pie. Our meals came with a choice of two salads, blue cheese wedge or Beet and one of three desserts. I chose the cheesecake. Susan ordered the panna cotta with peaches.
The wedge salad was really good. Blue cheese dressing is often bland but this dressing was full of flavor. The shepherd's pie was hot and delicious with lean and tender chunks of meat covered with mashed potatoes. No veggies. The desserts were good too. The owner gave us a homemade Ding Dong dessert to try. It was the best!!! Definitely go for the Ding Dong dessert! I didn't bring my camera so the owner let me use his cellphone camera and e-mailed me the images. The staff was very good too - knowledgeable but not pompous and attentive but not overly so!
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| Susan with The Shed at Glenwood owner Todd Martin |
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| Shepherd's Pie |
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| Susan B. with her Stella and sliders |
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| Jim B. with his sliders |
Susan and I had a good anniversary.
Thanks for reading.
