Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Celebrating Hubby's Birthday & Vegan Offerings at 2023 Disney's California Adventure Food & Wine Festival

Hubby recently celebrated his 46th birthday over the weekend and requested that we spend a day at the Disney's California Adventure Food & Wine Festival which occured from March 3rd-April 25th. In addition to me and hubby, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and nephew also hung out with us at the theme park.


 Prior to going to the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, I went online to the website of one of my favorite vegan Dinsey social media accounts "The Happiest Vegan on Earth" to find our what vegan items were available at the festival. 

Welcome to Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival sign

Upon arriving at Disney California Adventure, I got a tasting passport which is a booklet containing a lsit of all the food offerings available during the festival. In the tasting passort book, vegan options are referred to as plant-based and eating optiions were either a small tasting sie portion of a meal or for extra, one could pay for a full entree/ size.

The first place we stopped at was Avocado Time who had a Al Pastor Taco with Impossible Pork, grilled pineapple, and avocado-tomatillo sauce.


The restaurant at the Food & Wine Festival with the most vegan options (a full vegan menu!) was Paradise Garden Grill. The first item we sampled at Paradise Grill was Gyro Fries with Impossible ground beef, cauliflower cheese sauce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, tzatzki, and pita bread.


The second item we sampled at Paradise Grill was Bulgogi Fried Rice with Impossible beef, kimchi,vegan egg, pickled cucumber, green onions, and seasame seeds.


The third item we sampled at Paradise Grill was vegan mac and cheese.


The last item we sampled at Paradise Grill was a peach-blueberry cobbler with a oatmeal crust.


 After enjoing all of the vegan food options at the Food & Wine Festival, I was a little sad that these dishes would are only available until April 25th. Hopefully, some of the dishes I highlighted above will become permanent additions at Calfornia Adventure restaurants in which case I'd definitely return again to get a bigger entree' size of my favorite items which were the Bulgogi Fried Rice and the Impossible Gyro Fries.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Highlighted on The NoBibsBurpsBottles podcast!

In August of last year, I recorded a podcast interview for The NoBibsBurpsBottles podcast! The podcast is free to listen through the Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on her website https://nobibsburpsbottles.com. 


If you want to watch the video version of the podcast interview you can find it on YouTube at: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AJw0u3uybRs&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE

As a longtime listener of this podcast, I was excited to be interviewed since the podcast is a childfree black woman who is highlighting the stories of childfree African American women. 

The podcast is now live so check it out if you'd like to hear about my experience being a married, childfree black woman as well as navigating being childfree with friends and family.

Highlighted on The Average Vegans podcast!

In October of last year, I recorded a podcast interview for the Average Vegans podcast! The podcast is free to listen through the Apple Podcasts, Spotify, as well their website www.theaveragevegans.com. 


If you want to watch the video version of the podcast interview you can find it on YouTube at: https://youtube.com/watch?v=UM_R81YlOh0&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE


As a longtime listener of this podcast, I was excited to be interviewed since the podcast is about two vegan friends living in the south (Georgia) and I'm a vegan that was born and raised in the south (Alabama.) 

The podcast is now live so check it out if you'd like to hear about my journey to becoming vegan as well my work as a librarian, navigating being vegan while at work and ways I share veganism with others.


Wednesday, January 11, 2023

First Race of 2023 Completed: Citrus Heritage Run 1/2 Marathon

On Saturday, January 7th, I completed my first race of the year which was the Citrus Heritage Run 1/2 Marthon which was held in Riverside, California.


Prior to the start of the race, I met up with two members of the Black Girls Run Inland Empire (aka BGR-IE) running club that I'm a part of and we took a selfie before the race began.



During running the 1/2 marathon, I ran past the local Citrus Hertiage Run Musuem as well as ran past local orange groves. 




After finishing the 1/2 marathon, I met back up with members from BGR-IE and took some photos to celebrate completing the 5K, 10K, and 1/2 marathon distances. 



In addition to this race being my first 1/2 marathon for 2023, I also ran this race in memory of my Uncle Willie who recently passed away and was also buried on the day of the race.

 Having completed this 1/2 marathon a little longer than I initally planned, I am working towards revising my training plan for my next 1/2 marathon which will be the Anchorage Mayor's 1/2 Marathon on Saturday, June 17, 2023.
 

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Celebrating the Holidays With Black Girls Run - Inland Empire


I recently attended a holiday party held by the Black Girls Run!(BGR) Inland Empire club which is a local chapter of the national Black Girls Run running group I joined  2017.

The holiday party was held at a restaurant in Riverside called ProAbition and the evening was filled with games, raffles, good food, and conversation.

Friend Tina and Me at party

A cool thing about the evening was that I won the main game of the evening which was BGR bingo and won at Bath & Body Works gift card!

The BGR Bingo Game involved asking everyone at the party if these met certain requires such as being vegan, being left handed, singing in a church choir, and if they were born in the same month as me.

Me and other BGR Bingo game winner 

After the BGR Bingo game was done, we ordered dinner. I was happy see that the restaurant had a vegan burger on their menu called "The Bootlegger" which consisted of an Impossible patty, lettuce, tomato, guacamole on a vegan pretzel bun. The burger came with fries and while it was a good meal, I felt that the price of $24 was a bit high.

Bootlegger vegan burger with fries

At the end of the evening, we posed for a group photo and made plans to meet at future local races as well as weekly walking/running groups. I love Black Girls Run for the amount of friendships I've made over the years as well as the sisterhood that comes from seeing someone who looks like you at a running event. I've never felt more welcomed by a group of women than from joining this group due to its national reach as well as the goal of working with black women whether they are young or old or whether they walk, wog (walk/jog,) jog, or run. 

2022 Black Girls Run Inland Empire Holiday Party Group Photo

 

Friday, November 18, 2022

The 52 Book Club's 2023 Reading Challenge

 

Each year, I take on different reading challenges as a way to get outside of my reading comfort zone. For 2023, I plan to read a total of 104 books by completing the 52 Book Club's 2023 reading challenge (consisting of 52 books) and the Booklist Queen's 2023 Reading Challenge (also consisting of 52 books.) 

If you'd like to participate in this 2023 reading challenge, visit www.the52bookclub.com/2023-reading-challenge.

Below is the list of reading prompts for the 2023 reading challenge which I'll start on January 1, 2023. After I finish each reading prompt, I'll update this list. If you want to see more of the books I've read this year and previous years, check out my Goodreads profile at: https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/15431036.

The 52 Book Club's 2023 Reading Challenge:

1. Book with a subtitle: What The Amish Teach Us:Plain Living In A Busy World by Donald B. Kraybill
2. Featuring an inheritance: Inheritance: A Memoir of Generalogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
3. Title starting with the letter “G:” Gray Hair Don't Care by Karen Booth
4. Title starting with the letter “H:” Happily Ever Older: Revolutionary Approaches to Long-Term Care by Moira Welsh
5. Title starting with the letter “I:” Invisible Wounds by Jess Ruliffson
6. Under 200 pages: From a Cat House to the White House by Jesse Pender
7. A city or country name in the title: Paris: The Memoir by Paris Hilton 
8. Dystopian Fiction: Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds
9. A book with a dedication: You Got Anything Strong by Gabrielle Union
10. Takes place during the roaring twenties: Emipre of Deception by Dean Jobb
11. A book about secrets: The Stranger She Loved: A Mormon Doctor, His Beautiful Wife, and an Almost Perfect Murder by Shanna Hogan
12. High Fantasy: An Embarrassment of Witches by Sophie Goldstein and Jenn Jordan
13. Published posthumously: It Is Well With My Soul: The Extraordinary Life of a 106- Year-Old Woman by Ella Mae Cheeks Johnson
14. A survival story: The Birthday Party by Stanley N. Alpert
15. Set in Australia:In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
16. Featuring one of the “seven deadly sins:” Greed in the Gilded Age: The Brillant Con of Cassie Chadwick by William Elliott Hazelgrove
17. By a Caribbean author: Kiss Me Catalina by Priscilla Oliveras (Puerto Rico)
18. Set during a war other than WWI or WWII: Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates By Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger (The Barbary Wars)
19. Typographic cover: I'm Not Yelling: A Black Woman's Guide to Navigating the Workplace by Elizabeth Leiba
20. A book about siblings: The Family Next Door: The Heartbreaking Imprisonment of the Thirteen Turpin Siblings and Their Extraordinary Rescue by John Glatt 
21. A second-hand book: The Runner's Guide To The Meaning Of Life by Amby Burfoot
22. A body-positive message: Body Positive: A Guide To Loving Your Body by Emily Lauren Dick
23. An alliterative title: Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally by Emily Ladau
24. Nordic Noir: The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis
25. A fashionable character: Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem: A Memoir by Daniel R. Day
26. Has an epilogue: Black Girl In Love (with herself) by Trey Anthony
27. Newbery Medal Winner: Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (1993)
28. Includes a funeral: It's Your Funeral: Plan the Celebration of a Lifetime Before It's Too Late by Kathy Benjamin
29. Sends you down a rabbit hole: Running While Black: Finding Freedom in a Sport That Wasn't Built For Us by Alison Mariella DĂ©sir
30. An author with a same name as you: Tallulah The Tooth Fairy CEO by Dr. Tamara Pizzoli
31. Set in a workplace: Please Be Advised by Christine Sneed
32. Published by Macmillan: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
33. A banned book: A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Sruvive by Dave Pelzer
34. Featuring mythology: Medusa by Rosie Hewlett
35. A book you meant to read last year: Marriage Be Hard by Kevin and Melissa Fredericks
36. Chapters have cliffhangers: Hello, Sunshine by Laura Dave
37. Written in present tense: Blush by Helen Hardt
38. An enemies-to-lovers plot: West Side Love Story by Priscilla Oliveras
39. The final book in a series: Master of Pleasure by Tara Sue Me
40. Written by a comedian: Number One Is Walking by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss
41. A character who is a refugee: The Night Diary by Veera Hiranaandani
42. Time in the title: Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes
43. A book “everyone” has read:The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
44. A contemporary setting: Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
45. First word in the book is “The:” The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker
46. Script font on spine: Old School Love and Why It Works by Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons and Justine Simmons
47. Set in the city of Dublin: Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy
48. A book by Octavia E. Butler: Unexpected Stories by Octavia E. Bulter
49. Books on the cover: The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
50. Related to the word “murder:” The Coworker by Freida McFadden
51. A book that doesn’t fit any of the other 51 prompts: The Way of the Househusband by Kousuke Oono (graphic novel)
52. Published in 2023: Bad Ass Vegan by John Lewis 


Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Booklist Queen's 2023 Reading Challenge



Each year, I take on different reading challenges as a way to get outside of my reading comfort zone. For 2023, I plan to read a total of 104 books by completing the 52 Book Club's 2023 reading challenge (consisting of 52 books) and the Booklist Queen's 2023 Reading Challenge (also consisting of 52 books.) 

If you'd like to participate in this 2023 reading challenge, visit www.booklistqueen.com/reading-challenge-2023.

Below is the list of reading prompts for the 2023 reading challenge which I'll start on January 1, 2023. After I finish each reading prompt, I'll update this list. If you want to see more of the books I've read this year and previous years, check out my Goodreads profile at: https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/15431036.

The Booklist Queen 2023 Reading Challenge:

1. Winter Read: Winter Stars: An Elderly Mother, An Aging Son, and Life''s Final Journey by Dave Iverson
2. Goodreads Winner in 2022: The Maid by Nita Prose
3. By a Black Author: Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 
4. With More Than 500 Pages: Butterfly by Kathryn Harvey
5. Published in Your Birth Year: Ramona and Her Mother by Beverly Cleary (1979)
6. Famous Author You’ve Avoided: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingslover
7. Character with a Disability: Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
8. Fiction & Nonfiction Pairing:Hindsight by Iris & Roy Johansen
9. Fiction & Nonfiction Pairing: Hindsight by Justin Timberlake
10. By a Local Author: Purgatory Has An Adress by Romaine Washington
11. A Western: Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins
12. You Own But Haven’t Read:Will Travel For Vegan Food by Kristin M. Lajeunesse
13. Animal on the Cover: Sad Animal Babies by Brooke Barker
14. Recommended by a Librarian: Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying by Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley
15. Newberry Award Winner:The Summer of the Swans (1971) by Betsy Byars
16. About Royalty: The Remarried Empress, Vol. 1 by Alphatart 
17. Written Before 1850: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820) by Washington Irving and Illustrated by Arthur Rackham
18. With Dual Timelines: Forget Me Not by Julie Soto
19. Dewey Decimal System: 300s: The Second Half: Forty Women Reveal Life After Fifty by Ellen Warner
20. Mother-Daughter Story: A Thousand Miles to Graceland by Kristen Mei Chase 
21. Empowering Read: Fat Girls Hiking: An Inclusive Guide To Getting Outdoors At Any Size or Ability by Summer Michaud-Skog 
22. World War I Book: Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub
23. Domestic Thriller: Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent
24. 2023 New Release: Slow AF Run Club:The Ultimate Guide For Anyone Who Wants To Run by Martinus Evans 
25. Read with Jenna Book Club Pick: The Measure by Nikki Erlick (July 2022)
26. A Book Everyone is Talking About: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
27. Book Becoming Movie in 2023: Are You There God,It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume
28. About Complicated Relationships: Assassinistas by Tini Howard
29. Recommended on TikTok: Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
30. An Audiobook: Spare by Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex
31. Set in the 1930s: Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson
32. Contemporary Fiction Bestseller: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
33. About Adoption: Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman
34. Genre You Don’t Usually Read: A Perfect Amish Romance by Shelley Shepard Gray (Christian Fiction)
35. Title Starts with “A”: Animal Farm by George Orwell
36. Set in South America: The Jolly Roger Social Club: A True Story of a Killer in Paradise by Nick Foster (Panama)
37. Detective Story: Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man by Emily J. Edwards
38. About Power: The Power To Get Things Done: (Whether You Feel Like It Or Not) by Steve Levinson, PHD  and Chris Cooper
39. 2022 Bestseller: Recitatif by Toni Morrison
40. By an Author You Love: Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert 
41. With a Long Title: The Art of War for Women: Sun Tzu's Ultimate Guide to Winning Without Confrontation by Chin-Ning Chu
42. Five-Star Read: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou 
43. YA Historical Fiction: Buffalo Flats by Martine Leavitt
44. About Magic: The Memory Thieves by Dhonielle Clayton 
45. A Book That Makes You Happy: Things To Look Forward to: 52 Large and Small Joys For Today and Everyday by Sophie Blackall
46. Award Winning Nonfiction: Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh (Kansas Notable Book Award 2019.)
47. Modern Classic: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
48. Borrowed from a Friend: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
49. Red Cover: They Shouldn't Have Killed His Dog by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman  
50. Reread a Favorite: Gypsyworld by Julian Thompson
51. Bottom of Your To-Read List: Thicker than Water: A Memoir by Kerry Washington
52. Holiday Romance: Build Your Own christmas Movie Romance by Riane Konc 

The 2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge

Each year, I take on different reading challenges as a way to get outside of my reading comfort zone. For 2026, I plan to read a total of 52...