To the Anonymous Blogger that left the "Not So Kind Comment" on my blog
after I went to see Ragtime in NYC over the holidays.....
You might want to see what I've been up to these days....
If you thought what I did in NY was bad wait until you
hear about the day I had today....
Flour Power Joyce.....My partner in crime....suggested we go to lunch
at the
Culinary School at the Art Institute of Atlanta....
Calling for backup in the form of the SantaMaker Rose....just incase we
needed to be baled out of jail....
We arranged to meet at noon....
I got there first.......which is a first for me.....and while waiting for the ladiesto arrive I found my way up to the 5th floor and wandered the hallways taking pictures
There were alot of these glass showcases with all sorts of awards inside.....
Some beautiful cakes on display....Lots of classrooms....
And a cute little cafeteria where the future chefs were taking their
afternoon break....
I decided to find my way into the restaurant and I found a seat near the large floor toceiling windows....in between watching out for the girls to arrive...
I took some photos.....
I introduced myself as being a blogger....
And I chit chatted with one of the students....
Before leaving the house this morning I was thinking about calling and asking
if we could have a little tour of the culinary school
so we could do a post about it....
Who knew this would be frowned upon....
I took a few pictures....Why there were crayons on the table I have no idea as the restaurant is only
open on Thursdays and Fridays....
Not someplace that children would really be coming to....
Someone must have thought it would be a cute idea...
I had gone on the Internet last night to check out the menu soI knew ahead of time that I would be ordering the
Maple roasted half a chicken with mashed potatoes and
French green beans.....
A very nice menu..
They offered soups and salads....sandwiches and a specialty burger...
plus a few entrees...
and ofcourse dessert!
Rose arrived next...then in came my answer to Betty Crocker....
Miss Joyce....with the most fabulous new haircut....
At this point I get up to take a picture of the kitchen
that was behind this huge glass wall....
I Go back to the table....
We then see the instructor slash Dining Room Manager come out....
And the "beef stew" Hit The Fan.....
First she wanted to know who I was and when I said I was just a blogger....
she said..."No...what's your name"....and she said this in not a
"Hey maybe we can become friends since we both like food.".....kind of way....
I said "Sue".......Never give out your last name people.....
At this point I figured that they had my license plate number off the Bug and was
running a check with the DMV.....
I got a lecture about taking pictures and how you can't take pictures without asking
the person's permission.....
Which is understandable but to tell you the truth I was taking a picture of the kitchen
and didn't even think about the people that had their backs to the camera.....
I mean I love cooking and I love food and who wouldn't want to go to
cooking school and we were all excited about being there and this
Chick just took out all the fun.......
What is getting into the world these days that everyone is afraid that your
doing something with bad intentions....
I guess it has to do with that whole ACORN video taping thing.....
But Whatever.....
But then she said it would be fine if we took her photo.....
So we ordered our food each getting something different....
And it went downhill from there....
Now me and daughter have eaten at the Culinary Institute of Americaand believe me this is no CIA......
I mean not even close....
I ordered the chicken....or was that little half bird on my plate a capon?
I have to say the French green beans were good....
There was no taste of maple on the chicken or in the sauce....
No color on the chicken...in person it was very bland looking...
The "mashed" potatoes were actually "smashed potatoes"....
I was corrected when I told the instructor how lumpy they were...
She said they were smashed not mashed and they were suppose to have lumps....
Okay....
I guess that's a great way to cover your butt if they aren't cooked properly....
It gives you a bit of leeway....
And Rose had the burger with Brie and a side of roasted vegetables....Now this is a bad picture and you really can't see the veggies
But believe me you couldn't tell what they were......
Totally unrecognizable....
They were brown little blobs of stuff....overcooked to high heaven....
Rose did say the burger was good....
God Love you Rose....
Then there was Joyce's "Beef Stew"....You know the stuff that hit the fan....
All I can say is that after one bite Joyce actually barked like a dog.....She really did.
Again a bad picture but can you see the burnt carrot in the foreground.....
and those are fingerling potatoes...And let's not even
discuss the meat.....and I use the term loosely.....
Needless to say we convinced Joyce to return the "food" to the kitchen and they
brought her out a cup of soup.....
On to Dessert!!
Rose was having a banner day.....She ordered the peanut butter cookie ice cream sandwich....
Billed as coming with Rum Raisin Ice Cream....
we all tasted it and I swear it had so much ice in it that is was more like
Ice Milk....not ice cream.....
I had the apple streusel with a little dollop of ice cream....Not bad....but nothing special...
A Home Ec class in high school on day one could make this....
Heck....Miss B could make this...
Joyce hit a home run with this baby.....She swore the top was not burnt but you couldn't convince me.....
She did say the sauce was good....
Well...that's a relief....
Did someone trip carrying this from the kitchen?
We all taste tested and the inside was gooey for sure....
At this point we still hadn't been asked to leave the premises....So we wandered the halls.....
And I wandered into one of the kitchens....Hey I couldn't help myself....I love anything stainless...I'm drawn to it like most women
are drawn to diamonds....
Some women like minks and Mercedes....Give me a big ass Hobart Mixer any day...
We continued to wander around and Joyce made sure to ask the guys in this area if
We continued to wander around and Joyce made sure to ask the guys in this area ifshe could take their picture....
So they can't say that we didn't follow orders.....
I asked also and got this cute shot of this guy....
And as we headed towards the elevator......just Three Harmless Housewives....
So they can't say that we didn't follow orders.....
I asked also and got this cute shot of this guy....He actually stopped and posed....picking up the bowl and a ladle to look
totally official....
Then we came to the storage room and I saw big stainless racks filled with
supplies....
I thought it would make a nice picture for the blog....
I asked if I could take "it's" picture....
I was starting to feel like the
"Food Paparazzi"...
I was waiting for Sean Penn to jump out from the storage freezer and break my camera...
The head chef guy had to be called in for this request.....Are these people kidding....
He said yes.....but he wasn't happy about it.....
So it was time to leave....
And as we headed towards the elevator......just Three Harmless Housewives....Two from the Burbs and one from the Big City
and Three very Dangerous Bloggers....
We were Stopped.....
By Security.....
Rose probably thought at this point that she wished she never knew us.....
Someone had called security to find out......
As the Security Guard put it...
"What is the Nature of your Business".....
Joyce spoke up first and said...."What do you think we're from a magazine or something"....
I spoke up second....
"Oh we're just three crazy housewives who came here for lunch...and now we are leaving"....
Rose being the smartest of the three of us said Nothing......
But when the Boss heard security was called he said it best.....
"We are all here from the "Culinary Institute of Hoboken" We are opening a branch
in Marietta and wanted to scope out the competition".....
And So another day of fun comes to a close.....
Wouldn't you all like to have a Joyce and a Sue to go to lunch with....??
You might not want to ask Rose about that
