All posts by Lar

9 September 2013

Falsi Gioielli

Lovely readers, thank you for your amazing comments about my recovery process! You totally warmed my heart (and it needs considerable warming these days — I think I’m still in shock a bit) and I feel completely humbled to know so many of you have gone through the same or harder situations. As I physically get stronger, all the emotional stuff is coming to a head and I’ve been trying to work through it — but what a load of NOT fun-ness. So for a little distraction for me and you, let’s talk about two delightful things in this world: shopping and traveling!

Usually I can’t afford to do both. It’s an either or. You can shop a wee bit or you can save up for a trip to, well, Italy for instance. But that’s why it’s magical when the worlds collide (in my frugal one).

Many moons ago, I went to Florence on a school trip. I slipped away from the rest of the tour group when we had some free time to wonder the city and stumbled upon a treasure of Fake Jewels. That is in fact the name of this colorful and inexpensive boutique I found — if you say it in Italian it sounds even nicer “fal-si Jo-yelli:” Falsi Gioielli.

Imagine a shoebox of a space painted completely white with very simple perspex hooks all along the walls. And on said hooks are a riot of color — beads and thread. And not dainty seed beads with polite bits of ribbon, but giant plastic baubles with brilliant thick string made into necklaces and bracelets and bracelet/necklaces that you can wear as belts! I was totally smitten, and even more so when I saw the prices matched my weenie student budget. I snapped up two necklace/belts for Cath and I: something unique, totally Italian/local and affordable. The best kind of travel souvenir.

When Cath was in Florence just a few weeks ago, she stopped by Falsi Gioielli again (10 years after my first trip) and picked up two new necklaces (the one I’m wearing in the pic above and the blue one below). We’re slowly building on our fake jewelry collection, one Florence trip at a time. And the next one (Kitcath, I’m looking at you), we’ll most definitely have to be there together!

This is in no way a sponsored post — I don’t think Falsi Gioielli have a clue about us. We just wanted to spread the word so that when you next go to Florence (because you will, lovely reader), do make a stop for your fake jewels. You’ll feel so Florentine and chic and still have plenty of euros left over for copious amounts of creamy gelato.

———

Dear Cath,

I think I’m still too emotional at this point not to think about the Italy trip and just feel blue that we didn’t get to explore Venice, Florence and Rome together. I really do still feel cheated a bit. So wrong, I know. We had a beautiful week in our villa, but I’m still fist-shaking at my recovery. It’s hard to feel so exhausted and miserable in a beautiful place with one’s twinie. Wrong, I tell you!

I miss you like mad (as per. always!)

Love you!

Lar

Category: Experiences, Lar's Style

9 Comments

27 August 2013

Recovery

Lar

Thank you guys so much for the sweet messages here on AsianCajuns while I’ve been away.

These past six weeks have been bewildering, scary and exhausting. As Cath mentioned a few weeks ago, I was in the hospital for two weeks due to complications caused by endometriosis. I had a burst cyst and a tenacious infection that was treated with surgery and mah-hooosive doses of antibiotics. Slowly, but surely I’ve been on the mend (woohoo!) — but it’s the “slowly” that takes me by surprise.

This is going to sound like such a naive and stupid thing to say, but who knew recovery could take so long and be so hard. I assumed recovery would be just feeling a bit tired and getting to watch netflix for hours on end while loved ones ply you with bowls of soup and plates of buttery toast (thank you Matteo and mom!). But when your body is trying to knit itself back together post-surgery and been pummeled with what one of my doctor’s described as “liquid bleach” (aka the burliest, muscliest batch of antibiotics) and an unending supply of potent pain killers, surprisingly your body doesn’t just bounce back.

Part of my impatience at this slow recovery has come from wanting to get as far away emotionally, mentally and physically as possible from this experience. I know we are meant to build character and inner strength during very difficult times, but I seriously want to say “erm, thanks for this opportunity for spiritual growth and wisdom and all, but I think I’ll take a pass. Rain check (for never)? Okay then! Buh-bye!” And then run as far and fast as I can from reminders of hospital machine beepings and long moments of pain.

Unfortunately, it isn’t a choice — this long-haul recovery. It’s not letting me stick my fingers in my ears and go “LA LA LA LAAAA” until it’s all over (fist shake!). But with all my graceless grumblings I feel very lucky to have had so much support from family and friends. Also, if you are going to feel unwell for weeks on end, it’s not too shabby to get to spend one of those weeks in an Italian villa with some of your very favorite people in a place that I’m pretty sure might be heaven.

———-

Dear Cath,

As beautiful as Sant’ Antonio was, I feel a little cheated. I didn’t get to properly soak up Cath time because I had to spend energy on recovery (again with that patience thing — when will I learn?). Recovery is a little like a haze that blurs moments that should stand out in sharp relief: I was in a beautiful Italian villa with my twinie! Instead, the blurriness makes me think of sitting on my bed grumbling about some pain.

I can’t wait to see you again without the haze and with less grumbling on my part! And it isn’t so very far away is it? December is practically right around the corner!

Miss you to the moon and back!

Campari Spritzly Yours,

Lar

Category: Endometriosis

28 Comments

22 July 2013

Vintages Cars Rahhh!

Lar

What is a vintage car rally? From what I can gather (from first-hand experience two weeks ago) is that you get together with other vintage car owners, drive around the countryside like something out of a BBC mini-drama, and then picnic whilst sizing up everyone else’s retro wheels. And you can dress up if you want.

Now I’ve never owned a vintage car (unless you count a 1991 Buick Park Avenue), but I happen to know a dashing couple who do (see Juliette and Chris below). And then I had the chutzpah to invite myself along when they mentioned they were going to a vintage car rally one weekend. Ooo me! Me! Me! I’ll go! I’m sure I endeared myself to them bouncing around the back seat and asking lots of ~~boring~~ ~~pertinent~~ intriguing questions about vintage British cars and the people who buy them.

(Above) Just look at that wee rural lane we’re driving in! Convoying behind our fellow vintage car rally-ers!

(Below) What the back seat looked like: Juliette’s Harris Tweed purse and my hat mingling with Juliette’s car pillows. I love having car pillows in your car in lovely patterns. Maybe wouldn’t work as well in a Chevy Lumina or Ford Fiesta, but in a 1958 Morris Minor — just the right amount of practicality (lumbar support) and charm.

My favorite car of the day (apart from our Morris Minor), this gorgeous Ford Model T:

The Model-T’s owner had covered the exterior (yes exterior) in soft dove grey leather (yes leather!) and the interior in Harris Tweed! A Scottified American vintage car — spiffy!

And who doesn’t like a well kept 1960s/70s Mini Cooper (below) — I wish they were still so cute and dainty. Their previous proportions were probably far less safe, tis true:

Oh wait, I lied. The Model T-weed (get it? har har) was my second favorite. This guy was my favorite, favorite:

He was part of the AA (we know it as AAA in the States). He’d travel around in his motorbike to rescue stranded drivers with his side car chalk-a-block full of handy bits and bobs: first aid kit, gasoline, torch (flashlight), booklets and a wry Scottish smile (see that? What a lovely man):

Ohhh here was another favorite (turquoise below):

It was an all day affair. We convoyed to Glenkinchie Distillery, ate our picnic in the grass, wiggling our toes in the sun, ooohed and ahhhhed over the pretty cars, then back in our cars for our afternoon convoy to a lovely estate, tea and cake and awards given. I feel so utterly British. Like a 75 year old British man. Vintage cars, crazy rallies where they picnic on the croquet green and eat cake, and at home by 6 pm. Ahhh yes. Fits me to a (Model) T. Puns. I should add puns to the me-as-an-old-man list.

Have you guys ever been to any sort of car rally, vintage or no? I really thought the best part would be getting to dress up all vintage-y, but I totally forgot about that bit in the end and just enjoyed being along for the ride.

———-

Dear Cath,

When we win the lottery, we’ll buy a wee cottage up here for summer days just like this. And a vintage something on four wheels. Pack a champagne picnic and pretend we fell out of an Evelyn Waugh novel.

Italy: THREE WEEKS!!!!

xoxoxoxoxo,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh, Lar's Style

21 Comments

8 July 2013

The Gardner’s Cottage Edinburgh

Lar

Birthday dinner has to be good doesn’t it? Especially a 30th birthday dinner. You need to ease yourself into a new decade with a little bit of something nice. It’s okay that you a teetering on the brink of your 30s when there’s fresh-baked sourdough bread with a buttery crab spread and chocolate cake at the end. I can handle being four decades old if this is how it starts!

Matt took me to the Gardner’s Cottage in Edinburgh for a delicious introduction to my 30s. Gardner’s Cottage is part of the farm-to-table movement, but not because it’s hopping on the bandwagon in a fad-y way. The building used to literally be the gardner’s cottage and they use the bits and bobs they grow in their garden in most of their dishes. So apart from being lovely to look at, environmentally friendly, locally-sourced, and very healthy, it’s some of the most delicious food I’ve ever had. And for 7 set courses at £30, it’s a steal of a deal.really and truly.

And like any respectable blogger (and annoying dining companion) I took (discreet) photos of every single course:

Dear Cath,

It was terrible, terrible, terrible (times infinity!) to spend our 30th apart, but I can not tell you how much this meal eased my pain. When you and Troy are next in Edinburgh we will have to go. It’s a lot lighter than a lot of the massive dinners you guys go to, but so, so, so delicious. I wish I could send you some of that crab and fresh baked sourdough via Royal Mail. Sooooo amazing.

Also, can you tell I love that pink dress? I was beginning to worry I shouldn’t have bought it. Barbie Pink? Summer dress in Edinburgh? Peter Pan collar?! Not practical and not too “me” but it’s my favorite thing now and makes me so happy every time I see it. I actually hang it on the back of our door so I see it every day. The color makes me so happy.

Hope you are having a lovely start to the week!

Love you so much, fellow 30-year-old,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh, Lar's Style

9 Comments

24 June 2013

The Scottish Highlands

Lar

Catherine and I consider ourselves city girls. We feel at home in a city, we love the energy and the diversity and all the stuff there is to do. I can marvel at quiet, beautiful, open-spaced country, but it intimidates me a little.

So it says a lot that the reason Cath and I fell in love with Scotland many years ago was not because the gorgeous city of Edinburgh alone wooed us, but because we saw the Highlands.

A little background for those of you who haven’t been, the Highlands are the hilly and more mountainous bits of Scotland that start north of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Depending on how technical you want to get, the Highlands make up more than half of the land mass of Scotland, yet most of the population live in the cities. So when you are tramping around the Scottish countryside, you can go for miles and never see another soul.

pitlochry-hike

Sure, the Scottish Highlands have been overly romanticized (overly Brigadooned), but I think you can forgive the marketing people who push the rolling hills, William Wallace version of Scotland. It really isn’t too off the mark. I mean you don’t see men running around in kilts, but the austere beauty is totally real.

What makes it so stunning, even to a city mouse, is partly the emptiness. There aren’t many people or trees — just stretches of dramatic hills and mountains covered in burnt colored peat and purple blushed heather.

It is “Skyfall” without a de-jawed Javier Bardem. It’s Brigadoon without the kitschy tartan costumes. And it’s most definitely this Johnny Walker ad with Robert Carlyle.

But it’s also way better in person than on the big screen. It rains a lot and there are often moody looking clouds, but the air feels so clean and untouched. I almost prefer the Highlands because of their broodiness (clouds, misty, fog). The Highlands are beautiful in the sun, but they are perfect on rainy days with bruised skies.

Last weekend Matt and I took a train two hours north of Edinburgh to hike around the hills of Pitlochry. One down side to falling in love with the country? You end up forgetting about your urban sartorial trappings. I used to try to do a more glamorous hiking look (pretty boots, nice jeans, layers of jackets) — but that totally gets in the way when it’s rainy and windy and your legs ache from propelling yourself upwards for three miles. Also, you kind of don’t care how you look because you’re distracted by the beauty of the landscape all around you (until someone reminds you how weird you look on Instagram – gak!).

Strange for city girls to fall in love with a rugged, windy, lonely place. I guess it’s true that opposites attract.

So what are you? City or country mouse and has any place in the world made you want to dip your toe in the other?

—–

Dear Cath,

One of my happiest memories will always being taking trains around Scotland with our Historic Scotland passes. Wasn’t that the best? Next time we are in Edinburgh together we have to castle hop.

Also. I MISS YOU!

xoxoxoxox,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh, Lar's Style

18 Comments

10 June 2013

What’s the Haps in Edinburgh

Lar

While Cath has been entertaining you with lovely fashion in Atlanta, Matt and I have been desperately trying to soak up the wee bit of sun coming our way in what is known as Scottish summer: a slight breeze, just above 60 degrees — and that’s as hot as it gets all year round. Interspersed between these “hot” days is the usual weather: 38-50 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy and sometimes rainy.

But one way Matt and I are coping with this mostly-winter-all-year-round business is by embracing all things that make rainy, dark-skied living bearable: becoming members of the Scottish Malt Whisky Society (oolala), dragging our visitors around town and reminding ourselves how beautiful ole Edinburgh is, and eating good food.

Last month Matt became an official member of the Scottish Malt Whisky Society. How do you become a member, you ask? Love whisky and hand over some moola, et voila! Not only do you get exclusive rights to sit in the Society’s leather-chaired club rooms around the city, you also get to swirl more drams of whisky (sniff, sniff, glug, glug) and pretend you taste all the 32 different notes you are supposed to taste in each cask.

These days I’m not actually tippling (the above photo is all a farce! deep sigh) but I still love going with Matt to the whisky rooms. The arm chairs are so comfy, I love the smell of whisky (and think you can get tipsy after a few deep inhales of this 60% cask strength dram) and you get to read all the descriptions and tips for how to drink the stuff. The text is all a bit tongue-and-cheek (or at least, I think it’s supposed to be!). Here’s one suggestion for a whisky from the peaty regions of Scotland:

And here are some of the descriptors I pulled from another cask entry in their whisky bible. Even if you aren’t a big drinker and particularly dislike the intensity of whisky, doesn’t this make you want a tipple?

So good, isn’t it? The doughnuts are just on there because I liked the way they looked and think a whisky that tastes of doughnuts would be pretty high up there on the lists of things I would drink daily.

If you aren’t a big whisky drinker and know very little about the stuff, the next time you want to impress someone do this: pour yourself a wee dram (no water until after the first sip, and definitely no ice), swirl, sniff (with mouth partially open — yes you will look a bit dopey, but impressively so), sip and then say something like “a note of vanilla with a bit of peatyness.” Not nearly all whisky is either of those things, but hopefully the person you are trying to impress won’t know that, and vanilla and peat seem like fairly common notes in whisky. Or you can be inspired by the descriptions above and make up your own favorite meal and pretend you taste that in your dram.

Ever wonder what peat is/looked like anyway? Now you know:

I leave you with one last delightful swirl of a description:

But we aren’t just pretentiously sniffing amber liquids over here, Matt and I have also been playing tour guide to our lovely friends from the states! Here’s a classic Edinburgh Tourist Photo:

Edinburgh very rarely looks this (above) sunny, but I’m so glad she was all sun-shiney and almost-T-shirt weathery for Alison and Greg (note: the hardened Scot in the T-shirt on the right, reasonably attired Atlantans on the left).

And of course, no good haps wrap-up is any good without food pics! These are a little subdued on the food front because I’ve been following a wheat-free, mostly dairy-free, meat-free diet for months and months. At times the old foodie in me cries a little at having to eat another bowl of beans and rice, but it’s all in the name of hopefully going pain free one day. And it’s not all bad — just look at the deliciousness below:

I hope you guys have been enjoying a lovely spring/summer too. And if this kind of weather isn’t your thing (you love layers and roaring fires), come for a visit in Scotland the other 11 months of the year. You’ll be in love!

——–

Dear Cath,

I’m sorry that you always have to slog through my mishmash posts. You always have such beautiful fashiony things going on in the ATL. My fashion awareness I believe is at an all-time low. The strange thing is I don’t miss it until I see how lovely you look and I’m like “ooo I should wear a dress again.” I blame it mostly on the chilly weather here and my inability to wear contact lenses any more. I will give it a try once we are in Italy though! Speaking of which, I’m actually getting really excited for our trip. It seemed too far away to dream about until recently.

I hit up the library yesterday and got all of this:

That Eat, Pray, Love in Rome book is actually by the guy (Luca Spaghetti) that Elizabeth Gilbert met in Italy. I thought it would be kind of cheesy and as if he were just coat-tailing it (maybe just a tad), but it’s totally gotten me so excited to go to Rome. You should see if the DeKalb Library has a copy. Unofficial AsianCajun Book Club, book one.

Hope you are having a wonderful time at the Southern Blogger Society brunch today! Wish I could be there with you!

LOVE,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh

16 Comments

21 May 2013

Edinburgh Pop-up Shop

Lar

Ziggy Sawdust + Paper Aeroplane: First Birthday Pop-up Shop! from Fiona Purves on Vimeo.

I am so very inspired by these two lovely ladies. Fiona (aka Paper Airplanes) makes beautiful, handmade stationery and Amy (Ziggy Sawdust) rehabs furniture into wonderful retro pieces. And these two creative entrepeneurs happen to have a pop-up shop this weekend in Edinburgh: May 25-29 at Whitespace, 11 Gayfield Square.

I know a lot of you guys aren’t Edinburgh-based, but Cath and I love highlighting independent creatives who are charting their own course and making beautiful things. I wish you guys could join me this weekend. Local Edinburgh readers, let me know if you’re going!

——

Dear Cath,

I know you really, really want to go to this. Where is our windfall of money when you need it? I’ll take lots of pics and send them your way and buy some bits and bobs to send back to you — or give you when I see you in August.

So glad we got to skype today — it’s not enough, but I guess I should be grateful that we don’t just have to rely on payphones and calling cards (remember good ole Spain or our first trip to Italy?).

Hope that you have a wonderful week! Miss you ooooodles as always. I’ve now come to accept the fact that being apart won’t get easier. Boo to infinity.

Love,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh

4 Comments

6 May 2013

Bordelais-hee-hooooo!

Lar

bordeaux-la-belle-epoque

Phew! Did you make it this far? ‘Scuse the epic photo post — I really wanted you to get a sense of Bordeaux via a pinterest-y vibe.

So the thing that (almost) makes up for missing friends and family back in the states is getting to jet around Europe on weekends. That makes us sound faincy and wealthy but we are neither of those things. Instead of spending money on our home, or clothes, or gadgets, we save for travel.

Matt and I went to Bordeaux a few weekends ago not because we know anything about wine or speak any French, but because we found really cheap flights direct from Edinburgh. And if you dangle a croissant in front of me, I will go wherever it goes. It sealed the deal when I went on Airbnb and found this place that used to be an old store-front for a mere £40 per night. Go to France and play out my dreams of being Juliette Binoche in Chocolat — don’t mind if I do!

I didn’t end up selling chocolate (just eating it), but our store-front flat was charming and walking distance to all things Bordelais.

For those of you curious, there isn’t really that much to see in the city of Bordeaux — especially if you aren’t swayed by the siren song of Chateau wine tours (it sounds like this: winnnnneeeeee. gurgle, gurgle, gurgle). But it is a gorgeous place: lots of mansard roofs and boulangeries and cobblestones. It’s Paris on a teeny scale and without the Eiffel Tower. And to us sun-starved Scots it was a dreamy fairy-tale land where the wind is but a breeze and you can actually feel the sun on your skin — oh and eat strawberries that were picked locally! Ooo. La. Laaaaa.

—–

Dear Cath,

So sorry to be so MIA this weekend. I feel like we haven’t talked in forever when we don’t have our weekly skype dates. I was completely useless and broken yesterday with the endometriosis clobbering me. I’m really going to try to stick on this crazy healthy diet, but I’m more than a little discouraged that this past month of being so good didn’t seem to allay any of the pain.

Speaking of all things healthy: Juice queen! So this is day five, right? How do you feel? I can’t imagine juicing for one day let alone 5 or 30! Inspirational is what you are.

It’s so strange to me that for 18 years we had almost the same experiences to match our genetic make-up and now all the sudden you’re in Denver the same weekend I’m in Bordeaux. Does that strike you as weird? It seems wrong — like part of me didn’t get the message that we were supposed to be eating croissants and not hiking around snowy mountains.

Miss you so, so much and lets talk soon okay?

Love you!

Lar

Category: Experiences

14 Comments

22 April 2013

Temporary Nesting

Lar

Apart from missing family and friends, the hardest thing about living overseas is not being able to roost. I’ve always wanted to be one of those people that can live years out of a suitcase: nomadic and unattached to material possessions. But I’m a certified homebody. Ironically I haven’t had a place to put down roots in a long while. I’ve lived in a different flat or house every year for the past 10 years — two different flats in Edinburgh in 19 months — and it makes me antsy. The only way to combat that ruffled feather feeling is by nesting — no matter how temporary.

The flat we live in now is a teeny, inexpensive, brown-carpeted student flat right in the middle of town (our old flat was a bit more grown-up, but too cold). We rarely buy things for our temporary home because we save our extra cash for travel (as you read this, Matt and I are wondering around Bordeaux). But bare walls make my skin itch. So I made a few bits and bobs for the walls, covered my books (for the third time: here’s the first time and second time) and bought an azalea topiary that I hope I don’t kill.

Total budget for temporary nesting? Under $100. Here are the bits and bobs I use to cover up my naked walls:

The Lay of the Land

Now this next bit is mainly for Cath and might bore the socks of you guys. Ever since we were tots, Cath and I loved looking at floor plans. When we were old enough, we used to buy those magazines/books that had nothing but floor plans after floor plans in them. Isn’t that what all cool 13 year olds do?

And it wasn’t just voyeuristic floor plan ogling, whenever we stayed some place new (a B&B or friend’s house) Cath and I would record our new spaces by sketching up the floor plan. I think it was another way that we handled being away from our nests — a way of feeling in control of a new environment. Seriously, we are the poster girls for homebodies.

So this is a quick sketch for Cath to feel like she knows what I’m about day-in and day-out in Edinburgh — or at least get a sense of the space I inhabit thousands of miles away:

It’s not NYC or Hong Kong teeny, but it’s quite small for this city of Victorian proportioned tenements.

So tell me, are you guys nesters? Have you ever been nomadic and craved more roots, or vice versa?

—-

Dear Cath,

I can’t believe that we are even further apart this weekend. Denver and Bordeaux are roughly 5,000 (FIVE THOUSAND?!) miles apart. I can totally tell too — there’s more of a tug. No me gusta. I will drown my sorrows in wine — oh wait, I’m not drinking. Gah! Croissants? Nope those are not gluten free. I’ll just have to make do feeding my eyeballs with French architecture and pretend you are looking at somewhere similar? Bordeaux and Denver are a lot alike — said nobody ever. Wah wah.

Probably by the time you read this, we’ll be wrapping up our last evening in Bordeaux and you’ll be wrapping up your wedding weekend. I hope you and Troy are having a wonderful time. Tell me all about it.

Love and Wine-fumed kisses,

Lar

Category: Lar's Style

16 Comments

12 April 2013

We’re Gonna Try Something New

Lar

April 26 is our AsianCajuns 5th birthday — yahoo! So what better time to shake things up?

If you guys are like us, you are reading fewer blogs and blog posts (we still love them though!) and spending more time on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. When we do go to our favorite blogs, it’s with less regularity. Instead of checking in daily, we visit less frequently but stick around longer to catch up on posts. Are you guys the same?

Anywhoddles, that got us thinking. We’d like to use our wee corner of the internet here on AsianCajuns to write well-crafted posts once a week — still about whatever strikes our fancy (you know the usual: twin stuffs, a bit of fashion, a good dose of travel and out-and-aboutness). In between posting, we’ll be sticking our link love on Facebook throughout the week, updating our Pinterest boards regularly, and Cath will be instagramming and tweeting away (I needs to get me an iphone!).

We want AsianCajuns here for when you want to sink your teeth into something meatier (more than 140 characters and not just photos of what we’re eating and buying). We’ll keep the snippity snacks on our social media sites and the main meal here.

Thank you guys for coming along with us these past five years: evolving with us and giving us a wonderful community online and in the real worlds. We hope you like these wee tweaks we’re making and continue to enjoy whichever bits of AsianCajuns you choose to visit with us.

xoxox,

Lar (and Cath)

Category: General AsianCajuns Info

13 Comments