Archive | 8:22 pm

Museum of Sex “Awaken Your Senses” Event

23 Feb

I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the “Awaken Your Senses” event at the Museum of Sex.  It was touted as being a night filled with food and fireman.  Sold!  I invited That Lori of Stuff I Ate to join me.

WARNING: If you are too young or too easily insulted to be reading a post made about an event in a sex museum, please come back tomorrow when I promise more innocent posts will come up (though I can’t promise no cursing).  This also applies to anyone who may get nervous at the site of sculptures of private parts… Oh yeah… you can Where’s Waldo some interesting things in the pictures that follow.

I had been to the museum before (it’s a fun trip) but was excited to see an event they put on.  I was a bit late, so most of the fire fighters were already off of their calendar signing posts.

When we walked in, there was no sign, no greeting… just a table of food and people milling about. I would have loved some direction or a welcome, but we made do.

Funny thing… I wound up focusing so much on the food that I pretty much forgot about the firemen and only got one picture of them in the room!  (You can see the official pictures of the event at this link)

DSCF3747

The first food stop were truffles made by Mimi Truffles.

DSCF3738

This first bite (a spiced chai truffle) was the best thing I ate all night!

DSCF3727

The red velvet ones were pretty damn good too!  (Though they were both more like cake balls than truffles)

DSCF3733

(And made for some fun photography)

DSCF3735

The next set of desserts was brought to us by Michael Allen.  They had quite the spread of truffles, macarons, and other delectables.  I wasn’t overly impressed with this side of the table.

DSCF3739

I LOVE macarons, but these were a bit underwhelming (and the texture just didn’t have the snap that I have come to love for the cooking with the marshmallowy inside and filling)

DSCF3743

The left side of the display (all the way in the top left of the pic below), however, included mini canelés that were awesome.  Simply awesome.

DSCF3741

Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery had a display of wasabi cupcakes (that I avoided like the plague… NOT a wasabi fan) as well as the chocolate explosion bomb thing which was cake and mousse and something.  I was totally underwhelmed.  And obviously I didn’t care enough to photograph it.  So I had to end on a good note and get another chai truffle.

DSCF3750

Lori and I made our way downstairs to go to the bathroom and I had to giggle when I entered. I took EXTRA long and exploded in a fit of giggles as I exited and Lori looked at my quizzically.  How can you not giggle when a sex museum has a chalk board for people to write on in the bathroom?

I even left her a message:

And then she left the world a message:


(It’s true… we do)

Just outside the bathroom is a bar that JUST opened called “Oralfix”

DSCF3764

I liked the lamps…

DSCF3752

It was very modern looking.

DSCF3758

With a menu focused on aphrodisiac flavors.

DSCF3754

I also liked the tip jar…

DSCF3760

We opted for wine (people were milling with drinks that looked specific to the event, but we couldn’t find them… so we bought ourselves each a glass of Sexy Wine Bomb… not awful)

DSCF3761

I can only imagine what these are…

DSCF3766

As we were leaving, we perused the gift shop which included some notable books.

DSCF3768

And some fascinating stuffed animals…  (please… please read the tag and notice how they spell “Rabbit”)

DSCF3770

I wasn’t quite sure what a smoking labbit had to do with sex… then I turned it around…

DSCF3771

And that… my friends, is where I end this post.

Atlanta Nomming: Flip Burger Boutique

23 Feb

I went to Atlanta for work and managed to plan my trip for the week of the most epic snow storm that ever hit Atlanta.  I don’t think I truly understood how bad ice can be in a place that doesn’t usually get it, however, I got out of the train station and was literally trapped.  I couldn’t get down the stairs because it was a ramp of ice.  I wound up climbing through a snow bank.  The entire city shut down amidst warnings on the news to not leave home.  Many of my meetings were cancelled at the last minute, which was a bummer.

It did give me a chance to get to know our Atlanta Sales Rep a bit better, however, and she was kind enough to take me to Richard Blais’ Flip Burger.  (And my Top Chef Sluttiness continues!)

Richard Blais is known on Top Chef for creating edible feats of science.  He uses the techniques of Molecular Gastronomy and is known for being the master of the liquid hydrogen tank on Top Chef.  I think a lot of his artistry gets lost on the show, however, opening up a refined concept centered around burgers and milkshakes worked very well for him.

The menu changes, so this was the offering we had:

 

DSCF3354

Notice the liquid nitrogen milkshakes?  How could I NOT try one of those.


DSCF3355

As for the space, I LOVED it.  It’s long cafeteria style tables with a nifty mural painted on the back and TVs that were framed by old fashioned wooden frames.  Too cool.

DSCF3357

Then the shakes came… Kristen got the Rice Krispy shake, which tasted like liquid rice krispy treats and even had a few on top.

DSCF3358

I went with the nutella and burnt marshmallow shake.  This was sensational.

DSCF3359

The marshmallows tasted just like the best part of camping.

DSCF3360

We split some parmesan zucchini fries.  These were good, but missing some zucchini oomph.

DSCF3362

We also split the pork belly macaroni and cheese.  The pork belly was very good, and I LOVES me some pork belly, however, I think I would have preferred a crispier pork product on this one.  I also thought the little round macaroni was a weird choice.  It just didn’t come together for me.

DSCF3366

Kristen ordered the Korean BBQ burger, which sounded great except it had kimchi on it.  She really enjoyed it.

DSCF3361

My burger was other-wordly.  Usually I would say that most burgers are burgers… and how good could a burger be?  Turns out I like my burgers amped up with special toppings.  It was the Black Diamond Burger with black diamond prime brisket rib eye and short rib x2, roasted mushrooms, onion, brie, and horseradish mayo.  (I went with the smoked mayo instead).  WOW!  A $17 burger CAN be worth it.

DSCF3364

Overall, I was really impressed with this place.  I recommend you stick to the burgers and shakes and skip the sides, however, I’m glad I tried it all.  It was one of the best burgers I have ever had.

Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10