Ciao Baci Wonderful

Had a delicious $$$ birthday dinner at Ciao Baci off Kavanaugh in Little Rock last night. Our server, Hastings, made our meal so special and complete with excellence service and information about the gifted Chef, new Fall menu, local produce supplier, and entree choices. Our party chose appetizers, salads, soups, and wines for a very special patio meal. The patio was full and the line steadily streaming to eat here last night. Glad we arrived early and nice to know they are open till midnight. Anyway, if you are ever in the area and looking for a take your special client out kind of place, Ciao Baci is IT!

Check out the Bangkok Calamari, Artisan Cheeses, Housemade Charcuterie, Chicken Gumbo, Asian Chopped Salad, impressive wine list, and Candied Walnut Baklava with Bourbon Whipped Cream... all absolutely to Di For!!! Will try the S'mores complete with mini grill next visit,

Sonny Williams Steak Room On Top of the Rock

Dinner at Sonny Williams Steak Room at the Rivermarket was absolutely wonderful last night. Great company with TriState Truck Center people and delightful customers! Our table of 10 enjoyed excellent service, superb wine, melt in your mouth steaks, and delicious appetizers. The fillets (No Skinny Steaks) were outstanding! Perfectly cooked. Try them with the buttery Bearnaise sauce for a really special taste. A trip to Sonny Williams is not complete without trying the appetizers. Calamari, Artichoke Dip, and Fried Boudin were spectacular with the spicy sauces and pita that accompanied them. Mike and I split a Wedge with Roquefort which would have been OK for a full meal. I haven't really been able to rave about this place so much in the past, but from the dining experience last night, Sonny Williams just keeps going over the top of the Rock! Check out the Piano Bar and music of ole Blue Eyes before you leave.

Chuy's in Little Rock...Complete With An Elvis Shrine!

Finally, a very good Tex-Mex restaurant comes to West Little Rock to replace El Chico and help On The Border accommodate all of us Mexican food lovin Arkansans! All the way from the great state of Texas, Chuy's uses nothing but the freshest ingredients. Chuy's makes substantial (not wimpy) chips, fresh (fresh, fresh) salsa, and great queso, loved them. Also, happy to report the BEST Chili Rellenos around! Crispy battered, fried to perfection, and loaded with cheese. I had the Shrimp and Cheese Relleno, could've had a couple of more shrimp, but delicious anyway. Loved the casual and friendly decor. Check out all the hubcaps on the ceiling! And, a fresh, fresh, fresh tortilla maker on the clock all day long! The King would be proud. Bet you will get excited about Chuy's, too...

Funny, The Things You Remember...

The other day I was chatting with a sweet lady (I had just met) on FB and we were reminiscing about the street we both use to live on and who lived in which house and who moved away and when so and so moved in and all sorts of other interesting (to no one but us) facts we were trying to get straight (after all these years). Anyway, I think we figured out all the whos, whens, wheres, and whats (with the help of some other friends on FB who chimed in, don't you just love social networking) soooo, I thought I would drive by (don't live too far away) to visit the old neighborhood. A few changes here and there, but what was really intriguing (after talking with my (new) FB friends) is that I realized when my family moved out of the neighborhood, I gave no thought that others had moved in and started making memories of their own. Anyway, these are my memories. Funny, the things you remember...

The Cooks lived here. If Coolidge Cook (my Daddy's best friend) and Bill Montgomery (my Daddy) couldn't fix it, you just as well throw it away. They built a go-cart (for the Cook boys) and had a track in their backyard. I wasn't allowed to ride it because I was a girl. 

The Dawes lived here. I went to school with Jimmy and Bobby. They had a boxer that bit my sister one time. Funny, the things you remember...

The Greens lived here. Timmy and Johnny were athletes who pole vaulted in their backyard all the time. Their mom, Helen Green, worked at Dillard's and I would see her for many years after we moved...at Dillard's. Timmy (thank you for your service) died in the Vietnam war. 

The Huttos lived here. We loved to play in The Creek by their house. The Creek provided endless hours of heavy duty play for all the kids in the neighborhood. Always fun to catch crawdads in The Creek, too.

The Montgomerys lived here. My Daddy had a huge garden in the backyard and beginning in the 5th grade, I would make dinner, quite often, for our family. My Nannie taught me how to cook and the art of making cornbread. We had potatoes every night for what seemed like an eternity. The Creek ran by our house, too. We would dam it up and swim in it, at times. Yuck! Lots of good memories (and, lots of not so good)...

The Pages lived here. John and Ann Page were Catholics and had a large family. We played in their backyard often. I wonder if the swing set and slide are still back there after all these years.

A man named Perry lived in this house. He had a nice wife, but that's all I remember. This house is the same (unremodeled) as it was back in the 50s when these homes were built.  

The Smiths lived here. Jerry Smith got a Mohawk haircut which I thought was really silly looking. Still do. 

This is The Creek. The chain link fence in this pic would never have kept all of us out of The Creek, way back then. I remember tying a string to a wallet, hiding in the culvert in The Creek, and waiting for people to come by and try to pick up the wallet as we tugged the string and laughed our heads off at the unsuspecting victim.

This is where Mr. Hickman had his grocery store.When I would walk home from North Heights Elementary, I would usually have a nickel (leftover from the quarter I would carry for lunch) to spend (at Hickman's) for a treat. I would opt for a little round tube of Spanish peanuts. Or, maybe a Snickers. Most days, in the summertime, when school was out and my mother worked, we would walk to Hickman's (with a crisp dollar my mother would leave us for lunch) and get three slices of bologna, a package of Lay's potato chips (the big one) and three Cokes (we would return the bottles and not have to pay a deposit). We would then trek back home, make our bologna sandwiches, eat all the chips, and sip on those sugary sweet Cokes as we watched Another World on the television. And, we always had change from the dollar to give to Mother. Funny, the things you remember...

Hillary Hair...

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I have admired Hillary Clinton for many, many years. I've watched (from afar) as she moved up the ranks of giddy young married woman (in the Central Arkansas area) giggling (yes, giggling, I saw her do it one time) with her husband to the most influential woman in the world as Secretary of State. I respect her as a strong politician, a good wife, a great mom, a fellow Methodist, a brilliant mind, a successful author, and I especially love her hair.

Finally, she seems to have come up with a decent looking, classical style that certainly becomes her. You know, that cute little 'flip up' do that works for a lot of gals. In fact, I almost have Hillary Hair. And, I could possibly pass for Hillary's doppelgänger. What do you think? Would love to maybe help the secret service out as a double for Hillary (how exciting) when she becomes our next President?? If only Wendy Davis doesn't beat her out!

Keepin' Cool On The White River

Found these very cool t shirts so appropriate for our annual trout fishing trip on the cool White River! I bought a long sleeve Nativ last winter and got so many comments that when I saw this short sleeve one at Gene Lockwood's yesterday, I purchased seven for our family vacation photo. At $30 per shirt, they better like um!  Check out the link to their website and see how really nice and comfortable Nativ t shirts are. Cool stuff! And, Nativ is local in the Central Arkansas area. I like supporting local businesses.

Happy Mother's Day 2013

Hoping all the ladies out there had a wonderful Mother's Day 2013.  Di, Daughter, Noah, and Mother celebrated the special day a week early this year and then on to Charlotte, NC for a special visit with Aaron and family. Making time for my (separated by miles) family is a task I've made a priority all these years. Not always easy but, certainly always rewarding!