Coffee and a Conversation
As Told Over Brunch is a home for intelligent discourse from the twenty-something perspective - so the stuff you gossip about over mimosas on Sunday morning or over takeout on your friend's couch when happy hour ends too early. We love chatting about our lives, whether it be the relationships we’re building (or destroying), lessons we've learned at work, struggles at school, growing pains we've felt, or even the food we’re talking over.
In recent years, the placement of L and R on a sock pair is meant to imply there’s a proper alignment to your feet, much like a shoe or a glove. Now I’m not suggesting I’ve solely worn socks exclusively on the "proper foot", but I have noticed one thing — well more than half of the time — I adorn my feet with the correct alignment without actually looking.
Read MoreOkay, here's the deal; I've been to many concerts and, as my disposable income has modestly increased, so too has my desire to become more comfortable at such events (ignoring how my modestly increased age MAY be contributing to the same). At any rate, at my last concert, my wife and I purchased seats to enjoy the sounds of Keith Urban. All was well and good as we settled into our seats, politely 'squenched' in to allow others to pass in our aisle and gained a mild buzz (pacing ourselves, I think is what folks from my generation call it).
Even with the warm up band, we remained comfy and could see the performers on stage; this was about to change. As soon as Keith appeared, as if some crowd dog whistle had been blown, everyone stood up — well almost everyone.
Months — maybe years ago at this point, time doesn’t make sense to me anymore — my friends mocked me because I would start far too many conversations with, “I was watching this documentary…” and then I would begin a diatribe about whatever topic I had just learned about.
Throughout the pandemic, I’ve found myself listening to hours of podcasts, and now relating conversations back to stories I’ve heard on podcasts.
Here are bits I’ve found most interesting lately while listening to Armchair Expert.
Read MoreA year ago, I adopted a cat. Unfortunately, this is not an adoption story. This is a story of rehoming.
A lot of people adopted pets during the pandemic, though I am not so sure quarantine made me do it or if it confounded with a unique set of circumstances. I had just returned from a month-long, isolating sojourn; my beloved pet of 14 years passed away; and an ex reached out only to reinforce they did not want me. I turned down a cross-country move and decided I should settle into my life and space more.
I joined a waitlist to foster a pet. The previous fall, I contemplated adopting a dog I found on Facebook. I promised myself I would reconsider after a weekend trip and promptly forgot about him save a haiku I penned on a Puerto Rico beach:
Read MoreIt is without irony that I remind readers that it was Kellyanne Conway – loudspeaker of the early Trump administration – who coined the phrase “Alternative facts” in January 2016 (about inauguration crowd sizes). After all, you would think “fake news” has existed far longer. Of course, if we count centuries of propaganda it has, yet we have entered a frightening era where actual facts and realities are now witch-hunted as fake news even when they are resoundingly real.
I could wax poetic for paragraphs on the world’s present plight that seems all the more emphasized in America. Only this morning I engaged with a childhood best friend’s parent on Facebook who used a website called Kamala Harris DOT NEWS (I refuse to link the source) to share that our current Vice President has reaped the benefits of slavery as her ancestor was a slaveholder (let us ignore that her slaveholder relative raped the other, overlooked ancestor). But Kamala Harris DOT NEWS – how does one fight kindergarten logic?
Read MoreIf I had been regularly blogging for the last year, there would have been a lot more of these rant blogposts – how we could stop the pandemic sans vaccine and why people are stupid. Since March when the pandemic began, we have been hearing some variant of “There is no end in sight [sic] we might as well go back to normal!” While that slant has taken a hyper-aggressive partisan flavor, it fully overlooks multiple past pandemics that humanity has overcome (even without herd immunity). An end has always been in sight, just not as close as we want it to be, vaccine or not.
This oversight isn’t talked about enough. While I personally never believed quarantine would last for two weeks (admittedly, I have a PhD and background in public health), the fact is, quarantine could have lasted two weeks – if the entire population masked up and quarantined.
Read MoreI found myself repeating that a lot during 2020 — It’s okay for you to change your mind.
From political views to rapidly-changing pandemic facts, we lived through a time where facts didn’t seem to sway opinions and people were more committed to their version of themselves built on old facts or long-held beliefs, rather than being open to change with the evolving times.
Read MoreHi everyone! Once upon a time, Cazey and I wrote every week, often multiple times a week. I started grad school and felt my creativity (and time) drying up. Then Cazey went on a cross-country road trip that lasted three months and next thing we knew, we were having the should-we-keep-doing-this conversation after nearly a year without posting any new content.
Read MoreFor years, my favorite cake has been carrot cake. Every birthday, that is what I request. Historically, it is my grandmother’s carrot cake that I really want—with golden raisins, home-whipped cream cheese frosting, and frosted with pecan bits. Of course, these days, my aunt has taken up my grandmother’s mantle. However, in quarantine, I can’t really see my aunt...or that carrot cake.
Last week, I decided with all the free time on my hands, I would make a carrot cake. Because I live alone, I am very particular to not make or buy desserts too often because who will eat them all? Me. Following this logic, I did not want to a rich carrot cake that I would resent when I devoured 10,000 calories in three days—or less. I opted for a healthy recipe I found online where the cream cheese frosting was really just nonfat Greek yogurt, nonfat cream cheese, and maple syrup (truly, the frosting was one of the best parts of this recipe).
The rest of the recipe didn’t seem too dramatic.
Read MoreIt’s time for us to come together for our restaurants.
Our restaurants, who accepted us as the disheveled, hungover messes of our early twenties. Our restaurants, who hosted us as we celebrated countless birthdays. Our restaurants, who have supported our charitable endeavors, donating food, money and time to charities like VCU Massey Cancer Center.
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