Atlanta Trip Report Day 1

We thought we will take a break on blogging about recipes and such — and will instead blog for the next two weeks of my business trips to Atlanta and London. There’s going to be a total of 34 hours of flying time in all! However, so not to turn off our blog readers, I will continue to blog about food.

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So, for the next four days, I will be in Atlanta, Georgia. You know what I hate most about going to the States? It’s getting thru US customs and immigration. Those guys have a perpetual scowl on their face. Treats everyone as either potential illegal immigrants or terrorists, if you ask me. Why, while queuing up to clear immigration, there was this young woman with her cute 5-year girl ahead of me. The little was bubbly and tried chatting with the immigration officer. You know what happened? The immigration officer upgraded his scowl to a growl — poor girl.

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I have always been proud to live in best city in the world (OK, the 3rd best city in the world this year but for a long time we were No 1). It’s so beautiful. We have everything within minutes from downtown — the sea, the mountains. The setting is just beautiful. Vancouver is about the only place in the world where you could sail, golf and ski on the same day.

In the foreground is the University of British Columbia. In many other cities, this piece of land would have been prime real estate but no, the forefathers of Vancouver had the foresight to reserve this for an university. Unless you are a Vancouverite, I bet you don’t know that there is a nudist beach right smack in the university. Never been there because they insists on fair-play.

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Longhorn Steakhouse in Atlanta

Take the bull by the horns.
~ Russian Proverb

In my last night in Atlanta before I return to Vancouver, a few of my project team members finally told ourselves that we should just go out for a nice meal in a restaurants a block away from our hotel. Shahdad wanted Mexican while Rob fancies steak. I was the vote breaker … I chose steak.

I heard so much about the Longhorn Steakhouse this entire week here and was told that there is a long line up most of the nights. So, we decided to give that place a try. We went at a right time because although there were five parties ahead of us, we were seated in just 10 minutes. Hmmm … good start.

The Longhorn Steakhouse has a string of restaurants in the 24 east coast states from Maine to Florida. There are 14 Longhorns just around Atlanta itself. The interior is very western with longhorns, horse shoes, cowboy stuff and whatnots adorning the walls. The service was very prompt and very friendly.

The night started with sourdough bread (or at least I think it is sourdough!) and butter. The bread was warm and felt like it’s just fresh out of the oven. It was served on a wooden platter with a sunken cup for the butter. It was a great start.

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Next came the salad. Nothing fancy except that the plate was huge. We agreed that this salad alone is good enough for dinner. I like this.

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I ordered the Flo’s Filet and Grilled Shrimp. The waitress recommended the Flo’s Filet saying it’s their most asked for selection. The Filet/Shrimp was served with rice and chipotle range sauce. That dish costs $20.49. I also order a side of Fresh Asparagus at $3.49.

The prawns were really nice with the chipotle sauce. I took that and the asparagus first — yummy! The Flo filet is a 7oz fresh tenderloin cooked to medium rare. I did not touch the rice much because I was really full.

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United Airlines Snackbox

A good meal ought to begin with hunger.
~ French Proverb

On my flight to Atlanta, I thought I try out United Airlines’ Snack Box even though Suanne packed some snack for me. It has been a while since most airlines had discontinued free inflight meals even for long haul flights. On United’s flight over 3.5 hrs, one could purchase United’s snack boxes for USD $5 each — they accept only cash. United has choice of four different types of snack boxes. Click here for their selection. I wanted something a bit salty and cheesey. I opted for the Mini Meal Snack Box.

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The boxes were shrink wrapped. I was pretty surprised by the content. It was packed pretty tight and had a very good selection.

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