Weekend visit with the In-Laws

Justin's parents came up for a short visit this weekend. They arrived Saturday just before noon and left around 5:00 or 6:00 Sunday evening. It was a short visit, but a nice one since they haven't seen Justin in several months.

Since the North Georgia Premium Outlets mall was having their Columbus Day sale this past weekend, Justin and I had been planning a trip for a month or so. Luckily, Justin's parents were up for a day of shopping with us. After a quick lunch at the Whole Foods hot food bar in Sandy Springs, we headed to the outlet mall. Once we arrived, we all kind of headed our separate ways, with the occasional "meet-up".

After spending a few hours shopping, we headed back to Atlanta. We detoured at the Perimeter Mall. Brad and Janice are looking for some furniture for their newly renovated house and Justin and I wanted to show them some of our favorite furniture spots.

As we were finishing up at the mall, we all began discussing dinner. Justin and I looked at the online menu for one of our favorite restaurants in Atlanta and decided we would take his parents there. Violette is a great French restaurant down the road from our house. We were a little apprehensive about going to Violette since we realize not everyone enjoys French cuisine. We are really glad we went because Brad and Janice loved it!

Violette Restaurant
(photo source)

Justin ordered the special, which was half of a duck (baked? roasted?) with mashed potatoes and vegetables. He said the duck was incredibly good. I ordered the feuillete aux fruits de mer, which is salmon, shrimp, and scallops in a puff pastry with leek cream sauce served with rice and vegetables. It was wonderful! Definitely some of the best food I've ever eaten. Justin's parents split the bouchee a la Reine, which is a puff pastry filled with chicken and topped with a mushroom cream sauce. It was served with rice and vegetables, too. They also ordered the pommes de terre a l'alsacienne, which was fried pieces of potato with a sour cream, garlic, onion and herb dipping sauce. The potatoes were delicious. Brad and Janice also seemed to really enjoy their entree. For dessert, we ordered two crepe miltons, which is a crepe filled with chocolate mousse and vanilla ice cream. There was some debate about which end of the crepe had the mousse and which end had the ice cream. Three of us were in the dark about this.

After sleeping off the feast from the night before, we awoke Sunday morning, ready to hit the town. We stopped for brunch at Sun in my Belly Neighborhood Cafe. We waited for about thirty minutes for a table, which is typical for brunch in Atlanta. Justin enjoyed the french toast and I had the shrimp and grits (without sausage). Brad and Janice each ordered a scrambled egg pressed panini. After filling up on the tasty food, we headed to Ikea for a little while.

Sun in my Belly
(photo source)

We spent several hours wandering around the store. By the time we finally made it outside, we were a little hungry again. Since we were so close to Flip, we headed there for some milkshakes and french fries. Justin and I shared a shrimp po boyger and an order of fries. Brad ordered a nutella and burnt marshmallow milkshake and Janice ordered a turtle milkshake. They, too, shared some fries. Since Flip opened, Justin has been very curious about their foie gras milkshake. If you're not familiar, foie gras is a fattened duck or goose liver. Justin has had foie gras before and has described it as very rich and kind of sweet, so he was very interested in the foie gras milkshake. He debated it, but finally gave in and ordered it. He loved it! I tasted it and it tasted like a very rich vanilla milkshake with a little caramel. Brad said it tasted like slightly soured vanilla ice cream. Janice declined to taste it, which is understandable.

Flip Burger Boutique
(photo source)

We made a quick trip to Target and headed back home. After spending a few minutes playing with Pete and Annabelle in the yard, Justin's parents packed their bags and headed south. We enjoyed our weekend guests and are glad they were able to visit with us. Pete and Annabelle really enjoyed the extra attention, especially Pete since Brad played "tennis ball fetch" with Pete. I hesitate to call it fetch since she chases the ball and holds it in her mouth. You have to go to her to retrieve it since she won't bring it back to you.