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The Best Vegan Green Bean Casserole

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Knoxville Culinary Escapade: A Solo Sales Odyssey

By Eliana Montalvo

*Day One: Arrival and Culinary Delights*

The cozy embrace of McGhee Tyson Airport welcomed me to Knoxville, a city pulsating with promise. The Hyatt Place Hotel, nestled in the heart of the action, provided a comfortable perch. Amidst holiday preparations at the nearby theaters and a charming shopping plaza, Tupelo Honey beckoned. The waiter's warm gesture initiated a gastronomic journey—a biscuit masterpiece, accompanied by homemade whipped butter and blueberry jam. A Mahi Mahi spectacle ensued, adorned with homemade creole butter, bacon-braised collard greens, and rosemary Parmesan crispy potatoes. Each bite was a symphony of flavors, dispelling my usual reservations about rolls and breaded delights.

*Evening Unveilings:* Knoxville's nocturnal charm unfolded as I ventured to the Regal cinema, a mere heartbeat from my hotel. The rooftop bar offered a small hummus plate, a prelude to an eerie yet captivating screening of "Five Nights at Freddy's." The city lights painted a mesmerizing tableau, turning my evening into a visual feast.

*Day Two: Breakfast Bliss and City Wonders*

The day commenced with a spicy vegetarian croissant at The French Market, a sensory delight featuring feta cheese, roasted red peppers, avocado, spinach, and spicy aioli. Lavender vanilla iced coffee elevated my morning, claiming its spot among the top coffee experiences. The iconic Sun Sphere and the tranquil Worlds Fair Park beckoned, the latter adorned with captivating murals under an inviting underpass bridge.

*Knoxville Zoo Excursion:* Knoxville Zoo became my afternoon haven, showcasing vibrant exhibits. The reptile room unveiled an entire ecosystem, with a free-roaming sloth stealing the spotlight. The red panda exhibit featured an almost "open enclosure," providing an intimate glimpse. Sibling lions, rescued as cubs, echoed the familiar body language of housecats, creating a fascinating connection.

*Evening Elegance:* Urban Outfitters yielded a charming romper, setting the stage for an evening at "Not Watson" in historic Market Square. My choice, the Grilled Salmon Fillet with honey mustard sauce, proved a triumph. Asparagus and crispy Brussels sprouts added a delightful side note, capping off another culinary high.

*Day Three: Conference Insights and Awards Night*

Conference preparations were fueled by a familiar Starbucks vanilla cream cold brew and Gouda sandwich. The museum offered a reflective dark room with beanbags, featuring ocean and moon visuals, creating a serene interlude. A visit to Stock and Barrel treated me to a buffalo burger— an all-natural house brisket blend served medium-well, adorned with buttermilk fondue, house buffalo sauce, and celery. The accompanying house-made crispy fries elevated the burger to a gastronomic masterpiece.

*Final Impressions:* The awards dinner, a crescendo of my journey, unfolded with a Cesar salad, surf and turf featuring a perfectly rare steak, a sumptuous crab cake, and potatoes with gravy. Dessert, a chocolate mousse dome with a raspberry purée drizzle, was a delightful finale. As Knoxville bid me adieu at dawn, the desire for shared experiences lingered, blending seamlessly with the memories of culinary splendors.

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strawberry champagne cake

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Rhode Island Sunset

February 20th 2023 4:00pm

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Creamy Coconut Lemon Pasta with Tuna Steak

Ingredients

1 Ahi Tuna Steak

1 cup of spinach

1 8oz can of coconut cream

1/3 cup of Romano cheese

Zest of 2 lemons

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Tri color pasta (small handful for two)

Old bay seasoning

Canola oil

1 tablespoon of butter

Directions

For best results marinate Ahi Tuna for 1 day with old bay seasoning and a canola oil (measured with love).

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Boil a large pot of water for pasta.

Once oven is preheated bake Tuna on a non-stick pan for 10-12 minutes.

In a large saucepan over low heat, pour the coconut cream and add the lemon zest. Let this cook until bubbly. Once bubbly add your cheese into the saucepan. Continuously stir throughout to prevent burning.

Once the large pot of water is boiling, add pasta and cook for 10 minutes.

Into the saucepan next add butter, spinach, and lemon juice. Continuously stir while keeping on low heat. Cook until spinach has shrunk and butter has melted.

Once pasta is cooked, strain and add to the saucepan with the lemon sauce. Stir evenly and let cook additional if wanted on very low heat.

Add the pasta with sauce to a plate, top with Tuna steak and enjoy!

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London - November 2022

One of my many goals in life is to travel the world. As a flight attendant, my mom has been able to provide the opportunity for me to travel to many places like Paris, Bermuda, Mexico and more!

My mother's name is Lea. She is a flight attendant. My mother has been a flight attendant for 20+ years and is currently working for one of the top airline companies, United Airlines. Since 9/11, United has not allowed any international flights from their Boston base. Just recently they added a Boston - London flight (with hopefully more international flights to follow). I had the pleasure to accompany my mom on one of her lay over's that she was working. London! I have never been to London so this was very exciting.

Our flight to London wasn't leaving until about 10pm that evening. I still had to be at my mom's ready to go for 6pm. Inconveniences like traffic through Boston or a long line at security could not be risked since my mom was working the flight. Even if she wasn't, she wouldn't let us chance it anyway! When I got to my mom's, we packed up her Jeep and headed to the airport. We were lucky. There was no traffic or line at security! 

It's good for me to arrive at the gate early as well because I fly standby. Standby is when you are assigned any seat that hasn't been purchased by another passenger. I was hoping to be upgraded to a Polaris seat although those can be limited. When flying international for a long time, some planes have a section called "Polaris". Polaris is the "fancy" section, I like to call it. It has luxury seats that incline into a bed. They also serve you hot nuts, a meal and dessert of your choice. Luckily I was able to make the cut and was upgraded to Polaris seating! WOO! When I got to my seat I realized I had a window, my favorite! On my seat were two blankets, a travel kit, headphones and a water. I knew I was in for a treat. I felt like I was in my own little cubby. It was the most luxurious flight I have been on. Not to mention some of my mom's friends were working the flight and were extra kind to me! On the way there, they served me the warm cashews and almonds my mom had told me about. I treated myself to two glasses of wine as well. For dinner, I had haddock with tomato sauce and potatoes. It was actually delicious. I don't know why I thought air plane food would be similar to my college food halls. For dessert, my mom had also recommended me to get the cheese board. I did and it was incredible. For the rest of the flight I slept most of the time since I knew we would be on our feet for most of the day.

When we arrived to London it was around noon time. The culture shock of driving to the left side of the road instead of the right was quirky to finally experience. We then got to the hotel, checked in, showered and headed to the streets. My mom and I took a taxi to the Buckingham Palace first. Buckingham Palace was exactly how I pictured it. HUGE. I won't lie, I am very uneducated when it comes to the Royal Family but it was pretty cool to see the Palace. Especially after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. There were still some flowers from civilians mourning the Queens passing. At the front of the Palace stood two guards who would occasionally march back and fourth at each side of the front door. The guards had on tall black fuzzy hats, long grey trench coats, and British Army guns locked on their shoulders for protection. The way their posture was so stiff and how they walked in unison together amazed me. 

After the Buckingham Palace, we walked over to Big Ben. Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock. The height of Big Ben reminded me of the Empire State Building. You know when you look directly up at a tall building and then it looks like its going to fall on top of you? I think that is the best way to describe my experience seeing Big Ben for the first time. While we were walking around Big Ben, we encountered the Strike To Win protest. Many workers in Britain are are tired of their low wage jobs with the rising cost of living. One of our taxi drivers was explaining how healthcare workers, trash collection services, train services, etc. are going on strike to fight for better pay. It was an incredible experience walking through history in the making. To see the protest was empowering, watching the Londoners get together and fight for what they deserve. It did make me think of America, and the violence a protest like this could start. It was hopeful to see Londoners have a peaceful protest without law enforcement shutting it down or retaliating with violence. After walking for awhile, my mom and I figured it would be a good time to search for some lunch. We found a little tavern to try some of the local brewed beers and London bar food. Unfortunately their kitchen was closed. We ended up just getting beer and figured we could find a snack or something on the way to our next destination.

Our next stop was Westminster Abbey, formally known as the Church of St. Peter. My mom and I were going to walk around inside, till we saw the extremely long line wrapping around the Church. We decided with the short time of our trip, it would be best to continue our site seeing. The Westminster Abbey Church had a gothic style. Gothic Style Architecture was one of my favorite styles to learn about while studying Art History in college. I was so thrilled to see yet another Gothic Church to compare to the Notre-Dame Church I toured in Paris. Fun fact, my mom took our family to Paris in 2019 and two days after we came home, the Norte-Dame Church burned down. I was grateful to visit the Church prior to the fire. From the Westminster Abbey, we walked the waterloo and then decided to take a taxi to the Christmas market set up on The Queen's Walk.

From The Queen's Walk, you can get a beautiful view of the Tower Bridge at night. The Tower Bridge is also know as the "London Bridge". Since it was before Christmas, The Queen's Walk had been set up into a marketplace outside with Christmas lights and vendors that had food, trinkets, candy, clothing, decorations, jewelry etc. We walked to the end of the Queens Walk and found an Italian restaurant to have dinner at. The restaurant was called Tavolino. There were no tables available, but we had no problem with sitting at the bar because it was just the two of us. We started our evening off with some drinks after a long day of walking. My mom got a beer and I got a cocktail called Piccante. The Piccante was Ocho blanco tequila, chilli, lime, coriander and agave. My drink was a spicy to sweet ratio, my favorite! For dinner we shared appetizers so we could try some different Italian dishes. We ordered two dishes to share. The first dish was fried cacio cavallo cheese, honey, fennel salt and Planeta olive oil. The dish was basically fried ravioli with a twist of being both savory and sweet. Best fried ravioli I ever had, 10/10 for sure! The second dish was the fried squid, rocket and piquillo pepper salad. This was also the finest fried calamari I ever had and I am not even a huge fan of calamari to begin with. After dinner we were going to get dessert from Tavolino's but then remembered we saw fresh macaroons when walking through the Christmas market. We had to go with the fresh macaroons!

After our relaxing and filling dinner it was dark outside. The Tower Bridge was ignited in the skyline. The scenery was mesmerizing. My mom and I took it in for a little bit while taking some photos and then headed to get our macaroons. After our macaroons we took a taxi to our next stop which was Southwark Playhouse. To end off our evening with a bang, my mom booked a drag show to see Miz Cracker preform "Who's Holiday" at the Southwark Playhouse. Our seats were originally towards the back but we were able to get our seats upgraded to the very first row. Miz Cracker was hysterically funny. The skit Miz Cracker preformed was about Cindy Lou Who, from the movie The Grinch, all grown up. They even gave me a candy cane while interacting with me and others from the audience! After the drag show we were completely wiped out. We went back to our hotel room and fell asleep. I had some trouble sleeping throughout the night, probably due to my poor sleep schedule already. I didn't mind too much because I knew I could sleep on the plane ride back home the following day.

The next day was short, not too eventful. My mom and I slept in which was well needed. We wanted to end off our trip with a nice big breakfast. I found a small café located in Shepard's Bush called Liz Café. We had the best Chai lattes ever at that café. We even got two more to go. I had the salmon benedict for breakfast and my mom stuck with her traditional omelet. By the time we got back to the hotel it was time to start collecting our belongs and head to the bus downstairs which would take us back to the airport. The flight home went smoothly. I was lucky enough to get Polaris seating again with the same benefits as before. I ended up not sleeping to much on the way home because I finished my current read which was Jennette Mc Curdy's book "I'm Glad My Mom Died". If you are thinking of reading this book, I entirely recommend it.

Though it was a quick trip, I got a lot off my travel bucket list. Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Bridge... I am thankful my mom is a flight attend and a seasoned traveler because she is able to help me accomplish these life goals. I am actually surprised with myself at how much I enjoyed the trip. I have heard many negative stereotypes about London and how "Londoners hate Americans" but I am pleased to say I had no negative experience while visiting London. The change in scenery was well needed and I hope to visit the United Kingdom again very soon!

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"Flower Child" 2020

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"Euphoric"

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"Boat" August 21st 2022

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North Carolina 2020

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Paris 2018

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First Time Trying Ramen!

Today my friend Emma and I met up for dinner at a place called Pickerel located in Providence Rhode Island. It was a small-scale, cozy ramen bar with a very lowkey ambiance. A "hole in the wall" type of establishment. It was a Sunday night so it wasn't too busy. We got lucky with two open seats at the bar. When we sat down, the bartender quickly set up our seats with a pitcher of water, napkins, and chopsticks that were delicately placed onto a little pebble to keep them from touching the table.

We started of our night with one of their signature cocktails, the "battle mercy". This cocktail was a faultless mixture of gin, lime, maraschino, roasted barley and a ango-sinth spritz to top it off. It was truly incredible! I've never had such a unique drink. (We had two)

For my meal, I got the "veggie spicy sesame" which was a heaping bowl of konbu & shiitake dashi, sesame paste, seared tofu, chrysanthemum, onion, fried garlic and a boiled egg. Emma got the "type 1 tsukemen" which came with a separate bowl of noodles and also a broth bowl with pork soup, sweet vinegar, chashu, menma, scallions, nori, naruto, and a boiled egg. My ramen bowl was delectable! I was so impressed by this tiny bar. Emma and I did taste tests of each others ramen bowls, but I was definitely more a fan of my own.

For dessert I decided to get the "strawberry cloud pudding". I am not usually a fan of strawberries (unless smothered in chocolate) but the pudding was delicious! It had a strawberry whipped consistency on top with a shortcake cream-like pudding in the middle. It was definitely light like a cloud and very sweet like strawberries. Emma got a chocolate chip cookie and a scoop of "Cocoa Shiitake" ice cream. The cookie was still warm and perfectly baked. The ice cream was decent. Somehow, it was a little salty. Other than that our desserts were also flavorsome.

Overall, I thought Pickerel was an extremely tasty restaurant! I would definitely come back to dine there again. I am glad my first experience with Ramen was at Pickerel because it made my standards for other places very high! Talk soon!

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