Life goes on and my first poem in two years

So, it's been a while but I'm back. Got my Masters degree and now I work at the local library as the Web Services Librarian. The new job is lots of fun and I'm talking to more groups of people than I ever have before; I even had the opportunity to present at the annual Alabama Library Association (ALLA) convention that took place in Huntsville last week.

In other news, Mom is displaced due to a kitchen fire at the house. She's currently staying with Martha and hopes to be back in the house soon but there's some outside drama going on so we'll see. I've also been losing weight and I am now do to 224 from my highest weight of 298 (woo hoo!) My goal weight is 170 and at this rate, I'm confident I'll go there soon.

The Limestone Dust Poety Festival is happening this weeked and although I usually don't go to those sort of things, something is urging me to go....to not only go but to read a poem during open mic time. I dunno...I wrote this poem yesterday to express how I've been feeling lately and Den liked it;he said it was deep.Maybe it is time for me to start writing again, I just wonder if I've still got the creativity to do so.

No without any further ado, here's my poem:

Middle Class Poor

My mama always said
“go to school,”
“get an education”
“get an degree”
“get a good job-a good life.”
Always believed if you play by the rules, life would be fair; everything would fall into place.
Didn’t know that the rules were made to be broken
unspoken deals made between unknown forces.
The game is the same but the world has changed:
got an education,
got student loans,
got a degree,
got no job,
got no job,
I get got I got no shot
I got no shot
I got to get out
Out of time
Out of money
Out of home
Home is where the heart is
Is this all there is
Is minimum the new maximum?

Tasty Vegan Donuts in Las Vegas

Over the Christmas holidays, me and Den went to Las Vegas and California. While in Vegas, I just had to stop by Ronald's Donuts which I'd read about in Quarygirl's blog. I was everything I hoped it'd be and then some. We went a little donut crazy and bought apple fritters, cinnamon bun and cinnamon twists. We're definitely putting that on our must visit list when visiting vegas from now on. Here's a picture of our donuts from Ronalds.

My first very vegan Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving went extremely well and I'm very happy that I was able to have a completely animal free Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures of the tasty food me and Den had for Thanksgiving. First up was the "meat" and after we debated whether to have tofurkey or some other option, we decide to buy a celebration field roast stuffed with apples, mushroom, and butternut squash. We both really enjoyed the celebration roast and although it was small, we were able to make it stretch for four days by slicing it thin. Next, Den made some vegan mashed potatoes by combing plain soymilk, water, earth balance margarine and a box of mashed potato flakes. While the potatoes we're think like the mashed potatoes I grew up with, they were pretty good.

Here is a picture of all the delicious food we had for Thanksgiving. In addition to the celebration roast and mashed potatoes were mixed vegetables, brown rice, cranberry sauce, and potato rolls.

After we stuffed our stomachs with Thanksgiving food, it was on to dessert. Considering that I'm not much of a cook, we bought two vegan pies when we went to Whole Foods.This is a picture of the vegan peach pie.

This is a picture of the vegan pumpkin pie right out of the oven. All of the food was a great way to end Thanksgiving Day and helped me to realize that it is possible to have a completely vegan holiday meal.

Vegan Eats in Asheville, North Carolina

It's been a while since I've written but I'm back with pictures of the fantastic food I had while on a girl's trip to Asheville, North Carolina with my best friend Keesha. We had a wonderful time touring the Biltmore Estate and we also enjoyed eating great food. Although Keesha isn't vegan or even vegetarian, she was a good sport by eating at a vegan restaurant with me. This first pic shows what I ate when we went to Barley's Taproom and Pizzeria which was a spinach salad and a sub with teriyaki marinated tofu, olives, mushrooms, and atichoke hearts. It was healthy as well as really tasty.
This next picture shows what I ate when we went to Rosetta's Kitchen, a great vegan restaurant in Asheville. I ordered a portobello swiss melt without the swiss, added avocado slices had some sweet potato fries and a side of vegan mac and cheese which was made with nutritional yeast. It was really yummy!

After my sandwich, I was still hungry and craving something sweet so I decided to have a slice of their chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. After my first bite of the cake I felt like I died and went to vegan cake heaven!

The next day, we went to tour the Biltmore Estate and afterwards, we went shopping in downtown Asheville.I had read online about this great chocolate shop called French Broad Chocolate Lounge that had vegan truffles. We stopped by there and I bought this chocolate balsamic truffle.

Mmmmmmm.....this was one tasty truffle! Here's a shot right after I bit into the chocolatey goodness. I would normally pair chocolate and balsamic vingear together but it was surprisingly good. Great trip and great food-you can't beat that!

Vegan Gumbo or there's a first time for everything

Tonight Den decided to try his hand at making vegan gumbo. In order to make the gumbo, he used Bayouland Magic gumbo mix and then he added okra, carrots, corn, green beans and cut up pieces of tofukey tomato and basil vegan bratwurst. Although I've never eaten gumbo before, since Den usually makes great meals, I decided to give the gumbo a try. Here's a picture of the gumbo right after Den combined all of theigredients.

Below is a picture of the gumbo served on a bed of white rice. Overall, I liked the gumbo because it was spicy but not too hot. While the gumbo was good, I didn't really like the okra in the gumbo at all, the taste and texture didn't really feel quite right in my mouth.Other than the okra, the gumbo was great.

Assorted vegan goodies

Just wanted to write about some of the yummy food that I've had lately, both homemade and store bought. First up is a wonderful vegan pizza that Den made for dinner a couple of weeks ago. This pizza was made on a wheat crust using Ragu spaghetti sauce and topped with mushrooms, olives, artichoke hearts and onions. Not only was it simple to make, it tasted fantastic!

Next is a loaf of vegan banana bread that I bought at Garden Cove ( a local natural foods store). It's always comforting to go to a store that as vegan options as well as nut-free options (since Den is allergic). The loaf was small in appearance but big on taste.

Tonight for dinner we had baked potatoes with Lightlife Smart BBQ and Tofutti Sour Cream-healthy and tasty. So there it is-three tasty vegan goodies I've have lately.

Thanksgiving in September

Lately, I've been thinking about what to eat for Thanksgiving and other holidays since I've recently became a vegan. While shopping at Foods for Life, a local natural foods store, we saw Tofurkey with stuffing and I decide to test it out. Den cooked the Tofurkey,yams and wild rice. Overall, Tofurky gets my seal of approval. It tasted good and I can definitely see myself having it for holiday dinners.