Coconut Cream Cupcakes

It was just about five years ago that I became interested in cupcakes, and baking in general. A cute, fun cupcake shop opened up near Southpark Mall, and a college friend and I stopped there for a treat all the time. My favorite cupcake from Polka Dot was a Pina Colada cupcake, and five years later I've still yet to taste one that I've loved as much.

The first cupcake I ever made from scratch was the Barefoot Contessa's coconut cupcake. I made it for my BFF's bridal shower. After that, I was hooked on baking from scratch. The difference in flavor between homemade cupcakes and cake from a boxed mix was crazy. Every once in a while I do still use a box. I used a boxed mix for Graham's birthday cake, because it's what he wanted. And I do love doctoring up cake mixes... sometimes you end up with something epic (like the banana pudding cupcakes). But for the most part I bake from scratch.

Two wonderful years...

Yesterday Graham and I celebrated two wonderful years of marriage. Unfortunately we couldn't be together, since the Air Force has him in training in Texas.

He came home this weekend so we could celebrate, and we had an absolutely wonderful weekend.

Two years down, a lifetime to go =)

We started the weekend with a looooooong walk with Hermione at Emerald Park. The skyline will never be like the Charlotte, Chicago or Boston skylines, but this area has one of the best views.

The last time we were here was in February when everything was brown & dead. The city is so much prettier in the spring!

We went to one of our favorite Little Rock restaurants, So!, for dinner. The food was superb, as usual. Our service was excellent this time too. We actually got a seat in the main dining room, and not in the dark, freezing area we usually end up in.

We started with the blackened seafood fondue which is incredible. The bread was warm & fresh, and the chunks of seafood in the cheese were huge and delicious.

Knowing this would more than likely be our last dinner here, I figured I should try something besides the scallops. When our waiter was describing the specials, he had me at Brussels sprouts. I ordered the grilled grouper in an herbed lemon cream sauce over a bed of pan seared Brussels sprouts. I'm so glad I ordered this, because it was absolutely epic. The fish was HUGE and perfectly cooked. The sauce was light and had a ton of flavor. And you can't tell from the picture, but they gave me a TON of Brussels sprouts and they were delicious- tender, with perfect flavor.

Since I chose not to order scallops, Graham jumped on them. The portion size was much better than last time, and they were just as perfect as ever. I know the linguine is a little intimidating, but if you get the opportunity, you must try it. It's salty, garlicky, and absolutely delicious.

We got home and continued our photo tradition & drank cheap champagne out of or ridiculously expensive glasses.

We had a perfect night together, and I can't wait to see what new adventures the next year brings.

On our actual anniversary, we couldn't be together, but we tried to make the best of it. Graham sent me these GORGEOUS flowers. Lilies are pretty much my favorite flower, and the roses are gorgeous.

I wish we could have been together, but so far we've been really lucky, and this is the only important occasion we've missed. I guess the benefit of having two anniversaries is we're pretty much guaranteed to be together for one of them.

Our house is finished.

Welcome to our home. No matter where we go, this little house in Arkansas will always be special to me. This was our first home as a married couple, and we transformed every inch of this place from a dark & dated 1976 house, to a bright & modern home.

Stick a (4 ft.) fork in it, this kitchen renovation is DONE!

When I left you last time (a week & a half ago...) the kitchen was still pretty much a disaster. It took a while for it to get any better. We exceeded our time frame by exactly a week, and exceeded our budget, but it is so, so, so, so, SO worth it!

Do you know how exciting it is to make dinner on a brand new range?

It also took 400 MORE dollars and a drywall man (who worked till 1:30am on a Saturday night that we found on Craigslist) for it to get any better.

We learned a few VERY valuable lessons.

1. Dry-walling a kitchen by yourself for the first time ever when you're in a hardcore time crunch is not the best idea.
2. Know when to ask for help when you need it (help from a professional & help in the sense of your boss giving you time off from work).
3. DO NOT put HUGE projects like renovating an entire kitchen off until the very last minute. 

Graham is leaving tomorrow for Texas and this has not been our usual pre-goodbye weekend. Instead of happy, fun, quality time together, we've been working till all hours of the night getting this house ready to go on the market. And I dare say, it's finally ready. There are still a few things we need to do, but the kitchen was the last big thing and it is finally, finally finished. 

So, I'm going to stop rambling and flood you with pictures of my beautiful kitchen and start wishing we had done this two years and three months ago when I moved out here. 

Ugliest Kitchen Ever.

Being a procrastinator isn't necessarily a bad thing. Being married to one isn't a bad thing. But it does make life a little more complicated.

Graham is leaving for training in Texas pretty soon (like, less than two weeks), and the kitchen is the last major thing on our house to-do list. He took the week off work this week to get it, done, but it's safe to say he has his work cut out for him. 

Hopefully I'll have some after pics of this transformation to share on Sunday, but for now I leave you with the ugliest kitchen ever.

 The green counter tops are ugly, but they're in really good shape. Pretty much the only thing that is... 

The geniuses that lived here before us covered the wood paneling with wallpaper... but didn't go all the way up. Instead of doing it right, they attached an ugly piece of trim to the top to cover it . Eventually, someone painted over the wallpaper... Anyways, Graham ripped all of this down and is putting up new drywall.

 

Hideous, ancient appliances... 

By the end of day one, this is what we're left with. I honestly thought this kitchen couldn't get any uglier. Although now as we're going into day four, I realize I've said this every single day.

We're reusing the top cabinets, just making new doors. He does have to build new bottom cabinets, since a certain puppy I kind of love chewed them up during her chewing days... My job in this was removing the multiple layers of hideous, really sticky shelf paper that they used.

 

Graham actually decided to remove the bulkheads and open up the tops of the counters. It makes the room look so much more open & now that the sink isn't boxed in it looks so much brighter.

 

Since we're removing the bulkheads, we have to add on to the wall behind the cabinets. There was nothing there before, just paneling behind the cabinet, and the cabinet was bolted into the bulkhead. No now he is extending the wall, which means our pretty wedding picture display is temporarily gone =( and the living room is a mess too. The couch & our new chevron ottoman are covered in sheets to shield them from dust.

Day three looks even worse. The old paneling was gone, the back splash was gone, the counters are gone (they actually are getting resurfaced as I type this) and it currently looks like a war zone. We have no water, no stove, no microwave and I was forced to get take out last night since we couldn't cook anything.

I'm hoping to see a big difference when I get home from work today. Our new appliances come in today, and Graham started dry-walling last night. Hopefully the kitchen has hit rock bottom, and we're heading up to our new, bright, cheerful, modern kitchen. 

Master bathroom DONE!

This weekend we were able to mark a very significant item off of our big ass house to-do list: the master bathroom is finally finished.

You guys have NO idea how amazing it feels to have this bathroom finished. It has been sitting in shambles for almost a year. In January we finally started working on it again, and while it took a longer than we anticipated, it was absolutely worth it. The bathroom is small, and I wish it had a tub, but despite the tub, it is one of the most beautiful bathrooms I have ever seen.

I'm going to stop rambling now and let the beautiful bathroom speak for itself.

Graham had to custom build the vanity. If you remember from my original bathroom post, the floor is unfinished under the vanity. And of course it was an odd size. So our options were to finish the floor, or build a custom vanity. Graham loves woodworking, so he built this.

Doesn't even look like the same bathroom, does it?

Framing out the mirror made SUCH a huge difference. I think that this is something small and fairly simple that makes such a huge difference and makes the room look and feel so much finished.

The cubby hole is probably my favorite thing in the bathroom (other than the quatrefoil wallpaper). The cubby hole is a massive waste of space, and if we had more time and an unlimited budget, I would have liked to knock through the wall, dry wall it up and put in a bathtub. But, that wasn't in the budget or the time frame that we're dealing with. The door that Graham built looks absolutely beautiful. I love the glass, I love the hardware. I love that it makes it look a little bit bigger and gives you a focal point other than the teeny tiny shower.

The shower door was cracked and busted before, and was potentially going to shoot our budget through the roof, when Lowe's quoted us $600-$700 to have one custom made. But by doing a little research, we found a company online that made one for about $150.

Love the light fixture! 

 

And I love having this view from my bed. 

I absolutely could not be happier with this bathroom. It is so beautiful and Graham did such an amazing job! Now, onto the kitchen...

Restaurant Review: Loca Luna

I don't understand why only 77% of Urban Spoon-ers like this place.

Admittedly, we don't eat here very often. Part of the reason is we tend to go for more ethnic food on our date nights. The other part of the reason is this is one of the few local restaurants in Little Rock that ALWAYS has a wait. I swear, I'm really not that much of a snob when it comes to chain places. I know it sounds that way lately. But it's ridiculous. As a test I called Texas Roadhouse and Outback as we drove by there Saturday night (at 6:00) and each place had a wait of 45 minutes - 1 hour. No thank you.

We arrived fairly early on a Saturday night (probably about 6:00). We were told it would be about 20 minutes. It ended up being about 30. While we waited we hung out at the bar, had a drink and perused the menu. We were ready to order by the time we finally had a table.

The service was EXCELLENT. Our waitress had a party of 10 that was sat just a few minutes before we were. They didn't want to make us wait any longer, so they sat us and a manager helped take our drink orders and appetizer order while we waited on her.

Loca Luna has amazing cheese dip. Other than Dizzy's, it's the best I've ever had. But we started with the black bean hummus. Loca Luna wasn't our first choice for dinner that night, Union Bistro was. But when we got to Union Bistro, they were closed. One of the dishes that Graham was looking forward to the most was their black bean hummus, so when we saw that as an appetizer option we went for it.

The hummus tasted like my spicy black bean soup. It didn't have as much of a garlicky taste as the Union Bistro version has. You could taste the spices and the jalapeno over anything else. It was delicious, and the parmesan flat bread it was served with was really delicious. The only thing I hate about ordering hummus is that they never give you enough dippers. Ever.

Spicy Black Bean Hummus $6.95 with Brick Oven Parmesan Flat Bread

Ordering our entrees was a more difficult choice. Everything I've had from here is good. I wanted to go with the salmon SO bad, but I stepped out of my box and ordered the Lobster-Crab Stuffed Rainbow Trout.

Lobster-Crab Stuffed Rainbow Trout $18.95 with Lemon Caper Butter Sauce. A Whole Butterflied Boneless Trout with Crumbled Lobster-Crab Cake on Top with Sauce

This was absolutely amazing. I typically don't like lobster. It's too sweet and difficult to eat. But these lobster-crab cakes were absolutely perfect. So good, I'd consider getting an order of those as an appetizer next time. The fish was huge and perfectly cooked, and the sauce was tasty, and not at all overwhelming. Not only was the fish amazing, but the side dishes were too. The vegetables were perfect. They were tender, but not steamed to a pile of mush. They still had a nice bite to them. And it's really hard to mess up mashed potatoes.

Graham passed over the seafood and decided to get their pot roast. This was absolutely amazing. I hate to say it, but it was better than what I ordered. And that never happens. The pot roast was so tender. It completely fell apart when I went to grab a bite. I don't understand why he chose roasted potatoes instead of mashed, but they were delicious. Perfect texture and great flavor.

Delta Pot Roast $16.95 Slow Cooked with Roasted Root Vegetables & Mushrooms. In a large bowl on a mound of Mashed Potatoes with Home Baked Sour Dough Bread

Loca Luna is a fabulous little spot in Little Rock. I'd definitely check it out if you're in the mood for an amazing dinner. I never have very high expectations when I order seafood in a landlocked state, but I've loved every dish I've ever had from here.

Bathroom Business

I freaking hate our bathroom. 

*sigh*

It's been almost a year since we first started on the bathroom. Then life got in the way (you know... deployments, vacations, holidays, laziness and other projects...) and it sat unfinished for quite a while.

Then January rolled around. And we realized that we're moving to Virginia sooner rather than later, and we needed to stop being lazy and get busy. So, we picked out pretty wallpaper and naively thought we'd be finished in no time. But, the universe likes to keep giving us the middle finger when it comes to this stupid, tiny, aggravating bathroom.

So, a month after we started wallpapering, we are so close to being finished I can almost taste it. And of course we run into a problem. Well, two problems. One: the piece that makes the shower door fit, doesn't fit. Two: the toilet has a crack in the tank.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!

So while it isn't finished, I was determined to start off the week with pictures of the bathroom and darn it, I'm going to do it!

It's not finished yet, but the before and after pictures of the vanity and the cubby hole completely blow me away. Have I mentioned how completely amazing my husband is? He has done all of this by himself. I've helped with some painting, caulking, sanding & picking out the pretty stuff, but he's done EVERYTHING. He built the vanity, he made the new door for the cubby hole, he wallpapered, he installed the new light fixture, faucet & moved the plumbing. He. Is. Amazing.

Hopefully I'll have a full bathroom reveal soon. I'm so excited to have it almost finished!

Restaurant Review: Root Cafe & Local Dining

I am constantly amazed by the amount of people who wait 45+ minutes for a table at chain restaurants. It amazes me. On our way to a cool, local spot we see the parking lots of Golden Corral, Outback, Chili's, etc. slammed full. A few Saturdays ago, we actually decided to have our date night at Olive Garden. I had a $40 gift card that a coworker had given me for Christmas, and since we're trying to curb our spending a bit, we decided to go there for dinner. We got there just at 6:00, and the wait was already 45 minutes long. We left, and headed to Tokyo House for sushi instead.

And while it's more noticeable at dinner time, it's the same for breakfast. The few times we decide not to worry about calories and head to IHOP, there is always a wait. So, we tend to eat breakfast at home, or at a diner near our house.

There are so many fabulous local restaurants that are worth trying. My favorite meals (ever) have not been at Chili's or Outback. They've been at So (Little Rock), Union Bistro (Little Rock), Shakers (Orlando, FL), The Cowfish (Charlotte, NC), and so many other places that are unique to whatever city I happen to be in. Not every local restaurant is going to be amazing (I've been to my fair share of horrible ones), but you need to step out of your box and try new restaurants and new dishes when you get the chance.

Anyways, all of this rambling is leading up to me telling you about this place we tried over the we tried over the weekend: Root Cafe.



This place takes local to a whole new level. Not only is it locally owned and operated, but what you're eating is locally grown & produced. They source everything from local farms (meat products and vegetables). Instead of giving out numbers while we waited for our food, they gave us a little card with information about one of the local farms.

Their bread & buns are local as well. Those come from Boulevard Bread, which has multiple locations in the city, including one right across the street. The inside is very cool. It's small, and tight, and the decor is anything but fancy. It just feels cozy. They serve water out of mason jars, and coffee from an assortment of mix matched coffee cups. Seating is minimal inside, but there are some seats on the screened in porch, and a little garden area with a few tables. I was getting claustrophobic inside, so since it was a pretty day, we ate in the garden.

We went for lunch on Saturday, and they were busy the whole time we were there. Their selection isn't that big, but everything sounded delicious, so we both quickly decided what we wanted. I ordered the spicy bahn mi, and Graham ordered the meatloaf sandwich. I had heard great things about their fries, so we ordered a basket to share.

It felt like FOREVER before the food came out, but it was worth the wait. Both of our sandwiches were huge and everything looked amazing. Graham's meatloaf sandwich was one of the daily specials, and when it was brought to him, the employee told him that ordering this was "the best decision you'll make all week". And it was perfect. The meatloaf had so much flavor itself and the fact that it was topped with mashed potatoes just pushed it over the top. The sandwich was messy, but he devoured it.

"Homemade meatloaf (beef-Simon Farms, Conway), garlic mashed potatoes and turnips (turnips-Barnhill Orchard, Lonoke), and fresh arugula (ANP, Malvern), on a Boulevard challah bun."

My spicy bahn mi wasn't as good, but it was still delicious. I'm trying to like tofu, but it's definitely a work in progress. The sandwich had excellent flavor, but was messy. The sauce was too sweet (I couldn't taste the sriracha), but the jalapenos gave it serious kick. The baguette was absolutely amazing.

"Fried tofu, house pickled carrot and daikon radish, fresh cilantro, jalapenos seeded & thinly sliced, hoisin sauce, sriracha, and house garlic mayo on Boulevard baguette."

Both sandwiches came with a salad on the side. The salad was good, but the side dish that I couldn't stop eating was the basket of fries. Oh my God, these were good. Definitely hand cut, which you could tell by the variety in shapes and size, perfectly crispy on the outside and soft of the inside. They were perfectly seasoned, and quite possibly the best fries I've ever had. Ever.

I absolutely could not recommend this place more. The food was fresh, delicious and inexpensive. Our meal (including two cans of Diet Coke) cost about $23.00, and was worth every single cent. I'd definitely like to make it there for breakfast one weekend... they had a few breakfast dishes that look phenomenal.

Restaurant Review: RJ Tao

Kangaroo, anyone?

A few months ago I was browsing Groupon and saw one for a local restaurant I had never heard of: RJ Tao.  After doing some googling, I found out that were a new fusion restaurant over in a trendy part of Little Rock (they were sandwiched between Red Mango & Sushi Cafe). They don't have an actual website, and their Facebook page was still under development, so it was hard to get a feel for everything they served. However, there was a review on the Arkansas Times, and the review covered some of their menu items, including both dessert & starter fondues, tuna tartare and kangaroo.

The kangaroo is what grabbed my attention, and I immediately bought the Groupon. It was on the verge of expiring, so once we got back from Charlotte, we planned a date night there.

The atmosphere is just cool. Seriously cool. You're welcomed in by Buddha statues lining the entry way, and are taken into a dark and funky dining room. They have booths tucked into alcoves, plenty of tables, a well stocked bar, and a giant Buddha statue/water wall. They also had a really nice patio, but since it's January, I wasn't digging that, although they had the AC kicked up inside, so it might have actually been warmer...

The service was excellent. Fearing Sushi Cafe type waits, we arrived pretty early, around 6:00. The dining room was pretty empty. Our waiter was knowledgeable and courteous. He answered my husband's beer questions and took our drink orders, told us about the specials (python sliders...) and left us to make our selections. Graham wanted to try the python. I wasn't feeling all that adventurous, so that didn't happen. I had read wonderful things about their burger & Parmesan truffle fries, so I went with that. Graham was still feeling adventurous and had the kangaroo tenderloin.

At one point while we were waiting for our meals, the waiter came out and asked if we liked shrimp. We do, so he told us he would bring us a complimentary order of their Balinese Shrimp since our entrees were taking so long.

These were excellent. I'm not a fan of walnuts, but they paired really nicely with the shrimp. This were served over a bed of greens with pieces of red bell pepper and the aioli as a dressing, and everything was delicious.

My burger was absolutely delicious and huge. A half pound is a lot of meat, and I took half of it home with me. All of their meat is ground in house, and the flavor was excellent. It was topped with a remoulade, lettuce, tomato & red onion. While the burger was delicious, the fries were out of this world. Seriously, the most perfect fries imaginable. I would have been more than happy to eat nothing but those fries for dinner. And I'm a sucker for a cute presentation, and this was adorable. They had the fries sticking out of a white ceramic cup. I need to get some of those for burger night at home...

I was a little intimidated by this, but it was quite good. The waiter had a hard time describing it. He said it had a real "red meat taste" to it, and compared it to bison. We've never had bison, & didn't really get what he was saying by "red meat taste", but once you try it, you get it. The texture was just like a steak, but it had a richness & depth that beef doesn't have. The tenderloin was on the small side, but I don't think you could eat a porterhouse sized portion of this, despite the fact that it was delicious. It really was rich & it was filling. I doubt I'll ever order this, but I do like that I have tried kangaroo. This was served on a bed of wilted spinach & sauteed mushrooms, and alongside asparagus. I didn't try the asparagus/mushrooms, but the asparagus was perfectly cooked and had so much flavor.

I don't think we'll be back, since we're down to 5 months left in Little Rock, but this place is definitely worth checking out. I think most of the unfavorable reviews come from the fact that it takes a restaurant a while to find it's way. Please don't let that keep you from trying this place.

At the very least, order a plate of those fries...