High Five for Friday

1. This week has been a little interesting. We spent Monday night huddled in Mike and Kelsey's downstairs apartment in case of tornadoes. Thankfully we did not have any damages in our neighborhood, and we were glad to have a safer place to stay.

(photo from original blog source, linked below)

2. I made this recipe this week, and it was pretty delicious. I'm not sure if anything with bacon can be bad, so give this recipe a try for a new pasta dish.  I was a little leery of the egg sauce, but it didn't have a weird texture and just made everything nice and creamy (without an overload of heavy cream!). I did also roast grape tomatoes to toss in too, which I think added a nice flavor to the mix. The roasted cauliflower was awesome - I would do that again as a stand-alone side.

3. Yesterday our Clinical Evaluation instructors, who have been with us for both Fall and Spring semesters held a little end-of-the-year party to recognize a couple of outstanding students, and then hand out several funny awards based on things they had overheard or seen us do throughout the year. I will spare you the names of the awards, as they are all corny, optometry-nerdy awards. We have all said and done some crazy things as we've been learning new skills along the way. And it's also been fun (and funny) to see how each other's personalities come out in various situations - whether it's the first time you see the retina with a certain tool and are blown away by what you see and feel like a rockstar, or when you freak out because you are stressed and feel like you suck at every clinical thing you've ever done.  We have a great class and it makes each day better knowing you have people going through this with you.

4. Today was the last day of class for spring semester! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! (Insert any other expression of unbelievable excitement here!) Finals are next week, so keep me in your prayers and thoughts. Jesse too, bless his heart, for putting up with me during such a stressful week.

5. Also today, Jesse took a placement test that sets him up for begging a Master's program in business. He took several business classes in undergrad, but not enough to major or minor in it. He has recently been interested in going back to get his MBA for a couple of reasons 1) it can't hurt to have an MBA on top of an engineering degree  2) it could help my practice one day to have someone that knows anything about business since we get little to no business education in optometry school  3) his current company will pay for it- so why not?!  Since he didn't have all of the required classes to start the program, he could opt to take this placement test and if he passed, he didn't have to make up the courses, which would knock off a year of classes for him.  Well, he pretty much aced the test today and is now just waiting for registration to open to sign up for classes! I am so proud of him!  If all goes as planned he will finish the same year as I do. So from now until then we will be some of the most boring people you know. ;)

Happy Weekend!

High Five for Friday

Once again, I forgot to post on Friday. I don't know why... I was completely distracted from studying yesterday and at the pinnacle of procrastination.  Finals are a week away, but my brain is pretty much done with this semester.  This week held lots of exciting things, though - let's start from last weekend:

1. Saturday we were home for my cousin Clint's wedding.  It was quite the ride out into the countryside, but the venue was gorgeous!  A newly built barn just for events like this, that screamed rustic Southern wedding. All the little touches Ashton had planned were absolutely charming, and there was a candy table.... probably for kids... but you know I had to get some!  And there was a grits bar that made my tummy swoon (twice).

And look how gorgeous my cousin Kelsey is in this seagreen color! (Which goes with her glasses, might I add. ;)  )

Little Adelyn also loved the candy bar:

2. We had Easter lunch with Jesse's side of the family on Saturday as well.  Marilyn made a delicious ham and veggie strudel, and Heidi brought her famous double-layer cheesecake.  We also hunted eggs (because you are NEVER too old for that), and Heidi found the "golden egg" with $5 inside! We were all eager to empty the candy out, and everyone was excited about Peeps.  (By the way... Peeps should be designated for Easter... we don't need Peeps for all the other holidays. That sucks the fun out of egg hunts and the original Easter Peeps. Just sayin'.)

3.  Church was amazing on Sunday, with a great worship service and a focus on the resurrection power of our living Savior! The same resurrection power that was enough to save you is the same power that can sustain you. So why do we try to chose what parts of our life we want His power to show up in? Salvation, but not in the hatred of a friend that has hurt us? Save us from all the ugly sins of this world, but not enough to save our marriage from the nothingness it's become? Strong enough to conquer death, but not to help you break your addiction? It's strong enough to restore you- restore your marriage, break addiction, and allow forgiveness (plus more). It doesn't change; it doesn't fade or lose its strength!
Service was followed by what has become the annual Domeny Easter lunch, where Kelsey cooked up a ham and all the proper Easter fixings.

4.  Jesse and I got sick mid-way through the week, but have (almost) fully recovered at this point. Feeling better always feels so good!

5.  After a round a chicken noodle soup and appetites were back to normal, last night we tried using pantry and freezer items to make a homemade spin on a local favorite dish of ours - Saw's Soul Kitchen's Pork and Grits which is a bed of grits topped with turnip greens, pork, and shoe-string onion rings. Divine I tell you. Now, it was a stretch, because we did not have BBQ pork, but I made cheese grits, we cooked up spinach as our greens, and Jesse topped his with shrimp (I'm sadly allergic), followed by French's onions. Mine was okay, but his was delicious. He tries to pretend he doesn't cook, but when he does, he always goes all out and it tastes amazing.

Happy weekend, everyone!

High Five for Friday

I've been busy practicing and preparing for my final practical in my Clinical Evaluations course so the past couple of weeks have been somewhat a blur. I didn't get around to posting a high five last week, so let's just do a little catching up over the past couple of weeks:

1. My mom and mother-in law were sweet enough to come up and be my practice patients over this past weekend. We took them to Little Donkey, a local Mexican restaurant we've recently come to enjoy. And of course we had to get pops. A 2 hour eye exam might have been a little tortuous, but they had a good time otherwise. We ladies even went shopping on Saturday together, which was fun and a nice break from my norm.

2. We also had Matt and Heidi here for the weekend as well. They went with Jesse to our friend Kyle's white water rafting birthday trip. They had a lot of fun splashing down the Ocoee River in Tennessee. Mike fell out at some point, which gave them all a good laugh after the fact!

3. We enjoy when Matt and Heidi come because they always want to enjoy good food in Birmingham. This time we went to Giuseppe's Cafe - a hole in the wall place I drive by almost daily. They served up delicious, fresh Italian food. Our table had a variety of calzones, lasagna, and chicken pesto pasta, along with canollis and Tiramisu for dessert. Everything was amazing. We will definitely return!

4. Rewinding to last Friday: in our Anterior Segment lab we got to practice foreign body removal. Since this did not involve inserting foreign bodies into each other's eyes (read ridiculous and dangerous), we practiced removing epithelium and debridement of cow eyes! Then we also practiced foreign body removal by using various instruments to pick brake dust out of gelatin behind the slit lamp. Surprisingly, this consistency is similar to the front surface of your eye and made great practice for FB removal. Here are Bonnie, Steve, and Maggie in action:

5. I passed said practical! Hallelujah! This little check box meant the world this week.

Other recent happenings:  Earth Day on the Green at UAB happened last week and Jesse met me for foodtruck lunches and we got to see Alabama Power's Teslas:

Last but not least, a reader sent me this precious photo frame she found with our blog title on it, all the way from Michigan!  Okay, okay - she's not some anonymous reader across the states; she's a close friend's mom, and probably keeps up with my blog in case there are photos of her grandbaby... Just kidding! Any time Sally comes to town she always tells me how much she enjoys reading our posts, many of which contain activities with her two kids (our friends) Kelsey and Mike. I will have to find a special picture to go in this perfect frame! Thank you Sally!

Even through the most stressful weeks, when I stop and focus on each week's "high five" I realize how much we're surrounded by precious, caring people that love and support us, and I'm so thankful for those people that warm our hearts.
This weekend holds a wedding, then a celebration of Easter Sunday.  Over the next couple of weeks this semester will wind down and finals will ensue. There is light at the end, folks!

We will see some of you soon! Have a great weekend!

25 years + full bellies

Last Friday was my 25th birthday and Jesse took me out to a wonderful dinner at the historic Bright Star in Bessemer - "Alabama's Oldest Restaurant."  It began in 1907 and moved to its current location in 1915, and is stilled owned and operated by the original family. They are famous for their steak, which has been voted the best in the state of Alabama. It's in a beautiful old building that has been well maintained through the years, leaving you with a fancy mom-and-pop kind of feel. Literally everything we ate was delicious and truly tasted homemade.

We were seated by one of the owners, who was welcoming and obviously proud of his establishment.  He walked us toward the back and seated me in "Sandra Bullock's chair."  Apparently the Bright Star is her father's favorite restaurant, and in 2010 Sandra (we're on a first-name basis now) took him and many of their friends here for Father's Day.

celebrity birthday treatment? why not?

After the owner heard it was our first time at the restaurant, he brought us each a small cup of their gumbo before our waitress had time to bring us drinks. The roux was dark and made it deep and delicious.

We order stuffed mushrooms and fried green tomatoes for appetizers, then split the dinner sampler entree which came with a crisp Greek salad.

(this dish was supposed to have the shrimp and remoulade on top, but we separated it since I'm allergic)

Their famous steak with Greek sauce, grilled chicken, and red snapper.

Surprisingly the chicken was our least favorite, but we had so many more options we didn't mind.

We were so stuffed we had to order our desserts to go. I mean, it was my birthday.. I had to have dessert! Jesse ordered their famous Lemon Box Pie, and I ordered Baklava Cheesecake. We debated on the bread pudding, but decided against it. Our waitress surprised us with a complementary sample though, and it was warm and gooey and amazing, without being soggy or too sweet. I mean, she pretty much forced me to eat it. (Just kidding... you guys know it doesn't take much.)

We were really impressed with the Bright Star. We really enjoyed our meal and appreciated the genuine friendliness of the staff. It is a little bit more expensive than our normal eating out, but I would recommend it for a special occasion. 

The next day we ate our desserts. Jesse's lemon pie was light and fluffy, topped with whipped cream, and was also not as sweet as you would expect, letting the lemon shine through. And my Baklava Cheesecake... oh my! A creamy cheesecake-like center rolled in baklava and drizzled with honey - it was magical.  And I'm pretty sure we ate 4 times off of one dessert! 

Something Old, Something New

Obviously no more wedding bells are ringing around here, but the title for this post is still appropriate. I told you in last week's High Five we had a special delivery Saturday, and I'm excited to reveal it! (I'm probably more excited than any of you will be, but moving on...)

Several weeks ago Jesse and I went home to look at/work on a project. My mom has always had the same dining room table. A chunky, heavy, simple, wooden table that's been around since...maybe before I was born?  I'm not sure, but I remember this table being our dining table my entire life. It's in the background of photographs and home videos. I'm sure I blew out many birthday candles on this very table.  But it's also special because my dad made it. For those of you that haven't known me long, my dad passed away when I was young from multiple sclerosis. Most of my memories of him are in a wheelchair or scooter to get around, so he loved wood-working, for as long as he could, because it was something he could do with his hands.  I remember going into his workshop, where the ground was covered with wood shavings and smelled earthy like pine or cedar.
Recently my mom and step-dad bought a new table and I inherited the table my dad made. I am so excited to have it!  1) because it's a treasure and 2) because I wanted to replace the patio-style table we currently had in our dining area.  And this new old table would fit perfectly in our small space! Here's what it looked like before:

As you can tell, it has places that tell it's been around for a while- with all of it's scratches and dents and scrapes. We knew it needed to be re-finished somehow, and we also thought it would be a good idea to stain it a different color - something a little darker and more modern. We chose a deep espresso stain and went to work one weekend at Jesse's parents' home. They helped us sand, and sand, and sand, then apply the stain, and we left without seeing the final dried product.  Several days later my mother-in-law sent me a picture of the table and I was overjoyed - it looked fabulous! The dark shade was beautiful with lighter areas mixed in that really made the grain of the wood pop!  Then she confessed:  the stain Jesse and I applied looked really bad once dried, so they re-sanded the table and re-stained it - all without stressing me out about it's initial failure! We went home for a final look and it was just as beautiful in person! They applied a poly sealant, then delivered the table and its chairs to us last weekend. (I'm pretty sure I have the best in-laws!)

Ready for the grand reveal?
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And it still has all of it's marks of love...

I added a table runner, gray place mats, and napkins to help tie in our black and white dishes (not pictured) with the brown tones. (All of these are from World Market, and I got a great deal on them!) And we finally get to use our napkin rings we received as wedding gifts!

Isn't it gorgeous?!!! We aren't sure what we'll do about the chairs just yet. To stain, or not to stain. Or replace (they weren't handmade)... we'll see.  I'm so thankful to have this piece my dad made. And now it is even more special because my mom loved it for many years, Jesse and I worked on it together, and his parents worked on it to help transform it to its current state. That's quiet the family effort! I will cherish this piece all the years to come!

High Five for Friday

Since last Friday (for which there was no post...sorry) Spring Break has ended, and I've been forced to return to school for the last 5 weeks of this semester. It's a countdown, folks. My mind and body really enjoyed the time off. So did the kitchen, and my my husband's tummy.

What did I do with that time, you might ask?  (if case you've been worried about me since my depressing post)
- it begin with a Friday night date out for Indian food

- followed by a whole lota nothin' (and it felt so good)
- made a brief visit home, mostly for dentist appointments
- stopped by my old optometry office to visit
- had taco night with family, which was a combo send-off for my cousin, Carissa, going to Austria for a few months

(and I got to hold cousin Jessica's sweet little baby, who is as cute as a cabbage patch kid!)

- went through and eliminated an enormous stack of magazines that has been growing for quite some time, and other cleaning around the house
- redecorated our mantel (aka - removed the random Valentine's Day paraphernalia)
- had my oil changed
- had my hair cut - nothing drastic (obviously)

- organized our pantry (some)
- watched a good deal of TV (If you are a Netflixer, watch the series Sherlock. It's awesome.)
- enjoyed hanging out with friends, including a late night game night
- cuddled with my hubby (until I caught a cold)

But what about this past week's high five?

1. Our old friend Dusty came to Birmingham to celebrate his birthday. We were lucky enough to meet up with him for dinner one night. Jesse was also able to meet him and some friends for a round of mini-golf. It took him coming to B'ham to introduce us to Saw's Juke Joint, and it was delicious! Can you believe I didn't ask Dusty to share his birthday banana pudding with me?

2. We had a special delivery on Saturday afternoon! It has it's own post coming up, and I can't wait to share it with you! Coming soon, I promise!

3. I've spent a good amount of time this week practicing for my final practical. The big, grand finale of all practicals that has me shaking in my boots a little. It's basically a full eye exam, and will be on an unknown person, unlike our other practicals which only cover a few skills at a time and are on classmates. We are getting ready to see our own patients in the summer term, and this practical will make sure we are all capable of being let loose on the public. ;)

4. We got to babysit this week. Addy loves walking Maggie (which is really Maggie walking Addy) and it makes her so very happy. She runs along behind Maggie with the leash and laughs and smiles and is overjoyed.  It's precious and makes my heart happy too.

5.  Last, but certainly not least, the greatest highlight of the week is that today is my birthday!!! I've officially been around a quarter-century now. Sounds like a long time, when I put it that way. I cashed in on a birthday freebie at Moe's for lunch today. I'm not sure what's in store for celebrating, as Jesse has been out of town this week for work, but I'm looking forward to celebrating someway this weekend.
And apparently even Google now wishes you a happy day.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Proper Southern Lady

I've grown up in the South my entire life and say things like "fixin' to" and "used-ta could." In addition to that, I've also grown up watching my grandmothers and my mom cook delicious entrees and side dishes that are considered Southern classics. I wish I could go back in time and work in the kitchen with my grandmothers. I'm sure I could have learned a lot from them both. Thankfully, my mom picked up on many of her mother's techniques and continues her cooking traditions. I've been thinking up a list of classic Southern cuisine that I think I should conquer (eventually) - a list of things that any proper Southern lady should know how to make.

1. Buttermilk biscuits - a Southern breakfast staple. Golden tops with a flaky center. Topped with syrup and butter, and often served with salmon patties. I've made these HERE, but could try again and make them a little bigger.

2. Fried okra - the best way to eat okra. Don't confuse this with the fried okra you can get from the frozen foods aisle, or what many restaurants serve (which is probably from the frozen foods aisle). Homemade fried okra should have a thin, crispy coating - dusted in flour and seasonings, not a full, thick batter.

3. Pound Cake - the iconic dessert to bring to any gathering. I've already made my Memaw's recipe HERE.

4. Stewed squash - yellow squash only, preferably from your garden or local farmer's market. Next to fried squash it's my second favorite way to eat yellow squash. And it's the healthier version... and probably the healthiest thing on this list.

5. Fried cornbread - can be served with anything, especially if there are peas on the table.

6. Dressing - made from cornbread and a good chicken stock. To be served at each holiday occasion, whether Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter. And not to be confused with "stuffing."

7. Salmon patties - it would probably sound better to call them "salmon cakes," like crab cakes, but that's not what they are known as. Serve with #1, because they are also best with syrup. Cane syrup - preferably Daddy Buck's, but if that's not available, Yellow Label will do.

8. Jelly/Preserves - also often served with #1. This will take a while to cross off my list, I'm sure, as it's the most challenging and requires some knowledge of canning, which a true Southern lady knows how to do as well.  Fig preserves were always in my Memaw and mom's cabinet, and rightfully so, they are delicious. And if you have the problem of having too many figs, then preserve them, because they are like gold (in my opinion). Delicious!

9. Peach Cobbler - thanks to my mom, I have this one down pat already, but I will revisit it and share the recipe with you. Mmmm....cobbler...

10. Chicken and Dumplin's - a comfort food classic. Best made from scratch, although you can buy frozen dumplin' strips. Read strips, not balls of dough, and definitely not made from canned biscuits (bleck!).

I'll refer back to this post as I make my way through the bold items on this list.  Did I forget any of your favorite Southern dishes?