Olive & Wine

New shop in the City Centre.  At first, I thought wow, this is really excessive...totally unnecessary.  Then, I started sampling...yum!  They're olive oils in all different flavors!  I got two bottles, Roasted Garlic and Cilantro.  They're a really great way to bake or cook with to add a kick of flavor.

They also have balsamic vinegar concoctions.  They have little small sample sizes at the register, if you want to go really small to test.  They have 2 sizes, smaller one is $9, bigger ones $19.  The truffle oil was $19 and $39.  By the way, I now know the difference between truffle oil and chocolate truffles, two totally different things.  If you want to know what truffles taste like, try the truffle oil here, you'll totally get it.

So much fun!  Bread for sampling, I could have stayed here all day...to the point of wearing out my welcome.  I also got these convenient pour spouts.  Good for drizzling.  They're only $5 each.  It's so neat in here, great idea, never seen such a thing.  Owner says they have this concept in other major cities.  Anyways, I think it's really cool, can't wait to use my new olive oils!

Sweet Part 2

Ok, so I went back for red velvet, raspberry and strawberry to take to my girlfriends who hadn't heard about Sweet.

So I decided to get some Macaroons because the few people I know have been raving about them. I got the vanilla. It looks like a teeny weeny burger.

It's just bigger than the size of a quarter.  I thought it was really tasty...so I went back...

and got another, this time the Lemon, which I liked better.  It's $1.50 for one and packaging is cute too!

I was hoping to split the cupcakes with my girlfriends, but we couldn't coordinate early enough so I went ahead and had my raspberry.  I thought it was really good.  Raspberries in the cake too.  Icing delicious, cake was really moist and tasty too.  Overall, very pleased with it.  I think the Strawberry cupcake's icing looks much better today than it did yesterday.  So far I'm very pleased with everything I've tried here, I definitely recommend Sweet.

Sweet at City Centre

In the center of City Centre near Yardhouse.  It's a little hard to find since it's not on the most exposed side.  But, just around the corner behind Red Mango and really not a bad space once you know where it is.

Sweet is not to be confused with Sweet Cupcakes that was featured on Cupcake Wars.  They do more than cupcakes, they have macaroons and rock candy, coffee, and more to come, says Sandy.

So far I like the decor, rustic meets posh, love the combination of brick and wood, very cute.

cute little benches, plenty of seating in and out the cupcakery.

Very nice presentation and lots of choices from Red Velvet, Green Tea with Raspberry icing, Vanilla Bean, Peanut Butter (great idea!), Strawberry, and more...too many to remember.  They were all very cute, presentation was great, I wanted to eat them all! 

An explosion of cuteness in a very tasteful way.

And for your furry family members, how thoughtful!

I wanted a Lemon, but they ran out.  At the recommendation of the owner Sandy, who was really nice, I got the strawberry.  It smelled awesome!  I thought it was really good.  There were strawberries in the cake, you can see it in this picture through the cup.  I thought the icing was good too.  I thought it was pretty comparable to my favorite, Celebrity Cupcake's strawberry.  I thought Celebrity Cupcake's icing tastes lighter.  The cake taste about the same.  The only thing I thought gave Celebrity a noticeable point over Sweet's was the presentation of the cupcake.  This cupcake doesn't look as neat, don't you think?  But, just to point out, the other cupcakes were really cute and prices are great at $3 a cupcake!

Just to prove a point on the location comment I made earlier, I was sitting on a bench with my girlfriend Rebecca and eating my cupcake and two girls walked up to me and asked me where I got the cupcake, I told them it was on the other side of Red Mango...case in point. I was very happy with my overall experience from the atmosphere, staff, owner, and product. 

Ruggles Green (City Centre)

Reb, Justy and I decide to go to Ruggles Green City Centre for dessert.  By the way, City Centre is so awsome, I think I'd be there everyday if I lived on this side of town.  It's like a little bubble city...such a fun place, so much to do, and easy on the eyes.



So, we walk in and the interior is much different from W Alabama location.  Much trendier, greener and cozier. We came for desserts, so I'm not sure if the food is different from the W. Alabama location, probably the same.  We got the Apple Pie with ice cream and I got a cappuccino...both not very good.  But, the staff is super nice and friendly, always a good thing and the interior is comfortable, nice booths.  The food I'll have to try next time...over and out.

Flora and Muse (City Centre)

Sorry bad photo, haven't fully mastered the camera yet.  The transitions between the real estate and regular life shots haven't been very seamless.  In the City Centre, there's a lovely European inspired restaurant that's a two in one.  One side a bistro and bar, and connects to the cafe/flower shop.





I know it's werid, an oxymoron, but the style is both modern and vintage.  Enjoying this trendy little dive, pictured sitting chatting is Rebecca and Justy, tearing up the 3 cheese and fruit board.  The bread was extremely oily.  Left grease all over the fingers.  Though I don't like bleu cheese, I do like that the cheese selection was varied, from a form of brie, bleu and guyere.



Our server, Lindsey, I think was her name.  She was great, helpful, knew her cues, awesome server.



At our server's suggestion, I got the tenderloin on flatbread with arugula, substitute bleu cheese for guyere and the first few bites were delicious.  After the second slice, I couldn't really taste it anymore.



For dessert, we ordered the bread pudding with chocolate chips and raspberries.  It wasn't good at all, horrible, we couldn't stand the taste of it...I joke.  I'm still on the fence about bread pudding in general, especially after a heavy meal, but this was actually tasty.





Walk straight, right, right and you're in the cafe flora part of the bistro.  So cute isn't it?  I didn't try anything on this side, but maybe next time.

floraandmuse.com

MNF at YardHouse

This week MNF was held at Yardhouse in the City Center near Town & Country. I must say, they've done a great job with the City Center. It makes the old Town & Country square seem so sad and lonely. It feels like a new city. One complaint, there are no directional signs, I'll be driving down a lane and realize I'm going the wrong way, only because of the direction the cars are parked on the side. They really do need one way signs.

Yardhouse is a little fahncy for sports watching, but they do have plasmas, picture clear, long sitting booths, and over 100 bears on tap. Happy Hour was between 6-9pm ish and half off everything off the happy hour menu, which has a really good selection. We ordered buffalo wings, yum, jerk chicken, alright, margherita pizza, yum, bbq chicken, sliders and fries. I thought everything was good, a bit further than I'd like to go for mnf, but all in all, a good experience.

Sorry forgot the pictures again, must pay better attention.

Straits in City Center

My friend Nikki works as a chef at Straits, which is an asian fusion restaurant from San Francisco, I think. I've heard from a couple of people say the food isn't good. For my birthday, Nikki took me to Straits, she ordered the Tuna Tower, Ahi Jewels, Ginger, Kaffir Lime Leaf, Wasabi Aioli, Wonton Chips $15, which I thought was pretty yum. She also ordered the Grilled Grape Leaf Beef Butter Lettuce Wrap, Sweet Chili Vinaigrette $10, pretty good. Roti Prata Crisp griddled Indian Flatbread, Curry Dip $7 was so good, I devoured it!

For my main meal I had the "Spicy Basil Chicken Tender Chicken, Shiitake Mushrooms, Bamboo Shoots, Thai Basil $12". This I did not like. It had that, sorry folks, strong chinese flavor. Nikki said it was the "Singapore" flavor in the dish that I probably didn't like. I looked it up, it didn't say anything about "Singapore", so whatever it was in that dish, I didn't like it.

For dessert, they brought out a ginger cake which was eh, a bit dry and lack luster. But, the server did sing me happy birthday, unashamedly, which I thought was cute. Nikki ordered the "Chocolate Lava Cake house-made vanilla ice cream, Thai tea caramel". I've had lava cake that looks similar, but this was actually pretty darn good, so chocolately and tasty...we devoured it too :)

The front manager came by, was told it was my birthday and brought out 3 shots, which I didn't drink. I don't do shots, Nikki and Mel weren't complaining as they polished it off for me.

It's big, modern, and "fahncy" design. Has a bar on one side, that seems pretty popular with the hip folk, and a white, subway tiled, unisex bathroom with pink neon lights...that's different. It's outside my neighborhood, but I'd probably go back for a special occasion. Sorry no food pictures, I forgot. We did manage to take one photo right outside the restaurant near the perty lights on trees. The guy that took the photo obviously does not know how to take a photo.



I forgot to mention, I had breakfast tacos at Tiny's with Jenny on snow day, black bean and cheese and it was super yummy, I went back for seconds! But the second time, the tortilla wasn't as heated, it was hard and not ask gooey. Forgot to take pictures again, must pay better attention.