The Office Christmas Luncheon

The restaurant was beautifully decorated for Christmas

The Athenaeum is a formal, members only, restaurant at the California Institute of Technology, also known as CalTech.  Membership is open to individuals associated with the teaching, research, or administrative staffs at either Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL), the Huntington Library and Art Gallery or the Palomar Observatory.  You can also be sponsored to dine there, so being able to do so several times in my life is a pretty big deal to me!

The first formal dinner was held there in 1931 for Albert Einstein, when he arrived for a 2-month visit to CalTech.  I think dining where Einstein dined is a fun thing!

I can feel my IQ rising as I enter the building.

Really.

We had two tables for our employee luncheon

Carmen and I enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere
(And No, I'm not wearing a red bow Fascinator! It just looks that way)

As we entered the restaurant, we passed a huge, beautifully decorated Christmas tree and were greeted with a tall glass of egg nog - you had a choice of alcohol free, or alcohol laced.  I had the alcohol free and it was delicious!

The restaurant is beautiful anyway, but it was just lovely all decorated to the hilt for the holidays.  We made our way to the patio area where a large buffet table was set up.  It was also decorated beautifully.

Another huge Christmas tree graced this room.  A chef stood at the far end of the buffet, slicing melt-in-your-mouth prime rib.

Buffet Table decorations

Barbara and Carmen loading up their plates.

All the dishes that I tried were delightful.  There were soups, a Chinese chicken salad with a delicate ginger dressing, a bow-tie pasta salad, a tuna salad, a melon salad, a red potato salad, and all kinds of veggies.  I grabbed a piece of chicken and some of that thinly sliced, melt-in-your-mouth prime rib with horseradish sauce, too!

My loaded plate, full of yumminess.

There was also strawberry lemonade to drink.  Well, we had a choice of a bazillion things to drink and I chose strawberry lemonade.

And  you didn't have to have the buffet.  Several people chose to order off the menu instead.

The turkey sandwich and fries served in a cute little tin

My dessert was three different kinds of gelati with a chocolate dipped biscotti

In addition to the excellent meal, there was a wide variety of different desserts.  I am a huge fan of gelati, so I had that.  It came with 3 scoops - one of chocolate, one of mango, one of cashew brickle.

Yum.

This is a Chocolate Date cake, filled with chocolate, drizzled with chocolate and nuts,  served with a delicate pear sorbet

The service there is excellent, even though the place was packed and the servers were practically running to take care of everyone.

It was a really nice lunch, with great people.

I'm such a lucky kid.

Happy Holidays to all!  I hope you are still enjoying the holidays.  It isn't quite over yet!