There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Orlando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Orlando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Orlando
- Abba
Oh. That Town.
I just got back from six days in Orlando. Officially I was there to attend a conference - the theme of which was "Power your performance!"
Actually, as a side-bar (I need a side-bar feature on happyrobot, eh?) every time I saw the "theme" of the forum I had a very minor panic attack thinking that maybe it had something to do with Tom Cruise and the E-Meter.
Hi. Steak. Uno.
Friday night's dinner was at Del Friscos. I had never heard of this restaurant, but there is apparently a location in NYC. The one in Orlando is the original one.
It was the perfect steakhouse.
Big, red, vinyl booths. Friendly and professional staff.
We started with a half bottle of champagne and the crab cakes. Holy smokes they make some spectacular crab cakes - full of fresh tasting crab meat with a spicy Cajun lobster sauce on top.
Yow!
We were hungry, but not crazy fat guy in Orlando hungry, so next we had our entrees and skipped their salad/soup course. We both had the filet mignon. Yow! They were both perfect steaks. Pink on the inside. Black on the outside and encrusted with some pepper and maybe a few other spices and herbs.
For the sides we had their "chateau potatoes" and their take on the traditional creamed spinach dish. The potatoes were knock-outs - but they also contained our years recommended intake of butter.
It was just one of those dreamy dinners where you get a bit loopy from the food itself. It was one of those dinners where your table seems to be it's own little world.
It was one of those dinners where the waiter caught me on the way out the door to shake my hand again (!) and thank us for coming.
Hi. Steak. Dos.
Monday night I had dinner with one of our vendors. They took us to a place called Charley's where I had some sort of special "not on the menu" filet mignon. They cook their steaks on a wood fire with various types of wood (I think some sort of wood from a citrus tree was mentioned).
The steak was incredible - and very expensive (60 or 70$ I believe (luckily I wasn't paying (also I believe they said the particular cut I had was ranked as the second greatest steak in the US))). Disappointingly, I thought all the appetizers, the sides, and the desserts were average.
OwTown
I don't want to sound like a pro-Orlando person, but I enjoyed the resort place we stayed at. My room was super nice and the staff came in like 20 times a day and changed the towels (via magic since I never saw them).
My bed had 100 pillows and I would leave the curtains open and look at the twinkling lights of the city as I fell asleep.
Then there is the whole convention/forum thing where they run around offering you food and drink and everyone wants to talk to you even if you a lowly cubicle monkey.
Lazy
Did I mention the lazy river? Man, I love me some lazy river.
Welcome back
For all the comfortable aspects of the past (almost) week - it all goes out the window when you get back to a muggy, thunder storming NYC and have to ride the train back from JFK with this idiot woman and her six kids.
Golly they were loud.
Her classic lines included, "If you don't quit, I'm going to slap the shit out of you" and "Be quiet or else I'm going to slap the shit our of you" (the last one being yelled at close to the decibel range of a jack-hammer).
