Archive for September, 2008

Sunday in Franklin

September 29, 2008 at 11:49 am · Filed under food, travel ·Tagged , ,

Franklin is such a photogenic town, and I realized I don’t take enough photos of this area of the world. My coworker and fellow blogger Grace posted some pictures of our quaint town last week which inspired me to turn on the camera and capture some cool images. I added a little twist to these with some kind of photo effect on my computer, giving the pics a little old-school feel.

I think this bench belongs on my porch. (at The Factory)

This is where the “Elizabethtown” movie premiere was held.

Stone statues and ivy are all over the town.

The courthouse.

Window at First Presbyterian Church

Side note: I know Saffire has been around for a few years, but I ate there for the first time yesterday, and let me just tell you that it’s one of my favorite restaurants now. I finally decided on the Southwestern Wrap with yam fries — so yum. I love the decor of the place and the service. You should definitely go eat at Saffire if you haven’t already! (I didn’t take any pictures but just had to include this in the post.)

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This and That for 9.24.08

September 24, 2008 at 11:19 am · Filed under in the news, life, random, the office ·Tagged , , , ,

I’m always interested in so much but don’t always make the time to write a blog post about each individual subject, so once again you’re getting a little bit of it all for today!

Way to go, Nashville!
Nashvillians have proved to the world that we freak out and like to hog gas from our neighbors. We’ve made national news because of the level we freak out. Is that what we want to be known for? Has anyone ever heard of carpooling and thinking twice about driving across town to get one thing at Target — stuff I try to incorporate into my life even when there’s not a “gas crisis”? I filled up my car last week and still have plenty of gas, which will hopefully get me through until our gas situation around here is back to normal. (It really helps that I live 1.5 miles from work!) If it doesn’t get me though, watch out because I’ll cut you off in the line at the gas station. ;)

Debt is dumb. Cash is king.
Dave Ramsey is a fabulous voice of reason in crazed economic times — which seems to be all the time, actually. Yesterday on his radio show, he informed listeners how we can help clean up a lot of the mess made by the government bailout. It’s important for us to contact our reps in Congress to keep the government from putting us all over $700 billion in debt when there is a much better way to deal with it. Check it out

A new roommate
Living with roommates at this stage in life is full of its ups and downs. Thank you, Lord, for providing another roommate to replace the one who’s moving to NYC! I had a room opening up at my place come November and needed someone to fill it to finish up our lease term. We have a great girl who I share many mutual friends with moving in at the beginning of November!

Writers – you might find some interest in this opportunity with a big grand prize.

Photographers – here’s a contest for you

And last but certainly not least…
Sushi the fish is now really sushi. I failed to mention a couple of weeks ago that the beloved fish named Sushi passed away. We held a funeral for him and then Troy properly buried the fishy that didn’t live a very long life.

After talking with a PetSmart employee, she thinks I’ve just had some bad luck with bettas. She’s had some that have lasted for 3 years! Well, after mourning the loss of Fish #2, I am counting on the third time being a charm. I now have a beautiful blue fish at the office who is anxiously awaiting a name. Here’s a picture. Submit your name suggestions in the comments section!

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The Lemonade Pie Fiasco

September 18, 2008 at 10:41 am · Filed under food, the office

Lemonade sans sugar is horrible.

Not even ice cream, whipped cream, and a fabulous graham-cracker pie crust could cover up the sourness of lemonade concentrate.

I branched out of my love for chocolate desserts and tried an easy recipe for a lemonade pie. I generally follow the instructions provided in recipes, which I thought I was doing this time as well. Instead of buying lemonade already mixed with the correct amount of sugar, I mistakenly bought the little packets of powder that you must add sugar to … and didn’t add sugar.

My friend Dayna was the guinea pig. Poor thing. She started laughing, crying, and choking, taken aback by the Sour Warhead Pie. Even with this unexpected warning, Megan and I took a bite. Reactions:

This pie was so horrible that we couldn’t just throw it away. When we got back to the office, we took this tasty treat around to some of our fellow coworkers to wake up their taste buds. There were some hilarious reactions, as you can probably imagine. However, a small handful of people actually liked the pie and ate multiple bites! Maybe their taste buds were dead.

Thankfully the pie is now gone, but the memory lives on. Right now I am too chicken to spend $5 to make this pie the correct way. I already have a pungent sour taste in my mouth just thinking about it.

I think I’ll stray away from any kind of lemon-flavored dessert for a long time.

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Things That Make You Go “Mmmmm”

September 16, 2008 at 4:37 pm · Filed under food ·Tagged ,

This past week has all about some good food and being a little adventurous. Here are some recipes and a couple of pictures. With a recipe, anyone can be considered a good cook! I think I could be a professional spokesperson for Food Network.

Robert Irvine’s French Toast
This was so quick and easy to make. To special it up a little bit, I added some fruit and powdered sugar.

Shrimp Kabobs
There’s no recipe for this because it’s so easy. I just had to take a picture because they are so colorful. We cooked the kabobs and corn on the cob on the grill, so that gave the food an even better taste.

Sweet Green Beans with Onions
Again, no recipe to link to right now, but this was really yummy. Just sauteed the onions, added the fresh green beans and some brown sugar and balsamic vinegarette. If you want the recipe, just let me know.

Crunchy Parmesean Chicken Tenders
Get the taste of pan-fried chicken tenders without all the pan grease (though it’s yum) and clean-up time. The buttermilk keeps the chicken moist.

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes
These really do taste like cookies, but they have good stuff in there so it’s not just butter and syrup. :)

Asian Turkey Wrap
Though it’s pretty much your basic turkey sandwich, the mayo is dressed up a little to make your everyday sandwich a little special.

I also made a lemonade pie last night. However, the results of that taste test today deserve a separate blog post. Stay tuned.

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Peachy through the decades

September 15, 2008 at 10:13 am · Filed under web

Remember Elf Yourself online application that is popular around the Christmas season? Well, here’s a similar fun thing that’s not season-specific. At YearbookYourself.com, you can upload a photo of your face and see what you would look like through the years. I know, I know, some of you can just pull out your yearbooks and photo albums from back in the day and say, “Excuse me, I know what I looked like in the ’70s!” but I can’t so I have to resort to this. It’s fun to play around with and email friends a picture of them with a big afro. They’ll never see it comin’!

1958                     1962                       1972

1986                      1994                     2000

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The Secret Behind Chick-fil-A’s Success

September 3, 2008 at 10:29 pm · Filed under books ·Tagged , , ,

Over the weekend, I finished the book How Did You Do It, Truett?. It’s a very quick read written by Truett Cathey, the founder of Chick-fil-A. In the book, Truett tells the story of how the popular restaurant came to be and what distinguishes it from other fast-food restaurants to this day.

The whole time I was reading the book, my mouth was watering for all things Chick-fil-A: chicken sandwich, waffle fries, chicken nuggets, lemonade, southwest chicken salad, chicken biscuit, etc. Mmmmm…I’m starting to crave it as I type this.

Besides the delish food, I love Chick-fil-A because I have never left there in a bad mood. The team members who work there are always so friendly. That doesn’t happen by accident. Here’s what Truett had to say about it:

If you really aren’t interested in serving others, you don’t need to be in the restaurant business in the first place. We like to say we recruit smiles. We can’t teach a sour person to be joyful. Smiles are there because the heart is behind the smile. … What we can do is suggest actions that put smiles on the faces of others. Nothing brings a smile quicker than service that goes beyond the expected.

I asked … employees to say, ‘My pleasure’ whenever someone thanked them. The purpose was not just to change the words we say, but to remind those we serve, as well as ourselves, of the servant spirit and ’second-mile’ orientation we are continually building into our business. … It distinguishes the individual and the company they represent.

I’d also like to note this statement that pretty much boils down to the success of the chain. I think I’m going to start writing this on napkins when I go out to eat and leave a copy of this book (among others) for the manager.

Businesses are not dishonest or selfish, people are. Thus, a business, successful or not, is merely a reflection of the character of its leadership. … I see no conflict between biblical principles and good business practices. We’ve tried to operate Chick-fil-A that way from the beginning.

It’s definitely a quick read I recommend taking a hour or so to read. Also, a Google search brought up this Q&A with Truett about the book.

And now for the question I want you to answer: In what places recently have you experienced exceptional customer service?

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