Flower Tips and Paying It Forward

While we did not lose power because of the storms, many of my friends, co-workers, and Nannie did, and some are still without power. Lucky us because my Nannie has been staying with us for a few days until her power is restored.

Tonight after my mom fixed dinner, she went outside to help my dad with some tree related things before eating, so my Nannie and I waited for them enjoyed dinner together. She has been reading my blog and from the post seen here she let me in on the identity of those flowers. The ones that I termed as "fuzzy" are actually Mimosa Trees, and the "peaceful, white ones" are Queen's Anne's Lace. 

Initially these just struck my fancy as I made my drive to and from work everyday. Little did I know that they would tug on a different heart string for someone else. After explaining to me what each one was, my Nannie told me that as a child she laid underneath a Mimosa Tree that was on my Grandparent's (her parent's) farm on those hot summer days. Now whenever I see them, I will always think of my Nannie laying under them as a kid. 

On another note, I forgot to mention something pretty crazy that happened to me this weekend. On Saturday night I went to the movies with my cousin and decided to swing through the Chik-Fil-A drive thru and grab a sandwich first. I proceeded to the payment window where the employee told me that the woman in front of me wanted to do something nice for someone today, so she paid for the person's meal behind her. Which was me. I was shocked and completely humbled by this woman's actions. I noticed she had pulled into a parking spot just beside the stop sign that I would come to before leaving the parking lot. I got my sandwich and drink and pulled up to the stop sign before going to the movie theater. I looked over her way and mouthed thank you with a huge smile, in which she returned a thumbs up and a huge smile. 

I think this affected me the way that it did because working with the public, no matter the setting (fast-food, restaurants, customer service, cashier at Kohl's or the grocery store, or your legal drug dispenser, a pharmacist) can be extremely trying and exhausting. I'll even go so far as to say that it can sometimes make you bitter - not better. People never cease to amaze me by their actions and the words that leave their mouths - and I DO NOT mean amaze me in a positive way. More of a Icantbelievetheyjustsaidordidthat kind of way. 

I immediately posted on Facebook what had happened to me and was almost just as surprised that so many of my friends liked it on Facebook.

The next morning upon waking, I began to think some more about what the woman had done. In a psychology course that I took in undergrad it was mentioned a few times that various studies have been (and I'm sure still are) done to see people's reactions/responses to different situations - like if someone were lying "injured" on the street or if an "elderly" person needed help crossing a busy intersection, what would you do? This made me think that maybe this woman was doing something similar - let me do something totally random and kind for someone and see if they even acknowledge it. Perhaps she was doing one of those let me do something to better mankind things for 365 days - an attempt at bettering the world with hopes that each person/thing that she does gets noticed and transcends. Or maybe she was just doing something nice, and expected nothing at all. 

Either way, we should all live with this mentality. Maybe she will see this and realize that she affected someone more profoundly than she had planned. Maybe she won't. At the end of the day, we are responsible and will be held accountable for our actions no matter what.

What will you do to pay it forward?

-Suze

Black Beans, Cobbler, and Fuzzy Flowers

I had the pleasure of working all weekend. Not. It definitely could have been worse though. Depending on which pharmacy department that I work in at the hospital determines whether my day is more feast or famine in workload. Fortunately, Sunday was more of a famine-like afternoon so I dipped out of work a little early. I forgot to mention that it was completely gorgeous all weekend, and Sunday was Father's Faw-juh's Day (Austin Powers throwback anyone?).

From the post here one could conclude that family days and holidays essentially revolve around food in my family. Since I couldn't spend the full day on Sunday with my dad, I decided on Saturday evening after work to make Spicy Black Bean Burgers and Mini Peach Cobblers for the fam. 

Everything was to die for really. I dressed the burgers on wholegrain english muffins with a tad bit of cheddar cheese, tomato, avocado, and sour cream with a spritz of fresh lime juice. They were indeed spicy, but I like spicy food. If spicy food isn't your forte, definitely cut back on the cayenne. 

The cobblers were a bit of a disaster as seen by the photo below. After they were finished baking, I transferred everything to one dish and it all disappeared less than 24 hours later, so they were definitely delicious. They were only a disaster because my batter was thick upon mixing and rather than letting it rest for a few minutes before adding anything, I added something I shouldn't have, making the batter literally inflate in the oven. I did add a little vanilla to my batter and only about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. 

On Sunday morning, my mom and I stayed southern and made sausage gravy and biscuits for daddy-o. It has to be said that to be somewhat southern, you have to enjoy a good biscuit and know how to make one. 

I'm here to tell you . . . I know my biscuits. I know an awful one, I know a bad one, I know a decent one, and I know a good one. The good ones are moist, never dry, crumbly, but not so much that they fall apart while you're eating them, they're buttery, and melt. in. your. mouth. They also can't dry out a day after making them. Not that they stick around that long, but I'm just throwing it out there. Summers and holiday vacations were spent at my grandparent's farm not too far from my house and my grandma had biscuits at every meal, thus engraining my passion devotion to good biscuits.

Shut the front door. I want one now. Ok. Enough of my chub biscuit rant. 

Here's that delicious gravy (not with maple sausage, just good 'ol Jimmy Dean 'round these parts of Virginny) made in my PaPa's cast iron skillet.

Put your seatbelt on for these biscuits . . . if you can fit it around you after eating the whole pan. Not joking here.

After coming down from my carb coma, I headed to work. I worked. Then I dipped early remember? Well I happened to have my camera with me and decided to take a few pictures of things that I had made mental notes of recently. I work for a teaching hospital (hospital associated with a university) placed smack dab in the middle of a city. Being that it's in the middle of a city, parking is cramped. Despite being in a city, the grounds of the university and hospital always surprise me a little bit. 

Here are the little gems chilling outside my parking deck.

Then I cruised down the hill to snag a few of Main Street Station. This is one of my favorite buildings in the city. I just can't seem to ever look away when I see it. It currently serves as a train station, photo-op, wedding reception site, among other things I'm sure. It's also chock full of history.

Standing under the train tracks.

Another mental note that I had made recently was all these odd looking wildflowers growing along the sides of the highways and such. I keep seeing these pink, fuzzy looking flowers growing wild and had been dying to know what in fact they looked like up close. In addition to those, I had noticed these light and sweet looking white flowers growing mostly along guardrails and things of the like. On my way home to make my yummy goodies I spotted both of them in the same location. One.Stop.Shop.

See? They are fuzzy!

These cuties just look so peaceful.

-Suze