Our vacation to biscuit land

It was Robert's turn to pick a vacation spot, and he picked...Nashville!  While planning our trip, I discovered Nashville had multiple vegan restaurants, which has not been too common in our travels.  The only place I can think of that rivals Nashville with number of vegan places is Phoenix, AZ, and I haven't really spent too much time there.  Sorry, Phoenix!

Though Robert initially chose Nashville for food, (Not for any kind of music-related things; that would be preposterous), it was later discovered that his food places were actually in Memphis.  However, we both quickly realized that Nashville has incredible food, and Robert had nothing to worry about. 

Robert has his own Nashville food stories to tell, but this isn't his blog, so we're going to talk about mine.  After visiting Nashville, I can tell you with certainty that what began as a trip to eat good food, do some hiking, and have some time to relax quickly turned into a mission for one thing, and one thing only.

Biscuits.  

Maybe you already know that Nashville has the best (and perhaps the most) biscuits in the United States, but Robert and I didn't know that.  Because of my dairy intolerance and inability to make biscuits (unless you have a soft spot for gravelly drop biscuits), biscuits are not even in my reality.  At our first breakfast place I thought it would be nice to have a biscuit and move on to the next vegan restaurant.

Turns out darn near every vegan restaurant in Nashville offers biscuits.  I ate so many biscuits, I thought I was set for a few years.  But the last vegan biscuit place, which turned out to be the best, sold frozen biscuits.  So guess whose freezer is full of biscuits?

If you are in Nashville and only have enough time to eat three biscuits, no need to stress.  Here are my top three vegan biscuit places:

Sunflower Bakehouse has not only a biscuit sandwich, but also the elusive vegan biscuits and gravy (I still make the best gravy, but theirs is great too).  They also have about 20 different baked goods.  

I added egg, which I'm pretty sure was Just Egg.  Delicious!

Graze has the second best biscuit, and the waitress there convinced me to try the fried chicken sandwich with pickles and hank sauce.  I wasn't sure about these things touching my biscuit and thought I'd be taking the sandwich apart, but I was wrong.  I've never been so happy to be wrong in my life!  Graze also has an excellent brussels sprouts dish too!

My favorite biscuit place ended up being so special Robert and I went three times.  Dear Guerilla Bizkits, we love you.  One of the owners was there every time we stopped in, and he was super passionate about good food and shared other Nashville vegan places to try.  He is also an artist and such a joy to talk to.  When I asked him what biscuit I should have as the vehicle for my egg, cheese, and sausage sandwich, he suggested the blackout biscuit, which has dried cherries and jalapeños.  Soooo good!  Before we left, we dropped in for several packs of frozen biscuits to take home.  

Look at his artwork!!

I never knew how much I loved biscuits until we took this trip to Nashville.  Thankfully Robert and I had so much fun we will likely go back someday.

The first day we were in Nashville we did a library and book tour that Robert conjured up after talking to a librarian at the first branch we stopped at.  We went to four libraries and three bookstores.  We stopped at the downtown library first and were completely blown away by how much thought went into everything.  I also observed a baby storytime that may potentially change my life.  Seriously!  I can't wait to email the ladies I met that day and ask for all their songs and activities.  I spent a long time talking to the director of youth services, and even though she was super busy, she took her time telling me about their programs and library.  

After storytime, I spent some time exploring the stacks and opening almost every poetry book.  It wasn't the best poetry collection I've seen in a library, but I still enjoyed it immensely.  I kept finding all kinds of things in the pages too.  Look how perfectly cut this magazine picture is!

My favorite library on the library tour was the Green Hills branch.  It was a lot like my branch and felt immediately like home.  It was humming with life, older patrons were tucked away here and there reading,  students were studying, all the study rooms were full, and the youth section was inviting and a little chaotic.  They even had a yarn tree!  I think my branch needs one too!

Thanks to needing some much-needed downtime and being in the middle of a couple excellent books, we flopped a little more on this trip than we usually do.  Josie and Margo were thrilled every time we went to sleep early, stayed in bed late, or came back to the hotel for naps.  They didn't try any biscuits, but I think they had a great vacation too.

Turns out Nashville also has a craft thrift store too.  So much fun!

We spent one day hiking out to Machine Falls, which is outside Tullahoma, TN.  It was so beautiful.  Flowers and trees just waking up.  Josie and Margo were racing everywhere.  And the sun was out!

We stopped at the Coffee County Lannom Library, which had its own story walk and lots of unconventional and thoughtful things available for checkout (tent pavilion, party supples, extension cords anyone?).  We also visited a bookstore, Book Shelf, that had an incredible mural and two gregarious book ladies.  

I came home with SO MANY books.

We spent a day hiking Long Hunter State Park, which was peaceful and beautiful.

After hiking we popped into Sunflower Cafe, which I believe is Sunflower Bakehouse's sister restaurant.  It was a little bit cafeteria style where you pick out a few things (or in my case, everything).  The food was delicious, but it didn't have biscuits, so it didn't make the list of best restaurants.

I had some kind of chicken taco (no idea what the chicken was made out of), and it was so delicious I nearly lost my mind.  Thankfully Robert captured a picture that illustrates my feelings about not just the exquisite taco, but all the food I ate in Nashville.  I'm pretty sure I looked like this every time I ate, because it's exactly how I felt.   

On one of our visits to the Bizkits man, we did a little shopping in the Fatherland District, which had super cute shops.  They had an olive oil/vinegar shop where I spent too much money and another foodie shop that had some of my favorite things including tinned fish and cashew cheese queso.  I love you, vegan food, but I will never be able to go 100% vegan because I love fish (and burgers shh) too much.

And it wouldn't be a vacation if I wasn't dragging new scarves home. 

Annnnd one more picture of the Blackout sandwich.

New Car!

March has been a little bananas, so I haven't slowed down enough to post.  

The biggest thing that happened is that I got a new car!  It is a Subaru Solterra, and it's my first electric car.  I am still getting used to it, but it's very comfortable, smooth, and quiet.  It's very classy too - all black everything, outside and inside.  I might be boiling in August, but I will look good melting to death.

As much as I loved my brown Subaru Outback (maybe the prettiest car I'll ever have), it was time say goodbye.  I was fortunate to have it for ten years!  

Robert picked up the new car for me while I was at work, and stopped by on my lunch break with Sara Groves playing.  I know it wasn't the first song played in the car (no doubt Robert was playing Garth Brooks the whole way to the library), but it was very sweet of him to do the final legwork, pick my car up, and have Sara Groves blasting.  

New car dance!

Reviews

I haven't been posting reviews - yikes!  I've been reading SO MANY good books lately.  Enjoy!

The Babies and Bunnies Book by John Schindel and Molly Woodward (Board Book)

This book is ridiculously adorable. Just like a bunny, you will squeak with happiness the whole way through its simple text and beautiful photographs. And then you’ll read it again and share it with everyone you know who likes bunnies and babies. Which is everybody!

Let Me Call You Sweetheart by Mary Lee Donovan and illustrated by Brizida Magro (Picture Book)

Language lovers, rejoice! Here is a picture book that will delight your heart. Though the book is dynamite and easily stands on its own, the icing on the cake is the extra page at the end, which gives explanations and translations. My favorite term of endearment, which I’ve been using for my dogs and husband since reading this, is a made-up endearment. It’s SMOO <3.

I Don't Want to Be Quiet! by Laura Ellen Anderson (Picture Book)

You won't be able to resist reading aloud this fun book about listening. Though Anderson provides plenty of great moments that require quiet, she also demonstrates at the end that there's a time and place to be loud. In the right setting, loud can be great! I also love the moment when the little girl gets completely immersed in the internal noise created by reading a good book.

The Goose Egg by Liz Wong (Picture Book)

Henrietta loves quiet and routines. When she bumps her head and discovers the resulting goose egg is a real goose egg, she feels completely unprepared to raise a gosling. But Henrietta is a maternal soul with the ingenuity to reinvent herself up as a goose to properly raise her gosling. Adorable, simple, and very clever! The illustration of Henrietta painting herself as a goose will bring you happiness for days!

Goodbye, Old House Margaret Wild and illustrated by Ann James (Picture Book)

A nice balance of saying goodbye to your old home and hello to your new home. The illustrations are a joyful combination of acrylic paint and brush and ink drawings that sometimes speak just as clearly as the text. A simple and perfect book for those dealing with saying goodbye to a beloved home.

Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein (Juvenile Fiction)

Will has a lot going on.  He has a chin condition that prompts teasing and also makes it difficult to eat.  He’s preparing for a surgery for this condition and is terrified about it because he lost his Dad due to complications from a minor surgery.  

He is also preparing for his bar mitzvah, which involves volunteering his time with RJ, a terminally ill teen who is a few years older than Will.  Will begins completing items on RJ’s bucket list, and in the process of doing this, Will really blossoms and matures (and becomes a more likeable character by the end of the book).  

Though I didn’t love the main character (I found him a little selfish and whiny), Wolkenstein builds a complex and heartbreaking world that is impossible not to get immersed in.  The writing is terrific.  RJ’s character is a hoot.  And there are so many interesting details to this story.  Turtles! Drums! Exciting friends who don’t give up on Will, even when he gets in his own way!  

I listened to Turtle Boy, which is read by the author, and it’s one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to.  The author does a great job with subtle voice changes for characters, but he’s not over the top.  RJ is also a drummer and he teaches Will how to drum, so there are plenty of drum scenes, and they’re phenomenal.  After reading this, I have two wishes.  One, for Wolkentstein to narrate more audiobooks.  And, two, when he’s not doing that, I would love for him to write another book.  

A Light Beyond the Trenches by Alan Hlad (Adult Fiction)

Bittersweet, immersive, and fascinating. I appreciated the author’s note explaining the factual elements of the story, which I won’t spoil for you. Though the setting is bleak and sometimes horrific, I found comfort in the characters and their relationships with each other. I admired Anna’s career change from war nurse to assisting with and eventually training guide dogs for soldiers blinded during WWI. It’s a slow read that balances the comfort of family with the tragedy of war. I was wholly unprepared for the twist at the end, which prevented me from putting the book down until it was over. Historical fiction fans and dog lovers, this book is for you!

Love & Vermin by Will McPhail (Adult Nonfiction - Comics)

Hilarious, mostly inappropriate, uncomfortably but beautifully relatable, and profoundly, absurdly clever.

My favorite:

In the Company of Witches by Auralee Wallace (COZY MYSTERY 💙)

I am new to the cozy mystery genre and have read the first books of only a few series. I have always thought I’m the perfect reader for this genre – I almost lose my mind every time I come across one of their signature punny titles. I love them so much. I also love cozy settings, little to no gore, and am usually surprised by book endings. However, I haven’t found just the right cozy mystery until now. 

The Company of Witches has a few of my favorite things – a bed and breakfast setting, witches, a mystery with many layers, and a nosy crow and black Maine Coon cat that seem to understand just as much as the humans. 

Brynn is a witch who can communicate with the dead. But she’s struggling with whether to continue using her magic after her husband passes. Along with her aunts and uncle (a kitchen witch, garden witch, and clairvoyant), she helps run her family bed and breakfast. You know where this is going, right? You are correct! One of their guests is murdered – yikes! And Brynn gets completely wrapped up in solving the murder because…You guessed it! Her Aunts are instant suspects! 

While the mystery is the focus of the story, I appreciated that there were smaller stories happening. There are lots of characters too, but they are added a little at a time. There’s a fine line between enough characters to keep things interesting and a deluge of characters that require me to draw family trees and maps. I’m excited to read the second in the series and am also looking forward to my next cozy mystery series with renewed hope and excitement.

And I must include these two incredibly inspirational books: 

At Play in the Garden of Stitch by Paula Kovarik and Visible Mending by Arounna Khounnoraj

Nothing but cute dogs happening around here

I was working in my home office the other morning and I looked out and saw this.

They were ready for me to quit being boring and take them for a walk.

Margo guarding and hoarding toys while taking a nap.

Josie isn't so much guarding as she is hoarding and also using the toys to cuddle with.

Most of us like to feel the wind in our hair.  Margo likes to feel the wind in her drool.

Who knew Margo would be the perfect sleeping companion?  Rose and Ella weren't so great at it, and I didn't really like all the hair.  So naturally I waited years before finding out Margo is the perfect sleeping buddy.  She tucks in close but not too close and doesn't jab with her paws.  And occasionally I'll wake up and see a leg floating in the air.  She likes to flip over and lay on her back at some point, and I'm getting good at knowing when she does it, even though she's super stealthy about it.

 

The Devil Went Down to the Giraffe Farm

I have been quiet because I've been sick.  Oh joy oh rapture another sinus infection.  I was lucky this time and managed to not have anything leading up to it (strep, flu, etc.).  I'm not really sure how that works.  I had a day of bad mood (thankfully not a work day) and a day of sniffles and fatigue (I'm assuming allergies).  I was still productive on those days and enjoyed life (bad mood be damned).  So I only lost 3 days to a sinus infection, melancholy, and sleep.  

I've been feeling gross but alive again.  A dangerous combination, especially for facilitating storytimes. Actually, perfect for storytimes, because no one cares that I'm a little snotty, and there's no better way to come back to life than surrounding yourself with a crowd (huddle? parade? gaggle?) of squealing, laughing, singing, and sometimes screaming children.  

My first day back to work and I did three storytimes.  That tells you how much happiness there must be in storytimes.  Enough to buoy a mucus-ravaged soul bleary from three days of nothing but sleep and HGTV.  

Storytime Highlights (AKA the only way you'll figure out the meaning of my NyQuil-induced title):

* My first storytime opened with some squabbling brothers, whose grown-up herded them out the door at least once.  Their grown-up was a rockstar.  The twins were wild things and maybe needed some time away from each other.  But I remember how much I fought with one of my brothers and also how much I adored him and wanted to be with him every second of the day.  Love and togetherness and also being a toddler is tough!

But, I was able to engage with them a few times, and each time it was a beautiful thing.

* One of my storytime regulars handed me a little drawing before storytime.  Just sharing some gushiness to warm your heart.  

* I did a really silly song about sharing that I found at Jen in the Library, and it was a hit!  I saved sharing a wig with a pig for last, and it got laughs in each storytime.  I only make a couple new magnetic board activities each season, because I now have so many, and I also like to give them the time and attention they deserve.  This was a new magnetic board activity for me, and it's coming back soon.

* We only had time for two books in each storytime.  The books were both a little on the long and preachy side, so I wasn't sure how that was going to work out.  But everyone loved both books.  They really connected with Llama Llama Time to Share, which is about Llama Llama sharing with a new friend, Nelly the Gnu (an anthropomorphized wildebeest as I discovered on the always enlightening Wikipedia). And we had some excellent discussions about emotions and body language.

* I had an older kid in my second storytime, so I asked him to be my helper.  The first time I asked him for help, another kid hopped up and made it very clear that he was a helper too.  I don't always remember to ask the older kids to help, but today was a good reminder that we all like to be asked to help.  And many hands make less work for all!  Plus, cuteness!

* At the end of my first storytime a grown-up and her child approached me, and with some encouragement, the child "requested" that we do shaker eggs the next time.  I made a note of his name and told myself that no matter what, if a child shows up with that name, we're doing shaker eggs.  It's such a big deal to voice our wants and needs to anyone, let alone a loud storytime lady.  I hope I can remember!

* So yea, eggs.  The first two storytimes were all about the parachute.  In the third storytime we had two babies.  One baby made the most beautiful spit bubbles during our goodbye song.  We had just started singing it, and there the baby went with all her spit bubbles and raspberries, so we paused and maybe encouraged her some.  

* The third storytime was when the best moment of the day happened (in my humble, loud storytime lady opinion).  We had some extra time so I asked if they wanted to read a book or sing a song.  They voted for a song, and I asked what song they wanted to sing.  A child shouted, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia!"

I kid you not!!  As you can see I still have a job, so clearly (and sadly) we sang something else.  When I asked for another suggestion I was temporarily relieved when someone suggested Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Humble, loud, and foolish. A winning trifecta here.  

When I asked what animal we should sing about first, the same child who suggested the first song, shouted, "giraffe!" 

He did so gleefully too, I might add.

So what's the key to a darn-near perfect storytime? 

Is it llamas and gnus that really get you?  Having the record for the most Patrick Mahomes jerseys in one storytime? (Five alone in the first storytime btw.) Inappropriate song suggestions? A spit bubble encore? Or singing about giraffe farms?

early spring

A nice bit of spring on a cold February day.  For sale on Etsy.