Bianca Phillips's Blog, page 122

Mother Gaia Goddess Box!

It's that time again — Goddess Provisions box unpacking time! I subscribe to these monthly boxes of crystals, oils, vegan snacks, and beauty products, and I like to share the contents of each box on the blog. Here's my June box! The theme this month was Mother Gaia (which is funny because Memphis has a new vegetarian restaurant called Mama Gaia).


The box's contents are all items that come from the Earth. There's a third chakra oil, an ayurvedic soap, a recycled glass bracelet, lip conditioning oil, digestive bitters, a raw snack bar, and an obsidian heart.

I LOVE the obsidian heart. Obsidian is a stone that's been missing from my collection, and I keep meaning to pick one up from the crystal shop. Now I don't have to! It's used to transmute negativity and enhance psychic protection.


The 4Ocean Bracelet is made with recycled glass, and for each bracelet Goddess Provisions purchased for these boxes, 4Ocean pledged to remove a pound of trash from the ocean! That's a pretty sweet deal. Plus, it looks really cool.


I needed more soap, and this Auromere Ayurvedic Vanilla-Neem Bar came just in time. It's made with vanilla, wildcrafted neem, and 15 Ayurvedic herbal oils and extracts. The vanilla-neem bar is supposed to be good for delicate and aging skin (that's me!), and it helps mitigate vata and pitta imbalances. It smells amazing!


The Tuore Naturals Lip Conditioning Oil also arrived just in time. My lips have been dry and cracked lately, but this blend of jojoba and sunflower oils with ylang ylang and sweet orange oils has certainly helped. And the Urban Moonshine Digestive Bitters are really neat! I didn't even know this sort of thing existed. It's a natural remedy for gas, heartburn, and upset stomach. I don't get heartburn, but I can be pretty gassy at times. Will be good to have this around. You just spray it in your mouth a few times before eating when you feel a gassy time or heartburn coming on.


The Golden Earth Chakra 3 Oil is designed to stimulate the third chakra, the solar plexus. It's made with neroli oil that's been infused with citrine. It's supposed to boost self trust and confidence.


I enjoyed this Shanti Vitality Bar before a weeknight yoga class earlier this week. This raw bar has 17 grams of vegan protein, plus dried mulberries, spicy chocolate, cacao, and maca. Very yummy, and it kept me full throughout class.


By the way, I'm a Goddess Provisions ambassador, which means I make a couple bucks if anyone signs up using this link. I don't get my boxes free though, just to be clear. I subscribe and pay the $35 a month, and it's totally worth it. It's a great deal, and the boxes are so much fun!

The Blossom Cookbook

As I mentioned in a post a few weeks back (in my review of the NYC Vegan cookbook), I've never been to New York City. It's on the bucket list for sure. Just hasn't happened yet. And of course that means I've never eaten at the legendary Blossom Restaurants. 
Blossom opened in Chelsea in 2006 and then spread to Manhattan. The restaurants are among those eateries that every vegan has heard of and plans to dine at someday (if they haven't already). The menu features organic and innovative vegan fare that's both upscale and yet somehow approachable and lacking pretension. 
The owners Ronen Seri and Pamela Elizabeth have a new cookbook, aptly named The Blossom Cookbook, that reflects that same vibe. They've taken some of Blossom's classic recipes and presented them in a way that any cook, no matter the skill level, would find approachable. Yet they're still fancy and would impress vegan and omni diners alike.
Even way down here in Memphis, I've heard all about Blossom's famous Seitan Piccata. It's the stuff of legend, and when I saw a recipe in the book, I knew I HAD to make that. 

This is a deceptively easy recipe that involves breading and pan-frying seitan (I used Sweet Earth) and creating a quick, tangy sauce with white wine, capers, and lemon. It's served over mashed potatoes (a classic, no-frills recipe) and sauteed garlic kale. This was such a hearty meal, and the lemony seitan paired perfectly with the garlicky greens and starchy potatoes. I can see why the dish is so famous! In the recipe intro, they say actor Ted Danson used to come in for this dish all the time!
I also tried their Quinoa Salad. I made this simple recipe for a potluck picnic with some friends in Elmwood Cemetery a few weeks back.

This is another of those recipes that looks way fancier than it is. It's simply quinoa with black beans, red bell pepper, radish, corn, and a lemon-tahini sauce. That's topped with pepitas and guacamole. The guac really makes this salad, and I doubt I'll be able to eat quinoa salad without guac ever again.
The book contains 80 recipes — some very simple, like tofu scramble or vegan grilled cheese, and others very fancy, like pine nut-crusted eggplant or porcini phyllo cigars. But even the fanciest recipes have an average of about 10-12 ingredients. The sophistication is in the simplicity with these recipes, and that's a great thing for a home cook.
I love that there's an entire chapter devoted to sauces. Think pistachio sauce, vegan bleu cheese sauce, cashew cream, and hollandaise. And the dessert chapter is especially impressive (raw key lime pie! phyllo apple sticks in brandy sauce! gluten-free lemon poppyseed cake!).
While it may be years until I make it to the real Blossom restaurants, at least I've got this book now to tide me over.

Camping Food at Bonnaroo

Hi again! Yesterday, I posted about all of the amazing vegan food I enjoyed at Bonnaroo this past weekend. Pizza, burritos, samosa, and ALL THE FRIES. Bonnaroo — a 4-day music & arts fest in Manchester, Tennessee — is super vegan-friendly. But it IS a festival, and that means "festival prices." One order of fries ran me $10 (granted, they were covered in peanut sauce and onions), and my burrito was $12.

That means I have to eat a few meals at the campsite to save money. Paul and I always camp in guest camping, which is a VIP area for press, artists, and vendors. It's in a lovely wooded area with easy access to town, so we usually make a daily drive out to Walmart. There aren't many shopping options in rural Manchester, and the Walmart becomes a haven for fest-goers looking to restock beer and ice, cool off in the A/C, and use flushable toilets. It's amazing how fancy a Walmart bathroom feels when you've been using porta-potties for days.

Anyway, my point is, snacks and cheaper food are easy to find outside the fest. I typically bring a lot of instant meals with me, but I usually buy a few more treats at Walmart. I brought one of those Go Picnic Meals to enjoy in the car on the long drive to Manchester. This had a small container of black bean dip with plantain chips, a package of edamame/sunflower seed/pepita trail mix, a package of banana chip/crystalized ginger/candied peanuts mix, and an apricot fruit strip. Great car snacks!


On Friday morning, I had my first breakfast at camp. I have a portable gas camping stove that I always pack, and it's great for boiling water for oat cups and soup cups. On that morning, I had a Summer Berries Oat Cup with Berry Almond Butter and a Black Cold Brew Coffee.


On a trip to Walmart on Thursday, I picked up some Black Bean & Jalapeno Hummus with Baby Carrots to keep in our cooler. I had some of this for lunch.


And I also had a Namaste Vegan Broccoli & Cheese Soup cup. This was noochy and amazing! It came in a Vegan Cuts Fitness Box that I'll be blogging about soon.


On Saturday morning, I had more oats! This time, it was Bob's Red Mill Blueberry & Flax Oats with Wowbutter. Both of those were also in that Fitness Box. Another Black Cold Brew Coffee too. This meal powered me through a 10 a.m. outdoor yoga class on the festival grounds.


Lunch on Saturday was more hummus/carrots with a Dr. McDougall's Vegan Chicken Ramen soup cup. YUM!


On Sunday, I woke up craving something savory. I had more oat cups in my bag, but instead, I opted for a Dr. McDougall's Vegan Tortilla Soup. This had baked chips already in it, but I crumbled a few more Que Pasa Jalapeno Lime Chips on top. Because chips!


That's it for my camping meals. The rest of my meals were overpriced festy meals, but they were oh-so-worth it!

Vegan Food I Ate at Bonnaroo!

I'm back from spending 4 days (and 3 nights) camping in rural Manchester, Tennessee, for the annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. I've been every year since 2010, covering the fest for the Memphis Flyer (before as a staffer, now as a freelancer). You can read this year's music report here on the Flyer site.

But here on Vegan Crunk, the focus is on the food! Bonnaroo is soooooo vegan-friendly and has been as long as I've been going. It's a massive music fest that attracts around 80,000 people from all over the world, so statistically, there are probably a fair number of vegans in attendance.

Paul and I arrived in Manchester around 1 p.m. on Thursday. We set up camp, drank a Bloody Mary, and headed into the fest. Here we are at the campsite.


I'd eaten snacks in the car during the six-hour drive, but I was hungry again. Manchester is actually a four-hour drive in real life, but we take a longer back way to avoid the hours-long traffic jams to get into the festival. Anyway, as soon as we got into Centeroo (the main festival grounds), we grabbed some slices from a pizza vendor. The Vegan Slice has pesto, tomatoes, pineapple, and mushrooms. It was so giant!


We walked around a bit, took photos, and caught a few acts. But we weren't super-impressed with the line-up this year, and we literally knew NONE of the names listed on Thursday's line-up. Thursday's highlight for us was probably Haywyre, a new-to-us dubstep DJ who played a killer set late into the evening.

We didn't stay up super-late Thursday night, but we were awake long enough for me to get hungry again. I grabbed a Samosa with Tamarind Sauce from an Indian food vendor for a late-night snack.

During the days at Bonnaroo, I tend to eat instant meals (like oats and soup cups) at our campsite to save money. And I'll do a camping food round-up tomorrow. But the first festival food I had on Friday night was this Tofu & Veggie Burrito from Benevolent Burrito. This had tofu, rice, black beans, carrots, peppers, onions, and a big ole spoonful of guac. Hit the spot.

Friday's headliner was U2, and I'm NOT a fan. I don't know why I can't stand their music, but I just don't like it (sorry U2 fans!). But Paul wanted to see them, so we killed some time walking around catching sets by new-to-us artists before U2's show. We stumbled into a show by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a New Orleans-based jazz band that's been around since 1963! We were literally blown away. Their set was fantastic, and both Paul and I agreed that show was the highlight of the weekend. A little later, I got hungry again, so I ordered some Yucca Fries to eat while U2 played. And OMG — this was the best thing I ate at Bonnaroo this year. I've had fried yucca before, but THIS. These fries were pillowy, starchy bites of heaven. Excuse the horrible flash photo, but it was dark!

After U2, we caught Major Lazer, who was as awesome as I'd hoped. But his set didn't even start until nearly 1 a.m., and I was pooped. So I headed back to camp about halfway through. 
On Saturday morning, I hit up a vinyasa yoga class at the Solar Stage. I always try to get in one yoga class during 'Roo. They offer the classes every morning. 

In the afternoon, we caught a full set by Tegan & Sara. They're so adorable, and I love their music so much. Definitely another highlight for me. I photographed them from the photo pit for my Flyer piece.

My festival dinner on Saturday night was this awesome Italian Veggie Dog with pesto, peppers, and onions. They used a Field Roast sausage, and it was a perfect pairing with the pesto. Also, that bun was extra special.

I try to eat light meals at Bonnaroo because 1) it's hot and, thus, hard to eat too much, and 2) more excuse for late-night snacks. My late-night snack on Saturday were these Bangkok Fries with peanut sauce, white onion, scallion, and peanuts. So good!! I had these while we watched Chance the Rapper. Later, we caught a Q&A with Jon Heder from Napoleon Dynamite and an amazing super-90s set by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

On Sunday, I ventured out into the fest early, just after noon, to see Tank & the Bangas. This funk-soul band won NPR's Tiny Desk Contest this year, and they've been getting a lot of buzz. Was so cool to see them in action. 

The Food Truck Oasis, where food trucks from across the country park for the fest, was right next to the tent where Tank & the Bangas were playing, so I grabbed lunch there. I got the Funky Farmer Roti Roll from the Roti Roll food truck. This was Indian roti bread stuffed with a garlicky mix of cauliflower, black beans, chickpeas, pickled mushrooms, & salsa. So good! I could have eaten two of these.

After lunch, I went back to the campsite and chilled with Paul for a bit. We had plans to leave Bonnaroo by 6 p.m., so we headed into the fest one last time around 4 p.m. Both of us ordered the Veggie Noodle Bowl, a simple (and delightfully bland) bowl of noodles with big hunks of cabbage, crispy broccoli, and carrots. The perfect ending to a fun weekend!

And that's it for Bonnaroo 2017! I'm so glad to be home. Bonnaroo is a blast, but camping for 4 days takes a lot out of you. I'll check back in tomorrow with a camping food round-up.

Stuff I Ate

Bright and early Thursday morning, I'll be hitting the road for the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. I've gone every year since 2010 as a reporter for The Memphis Flyer , and though I'm no longer on staff there, I'm going as a freelancer for the Flyer this year. So I wanted to do a quick Stuff I Ate post before I head out. When I return, I'll have lots of amazing pics of vegan festival food to share. Bonnaroo is very vegan-friendly.

Last Friday was National Doughnut Day! Although Memphis doesn't have a vegan doughnut option on the regular, Imagine Vegan Cafe made doughnuts just for the occasion. Owner Kristie made so many flavors, but I opted for a Maple Pecan Doughnut and Fruity Pebbles Doughnut.



Now before the vegan police step in, I should say that neither Kristie nor I realized that Fruity Pebbles contains a source of vitamin D that isn't vegan. A commenter on my Instagram post pointed that out. I actually don't worry too much about consuming occasional by-products in the form of a fortified food or something that may contain a tiny amount of honey or some other thing. I wouldn't buy Fruity Pebbles at home anyway because I try to stick with healthier cereals. But it was a fun treat, and now we know. I'm also of the belief that's impossible to be 100% vegan, and we should just do the best we can and not sweat the small stuff.

Anyway, I had those doughnuts at lunch, and I needed something savory to balance out the sugar. So I also ordered a bowl of Imagine's Gumbo. This is loaded with vegan sausage, vegan chicken, okra, tomatoes, and brown rice.


After my power came back last week, I was pretty low on fresh food. But I had a package of pre-cooked, heat-and-eat Seeds of Change Caribbean Brown Rice & Red Beans. I heated that and served with some of the green beans I'd gotten from the farmer's market before the storm. I didn't lose those in the power outage since fresh produce doesn't need to stay cold.


When I did get my frozen goods back from my friend Andy's house (he stashed my stuff in his freezer while my power was out), I realized that I had leftover Hilary's Eat Well Burgers. I had one with Chao cheese, ketchup, mustard, onion, pickles, and some BBQ protein crisps.


Hey look! A ramen bowl! Made with air-fried, breaded tofu from The Vegan Air Fryer. Full review of this awesome cookbook coming soon!


And finally, yesterday morning, I used the very last of my stash of Simple Truth Organic Meatless Breakfast Patties on a Breakfast Bagel Sandwich. Sadly, Kroger discontinued their line of meatless products, and when I found out that was happening, I bought several packages of these sausages to stash away. I LOVED THESE SO MUCH. Sadness.


Anyway, a breakfast sandwich seemed like the best way to enjoy my last one. Served with Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg and Chao Cheese on a locally made Dave's whole wheat bagel.

I'll check back in Monday night with pictures from Bonnaroo!

Powdered Juice!

I love fresh juice. I try to make green juices in my beloved Breville a few times each week. When I don't have time to juice at home or am low on produce, I'll pop by I Love Juice Bar for a little pick-me-up. But there are days when I don't even have time to hit up the juice bar, especially since the only location is currently nowhere near my house or work (that's changing soon with the new Juice Bar location opening in Crosstown, but it's still a few weeks away).

For those days when a blast of nutrition seems impossible to get, I've got a new product I can turn to — powdered juice! The Synergy Company sent me some samples of their powdered juices to try. These powders are made from whole foods that are harvested, juiced, and then dried into a fresh powder that you mix with water.


Sure, it's not fresh from the juicer, but this stuff is preserved in a way that retains as many nutrients as possible. They use a CO2 low-temperature drying process for some powders and a freeze-drying process for others.

All it takes is a teaspoon or so of juice powder and six ounces of water, and — BOOM — you've got juice. Since the juices are in powdered form, these are also great for adding to smoothies. I've often wanted to make smoothies with carrot juice, but I didn't want to go to the trouble of cleaning my juicer AND my blender. Problem solved. Additionally, these are perfect for travel!

I like combining the Kale Juice Powder and the Wheatgrass Juice Powder into one very green drink. This tastes much better than if you'd juiced straight kale and wheatgrass. I'm not sure why that is because there are no added ingredients, but it lacks that bitter bite that straight kale juice typically has. Plus, the wheatgrass gives you a great energy boost!


The Carrot Juice Powder has a great carrot flavor (slightly sweet and earthy), but I'll admit that fresh carrot juice is a tad bit tastier and creamier. Of course, homemade carrot juice takes a LOT of carrots and can be expensive to make on a regular basis.

These run between around $18 a bottle (kale) to $29 (carrot), but there are about 45 to 60 servings per bottle. So each glass of kale juice runs you about 40 cents, and each cup of carrot juice costs 50 cents. That's MUCH cheaper than making fresh juice.

Will juice powders replace my beloved fresh juice? No way! But I love having another option for rushed mornings or travel.

This is Bananas!

I'm bananas over bananas, y'all. I consume at least one a day in my smoothies, and I love having bananas with peanut butter as an afternoon snack, especially on days that I have after-work yoga. It's safe to say that bananas are my favorite fruit. Well, unless we're counting avocados as fruit, and then maybe bananas would take second place.

Anyway, the folks at Banana Wave sent me a couple cartons of their non-dairy bananamilk to sample and review. And man is it good!


This is a banana and soy-based milk, and each 8-ounce serving contains one small banana, 29 vitamins and minerals, 1,200 milligrams of omega-3's, vitamin c, vitamin e, and iron. They claim it can be a meal replacement, and maybe that's truth nutritionally, but I can say with certainty that this would not be enough for me as a meal.

It is, however, fabulous in a smoothie with added berry protein powder, more banana, and strawberries. That's how I tried it right away after my package arrived. This may have been the most banana-y smoothie ever!


It's also perfect with cereal. I had some on Saturday morning with Love Grown Mighty Flakes. And this was a mighty fine little breakfast since my friends and I were picnicking a couple hours later. I didn't want anything too heavy. This bowl would have been prettier with added fruit, but I didn't want anything coming between me and my banana flavor.


My only complaint is, at 150 calories per cup, this milk is a bit of a calorie bomb. I'm used to drinking unsweetened almond or cashew milks that range between 25 to 40 calories per cup. I don't believe Banana Wave has an unsweetened version, but I hope they add one to their product line-up soon! That said, I'd still love to have this sweeter version of Banana Wave around as an occasional treat.

Que Pasa Vegan Tortilla Chips!

When I first went vegan back in 2004, there were a handful of foods that were hard to let go of — fried eggs, cheese pizza, candy bars, sour cream & onion chips, and nacho cheese Doritos. Back then, the vegan cheese and egg options were slim and not very tasty. And there were no vegan candy bars. No vegan sour cream chips. And no vegan nacho chips.

Over the years, of course, options for those things have come onto the market. And they just keep getting better and better. Beanfield's released the first vegan nacho tortilla chip a few years back, and man, that was life-changing! But now there's another new vegan nacho chip on the scene, and it's even closer in texture and flavor to those neon orange Doritos. Meet Que Pasa! They generously sent me three bags to review.


They make a vegan nacho chip, a sweet & spicy ranch chip, and a jalapeno & lime chip. These are organic and made with stone-ground corn, chia, and quinoa. Beanfield's are GREAT, and I buy those all of the time, but they're bean & rice chips so they taste a little different than your average tortilla chip. These taste much more like a traditional corn tortilla.

Of course my favorite is the Nacho! These chips get their cheesy flavor from a vegan cheese seasoning made with rice flour, cane sugar, sea salt, and spices (onion, tomato, garlic, paprika, jalapeno, and bell pepper powders). The best part is licking the orange cheese off your fingers when you're done.


I also used to love Cool Ranch Doritos, and the Sweet & Spicy Ranch Que Pasa chips are a healthier (and dare I say tastier) version. They use vegan buttermilk powder to give these that ranch flavor.


I can't say that I've ever had a non-vegan Jalapeno & Lime chip, but these are pretty fantastic too. They're not very spicy, but they have a nice peppery bite. And there's a tanginess from the lime that balances out the mild heat.


These days, there's a vegan version for everything! It's so freakin' easy to be a vegan — way easier than back in 2004. Especially with these chips! I haven't seen these flavors sold in Memphis, sadly. But I have seen the plain Que Pasa chips at Whole Foods, so I'll ask to see if they can stock these. If you can find them in your area, buy them!! You won't regret it.

Stuff I Ate: Blackout Edition

I have power! After 4 days with no electricity following a severe windstorm in Memphis last weekend, my power was finally restored last night. And it was like a summer miracle! Man, you don't know how much appreciate your lights and your garbage disposal and your fridge and your washing machine and your Vitamix until they're gone.

The storm last Saturday night knocked out power to nearly 200,000 people in Memphis, many of them in Midtown (where I live) since we're surrounded by lush, old trees. The wind gusts reached 90 mph, and there were — still are — fallen trees everywhere. Trees crushed homes and cars, blocked streets, and took down power lines. And there are still 30,000 people without power as of this writing. But lucky me got power back last night! Woo hoo!

I'm fortunate that I have a gas stove, so I could still cook. And I stashed my fancy vegan meats and ice cream and stuff in a friend's spare fridge/freezer. He never lost power — lucky bastard. But I kept a small cooler at home stashed with leftovers from food I cooked on Saturday, plus some vegan cheese, yogurt, lettuce, and other essentials. Here's a recap of what I ate while the power was out.

You can read all about Sunday's (day 1 without power) eats in my last post. That was race day for the Great American River Run. But on Monday morning, I slept in and fixed some Purple Potato & Brown Rice Ramen with added tofu and green beans. The ramen was a dry package by Lotus Foods, and the tofu had been stashed in my freezer and was starting to thaw. The green beans were fresh from the farmer's market.


Lunch was the rest of the Co-op Tempeh Salad that I made for pre-race eats on Saturday. I had stored the tempeh salad and lettuce in my cooler. Enjoyed on the back porch while reading Wild with some natural light.


I did a ton of things on Monday to fight boredom. It's amazing what you can get done without Netflix/Facebook as a distraction. I mowed my yard, washed my car, and ran a bunch of shopping errands. Fortunately, the stores out east didn't lose power. Also, by some miracle, Imagine Vegan Cafe didn't lose power, so I hit them up for a mid-day Soft Serve Cone, which melted quickly since temps were in the high 80s.


Dinner on Monday and several lunches over the past couple days was my leftover Pesto Pasta with Potatoes & Green Beans, another pre-race meal that I stored in my cooler. Enjoyed here to lantern light so I could read while I ate.


On Monday night, my Facebook friend Alex posted that his power had been turned back on and he asked if anyone needed to borrow his battery-powered fan. I did! So he brought it over. I sat in front of the cool air and enjoyed a glass of merlot before bed. Memphians really came together after this storm, offering those in need fans, water, ice, even their spare bedrooms!


On Tuesday morning, breakfast was a skillet-toasted Whole Wheat Bagel with S'mores and Maple Vanilla Frosting Fluffbutter protein almond butter!


I'd half-expected to be going back to work on Tuesday, but my office lost power as well. So work was canceled. I took that opportunity to pop by my old office at the Memphis Flyer to visit with former co-workers. I also got to work in the kitchen making homemade elderberry syrup using fresh berries harvested from my backyard elderberry bush. They had been in the deep-freezer since last summer, and they'd thawed completely so I knew it was use them or lose them. Now I can take this syrup daily to promote immunity.


People kept asking how my pets were faring in the dark, but they were fine! We keep the house pretty warm anyway. I rarely turn my AC below 78, and the hottest it got inside during the outage was 80 degrees. We were fine in that regard. In fact, the cats loved that my shades were open! Here's Ozzy sunbathing in the dining room window.


My last day without power — Wednesday — started with another toasted bagel, this time topped with avocado, hot sauce, and Everything But the Bagel seasoning. YUM!!!!


I had more pesto pasta at lunch, but by dinner, I was out of leftovers. So I met up with my buds Melissa and Anthony, who also lost power, at Imagine Vegan Cafe. I typically try to order something with vegetables when I eat at Imagine, but when the power is out for 4 days, you stop caring about eating healthily. Only comfort food can soothe that stress! I ordered the BBQ Nachos with seitan BBQ, vegan cheddar, jalapenos, and sour cream.


By the way, I was so excited to eat my nachos that I forgot to take a picture. But I stole this one from my friend Susan's blog, Hungry Memphis. They looked the same!

After dinner, I drove back home to find the power restored! Hallelujah! This morning, I finally got to make a smoothie in my Vitamix. Life is finally back to normal for me, but sadly, many of my friends are still in the dark. Hoping they get power back soon.

Great American River Run 2017!

I set a PR in my half-marathon time today! I ran the Memphis in May Great American River Run Half and shaved about 8 minutes off my last best half-marathon time!


I went to bed way early last night for my 4:30 a.m. alarm since the race was supposed to start at 7 a.m. But I was awakened at 11 p.m. to a terrible, severe storm that knocked out my power. I could hear the wind outside whistling past my window, and when I got up to look outside, the massive, backyard tree was literally swaying in the wind. Scary! I later learned that the storm involved 90 mph winds that knocked out power to most of the city. We may not have power for a week, according to the utility company. 
All that is to say, when I woke again at 4:30 — still no power — I wasn't even sure the race was still a go. It was still lightning outside and raining very hard. But I checked the race's Facebook page on my phone, and they said it would go on as planned, just with an hour delay to clear the course of debris. I got ready in the dark, to lantern light. I toasted my pre-race bagel in a skillet on my gas range. And then I drove downtown, dodging downed trees in the streets.
Runners are a resilient bunch, so I wasn't surprised to see a large crowd downtown despite the weather. We all huddled under an awning at Beale Street Landing for an hour or so to stay dry until the race started, and thankfully, the rain let up right as the race began at 8 a.m. My feet were wet the entire race, but I managed to hold a faster pace than I'm used to running — for all 13.1 miles! 
But before all that, I spent the day before the race working on my nutrition and trying to make sure my race went off without a hitch. Yesterday, I started the day with the Buckwheat Pinole & Chia Pancakes from No Meat Athlete. These are inspired by the pinole and chia meals eaten by the Tarahumara in Born to Run, and they were amazing! You toast the masa and combine with buckwheat flour and chia seeds. So good!

My morning snack on pre-race day is always a fresh juice. Great to hydrate and get nutrients in at the same time! I grabbed The Green One Juice from the So Fresh Juice Truck at the Memphis Farmer's Market. This had green apple, lemon, spinach, kale, and cucumber. I had them add some ginger to help with any inflammation.

After the market, I headed over to the race expo to pick up my bib and swag bag. They held the expo inside Bass Pro Shops, which is gross. I really hated to see all those dead animals. Ugh. I did, however, enjoy posing in front of this faux magazine cover.

Lunch on pre-race day is always a big ole salad. I made the Co-op Tempeh Salad from No Meat Athlete. This is steamed tempeh with a mayo-based dressing, celery, carrots, onion, and kalamata olives. It's served over salad greens. I LOVE THIS SALAD. I'll definitely be making this again.

My afternoon snack on pre-race day is typically yogurt. I had some Drinkable Blueberry Cashewgurt by Forager with Engine 2 Rip's Big Bowl cereal and fresh blueberries from the farmer's market. YUM! Carbs! Probiotics!

I enjoyed that snack while watching a Netflix documentary called Finding Traction about a woman who set out to break an ultra-running record in Vermont. Nothing like a good running doc to get you in the mood for a race! After the film, I got to work on dinner — Pasta with Pesto, Potatoes, & Green Beans from No Meat Athlete. This was made with whole wheat pasta, potatoes and green beans from the farmer's market, and pesto made with fresh basil from my herb garden. So local! And very tasty. I had this with a slice of sprouted grain bread spread with coconut oil and fresh garlic from the farmer's market. Carb-loading is best. 

After dinner, I met up with some friends at 901 Fest in Tom Lee Park. This is a festival celebrating all things Memphis with local bands on multiple stages. I couldn't stay long since I had an early bedtime, but I always have one lucky, pre-race beer so I grabbed a Wiseacre Boomslang IPA. Here I am with Cassi watching Hippy Soul at the Beats Stage.

Then it was off to bed! The weather was so amazing when I was down at the fest. It's hard to believe such a crazy storm passed through only a couple hours later. But it did! And I woke up to that craziness. But the race went on, and I'm quite proud of how I did. 

Immediately after the race, I downed some water with electrolytes. And then I had my post-race beer — a Bud Light — and some chips. Man, those chips were quite possibly the best thing I've ever eaten. The weather was in the 70s this morning, and I was sweating out chunks of salt. I'm a salty sweater! Nothing tastes better after sweating out so much salt than potato chips and beer. 

I had a protein bar in the car on the drive home. I expected my power would be back on when I got there, but alas, it was not. I had plans to meet up with friends post-race for pizza at Midtown Crossing. But the restaurant is across from my house and also was without power. In fact, most restaurants were without power, so I canceled my friend plans and headed to Arkansas to eat dinner with my parents. We got pizza at Uncle Maddio's. I got a vegan cheese pizza loaded with every veggie they had, plus tofu!


After dinner, my mom thawed out a Daiya Cheesecake she had in the freezer. She served it with fresh strawberries that she cooked down with sugar. So good! And I feel like I earned that pizza and cheesecake!

I'm still at my parents' house now, using their internet. But I'm heading home in a few, and I doubt I'll have power for several days. Memphis Light, Gas, & Water is estimating that it could take a week. They've called this the third worst power outage in our city's history. Soooooo ... all that is to say, you may not hear from me for a few days. But I'll be back as soon as the power returns! Until then, life will be like camping — inside my house. Ha!