Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House

Earlier this month, I went to the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield, which is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden system. This was my first visit. For those who haven’t been, they have a butterfly statue outside, a garden area inside the building, and an outside garden within the park. It’s a pretty chill place, and I’d recommend checking it out. It is just one of the many things to do in the St. Louis area.

It’s weird to think that the month is almost over. I will be posting more photos soon about the interesting things/nature excursions I’ve done this summer that I photographed. Without getting too fake-deep about it (cough Mr. ‘I am a transparent eyeball’ if you’ve ever had transcendental thoughts as required reading), taking time to be in nature reminds me that there is beauty in the world.

Summer Cooking Adventures

What do garbanzo beans, ricotta cheese, and lemon zest all have in common?

They are ingredients I have used this summer when cooking. A few recipes I have made this summer include calzones, garbanzo bean stir fry with buttered noodles, and a quiche.

Recipe #1: Calzones

 

Making these calzones involved learning what lemon zest is. I thought it was ridiculous to grate a lemon, but it helped these calzones to taste great. The flavor was very fresh. A word to the wise, however: if you plan to make these, go easy when salting the broccoli because the cheeses in the calzone bring enough salt. 

This recipe was found at https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/easy-vegetarian-calzones

Recipe #2: Garbanzo Stir Fry

I found this dish by looking for recipes to use up the garbanzo beans in the pantry.  My mom was surprised by how much flavor the garbanzo beans absorbed. I ended up pairing the stir fry with buttered noodles, which helped to use some of the Parmesan left over from the calzones.

This recipe was found at https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24379/garbanzo-stir-fry/ .

Recipe #3: Spinach Ricotta Quiche

An unexpected cooking material used when making this quiche was aluminum foil as the recipe called for the crust to be baked a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients. This dish was personally not my favorite. However, it brought back our old friend ricotta cheese from the calzones recipe, and received positive reviews from others who ate it. It was difficult to tear the foil off when it I took it out of the oven.

This recipe can be found at https://www.skinnytaste.com/spinach-ricotta-quiche/

Altogether, I am glad that I tried these recipes. My consensus is that the garbanzo stir fry is worth making again because it is simple and quick. I do not plan to make the quiche again in the future. The calzones are worth making if there is enough time to do so. I plan to try out new recipes soon.

Response to the Glen Carbon Graveyard Swastikas

When I first saw online that someone defaced over 200 headstones in a local cemetery and the sides of houses with swastikas, I was disappointed.

However, similar acts of hatred have taken place that I chose not to write about. Such recent events have included the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last year along with the vandalization of the Jewish cemetery in Missouri.  These individual acts tell a larger story when put in context. I should not have waited until a pattern of violent hatred in the nation and town that I call home was blatantly evident to speak up.

No longer can I use the excuse that I never thought that someone would deface a cemetery with swastikas where I live. Of course the man who vandalized the cemetery and the sides of houses is an idiot. But I’d also be an idiot if I were to continue to hide behind naivete as I witness the evils of the world. No one should have to get used to seeing acts of hate in the news, but no one should ignore the damage they do to the world around us.

I don’t want to ignore injustices that exist in the world around me, which is a lot easier said than done. The reason I am writing this post is because I want to acknowledge that hatred can exist anywhere. However, it is not always as blatant as a swastika on over 200 tombstones. If we want solutions to problems, we must not sit comfortably in times of discomfort.

 

 

 

The Plant: A Chicago Business Organism

 

Hello everyone!

This past weekend, I took a break from school in the form of a trip to see my sister in Chicago. These photos pinpoint our journey to a place called The Plant, which is a nonprofit planted inside of an old meat packing plant. The Plant also does things with plants, such as growing them indoors. My sister and I took a tour of it, and it was pretty fascinating. Inside The Plant is a farmers’ market and opportunities to grow knowledge about aquaponics.

An interesting thing that I learned about utilizing aquaponics is that it is possible to grow plants without soil, as pictured in the very bottom left picture. During the tour, we got to hear from the business that grows plants and sells them to local restaurants located inside of The Plant, which got me thinking about the different types of decisions that must have to be made in order for the individual parts of the organism/business operation of The Plant to run efficiently.

open door policy

holy cow??

Pinocchio knows all

she’s got pipes

Window Contemplations

Roosted in friendship

Random Statue or World’s Largest Kleenex Box?

GPS’ new single: Turn Right

Hot Child in the City

The Plant’s outside wall mural

Barrelman

Signage for The Plant

Dirt Not Included

Who cares, just take the stairs

Ambiguous Construction: the builder may or may not be named Bob.

 

 

 

Introduction

Lauromg Laura started a blog!

Hello everyone. I plan to use this medium of communication to share moments of my life on yet another platform.

Often, the smaller moments are part of a bigger picture. We are all a piece of something, a piece of someone else’s life, whether it be a stranger another person passes on the street. We can choose the roles we play and how we decide to best execute our decisions, but have much less control over what others think of us.

I wish to capture these moments, whether it be through photography or through words, on this site.