You Can Get Delicious Baked Goods in the Cleveland Area at Stick to Your Buns Bakery
I'm a sucker for a pun. So when I came across Stick to Your Buns Bakery in Westlake, Ohio, I had to go in and check out their baked goods. Their display was filled with tempting treats. If I had unlimited funds and no regard for my cavity-prone teeth, I would have requested one of everything. But because I'm a perpetually broke struggling writer and sort of trying to be healthy, I limited myself to getting two things: a slice of the Pistachio Pleasure cake and one piece of baklava.
Read full storyFor Fantastic Indian Food in the Cleveland Area, Go to Biryani Hut
I enjoy Indian food and think it's delicious. However, I don't have it too often because it does things to my sensitive body. I'm lactose intolerant and a wimp when it comes to spice, so Indian cuisine with all its dairy and spices has quite the effect on me.
Read full storyFor Great Homemade Pies in the Cleveland Area, Head to Gray House Pies
Writing-wise, I’ve had a sluggish start to the new year — actually kind of everything-wise. In the last days of 2021, I vowed to write more. Well, that hasn’t really happened. And in December, I vowed to lose weight. That definitely hasn’t happened.
Read full storyIn the Cleveland Area and in the Mood for Thai Food? You Should Head to Sweet Mango
The other day, I was in the mood for some Thai food, so I decided to walk to Sweet Mango, a locally owned restaurant in Berea, Ohio. Sweet Mango reopened their dining room, so my fully-vaccinated self decided to have a leisurely lunch in the restaurant. I ordered myself a Thai iced tea. The beverage was refreshing and sweet. I sipped it happily as I looked out the window and monitored the skies for signs of an approaching winter storm (luckily, no such signs appeared).
Read full storyFor a Great Breakfast in the Cleveland Area, You Should Head to Bagley's Grill
It was often stressful because I made the mistake of majoring in mathematics. In high school, I had excelled in mathematics and easily gotten straight A’s. And I actually sort of liked AP Calculus.
Read full storyLooking for a Tasty Bowl of Pho in the Cleveland Area? Go to Pho & Beyond in Strongsville, Ohio
I’ve been trying to do the full-time writer thing. To be perfectly frank, I spend a lot more time looking up petty YouTuber drama and doom-scrolling than actually writing. I don’t know why I waste so much time. Is it because I’m afraid that I will fail at being a full-time writer even if I put in full-time hours? Do I procrastinate and mess around a lot so that if I end up failing as a writer, I can at least tell myself, Oh, I didn’t work hard enough, but if I did, I might have succeeded? But if I gave it my all and put in 60-plus hours a week every week and still ended up failing, I would have to tell myself that I simply do not have the goods. And if I can’t make it as a writer, then what can I do? Go back to a soulless office job and wait for the sweet release of retirement?
Read full storyIf You're in Fairview Park, Ohio and in the Mood for Mediterranean Food, Head to Dolce Wraps
Well, actually, it’s been more like new year, slightly older and slightly more tired me, but I really do want to work harder on my writing this year and make progress toward that elusive dream of making a full-time living from writing.
Read full storyIn Parma, Ohio and Looking for a Great Buffet? You Should Head to Kumo Japanese Seafood Buffet
In an effort to get my mind off my sluggish book sales the other week, I decided to go to Kumo Japanese Seafood Buffet, an Asian buffet located in Parma, Ohio. Considering that I’m overweight and prone to cavities, shouldn’t a buffet be the last place I should go to? Well, yes, but I’m not exactly known for making decisions to improve my physical health.
Read full storyIf You're in Strongsville, Ohio and Looking for Spicy Chicken, Head to Hot Chicken Takeover
I am a certified spice wimp. When I eat spicy Vietnamese food with my father, he eats his meal without breaking a sweat and says, “This is nothing compared to what you can get from a street vendor in Vietnam. Now that is spicy.” I, on the other hand, have tears falling down my face and am desperately chugging glasses of iced water.
Read full storyVisit Seoul Garden for a Delicious Lunch Box
If I had to use a bad metaphor to describe my writing career for the last few months, I would say that it has felt like throwing many, many darts at the board and having none of them land.
Read full storyAvocado Toast at Sips & Such Social House
Does anyone remember that rich Australian real estate dude who said that we millennials can’t buy houses because we spend too much money on avocado toast and lattes? Every time I eat avocado toast and drink a latte, I get a real petty satisfaction and think, Screw you, rich Australian real estate dude. Also, by the way, if I went without avocado toast or lattes for a year, do you know how much money I would save? Like, maybe 300 dollars. Not enough for a month of rent, let alone a down payment on a freaking house.
Read full storyFor a Delicious Bowl of Pho, Go to Nam Wah Chinese & Vietnamese Cuisine
The other day, I got a big bowl of pho from Nam Wah Chinese & Vietnamese Cuisine, a restaurant in Berea, Ohio. It’s a humble little place, which pleased me because I don’t trust any pho that comes from fancy-looking places. My number one pho rule — the fancier the restaurant, the more suspicious the pho.
Read full storyFor Great Breakfast Food, Head to Nate's Deli
Although I call myself a writer, most of the time, I find any excuse to not write. A new Riverdale episode came out? Well, have to watch that (I fully admit that the show is objectively terrible, but I don’t care #IStillLoveThatHotGarbage). A mildly interesting scandal involving a minor celebrity broke? Well, have to read all about that on Buzzfeed and Reddit. It’s not raining outside? Well, have to take a walk then (I tell myself that it’s to improve my physical health, which is partially true, but really, I just want to avoid the blank page or computer screen).
Read full storyYou Can Get Great Donuts at Donut Scene 24/7
Every year, I tell myself that I’m going to lose weight. And every year, I fail to lose weight. It’s just so freaking hard because what is a food-loving girl supposed to do when there are free bagels at work/all-you-can-eat buffets/bags of kettle chips calling her name?
Read full storyYou Can Get a Breakfast Worthy of Champions at the Garden Family Restaurant
The other week, while I was procrastinating on writing my fiction, I decided to get some breakfast at a restaurant I’ve passed by hundreds of times but never actually dined at.
Read full storyYou Can Get One of the Best Burgers in Cleveland in a Small Halal Grocery Store
I decided to go to CleaveLand, a local halal grocery store in town with a punny name. I heard that, in addition to having a good selection of halal goods, CleaveLand serves some wickedly good burgers.
Read full storyMr. Hero, an Ohio Institution
For the longest time, I thought Mr. Hero was a national chain. Then I went to college in Chicago and said to my friend, “Is there a Mr. Hero around here? I could sure use some of those waffle fries.”
Read full storyBuffets Are Better with a Friend
The first few times I went out to eat at a restaurant by myself, I felt embarrassed when the host or hostess would ask, “Table for one?” because I would have to mumble, “Yes.” When I was a kid, it was cool and exciting for me to do things alone because it showed that I was *growing up*. But when I became an actual grown-up, I found it neither cool nor exciting to do things alone because the insecure little voice in my head thought people would look at me in pity and think, Look at this chubby sad girl eating a meal and two appetizers by herself. What a pathetic loser.
Read full storyLocal Spot in Cleveland: Mitchell's Ice Cream
I forgot to take a photo of my ice cream. By the time I realized I hadn’t taken a picture yet, I’d finished my ice cream #FailPhoto by Irene Kredenets on Unsplash. I’m single, and that fact doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon. Before the pandemic, my love life was nonexistent, and well, the pandemic ensured its continued nonexistence. For the most part, I’m okay with being single. If I were ever to have kids (an event that seems more and more unlikely every day), I would adopt, so I’m not in a hurry to find a man to make babies with in order to outrun my ticking biological clock. Also, I like being able to devote most of my time to myself.
Read full storyStarting the Morning at Café Ah-Roma
Sometimes — okay, pretty often — I wonder what happened to my brain. I used to be able to devour 700-page novels within two days and go for days without caffeine. Now it takes me over a week to read 100 pages of a book. And if noon has passed and I haven’t had coffee or Mountain Dew (#NotASponsor #ButMyPoorSelfIsNotOpposedToASponsorship #JustKidding #ButKindOfNotKidding #CallMePepsi #YouKnowYouWantToDewIt), my sluggish body screams for the sweet, sweet drug that is caffeine. When I want to procrastinate on writing (which is admittedly way too often), I take a coffee break, which then becomes my social media time, which then results in me wasting several hours of my life watching YouTube videos of dudes eating ungodly amounts of food, which then results in me looking at the clock and thinking, Holy crap, it’s almost midnight. What have I done? (The answer — almost nothing productive)
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