the new badu drops on Feb. 26!

Erykah Badu’s new album: “New Amerykah, Pt. One: 4th World War” drops on February 26th! You can pre-order your copy by clicking the image below:

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january’s top picks – books

Ok. So I’m waaaay overdue in sharing my top book picks for this (actually last) month. So without further delay, here they are:

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deep in the high – a poem and a playlist

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!

In the spirit of love and loving, I decided to share my ‘deep in the high’ Imeem playlist. The name was inspired by one of my favorite poems by e.e. cummings (i think i just like the fact that he always wrote in lower case…LOL). The phrase, ‘deep in the high that does nothing but fall’ is the most clever way to describe new love that I’ve ever heard.

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the elect eleven

In a previous post, I mentioned that a girlfriend of mine got the inspiration to start a ‘sister circle’ in 2008. She’s named the group the ‘Elect Eleven’ – so called because there are eleven of us who will meet each month for eleven months to participate in a variety of activities from book discussions, to community service, to creating financial strategies and dream boards. The purpose of the group is to provide a safe, supportive environment for us all to share our successes, fears, dreams, frustrations, ideas and insights in a way that women – especially Black women – don’t usually do, unfortunate as that is.
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copycat brunch – j. christopher’s and flying biscuit

Ahhh, brunch…the breakfast of slackers.

Hands down, brunch is my absolute favorite meal (or mix thereof) – just another manifestation of my decidedly dualistic nature, I guess. But there’s also an implied indulgence in brunch that I think is what really makes me love it. When you sit down for brunch, you’re saying to the world, “Yeah, I was too lazy to get up for breakfast, so what? I can still have my (pan)cake and eat it too!”

Throughout the South and especially in Atlanta, Sunday brunch is a hallowed weekly ritual, kind of like Saturday feijoada for Brazilians. As such, there are several restaurants throughout the city that are well-known for their take on this holiest of hybrid meals – many of them don’t even bother serving dinner. Two of my favorites are The Flying Biscuit and J. Christopher’s. The Flying Biscuit’s hallmark is obviously their made-from-scratch biscuits, but to me their French toast – with raspberry sauce and honey crème anglaise – is the show-stealer. The roasted potato skillets at J. Christopher’s are a perennial favorite of mine primarily because they’re the egg-less alternative to an omelette (I don’t really like eggs, and only eat them hard-boiled or hard-poached). And both places serve turkey or chicken sausage – which for some reason is still a restaurant rarity these days, though I can’t understand why.

Since it’s my favorite meal to eat (and to cook) I have a pretty good assortment of brunches I love to prepare. So I thought I’d share one of them that features my takes on the dishes mentioned above.
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gone too soon

This morning as I prepared to leave the house for work, I checked my phone for messages like I do every morning. However, this morning I received a message that I never would have expected – I got word that a friend of mine had passed away.

My jaw dropped to the floor and my body quickly followed, as I sat in the middle of my living room clutching my phone, scarcely believing what I’d just read. My thoughts and emotions began tumbling over each other, each one jockeying for position in the front of my mind. How could this happen? I just talked to him 2 weeks ago. He was too young. This isn’t fair. Why him? Ohmygodohmygodohmygod…. Waves of sadness began to wash over me as I remembered my friend’s brilliant and generous smile, the first time we met, the last conversation we had, the last meal we shared, the sound of his laughter.

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