A Drink Called "Beverly"

I took my kids down to the World of Coca-Cola today. (When you live in Atlanta, there's all sorts of fun stuff to do.)

We met up with my college roommate, her daughter, and one of my best friends (who happens to be the sister of my college roommate) and her kids. All 10 of us traipsed through WOC - it was a blast! (The 3 grown-ups were reminiscing about the LAST time we had all been to the World of Coke, and realized it had been back when we were in college.... needless to say, a long, LONG time ago. )

The World of Coke Museum has since relocated to a new (and VERY nice) building, and it's just Da Bomb. I don't even really LIKE Coke, to be honest (shocking for an Atlantan to admit, I know.... I can't help it though... I'm a Mountain Dew Girl), but I really enjoyed the WOC. We spent close to 3 hours there. There really is so much to do; the Grand Finale of the tour is, of course, the huge "tasting room" where you get to taste literally dozens of Coke products from all over the world (most of which are not available in the U.S.).

My favorites were the Latin American beverages. There was one from Paraguay that tasted like Guava (yum), one from Chile that was really good, and one from Mexico that was yummy too. There was also a Mango one from some Latin American country (Belize, maybe?) that was really tasty too.... I'm still buzzing from all the sugar.

The African sodas were weird. Not really bad, just weird. There was one that was bright yellow and was called Pine Nut soda (?!?)

The European ones were OK, except for an Italian one called "Beverly". Beverly tasted like licorice, but more bitter. After awhile, my kids and I just enjoyed watching the faces people made after they sampled "Beverly". Some of their faces were priceless. (Where is "Candid Camera" at times like this???)

We finished off the day with a late lunch at another Atlanta institution: Mary Mac's Tea Room. Not really a "tea room" per se, but a classic Atlanta eating establishment where you're given a little white slip of paper and a pencil, and you write down what meat and veggies you want to eat. The portions are ridiculously huge, and while you're waiting for your meal, your waiter brings out enormous baskets of steaming yeasts rolls and cornbread. The yeast rolls are akin to a Taste Bud Orgasm (no joke).

I had meatloaf, hoppin' john, creamed corn, and (of course), sweet tea. And lots of yeast rolls. (Have I mentioned the yeast rolls???) :-)
Pure Gustatory Bliss. I'm sure I gained a good 2 or 3 lbs. from lunch. But damn, it was worth it.