The Abditory

I had a couple of days off from work thanks to 2009 making its way onto the scene. We decided to take advantage of them.

For new year’s eve, we headed out to Medieval Times for dinner and a show. We’ve been to similar shows, but not this one specifically. The show was fun, and the food was messy (no utensils), good, and plentiful.

One thing we noticed is that people really drink at these things. Perhaps it’s the renfest/SCA flair to it, but it seemed like about half the crowd was incredibly inebriated by midway through the show. They served beer in giant glasses (I believe they were 50oz?). I opted for the smaller 20oz size, which was enough for me to enjoy it but not enough for me to buy a pair of tights and join in the fun.

Speaking of tights, I was amazed at how many people attended in costume. We saw quite a few folks garbed in period dress and speaking with fake accents. All part of the experience I suppose.

After the show, we went to get our picture taken (it was part of the package). Apparently we were supposed to do this beforehand but the directions given us by the cheerful wench working at the ticket booth were vague at best. When we went to the photographer, she asked us if we cared that it wouldn’t be with the king from our show.

No, I’m sorry, it needs to be the exact king we just saw. We care that much. Really.

Afterwards we just headed home and watched NYC ring in the new year on TV while I sipped on adult beverages that didn’t cost me $8 per cup.

Today we slept in, recovering from the night before, and headed over to REI to browse, then to Agnes and Muriel’s for a late lunch.

We went to the city to try to find lucky new year’s food: black eyed peas, collard greens, etc. We also wanted to find coffee, which apparently wasn’t meant to be. We sat in the parking lot of a closed Octane and scoured the AJC for some food options. We found Agnes and Muriel’s, a lazy little brick house on Monroe that met our one requirement: they were open. We got there around 3:30, which was too late for their new year’s day brunch. They were only serving from their dinner menu. All the food was amazing, if a bit overpriced for what you get.

The staff is clearly proud of their food. Our server brought us “sweet tea”, a staple at any place claiming to serve southern food. It looked like dirty water and didn’t taste much better. It was extremely weak and hardly sweet at all. We didn’t comment on it, and instead just assumed tea wasn’t their strong suit and moved on. Oddly enough, our server came out and brought us new teas without being prompted, stating, “somebody let the northerner make the tea, this should be better. I told him to get away from that pot!” The second pass was much improved.

The black eyed peas and collards were classically southern. Our server (who I guess is also one of the cooks or owners?) asked how they were and mentioned that he had made them at home and brought them in. The meatloaf was some of the best I’ve tasted. I asked how they seasoned it, and he went on for several minutes about the entire meatloaf process that he has created. His ode to meatloaf included the words “soaked”, “boiled”, “fried”, and the phrase “several days”. It also included lots and lots of bacon. I’ve never heard of such a complicated process for meatloaf. Of course, my question was about the seasoning, which was never answered. I was amazed by the pride with which he rattled off his process. I swear I thought he was going to pull out his wallet and show us pictures of meatloaves from days gone by.

I had shrimp and grits. There were only five shrimp, which was disappointing (especially for the price) but they were large and quite good. To be honest, the grits were the highlight. They were phenomenal, a word I’ve never ever used to describe grits.

Afterward, we headed out to a spontaneous movie, Yes Man. It was about what I expected. It wasn’t the funniest movie I’ve ever seen, but balanced out the incredibly sad Marley & Me that we saw the other day. Apparently I wasn’t the only one affected by that movie.

Tonight I’m trying to help get things straightened out here for our friends’ visit tomorrow evening. It’s been non-stop action for several days now, but I’m not complaining! Maybe the weekend will be restful.