Since she lives in Little Rock, which is about two hours from Memphis, we didn't celebrate her big day until this past weekend. We met halfway in our hometown of Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Jonesboro, a college town in a dry county of about 50,000 people, isn't very vegan-friendly. But Sheridan, her partner Drew, and Drew's BFF Lindsay, are vegans too. So it took us awhile to settle on a place for dinner. Finally, Sheridan went with Kandela Grill, a locally-owned Mexican joint with tasty Vegetarian Fajitas:
If you saw my "Fajita Scramble" post last week, you might remember that I had some less-than-satisfactory veggie fajitas at El Porton in Memphis. But the fajitas at Kandela Grill completely made up for my recent unpleasant fajita experience. They had cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, and all kinds of veggies inside. And they remembered to leave off the cheese and sour cream!
We ordered margaritas, too. Even though Jonesboro is in a dry county, they've begun to loosen up on allowing some restaurants to get liquor licenses (but you still can't buy beer in a store!). Having grown up there, it feels pretty rebellious ordering alcohol in public even though I do it all the time in Memphis. When Sheridan and I lived there, only one or two private clubs sold alcohol. Now you can get a drink-by-the-glass at several locally-owned and chain restaurants.
Thanks to a little language barrier, we accidentally ordered extra-large drinks in glasses big enough to house a few schools of fish. But Sheridan and I are champs, and we finished every drop.
After stuffing ourselves with fajitas and margarita, we didn't have much room left for dessert. But I'd made Sheridan the S'mores Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, so we had to make space:
For her gift, I gave Sheridan a copy of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's new Vegan's Daily Companion and one of each Go Max Go vegan candy bar:
I bought myself a copy of the Vegan's Daily Companion when I bought Sheridan's, and I'm loving it. It has affirmations ranging from stories of animal rescue to recipes for all 365 days of the year. I'm a super nerd (and so is Sheridan), so Colleen's new book is perfect for us!
Happy Birthday, Sheridan!
those are the most enormous margaritas i'd ever seen. i can't handle alcohol since i drink it once in a blue moon. one of those would put me on my ass!
ReplyDeleteIs the Daily Companion a good book to give new vegans??
ReplyDeleteDry counties are the lamest! Those fajitas look amazing though, and the margaritas are hilarious. The cupcakes don't look bad either!
ReplyDeleteI love the daily companion book. Some of the stories are so sad though.
ReplyDeleteThat fajita photo looks so good!! I might have to make my bf make some this week, I think he might be the king of veggie fajita's which is pretty cool considering he's omni. He can make a pretty good bolognese too :) If only I could get him to clean the kitchen afterwards!
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ReplyDeleteYay!!! Thank you so much, best friend, for awesome birfday gifts and CUPCAKES! They were the most delicious cupcakes ever! Loving the book too! I think it is a great book for new vegans, as I am still a fairly new vegan!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday is right; wouldya look at that drink! I had no idea that dry counties existed! Looks like that place makes up for it, though.
ReplyDeleteYay! The cupcakes look beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteThose veggie fajitas do look like the best I have ever seen. I have had similar hit or miss experiences with veggie fajitas at mexican places. Where is the best you've had in Memphis? So far El Mezcal on Perkins is the best I've had, but I can't say I've searched far & wide in the Memphis area.
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