Apropos
An
Feb 2021
Cultivating culture Through fashion & art
Mag
Quan Abazie on the Racial Balance in the Military
Highlighting: BdotJeff Tonya Kelly Quan Abazie Barry Morris BP. Stephen L. White
24
45
14
Bishop Stephen L. White on Finding Peace in the Spirit
Tonya Kelly on the New Trends of Virtual Learning
It's Apropos
...to tell you how it all began. In December 2011, I was rushing to get out of work so that I could get home before the snow was to come. Philly was a bitterly cold city because it was surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. I remember trying to get to the North bound train from the underground tunnel that ran under Macy’s. When I turned the corner, I was greeted with DO NOT ENTER signs blocking any entrance to the platform due to the tunnel construction. I had to go topside and crossover Market Street to get to the platform I needed to be on to catch the North Bound train.
When I got upstairs, I stopped at the door that would lead to Market Street, zipped up my coat and covered my face with my scarf, doing my best to practice my winter tactics. Looking out, I saw the business of an array of colored holiday bags, and a sea of coats and hats, varying in all sorts of colors, sizes, and design. I took a breath and I merged into the pedestrian traffic becoming just as invisible to the crowd of faces I was now marching with. Crossing over I ran into another delay, and this time it was because a crowd of people surrounded a homeless man that had frozen on the grates. The red lights from the ambulance were flashing casting their luminescence off the stone erect towers and the siren that bellowed over the city halls went silent confirming a worst fate for that poor man. As I went home, I became bothered by what I had just seen.
A few days had passed, and I remember standing in my kitchen making a cup of coffee, thinking about the guy, and thinking about how I could make gifts to give to the homeless. I was getting ready to go to the dojo, then off to the library before I had to go to work. When I arrived at the library, I went to find books specific to crafting cost effective gifts. I sat at the table across from the security guard and became intrigued with his origami crane. He folded and gave it to a kid that was running around endlessly; whom could not seem to settle on the books that had been placed in front of him. When he finally got the boy settled, I asked him if he would teach me how to fold a paper crane and he did. I think after my third crane my alarm went off letting me know I had a half an hour before work. I picked up my books, thanked the man, and went home feeling good about the small thing I had just learned.
I called a couple of friends and told them what happened on my way home. I expressed to them that I wanted to find a way to gift the homeless. I could not get out of my head the thousands of holiday gift bags that had passed over his head before somebody took notice that this man needed help. I could only think if I were that man how I may have felt trying to move and/or speak and could not. Watching many opportunities of help that passed me by while my life ebbed away into the friendless cold bitter air. Was there anything we could do?
When I got home, I had about 15 minutes before I had to be out the door, but I started to think if I could fold this paper into a crane perhaps, I could fold it into a box, and from there I could figure out what I could put in it. After work that night, I went over to my friend’s house and we began folding, trying to come up with the best design. We went through a mass amount of paper trying to make boxes. I think after my one hundredth fold I came up with the box that I could be satisfied with and that I could be confident in giving. I called the homeless shelter the next and asked if I could donate my custom boxes to the residence of the shelter for the holidays, and they obliged.
I made 150 boxes that year, and boy, I must tell you, that was a lot of folding, gluing, and even more burned fingers. When I finished my first 20 boxes, I showed them to Taco and Stephanie; their minds went crazy! They started calling around to different stores, like Family Dollar and Dollar General. They told them what we were trying to do, and to my surprise, they gave us a bundle of toiletries and trinkets so we could make care packages with the custom boxes. After that long process, we presented the 150 boxes to the Director of the Bethesda Project, a homeless shelter in South Philadelphia. I did not know that on the day we were presenting them, it would also fall on the day that my doctor Ms. Yvonne, the head of Urban Care in South Philadelphia, was hosting her own holiday event for the shelter. That was the day Apropos Designs was born. I never intended to make it a business, but Ms. Yvonne suggested I do them as a professional gift making business. I told her nobody was going to buy them because they were just paper and she stopped me and gave me a check for $300.00 to make them for her employees. For the next 5 years, for every holiday, for every birthday or celebration she employed me to make my custom boxes. I owe Ms. Yvonne a great debt of gratitude because she did not just motivate me to start a business of gift giving, she also gave me purpose. With every design, cut, or fold it makes me think about the journey and how much my business has grown within a ten-year span. Yesterday, Apropos was all about folding paper, today it is a magazine created to connect a community, and become a transformative platform for the arts. For indeed it is all about sharing your gifts. No one is the same, and no one has the same gifts. We are only similar in our interests.
welcome
t o Say
Community
Arts
Table of contents
To the artist that inspire. This month, we feature James Baldwin.
Legs We talk about the importance of legs. The arms, the chest, or the abdominals can be light work, but it's really about the legs.
Food
BoiTiez: Cambridge
10
22
Sweet Potato Crusted Chicken Pot Pie
21
47
55
Historical Communities: Mount Vernon
Fitness
In 1914, The Vernon theater had opened up in the, then predominately, African American Community. Its name and ownership changed to become the Cameo Theater in 1928. Al Jackson, a successful African American real estate owner and entrepreneur, along with his partner, Ernie Williams, built, and owned, the Empress theater, Empress Soda Grill, and Crystal Slipper Ballroom. The 1930's and 40's segregation was the fuel for the commercial, and cultural, development in that area. Jackson, angered by the purchase of the Vernon theater, became a white owned theater that would not permit admission to African Americans in
New Age, New Waves
by: A. Newman
the surrounding neighborhoods. He and Ernie Williams then decided to build a grand, beautiful theater tailored specifically to the African American populous. Originally the Odden Theater, the now established Lincoln Theater was debuted on Thanksgiving Day 1928. Not long after its opening, a three year old Sammy Davis Jr. performed his first performance on that Lincoln Theater stage. Davis would go on to have a successful career that would last for 60 years. The Vernon Theater Closed its doors that same year with its final shows debuting Sal Ponti in Atlantis: The Lost Continent, and Robert Taylor in Saddle the Wind.
A New Wave
COVID-19 has become a global wave of change. A billow ushering in a new era of social conduct. We all are riding the same ship. A ship that is being violently thrown back and forth, and yet we are still learning to sail these uncharted territories. Change can be uncomfortable and disruptive, but also change can bring awareness and engagement. These sudden variations can be useful and functional with a myriad of possibilities looming; we just never see it until it is upon us. These m
by A. Newman
These massive eruptions carry a strong undertone of alterations that will unearth valuable treasures found buried in the survivors of such disruptive intrusions. These survivors are the safeguards who assist us by giving life changing and life saving information. They have become the heralds who sustains the very communities that have served them in one form or another. Tonya Kelley is one of those safeguards. An advocate for community, a mother, an educator, and a female sports commentator. She wears a plethora of hats, but no matter how many ways she defined herself, she would soon find that the course of her life was about to change. Imagine starting your journey in a boat on a calm stream, the stream moves with such ease that you are hypnotized into a dream. You never bother to notice that the stream would lead you out into an expanse of open water. Waking from your peaceful slumber you not only wake to find you're off course, but on the horizon brews a storm. Irelationship was sometimes austere.”
.
In 2004, the storms in her life had just begun, it seems that was the beginning of my destruction. I was being challenged and everything I knew was not working. The towering dark clouds drew closer and a series of tidal waves begin to rock her boat, and they were unending. 2004 was the year I lost my father, before his passing we had got the opportunity to build a relationship and sports had become something that bonded me and my father," she refers to their time together as their sacred ground. "Sports is where we both could come to an understanding in one another. Without that our relationship was sometimes austere.” She went on to convey how rough that period had been not only because she had to face the challenges of burying her father, but for the next several years after she would lose most of the elders in her family. "It seemed like 2 or 3 people were dying each year." The entire experience was, as she says, “devastating”.
“I was not until after I got back from vacation where we went to the Rose Bowl, everything made since to me. I thought about my dad and other people who had left that year and I was grateful that I was still here and had time, time to do what I loved and that was to become a commentator “. She launched the Empower Our Youth Program, a forum she uses to combat bullying from a grassroots approach, making aware the systemic problem that was being widely accepted in our school structure. The Empower Our Youth Program is an organization that helps parents keep schools accountable for the aggressive behaviors that go unchecked.
Now in the middle of the storm, 2016 came and the direction of the tides seemed they would never turn. In fact, they became towering walls engulfing her small fragile vessel; she found herself in yet another bleak situation. It appeared the new information she had yet to receive, would be the towers she would drown beneath. Majors issues with her health in the form of Thyroid Cancer loomed, and this time, the threat was on her own life. This particular type of cancer had the potential to spread to her major vital organs: the heart, lungs, and eventually, to her brain. If these new eruptions were not enough, Tonya found herself dealing with a ripple effect from the storm that made enduring this time all the more excruciating, it just would not cease. Tonya was thrown topside and the gathering waters seeped past her and begin drench the other family members as well, "September 5th, 2017, I will never forget that day, because that was the day that came in bawling like a siren, I got a phone call about my daughter being bullied in school. I did not know what do or what to think and I could not just react. Remember, I was still facing the issues with my health, but also in my family, my daughter was being bullied, who she says, was not going to get to graduate with the rest of her class. her depression became severe and she begin battling with the issue of suicide due to the constant pain and ridicule of of it all. I had to figure out a way to balance it all and still live.” Tonya’s proactive push-back attitude provoked her to do what seemed impossible; she went on vacation. “It was as if taking a break was not an option.” After her return from the Rose Bowl, she describes her new outlook on life as empowering. The next sequence of events not only turned the tides, but jaunted her on top and, this time, she had a ground plan.
Since that time, Tonya has traveled with On The Move with SportzKelz covering the Big #10 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams, boxing with Buster Douglas at the Hollywood Casinos, and has made several live commentaries from Madison Square Garden in NYC. Each year since the initiation of her organizations, Ms. Kelley has hosted and funded fashion events celebrating and the prominence of cancer survivors in all its variant forms. Tonya continues her work from a grassroots position, effective in apprising others who are experiencing first-hand lasting consequences to their health, physical and mental, from their battle with the epidemic. In her conferences she addresses the importance of having a strong emotional support team, and a good nutrition plan that fortifies healing in tandem to treatment. “Being a survivor, she says, I realized how important it is to take the time to celebrate yourself, your accomplishments, and the things you have overcome, its in gratitude that makes you win.”
“Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be” ―James Baldwin
Creative Heroes
James Baldwin
James Baldwin was an immovable force and an articulate playwright, novelist, poet, and activist. James knew all too well about the disparity and unbalanced justice that continues to plague the Black community worldwide to this very day. Born on August 2, 1924, and passing on December 1, 1987 in Saint-Paul, France, James was the eldest of nine. He grew up in the harsh ghettos of Harlem and from the earliest part of his life from the age of 14 to 16 he was active as a preacher in a small revivalist church. This early experience molded a fiery, charismatic voice in the civil rights movement. Some of his strongest works includes Giovanni’s Room; such a taboo subject for his time, and still a risqué subject about a man's love for another man. During the civil rights movement, he wrote Nobody’s Knows My Name (1961) and Another Country (1962) continuing his open conversation about sex and racial issues. In 1963, he wrote a series of plays The Five Next Time and Blues for Mister Charlie (1964). James Baldwin is a voice crying, still, in the wilderness. His words penned over 40 years ago are the words we live by today.
" Our crown has been bought and paid for, All we have to do is wear it." -James Baldwin
By: A. Newman
March 19, 2003 was the beginning of a second phase in the Iraqi war, it was a continuation of the Persian Gulf War that occurred just several years prior. The United States, Great Britain, and several other countries combined forces because of a protracted arms conflict and an uprising in defiance from Iraqi insurgents who were dominating and oppressing the Kurds. Though the war only lasted a little over a month, the anxiety of war can never be erased from the minds of those who have served with their lives and sacrificed precious moments with their loved ones. The separation and the unknowing cost that this war, like so many proceeding it, had the world holding its breath in anticipation while the sons and daughters of their respective countries made an assail against the Iraqi government.
"Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple, ere the battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus, do many calculations to defeat how much more no calculations at all It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose." Sun Tzu, The Art of War
V I C T O R Y
V i c t o r y
You Have the Victory is a story written by Quan Abazie about her experience as a young single black mother who was determined to provide a better life for herself and her son, Marsalis. This determination led her to enlisting into the Ohio Army National Guard in 1997 at the age of 27 with a goal of receiving funds to obtain a college degree. After serving in the Ohio Army National Guard for a while, and overcoming some personal hardships, Quan enlisted in the Ohio Army Reserves in 2002 and was assigned to the 391st Military Police unit. Later, due to rising conflicts in the Middle East and rumors of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Quan was ordered by President George W. Bush to be involuntarily transferred to the 209th Quartermaster Company from Lafayette, Indiana. Quan struggled with her duty and obligation as a soldier and the anxiety of separation from her son. This transfer would prove to re-build her strength and endurance while facing the blatant racist acts from white soldiers that she was ordered to serve with in Ft. Knox, Kentucky, Kuwait, and Iraq. That was a test for her faith in Jesus Christ from hearing the venomous and foul words spoken to attack her along with threatening to kill her using their service weapon, a M-16 rifle.
By: A.Newman
The same service M-16 rifle that Quan was highly qualified and also trained to use. Throughout this time dealing with these blatant racist acts, Quan relied heavily on prayer and her own personal courage to deal with adversity, fear of the unknown traveling to a foreign land, and sacrificing for the love of her son.
“I had never seen so much hatred and blatant disrespect in a person until I was deployed to Fort Knox. Oh! I knew that there were people out there that were xenophobic, and l also knew that to defend my son and to protect my family I would have to defend their interest as well, no matter how much I hated it. This war was not a new one, I like so many other native blacks to this country, was experiencing the same thing and yet we were going to impose the same force on another country that they were oppressing my own people with."
by A.Newman
You Have the Victory will take you on a spiritual journey of faith, strength, endurance, love, hate, the pure sacrifice this mother took for the love of her son, dealing with the effects of war and racism by suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and ultimately forgiveness. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Matthew 6:14
V i C T O R Y
A
"Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness, it took me years to understand that this too was a gift." -Mary Oliver
APROPOS DESIGNS
BdotJeff
Music Artist / Producer / Creative
Feature
Art by Ryno Tan Photos by Ricky Bayness
Spotlight
Superhero or villain, somehow these two entities are a universal struggle that permeates the very fabric of our cultural stories. We emulate these super beings because in them we hold the greatest ideals of what we want to be. They intrigue us with their heightened abilities of super hearing, sight, speed, strength, and extending to powerful mental capabilities. The possibilities in these characters are endless. To conceal their abilities, like them, we hide behind mask. Seems that any mask that we decide to put on after some time becomes a translucent ethereal sort of fabric that eventually exposes what we have been trying to hide. It is amazing the length and efforts taken to master the power of concealment, performing all desires of justice behind it for balance, avarice, and/or an antagonizing chaotic control, some desires performed behind the mask is to overthrow what has been established through social contracts and others dawn the mask to preserve it.
Behind Mask
the
BY: A. Newman
The best stories are the stories where the hero and the villain emerge from the people. Be it villain or hero, these revolutions erupt in the story, only to speak to what is in us as a society, connecting us to it with graphic imagery. Heroes and villains come in all shapes and sizes, it does not matter the sex or the profession they exist because we exist, and we are able to tell their stories.
The mask bears the weight of glory and the responsibility of carrying a heavy mantle as the peoples burning symbol of an idolizing hope and or destruction. The mask allows the excellence and the terror to be hidden in something mild mannered, something ordinary, something common. No matter the power or the talent, commonality is a practice every superhero and supervillain must have to stay relevant in their time.
In their stories you will find yours. Wade Blair II is a name taken right out of the pages of a graphic novel. A great story of a mild-mannered sound technician, who is skilled in the martial arts and has the power to harness and manipulate sound and light. By day, a sound engineer. By night, a musical phenomenon fighting trans-dimensional beings who may not always appear to the visible eye, but have a great effect on the world and its future. Wade, also known as BdotJeff, is really a force for good. Transforming lives with his music and his skill in the audio engineering field. He is not only highly informative, but he lives what loves and in that he gives hope to so many. Unaware sometimes of the great effects he has on peoples lives around him, he is a very intriguing kindhearted selfless individual.
Beind Mask
Every superhero, and villain, have a secret identity and a secret layer. Nobody knows where these mysterious beings camouflage in secrecy; whether their fortress, or their cave. Their identity, over time, reveals them. Generally exposed from something as simple as their mild manner poise, their speech, or their chosen professions; somehow they are forced to compromise. The Fortress of Solitude, the Bat Cave, the Hall of Justice, these were never defined solely by a place, but was the vulnerable parts in their mind. We sat down to talk to the man behind the mask of BdotJeff, about his experience in the music, and what drives him as an artist.
hall of influence
Q: What are 3 things that best describes you? A: I would say I am loyal to my friends and even to people I should not be loyal to at times, I would also say that I am creative and probably have to double down on that answer due to the fact I am an artist.
Q: What artist(s) inspired you in your early years and who inspires you now? A: Donald Glover, Tyler the Creator, Mac Miller, Hail the Sun, and Saba. Saba has a record called CARE FOR ME, I find myself listening to that particular record most, I tend to listen to the music of my peers that make some of the same kind of music that I do. Donald Glover is another one who inspires me . I might be biased because he is my hero. He has the power to draw from his surroundings to create something new every time he plays.
By A. Newan
Creative Prowess
&
Superpowers
Q: How would you describe your creative process? A; I would say that my process is a bit prophetic. I plan out what I am going to do with the track and depends on how many of them that I have already made after that I go back and name the tracks, at this point I will not necessarily have lyrics but have a subject I want to talk about.
Q: Is music your Superpower? If music is not what you consider your superpower then what would you say is?
A: My super power would have to be aptitude. I have a natural ability with most things that I find interest in. The power of observation where I am able to listen to or look at something someone else has done and have the ability to recreate it. I can not duplicate it but I will turn it into my own thing.
Q: If you were not active in your pursuit of working in the music industry, what do you think you would be doing? A: I am sure i would be studying film or cooking.
who is ?
BDotJeff
Etymology
Q: How did you get the name BdotJeff? What does it stand for? A: Well, first it is a different way of way of spelling Baby Jeff, it went from that to B. Jeff and then people I knew started calling me Bdot, it stuck and it made since to make it that way since everything in my emails were coming up that way. It was just right. I It came from my name Wade Jeffery Blair II, it is also my fathers name. They called my father Jeff until he went off to college and that is when he started having people by Wade, but I attribute the name and everything it stands for to my grandmother....
behind the scenes
The ties that bind us, Are the ties that make us !
You Can Find Peace
By: Steven L. White
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua.
Finding
For many years I have spoken about Evolution. In fact, the first book that I wrote was titled: The Evolution of a Bishop. Many people are fearful of change, both the expected and unexpected they need to experience to live life with greater freedom and happiness. Everything changes or evolves like the acorn that must die to be reborn as an oak tree, we are all during being transformed or evolving. All living things grow and evolve, it is within that process of evolution or transformation that can often become quite tense and uncomfortable. But learning to manage and ultimately mast change is the key to successful transformation! With that transformation, we can become more compassionate, caring people who offer our unique gifts in the service of a larger whole. Change offers us the possibility of growing beyond our perceived limitations to the fullness of our divine potential.
Spirit
By: Bishop Steven L. White
bB
A quote from Darwin himself, that I love, firmly fits the equation of God in concept and theory. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” The mysteries of change are known in every religious wisdom tradition and provide us with a divine map for spiritual growth. So, if you are during an unwanted change, rather than thinking of yourself as a victim of circumstance, think of yourself as an initiate of the journey of the soul, which will bring you solace as well as wisdom. Peace is possible!
Sculpting the Body with Mental Health
"Fitness of mind, body, and emotions is the key toward successful living; enduring the expected and unexpected challenges. In my daily routine, my personal goal for fitness is exclusive in its focus to certain body parts. This month its about legs, oh and yes, I focus and work other body parts as well, but depending on the day, one section of my body may be focused on more than another. Doing this allows me to participate more with the process of body sculpting. It also becomes a form of worship to my mind breaking and building my body. It is an examination of my person, informing me where I may need to streamline in my body and in my mind, making way for a better experience in personal healing. Fitness is not just a mindset. It is a daily practice and an effective exercise in building and breaking, construction and destruction, all for the betterment and enhancement of your person."
“Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but don’t nobody wanna lift no heavy ass weight.” – -Ronnie Coleman
King of the Jungle
The Competition is a fierce one if you want to be number one. It is all about the head game. The Competition is founded on the sacrifice, excruciating workouts, and developing the art of sculpting the body to create illusions. Backstage is a conundrum of testosterone and nerves, a steeled focus emanating from the contestant, the mirrors reflecting the crowd of build half-dressed bodies exposing the art that each of them have taken the time to sculpt. This moment is one that defines your all your hard work. It is the thrill of a coming victory and the agony of defeat if they lose placing. This is the environment of an iron jungle.
King of The Jungle
Body building is a sport that intrigues me. The idea and the work of lifting iron and producing physical and mental strength, the sculpted bodies that made you look like a god, and the confidence of enduring self-inflicted pain that gave the power of a superhero. This was a league that I desired to be in. In my pursuit, I met Barry Morris who had become king of the iron jungle. Barry had trained my mother and took her all the way to the finals of the Mike Francois Bodybuilding Competition where she placed 2nd in her division. He was not only had personal success of competing, but he made even more progress by ensuring that everyone that he trained for the competition would come out surpassing their goals. Barry placed 2nd in the Arnold Classics in 2010, in 2013 I won The Master’s on the National Level for over 50 and over continued to win over 45 trophies, all placing first or second in each competition. Dedicated. I wanted to sit down and talk to him about involving myself in that arena and I got more out than what I expected.
bY: A.Newman
Q: What motivated you to get into body building? A: I grew up playing football. I was the youngest and the smallest guy on the team, but I had the idea that I was going to be the best because I was coming in as the shortest and the youngest. I was not going to let them older guys show me up.I knew I had to work harder than everybody if I was going to be in the game. Q: What continues to drive and motivate you to compete? A: I like to win. When I first started throwing myself into training 1993, I was diagnosed with Cancer by Dr. William Smith with the Cancer center at Grant Medical Center, he is one of the best Cancer Doctors in his field. Around that time, I also met a guy named Al Almore, he was declared legally blind but eventually he became my weightlifting instructor and was very instrumental in me placing in 2010, so the motivation to continue is in part due to keeping myself healthy after 8 years of recovery you want to stay as healthy as possible because you are constantly living with the idea that it can come back. Cancer is a tricky disease. You can be in remission for a long time and out of nowhere it can resurface.
Q: Did Body building help you heal from cancer? A: I will not say that it was body building all by itself that helped me heal, the chemo treatments and staying aggressive with that treatment is what healed me, but body building gave me a healthy mental state to fight it. Q: Wow! That is deep. Its interesting how trouble can really be a motivating factor in getting what you want. A: Do you still get check ups regularly for cancer even while you are in remission? A:Well. Yes, but not as much. In the beginning they have you coming back frequently like three weeks at a time, and then in may turn into your visits turning in to once every month to once every three months, or so and then may twice a year. As you get better the times for visitation grows longer.
Q: You trained my mom and made her a success story. When people come to you for training what do you tell them about how to approach body building? And after training so many people over the years you have been a trainer can you tell people who are disciplined? A: Well, to answer your first question when someone comes to me, I always let them know several things up front. The first is that this is a process, and it will take sacrifice and discipline. The second is staying consistent that is the only way you are going to get what you want. You must do it even when you do not want to. And the third thing is to realize that this is not weightlifting this is body sculpting it is not just a sport it is an art. Its about finding the balance and the symmetry. And to answer the second question, After like two months you can tell the work ethic of the person that comes with these lofty ideas, in their mind they think they have lost 50 lbs. but I am looking at them, and the scale telling on them and after so many times of not measuring up they quit.
Q:What do you go through when you are preparing for these competitions? Do you follow a strict routine? A: I register early.When I start my more intense regiment, I start with registration. First, I make the commitment and I also want to be first so the earlier I register the better my chances of getting the #1. I think I need the number to match what I am thinking. Its all a head game. I get in there and I do the work and make the necessary sacrifices to get to be the best. So, by the time the competition comes then I am in rare form. I get into the head space of my competition by doing things like pumping iron in front of the mirror while they are posing. You will always know your real competition because they are always trying to “piss” on you, in a manner of speaking the people that befriend you in the beginning of the competition are not what you have to worry about because they already know what they are up against. In the beginning everybody gets to see what you are working with because you must strip down to get weighed in so there are no surprises when people start sizing themselves up with each other. I start early with the head game because I already took all these months doing it to further myself. Winning is executing your strategy.
Coming June 2021
Ingredients
Soup
chicken noodle soup
1 whole chicken 3 qt of chicken broth 6 carrots 4 stalk of celery 3 medium onions Peppercorn Parsley 1 Bay leaf 1 tsp of salt 1 tsp of pepper 3 cups of egg noodles (Amish)
soup
Making the stock Place whole chicken and broth in a large stockpot, and set over medium heat. Add 2 cups of diced carrots, 2 celery, and 1 onion to chicken broth. Add peppercorns, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and water to cover chicken. Bring to a boil until chicken is tender, reduce heat to a simmer, continue to cook until chicken is very tender, this process for a perfect broth takes up to 12 hours to make. Strain broth and place chicken in a separate bowl discarding vegetables.
Make the soup: There may be fat from the chicken on top of the broth, that is normal just skim off the fat from the strained broth and discard it. Remove and discard bones from chicken in bowl, cut meat into ½ inch pieces, and set aside. The remainder of chopped carrots, celery and onions cook with melted butter over a medium heat, cook until onions are translucent approximately 5-7 minutes. Add Chicken, reserved broth, salt & pepper. Simmer the soup for about an hour and add Amish egg noodles, continue to let simmer until noodles are tender. Serve hot and enjoy!
For this salad you make the croutons (homemade is grill the chicken (or use leftover), 6 cups of finely chopped Romaine lettuce 1 lbs. of cooked chicken breast. Cut into strips or cubes (optional) ½ cup of finely grated 100% Parmesan Cheese. ½ cup of croutons ¼ cup of Creamy Caesar Dressing Prepare dressing, tossing salad and dressing together along with parmesan cheese and you are moments away from a hearty, seriously tasty salad.
Salad
Chicken Cesear Salad
Chicken Pot Pie With a Sweet Potato Crust
1/3 cup butter or margarine 1/3 cup chopped onion. 1/3 cup all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon pepper 1 ¾ cups chicken broth (from 32-oz carton) ½ cup milk 2 ½ cups shredded cooked chicken or turkey. cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed.
Main Course
Heat oven to 425°F. Prepare pie crusts placing it in 9-inch glass pie pan. In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter, onion, over medium heat; cook approximately 2-3 minutes, stir frequently, until smooth. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper until well blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk (carnation milk optional), cooking and stirring until boil and thickens. Stir in chicken and mixed vegetables, let simmer, and remove from heat. Spoon chicken mixture into crust-lined pan. Top with second Sweet Potato placing 6 butter slices over top of potpie.
Simply Divine
Dessert
Your Pastry should be for dbl. pie crust. 6 Granny Smith Apples (my personal option is honey crisp) ½ cup of butter ¾ cup of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg 3 cups of water 2 cups of sugar 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Apple Dumpling
Step #1 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch pan. Step #2 On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry into a large rectangle, about 24 by 16 inches. Cut into 6 square pieces. Place an apple on each pastry square with the cored opening facing upward. Cut butter into 8 pieces. Place 1 piece of butter in the opening of each apple; reserve remaining butter for sauce. Divide brown sugar between apples, poking some inside each cored opening and the rest around the base of each apple. Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over the apples. Step #3 Fingertips should be slightly wet, bring one corner of the pastry square up to the top of the apple, in the prepared baking dish. Step #4 In a saucepan, combine water, white sugar, vanilla extract, and butter. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil for 5 minutes, or until sugar is dissolved. When finished pour sauce over dumplings. Step #5 Bake in a preheated oven for 60 minutes. Place each apple dumpling in a dessert bowl, spoon some of the prepared sauce over the top.
Editor's Pick
In every issue I plan to highlight and support other local artists, and entrepreneurs. So in this first edition I thought it only makes since to feature the business of the artist in the cover spread, the amazingly and utterly talented, BDOTJEFF. He has a variety of quality merchandise that ranges from everything useful to everything stylish. You can find everything BdotJeff on his website, bdotjeff.com Support your local artist and Black Business. A community of wealth is gained by one mind to do, and never spreads to just one man.
From These Businesses
Thank You
Do You Want Ad Space?
Contact us: @ BoiTiez.square.site & Social Media Facebook @BoiTiez Instagram @apropos.designs