23 March 2015

Georgia Cider (and Fried Apple Pie) Tasting

Dearest Lar,

A week after your Amsterdam adventure (which sounded so magical, btw), Troy and I made our way back up to Blue Ridge, Georgia. It had been over a year since we visited last and we thought it was the perfect spot to celebrate our 6 year anniversary.

We stayed at Aska Lodge B&B again – the sweet owners made us chocolate cake and gave us a bottle of champs for the occasion 🙂

Unfortunately it rained for most of the weekend, but Troy and I aren’t the hiking types anyways. Instead of enjoying the great outdoors, we went back to Mercier Orchards and visited the new cider tasting room.

In my previous Blue Ridge post, I didn’t fully explain how GIANT Mercier Orchards is. I mean, it’s set up for the thousands of tourist that come every year in the fall to pick apples and enjoy the beautiful foliage of Blue Ridge. And they’re constantly updating and adding to their facilities. So in the past year they created an awesome cider tasting room. The experience is very much like a wine tasting with a selection of ciders, some salty bar snacks, and helpful staff explaining the flavors.

Since I don’t like sweet ciders, I choose to taste the four most dry ciders on the list. It was only $8 for a flight of 4 ciders and a souvenir wine glass. Troy and I ended up getting a bottle of Grumpy Granny, Adele’s Choice and Lone Tree. They are all apple-ly, but not sweet. Just what I like!

When you’re at Mercier’s, you cannot NOT stopped by the bakery for a fried pie. Look at all the amazing options:

Troy and I ended up getting the classic apple fried pie, because, you know, it’s an apple orchard. It did not disappoint!

Did I mention we did the cider tasting and the fried pie eating before noon? And this was after having huge breakfast at the B&B. So before we headed into downtown Blue Ridge to eat and drink some more, I burned a few calories by visiting the Mercier Orchards gift shop.

The gift shop is endless with every apple-themed item you can think of and so much more. There is a whole room just for kid stuff. Like these creepy/cute big-eyed stuffed animals. This is my impersonation of them:

And even though I didn’t buy this pretty box of tea, I’m including a photo of it because I love the design – like a pinky, neutral, clean-lined watercolor.

Troy and I walked away from Mercier Orchards with 3 ciders, half a bushel of apples and full bellies. Afterwards we spent the day in downtown Blue Ridge eating and drinking at Chester Brunnemeyer’s Bar and Grill, Masseria and Harvest on Main with a nap in between lunch and dinner. So despite the rainy weather, it was pretty much a perfect mountain getaway weekend.

The setting wasn’t as beautiful as Amsterdam and the winter isn’t the best time to visit Blue Ridge, but it wasn’t bad for a quick 2 hour drive north of Atlanta!

Hope you’re having a wonderful start to the week. Let’s Facetime/Skpye this Saturday!

xoxo, Cath

Category: Decatur/Atlanta, Experiences

6 Comments

15 March 2015

What to See, Do and Eat in Amsterdam

Lar

Amsterdam totally surpassed all my expectations. I’m completely in love with the glimmering, shimmering canals and curlicued brick and stone, the deliciously gooey caramel waffles and an entire museum district! It’s a shame that I always associated it the red light district and pot (not that there’s anything wrong with the latter), but it just never seemed like it would be my thing.

I was utterly and completely wrong. I didn’t stumble on to a single naked lady or dubbie (I’m not even exactly sure where the red light district is). So if you’re as rock and roll as me, you should totally do the following:

Airbnb-amsterdam

I’ve used Airbnb for years, all over Europe and the States. I’ve loved each of my stays, but Johan has possibly the most beautiful flat I’ve ever been in. He has an eye for colour that would make Van Gogh jealous, the most comfortable, fluffy king-sized bed and a colour-coded book case that would make any reader feel right at home. The house is an historic canal house built in the 17th century, so the few days we were there I pretended I was Rembrandt (minus the talent) and Vermeer’s girl with the pearl earring (minus the pearls).

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The soft winter light bouncing off of the canals was so soothing and breathtakingly beautiful when the sun set.

(Posing by canals and tiny cars totally optional).

The deliciously unhealthy:

Best stroopwafels: Verse stroopwafel at the Albert Cuyp Market

Best fries (curry or satay sauce optional): Vleminckx

Uber healthy and so amazingly tasty:

The Cold Pressed Juicery

Mumu chocolates (not just the best raw chocolate I’ve ever had — just the best chocolate hands down).

My dream dinner:

Indonesian at Tempo Doeloe

I went to the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and the Rembrandt House Museum, but those are just the tip of the iceberg. I would have happily gone to 20 museums if I had the time.

I am head-over-heels in love with Amsterdam and hope I get to go back one day to ogle more canals and soak in more painted canvases. In the meantime, let me know what you’ve done if you’ve been. For those of you making plans or day dreaming about a trip to Amsterdam, I hope these wee tips gave you a bit of inspiration.

——-

Dear Cath

I know you think of Amsterdam as Schipol and that place of limbo where you are stuck between two flights, but I so wish I could have teleported you to a canal last weekend!

One day was even warm enough where Ali and I sat on the stoop outside of our canal house and ate fresh fruit while wiggling our toes in the sun. It was heavenly!

It’s the perfect city for us and reminds me of Edinburgh: compact, historic, beautiful and grand. One day we will go together.

Until then, close your eyes and dream of freshly made stroopwafels with gooey caramel centres and layers of Van Gogh ochre swimming in a sea of forest green and aquamarine.

Love you like the shimmerest of canals and gooeyest of stroopwafels,

Lar

Category: Experiences

13 Comments

9 March 2015

Fig and Flower – Natural Beauty

Cath

Dearest Lar,

While you’re exploring Amsterdam (finding canals, drinking green juice, buying Van Gogh postcards, etc.), I did a little exploring in my own backyard today. Fig and Flower opened up a little less than a year ago in the Poncey Highland neighborhood and I’ve been meaning to check it out ever since.

Fig and Flower sells all natural makeup, skincare, and household cleaning products. So it’s basically a store made for you!

For the past few years, you’ve been inspiring me to switch to more natural products. Sometimes I slip up – like when I’m suppose to make a quick trip to pick up a prescription at CVS and end up with three new chemical-filled lipsticks (I blame the weekly coupons!) – but overall I’ve been trying to clean up my makeup and skincare routine.

I seriously wanted to buy everything at Fig and Flower times two (one for me and one for you).

They even carry Vapour, an all natural makeup brand I’ve been wanting to try forever. Look at all of the pretty lip colors! That’s Troy in the background checking out the selection of beard oil.

I felt like a kid in a candy store. I can’t wait to take you there next time you’re in Atlanta!

Just a few more of the brands they carry: Holly Beth Organics, Indie Lee, Acure, and 100% Pure.

Also, look at these amazing services they offer:

I really want to come back for a makeup application and beauty bag clean out – that’s where they show you how you can replace your favorite items with all natural versions.

Becca, a makeup artist that works at Fig and Flower, was super helpful. I told her that I’m attempting to grow out my eyebrows and she explained the best technique for doing it. I’m listening to her in the photos below, which is why I look so serious – because eyebrows are serious business.

This is me laughing at the thinness of my brows:

If my eyebrow grow-out is successful, I might do a future blog post on it. If not, I will never speak of them again!

I ended up purchasing the 100% Pure Eye Brow Powder Gel in Brunette. I initially thought it was too light, but Becca showed me how it just subtly enhances my brows without making them look drawn on. I also got the 100% Pure Naked Palette since the only other all natural eye shadow I have is the Josie Maran Argan Beautiful Eyes quad, which is all shimmery shades. I’ve been wanting to jump on the Urban Decay Naked palette bandwagon, but have been hesitant since it’s not an all natural brand. So the 100% Pure palette is exactly what I’ve been looking for – all natural, neutral, matte shades. I’m going to spend a few weeks playing around with it and then I might do a mini 100% Pure Naked Palette makeup tutorial.

I can’t wait to see all of your photos from your long weekend getaway to Amsterdam. I’m so jealous that you got to go to an Other Stories store – and experience a different culture and what not. 🙂 Is it bad that I get more excited about stores you’re visiting than museums. I think I’ve become shallower with age.

Let’s go crazy and Skype during the workweek once you get back to Edinburgh, ok?

xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style, Decatur/Atlanta

7 Comments

3 March 2015

New Things

Cath

I’ve been trying to be really good about budgeting lately since I still have a stack of hospital bills to pay off. Some days I’m more disciplined than others. I know it’s never good to buy things to make yourself feel better and feed into consumer culture, blah, blah, blah. But sometimes when you’re down, a new item of clothing or a cheap sparkly ring, is exactly what you ~~need~~ want.

Two weeks ago I was desperate for something new and shiny to get my mind off stressful health stuff and I remembered that I had a few giftcards from Shopbop – woohoo! So I ended up getting a BB Dakota Lillian Drapey Front Jacket and a MICHAEL Michael Kors Jet Set Cross Body Bag.

shopbop_accessories

Yes, I’m bringing the late 90s back with my loose fitting bootleg jeans. Don’t judge. They’re comfortable and perfect for the weekend.

redplaid_outfit

For those of you who don’t have a Shopbop giftcard, not to worry! From now until Sunday, Shopbop is having a big sales event:

If you spend $250 or more, you’ll save 15%.
If you spend $500 or more, you’ll save 20%.
If you spend over $1000, you’ll save 25%.

Click here to get the coupon code. If you can’t hit the $250 mark, get some friends in on your order.

Disclaimer: AsianCajuns participates in Shopbop’s affiliate program, but this isn’t sponsored post, so all my thoughts and opinions are my own.

And last but not least, thank you to everyone for such wonderful and sweet comments on my last post! It’s not easy for me to open up about my health on the blog and all of your support and kind words mean so much. Now that I’m almost back to 100%, I’ll be blogging a lot more regularly!

xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style

8 Comments