Originally from Columbia, Tennessee, hospitality professional Pam Armstrong moved to Atlanta in 1989, and currently is a senior sales manager with Marriott Mid-Atlantic.
Armstrong had been working reduced hours during much of the pandemic, but she’s been back to full time for over a month, and said business has been picking up, especially for 2021 bookings and beyond.
“I work remotely, because I sell all of our hotels all over,” she said. “During the pandemic, I’ve been cooking a lot. I’ve been making soups and freezing them. I’ve been making casseroles. Because I’m divorced, and I don’t have kids, when I cook, I love sharing food with family, friends and neighbors."
Besides cooking, two of Armstrong’s biggest passions are collecting cookbooks and “beautiful flatware and china that is different and vintage.”
“My favorite cookbooks are by Ina Garten,” she said. “I love her show. I’m addicted to HGTV, and all the cooking shows. Any time anyone is at my house, I set the table with beautiful plates, and wine glasses and champagne glasses, and all of that. I just think presentation is the way. That’s from my hospitality days, and fine dining.”
Armstrong learned to cook by watching her mother make meals for the family, and she often goes back to her mother’s recipes for tried-and-true potluck dishes and desserts.
Five-flavor pound cake and chocolate Coca-Cola cake are among her favorites. But, since her mother’s passing in August, JoAnn’s Sausage and Rice Casserole has become her comfort-food staple.
“She made it for years and years,” Armstrong said. “I’m from a small town, and whenever we’d have dinners at the church, people always asked her to please make the sausage and rice casserole. Our neighbors, and her friends and coworkers, loved, loved it. It was the go-to for our family.”
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