I've got the moves like SkyHawk

The weekend is off to an interesting start.
I took yesterday off from work, a practice I like to do once a month to give myself a three-day weekend and to get some errands done that are harder to do on the weekends.
My plans to get my car serviced went awry Friday morning when I looked at my cat Pollock and realized the left side of her face was swollen. An unexpected trip to the vet's office, where I waited two hours to get in because I didn't have an appointment, resulted in determining she has an abscessed tooth that needs to be extracted. Estimated cost? $375! Yikes. For that price my teeth should be cleaned as well! (The surgery includes a dental cleaning for her. Not sure why, she's doesn't have many left!)
After realizing I was going to be shelling out lots of cash on a cat in a week, I was very glad to get to the opening of RED, the new full-service restaurant inside Philips Arena in Atlanta, home of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team.
My invite last night included tickets to watch the game, which was the Hawks versus the Boston Celtics, and the Hawks won!
My friend Jill joined me for the festivities.

Jill and I at the RED launch

The Ciroc bar at RED

Mixing up yummy cocktails

 The restaurant's launch included a sampling of the menu. I forgot to take photos of about half of the goodies we tried, but here are a few:

Crispy chicken cheese sliders

Shrimp & super lump crab cakes

signature creamy mac 'n cheddar bites

We also got to try the mixed green salad, the burger, the mushroom and cheese flatbread, and a molten chocolate cake. It was all yummy. The mac n' cheddar bites were really good, as was the crab cakes. Those were probably my two favorites.
Jill and I had fun catching up, and got to watch the antics of SkyHawk, a quite acrobatic show during a third-quarter time out. I'm sorry I don't have photos of that!
This morning I was up early for the 10th annual Sprint for Cancer 5K.
I did really well today. Not only did I find 16 cents during the run, I was just off about 30 seconds from my best 5K time this year. Can you imagine how I would have done if I'd just left the dime and six pennies on the ground?!
I realized too late that my silliness at picking up found money cost me precious seconds. Oh well, the piggy bank got fed this week. The funny thing was, there were LOTS of coins I had to leave behind. But let me just say, the place to find found money is around Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody!
I guess I had my own acrobatic moves on the race course, running along and scooping up change.
I've got the moves like SkyHawk!

What I've been eating lately

I do get a lot of fun perks with my job, the least of which is getting invited to lots of restaurants in metro Atlanta. I get to try out new menus, or entirely new restaurants. I've met many chefs and restaurant owners in this city.
So, here is a sampling of what I've been eating lately.
In March, I was invited to Five Napkin Burger in Midtown to a bourbon tasting from the distillery Four Roses in Kentucky. I'm not a traditional bourbon drinker, so this tasting taught me something.
I had my first Old Fashioned, for starters.

An Old Fashioned to start

There were lots of appetizers that came out as we went through the tasting. Here was some tuna tartar.

Tuna tartar

Here were our tasting glasses.

My first bourbon tasting

A few weeks later, I went to the opening of Cocina Asellina in Midtown. I had a wonderful Chianti there and wish I'd gotten a photo of it. There were different appetizer stations in all four corners of the restaurant, with wines paired to go with the appetizers. The Parmesan cheese was paired with a yummy prosecco.

I love Parmesan cheese, especially a good one

There was a white wine that was paired with these prosciutto and olive appetizers, but I can't remember what kind of white wine it was.

Prosciutto and olive appetizers

I want to go back to the restaurant to have a regular meal.
On April 10, I was at the St. Regis Atlanta for the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. John Jacob Astor IV, the founder of the St. Regis hotel in New York, was on Titanic and although his wife and unborn son survived the shipwreck, he did not.
As part of the festivities, sommelier Harry Constantinescu sabered 100 bottles of champagne, supposedly the same type served on the Titanic. If you've never seen a sabering, do.
Here's Harry working hard.

One of the 100 bottles sabered

For lunch on April 12, I revisited the restaurant R. Rice in Sandy Springs. I went there when it first opened, but now it has a new menu, which is heavier on the sushi.
I started with a seaweed salad, which was really good. Sometimes the seaweed salad is overly marinated and this was not.

Seaweed salad

Sashimi lunch

I had a bit of order envy when one of the food bloggers ordered the sashimi lunch. This looked beautiful and she said it was very fresh. I wish I had ordered this instead of what I did, which was the sushi lunch, which was two rolls. I got the spicy tuna roll and spicy yellow tail roll. They were good, but that sashimi looked so good!

My sushi roll lunch at R. Rice

Lastly, I attended the Taste of the Nation at the Georgia Aquarium the evening of April 12. This annual event is part of Share Our Strength, which benefits the charity to end childhood hunger. More than 40 restaurants are represented at the event, with chefs offering up a yummy sampling. There was a lot of seafood at the event. One of my favorites was a grilled scallop and cheese grits. Another unusual dish was a beef and red wine cotton candy. I kid you not. It was really different and good. Wish I'd thought to get a photo of that.
This year we got to keep our wine glasses, courtesy of The Cheetah, which sponsored the wine glasses. That's a wink, wink at this event. The Cheetah is a well-known strip club in Atlanta. I will always smile as I drink a glass of wine from my Cheetah glass now.

My new Cheetah wine glass

 And that's what I've been eating -- and drinking -- lately!

Spring Has Sprung

Spring weather has returned to Atlanta. Unlike the 85 degree weather we had in March and early April, this past week cooled off and this morning's race was perfect running weather.
I ran the Spring Has Sprung 8K with my friend Angela today. I'd never run this race, and, to be honest, I was worried about running 5 miles on my injured leg. But I had laid off running for two weeks, and I didn't have any trouble with the leg today.
It also helped that I ran with Angela, who was nursing her own injury, a badly sprained ankle, so we took frequent walk breaks. I ran about the last mile on my own, as Angela took a longer walk break.

Me and Angela before the race

The course was through Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward and Candler Park neighborhoods. I was telling Angela during the race that I love doing races in various areas because you really get to see the city and its neighborhoods. When I'm driving I have to pay attention to driving and can't enjoy the scenery.
The course had a nice steep hill, but at least the Atlanta Track Club changed the course this year so it was within the first mile, when I have more energy to get up the hill. Angela said last year the hill was between miles 2 and 3. Ugh. I would not have liked that!
Managed to find a nickel on the course (and a dime during yesterday's walk), so the pig has been fed this week.
I've got a lot of 5Ks coming up in the remainder of April and into May. Now is the great running weather for Atlanta, and I plan to enjoy  it.
After all, spring has sprung!