The Periphery of the Mind

Got up early and changed the oil in my car, then took the Professor over to see a friend's art gallery, where she got offered a spot in an upcoming show. So now she's busy working on a few abstracts to sell for the cost of a comission (if they sell, she gets 75%, otherwise she gets her paintings back).

Then we went to Devil's Den and took the Yellow Rock trail. Along the way we ran into a birdie.



The Professor was about five feet away when she got this shot I think; I dunno', as I was too chicken to climb that part of the off trail.

Then we got some shots at the Yellow Rock overlooks. This one was taken by a family in exchange for us doing a shot of them.



I took this one of the Professor. She was on one outcropping, I was on another. It's currently the wallpaper on one of my machines.



After hiking for a couple of hours, we were both starving, so we stopped by Mama Dean's on Highway 71 (where the Mr. Burger used to be). For those who don't know, it's a Soul Food restaurant. The Professor asked me what Soul Food was, and I did my best to explain. "It's food that's so unhealthy for you, it releases your soul from your body faster through a heart attack."

Honestly, in terms of a clean professional restaurant feel, I have to give this place a D grade. Doors were missing knobs, our table was dirty and we wiped it down ourselves, the walls were in the middle of being redone, and the booth we sat at was very tight. On the flip side, the glass jars that drinks are served in were clean, there were no cockroaches in sight (unlike some restaurants in Fayetteville), and the plates and utensils were fine. It's bad enough to scare you off when you first sit down, but it's decent enough where it actually counts. The service was good, the staff all seemed very friendly and laid back, drinks were kept filled, and the waitress informed us about a delay in delivery. I'll give 'em a B on service; it was good, but not the best.

As for the food itself.... I got chicken tenders with mac-n-cheese and fried okra, and a roll, and a piece of chocolate cake (all meals come with a desert). She got fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and mac-n-cheese and the cake. There were a bunch of other itmes written up on the wall menu if this doesn't appeal to you, including the ever soulful collard greens and fried zucchini I was tempted to try. Portions were large, the food was cooked just right, and I really enjoyed what I got. It tasted like it was made fresh from scratch instead of store bought and frozen. Okay, that's not entirely true; the delicious chocolate cake and the roll were probably store bought. Anyway, I'll give the food a solid A. It was good enough that I'd be willing to come back, but interesting enough that I'd want to try something different next time. All in all, I think the people running the place are on to something, and if business continues to do as well as it was doing when we visited, they'll probably grow into a bigger and better buidling within a few years. Now, if they'd just clean up their restaurant a bit....

Labels: NWA