The lovely lady on the right is our Cool Cousin Genn (we never just say “Genn” – you always have to add the “Cool Cousin” part if you want to be accurate – see below). She and her hubs are uber-creative and spent a year art directing/designing their awesome carnival-themed wedding. Every bit of the decor was designed and executed by these arty love birds, including this photobooth (and her fascinator):

Hand-made bunting and table cloths (those are hand-painted strips, ya’ll!):

The carousel/ticket themed center-pieces:

And not only was it a beautifully designed wedding, it was tremendous fun too because they had it at Glenn Echo Park: a historic amusement park in Washington D.C. The reception was under the old bumper-car pavilion. And how do you make a historic bumper car pavilion even better? A traditional Chinese dragon dance! Awesomeness on top of awesomeness:

The old carousel actual works, and Pastor and Genn took all their guests for a spin:

Cath and I both ended up on some taciturn-looking ostriches:

Loved the old amusement park buildings:

Guests were encouraged to wear fascinators and bow ties. Cath and I did our best cramming in feathered headwear into our carry-on luggage:

Doesn’t Cath look awesome?! I just loved the back of her dress especially. She looks vaguely flapper-esque without looking like she is wearing a costume:

Here’s a sneaky pic of our dapper dad (our mom has made me promise to never put a photo of her on this blog – harumph – but she looked stunning!).

Thanks for such a great party, Genn and Pastor! You guys are such a loverly couple!

—–

On an unrelated note: I’ll being taking a brief break from blog land (sniffles) because I leave for my big move to Edinburgh with my mans in less than six days (breathing deeply into paper bag). I haven’t started to pack and I’m trying to squeeze tons of friend and family time in.

BUT! Be ready for a blog design update and posts between Atlanta/Decatur via Cath and Edinburgh via moi, very soon! Wish us luck! We are still sniffly when we think about moving apart from each other. It’s sure to be an emotional next few days/weeks!

xoxo,

Lar (on the move!)

When Cath and I first moved to Atlanta we had a mighty hard time finding good Chinese food. We grew up going to the Cantonese restaurants in Chinatown D.C. (which is sadly nonexistent now except for a few authentic places nestled between a Legal Seafoods and Urban Outfitters). Our mom (the Cajun part) cooks delicious Chinese food, as does our dad (the Asian part) – though his is a little too authentic for us (“too many pickled cucumbers, dad!”). So we’ve been spoiled little AsianCajuns.

Atlanta doesn’t really have a Chinatown or a Japantown per se, but it does have a magnificent road called Buford Highway that is home to some of the best Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mexican places in city. You can get amazing “ethnic” foods elsewhere too, but this particular road has it all.

The other day, our foodie sister took us to one of the best Cantonese places in town, Bobo Garden. You can’t resist a cartoon, mustachioed Cantonese chef, can you?

A Bobo feast: sea bass, tofu, squid, crispy noodles, Chinese fried chicken, chow fun (my personal fav), pork, lots of ginger and lots of green:

We let Chowdown Atlanta navigate the menu for us, but we were all stumped at what “At the End Powder, Face The End of The End of Noodles” was. And “Risotto” on a Cantonese menu?:

This delicious, light and gingery soup, gave me my first taste of “1,000-year-old egg.” It looks off-putting but I swear it’s delicious:

My favorite dish was this deep-friend sea bass. It was light and delicate, but full of flavor:

We had to have the wait staff help us stack all the dishes to fit on the table. The dude in the glasses did a little dance every time he put a plate down (best service ever!):

After Bobo, we hit up Quickly for some bubble tea – just across the street. So yummeh! Read Chowdown’s review of Quickly’s Duluth location (they have really good fried chicken and ramen too):

On Moi/Lar: Target sunnies • Bobi tank • Citizens of Humanity skirt • silk corset by I Heart Norwegian Wood • shoes are Jeffrey Campbell

On Cath: H&M top • skirt from Boogaloos Boutique • Dolce Vita sandals

We hope you guys are having a terrific weekend! We are up in D.C./Maryland for our cousin’s wedding and more Chinese food – woohoo! to both!

This blog runs the gamut these days, doesn’t it? Foodie posts, embarrassing self-made videos, author interviews – you name it, we write about it! That leads me to my next non-fashion/style topic: kitchen renovations! Even if you don’t care a hoot about interior design or DIY house projects, aren’t you still a fan of Before and After shots (especially when the “before” is made to look extra specially bad)?

Here is our kitchen looking tired and frowning (in bad lighting and poor photography, messiest it’s ever been):

And…. ta dahhhhh!

I just threw some things on the countertops so they wouldn’t look so naked in the picks. Below are some details shots of the wall color, subway tiles, and marble (oooo marble).

The blackboard paint wall isn’t actually new to the kitchen, but I dusted it off and made a shopping list, taped up a photo of Matt’s beautiful grandma and some rosemary, and, with a nod to our soon-to-be new home, wrote a Robert Burns quote above the closet doors (read the Selkirk Grace with a Scottish brogue please).

You might have noticed I’m showing you just one corner of the kitchen. We have yet to finish painting the rest of the walls and my dad (wonderfully talented man that he is) will be installing a plate rack as part of our new (and only bit of) custom cabinetry. I’ll be sure to bore regal you all with more pics when that’s through – if I have time before we take off for Scotland, that is!

It’s still a work in progress, and if I had all the money in the world I would do things a bit differently. But with just about $4,000 dollars gone and many hours of labor from some wonderfully sweet and generous family members, I think it looks like a whole new glorious cooking haven.

p.s. You can read about why we decided to do a kitchen reno the month before we move to Scotland here. Having done it, I wouldn’t recommend this combination (moving overseas and doing a DIY upgrade to your kitchen) to anyone you like or hope to keep sane. I’ve been eating a lot of these (see below) when I feel a little blue from all the stress – I know it’s a terrible habit, but sooo delicious and temporarily calming.

One of my favorite places to go to Sunday brunch in Atlanta is Sun in My Belly. Just look at that delicious fruit and granola, and lox and bagel!

It was doubly delicious this past weekend because we met up with the genius sister duo behind the blog Whisk Away (hi, Nicole and Katie!). I hope you guys enjoyed the Boursin eggs and honey glazed bacon.

Ah ha! Tricked you guys! Here’s some “fashion” too (sorry, foodie purists)! In order to get to delicious food, we sometimes have to walk by toothy, hairy monsters. They are pretty nice once you explain to them that they will be on a “world famous” blog (sometimes you have to stretch the truth a bit when convincing monsters, especially those that carry big sticks).

On Lar/moi: Ella Moss dress • June Shin and Snoozer Loser necklaces • necklace worn as bracelet c/o Novica • thrifted leather woven purse • (old) Jeffrey Campbell shoes

On Cath: Athropologie tee • F21 pants • Madewell shoes • bag from a small boutique in New Orleans • Target sunnies

Hope you guys are having a great start to the week!

Hello, Readers! Are there any of you out there that still read this blog for fashion? Again, I’m so sorry this has become so foodie-focused of late. Like I mentioned before, the stresses of moving overseas etc. make me much less interested in trends and shopping, and much more interested in eating lovely delicious foods. I’d much rather wait in line for the best burger or burrito in town than anxiously scan the internets for sightings of Alexa Chung’s latest Madewell line.

That said . . . on to more food! Fruit juice to be exact. I went to Soul Vegetarian in my hood (the West End), Scoutmob in hand, with some of my favorite peoples last week.

Oh look! Some fashion-y bits did make it in! This is what I wore to eat (note loose-fitting dress for maximum eating comfort).

I even made an effort to wear my favorite (and least comfortable) shoes. I’ve only worn them once before: my wedding day.

On Lar/moi: Sunnies from Target • Dress (or quite possibly a shirt) from Squash Blossom Boutique in Decatur • DVF shoes • J.Crew Outlet necklace (if you squint, you can see that it’s made of a series of breast-shaped marble beads – quite heavy – my husband thinks it looks like a fertility necklace. I hope to gawd it is not).

Above is my plate of soul food done vegan (didn’t think that was possible, did you?). I’m 100% not a vegan, but for being without some key ingredients that I usually love, this was a delicious plate of soul goodness. I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed it (see my so-cute-it-should-be-criminal nephew below):

But even if you aren’t a cute toddler or a vegan, you need to go to Soul Veg for their juice bar! I’ve never tasted a fresher more real fruit juice than this. They don’t add anything but a little bit of coconut milk and/or agave. Divine! Plus, they aren’t as crazy expensive as a smoothie you can buy with a bunch of not-so-healthy fillers (Smoothie King, I’m looking at you. Looking at you and frowning).

So, in conclusion, yummy food and drink and cute kids. Great fashion blogging done right, huh?

Oh lovely, lovely bags!  Bloomingdales threw a terrific shindig for the Current Elliot/Kate Spade collab called Westward. Unfortunately the bags are a bit spendy for our budgets, but they are definitely the sort of thing (classic with a whimsical twist) that we would save our pennies for. And it was so fun to play dress-up for a while. You likes “my” new bag?

We got to meet the lovely designers behind Current Elliot: Emily Current and Meritt Elliot – such sweet and talented ladies.

(Below) Cath taking a nip of a champagne:

We also got to meet one of the creative directors behind Kate Spade – loved her dress (Kate Spade of course):

Cath and I loved this Pride and Prejudice Kate Spade clutch:

And back by popular demand, our friend and fellow blogger Eli hamming it up for a Westward flip book (we’ll show you the flip books in a future postie):

Here was my favorite bag: the Westward Adventure Satchel. Ooo lala my dream bag. So classic and would look even better after a few years of wear:

Cath and I went on a sister/sister shopping trip through the mall after the partay. We both had mall gift cards to console our empty-handed walk-away from Westward. I almost ended up with this smushy cute bear from the baby section of Bloomingdales until Cath mentioned Zara, and I had to put him down (she also might have rolled her eyes and asked if I needed him in Scotland – or anywhere for that matter. Reason #97 for why I should always shop with my twinie).

Cath and I have blogged about Sweet Auburn Curb Market before (just last week and last year) because it’s THAT good. And I feel like it’s one of Atlanta’s best kept secrets. It’s not nearly as shiny and big as Seattle’s Pike Place Market, nor is it nearly as touristy. And I don’t get why not! It’s walking/MARTA distance to touristy stuff in the heart of downtown Atlanta and chock-a-block full of history: you can walk to Dr. Martin Lurther King, Jr,’s old office and home from here.

And let’s talk about the food! You can buy a month’s worth of collards here (I’m gonna miss those bitter greens when I get to Scotland- mmm!) and your whole pigs (see photo above/ poor piggies, why must you taste so yummy). You can also find some of the tastiest food stands/restaurants right in the market: Bell Street Burritos, Cafe Campesino Coffee Bar, tons of soul food, Sweet Auburn Bakery (more on that in the next post), and Grindhouse Killer Burgers.

A peanut butter and chocolate milkshake from Grindhouse (OMG, heavennn!!!):

Grindhouse burger (these are my absolute favorite burgers in Atlanta. Sorry Farm Burger and Yeah! Burger, ya’ll are good, but Grindhouse makes me think “vegetarian” is a dirty word):

They also have turkey burgers (delicious) and veggie burgers (surprisingly haven’t tried those yet – sorry, cows and gobbles!):

One of many vegetable stalls hiding behind some mysterious mosquito netting:

And that’s the weird thing about this place. Even with so much delicious food and fun things to do (like carrying around armloads of collards and trying to decide if turkey necks look edible), Sweet Auburn Curb Market has got a lot of empty space. See unemployed dishwasher below:

An empty Ciao Boca (why? you look so delicious):

Here are some more empty corners, soon to be filled to the brim with eager Atlantans and Tourists after reading this postie, right? Fingers/toes crossed!

I’m sorry to inundate you guys with so many foodie posts, but apart from hanging out with Kitcath and friends and family, I just want to eat my way through Atlanta in the next month. They’ll have to roll me off the plane once we get to Scotland – thank goodness I’ll have to walk everywhere.

Next post? Sweet Potato Cheesecake. It’s as good as it sounds and probably something you can’t find outside of the ATL. Come on down, ya’ll!

A few weeks/months ago, I mentioned I was starting to purge my closet in prepping for my move to Scotland. Well, have I ever! I’ve made several trip to Rag-o-Rama, the West End Good Will, and Second Life (proceeds go to cats and doggies looking for a good home). And last week, Cath and I stopped by Heather’s clothing swap (thanks, Heather! We had a such a good time!).

With all that purging, I have whittled my entire wardrobe (summer and winter clothes) down to a set of dresser drawers and a weenie 1920s closet (see this post for the closet size). Are you not impressed?! (Sorry for the self-back-patting, but that’s pretty good, right?). And! That’s not all. All of my much-loved summer clothes will be going to Cath when I move (cuz I sure as heck won’t need shorts and stiletto sandals in Scotland). Take away that chunk of summer clothes, and I should just be able to fit everything into two suitcases. Yup. Two measly suitcases for 1-3 years.

In the meantime, I’ve been wearing my favorite summery outfits so that I don’t miss them too much. See those strappy red/magenta/purple stilettos (in the pics below)? Going to Cath. That pink Zara skirt? Cath. Maybe that will make the blow of moving thousands of miles away a wee bit softer? I hope so, Kitcath!

On Cath: H&M vest and tank • Limited skirt • Aldo shoes • thrifted Long Champ bag

On Lar/moi: Large-sized tee from Target • Sunnies are a present from Cath • Zara skirt • Payless (yes, Payless!) shoes

Oh here’s that AsianCajun necklace again! Sorry, guys, just can’t help it! I love how Cath always perfectly pairs her’s with another necklace. The second necklace is from our favorite jeweler June Shin. I love the little carriage – just whimsical enough without being too cutsey.

Cath and I have been trapped in our respective homes this weekend painting (Cath her closet, moi my kitchen). But we managed to slip in a bit of sister time and do a bit of (window)shopping and get a little nosh.

On Cath: Target hat • Alternative Apparel T-shirt • Thrifted belt • J Brand jeans • Mia clogs • thrifted Longchamp purse

On Lar: Target sunnies • French Connection for Sears cargo vest • Snooser Looser quarter-holder necklace • AA shorts • thrifted Anne Klein oxfords

We didn’t have much time after “licking the windows,” so we hopped on over to one of our favorite restaurants/markets in the Highlands for a quick tasty treat. Unfortunately, our flaky pastries were a bit bitter – in the metaphorical sense. Upon purchasing said goodies, I was given the incorrect change. When I explained the situation (“oops! think you forgot a dollar”), the mademoiselle behind the counter said “I’m sure I gave it to you, but I guess I’ll give you another one.” Right O. This was after repeating my order a few times (“Two raspberry croissants, please!” Very complex) because she would start talking to other wait-staff mid-order. Alrighty roo.

On to Kitcath and her ill-fated cafe-au-lait ordering. After purchasing said drink (with a card, smart lady), Cath was standing near the register, stirring in her sugar, when the same charming mademoiselle said, “Did you take the receipt you were supposed to give to me?” Mind you, she could have said “Oh! Did I give you the wrong receipt?” Or even, “Is there a chance I gave you both copies of the receipt?” She decided against the less accusatory tact and went straight for the I’m-not-very-good-at-this-whole-customer-service-thing route. She did manage to find the receipt by the register a few moments later. Well done.

Nothing earth-shatteringly rude, ’tis true. But it was enough to turn us off our ‘au laits and $3.50 croissant, and actually make us think this isn’t a place we’ll be returning to any time soon. We have had pretty good service at this establishment in the past and the food is pricey but worth it… until today.

Has that ever happened to you? Just a mini bad experience that taints a place? Locals, if you know where we’re hinting/talking about, let us know what you think! Maybe we’re being too quick to judge.

Poor, unwitting, raspberry croissant! It wasn’t you, it was your madame!

On to the next sister adventure! (We promise they’ll be more Southern charm next time and less peeved AsianCajuns ).

Happy Friday, lovelies! Thank you for the wonderful comments from the last post. Cath and I don’t really like to think about the moving-away-from-each-other part of this exciting Scotland move, and all of your words are so encouraging! Once I move to Scotland we do plan to change AsianCajuns a bit. The blog will be more like letters to each other about our experiences across the pond. We’ll still have fashion and food galore, but just shaken up in a slightly different format. Whatcha think?

In the meantime… food! Apart from spending gobs of time with our peeps, Matt and I are trying to eat our way through Atlanta and Decatur. This is not the most cost-conscious thing to do, but we are using the excuse that our kitchen is all torn up and unusable, so we might as well try all those delicious food places we have yet to lick our chops at. It’s a bit like playing tourist in your own backyard (cameras strapped-around-necks included).

We managed two yesterday. Delicious!

First up, Bell Street Burritos inside of the Sweet Auburn Curb Market (how is this place not more of a tourist/local destination?! It is ah-mazing!). To be truthful, Matt and I found the burritos a little on the bland side, so make sure when you go to bring a bottle of your favorite condiment: mine is Hot Squeeze. Burrito, meet Hot Squeeze. Hot Squeeze, meet Burrito… Match made in heaven, that.

Next up: Cakes and Ale’s Bakery in Decatur!

On Lar: thrifted Brooks Brothers shirt • Zara shorts • Deux Lux purse • Mango booties • Target sunnies

We’ve been so impatient for their grand opening that we decided to pop in yesterday during their soft launch. Come next week they’ll have pastries and sandwiches galore. We whetted our appetites with a peach tart, rosemary monkey bread (oh-so-gawdly-good) and some coffee.

Matt and I also plan to hit a few other places that need to be drooled over before we leave town: Holeman and Finch, Cakes and Ale (the restaurant), Sugar-Coated Radical, more Miso Izakaya of course, and a number of places off Buford Highway and in Duluth. Locals, any recommendations to add? We’d love to hear them!

What do you guys have on tap for the weekend? If you’re free and fancy a hop over to the West End (of Atlanta), I have a few handy paintbrushes that would love to be put to work in my kitchen! I kid! (I think). Here’s my plan: paint one more layer on cabinets, reward with Grindhouse burger, paint kitchen walls, reward with dim sum. Good plan, right?