Brunch at Heritage and the James River Park System/Belle Isle

It's Monday y'all - thank goodness it's over (serious case of the Mondays over here). 

Let's talk tv. Anyone out there watching The Following on Fox? It's a fairly new show based out of Richmond, VA and a few other surrounding cities (Petersburg, Norfolk, etc.). A brief synopsis? A romantic literary professor turned serial killer that drew his inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe. The link? Edgar Allen Poe lived in Richmond for a large portion of his life. Y'all know me by now - I eat.sleep.breath all things Richmond. It's muh city, what can I say? O and you're in luck! It's coming on tonight. I definitely recommend getting caught up on episodes you've missed. Besides, who doesn't love some Kevin Bacon (he plays the detective)?

Since I love all things Richmond, it's only fitting to share a little piece of Richmond with ya. How about the James River Park System? Never heard of it? My mom hadn't either until we were skipping across the bridge to Belle Isle. Like myself, my mom was born and raised in Richmond -- so how could she have never heard of the James River Park System? Because when she was my age there was no "park system." It was just rocks and the swiftly flowing James River -- you had to hope the river was low enough so that you could skip rocks across. Yep, that was one of many stories we bonded over a couple of weekends ago. Of course the ones about her skipping school with friends on those same rocks were also included - HA! #sorrymom #youvebeenouted

So yea - about a month ago on a Sunday morning, my mom and I straight grubbed at Heritage. There was nothing lady-like about what we ordered or how we ate it. My mom got the Chicken and Waffles and I got their Biscuits and Gravy. If you're a local go. Now. If you're not, ya need to come visit and grab brunch here. ASAP. Trust me - I'd never lead you astray.

Best post-brunch idea? Go walking along the river. It was a crisp, cool January day and while things were definitely grey and bare, it was still muh city and I loved it.

The river was super high that day.

Sun flare and just a little snow that hadn't yet melted.

These trees. I love them.

How my mom used to get across . . .

Here's where our road ended and we had to find alternative means.

When I was in high school, we used to come down here and lay out on the rocks. Talk about a good time.

How we got across - the bridge that was unheard of when my mom was younger.

Look at that flare would ya?

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree -- someone must have gotten seriously angry with this tree.

Check out the park system. You can walk, bike, run and it's tons of fun.

-Sue

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