Umi In The City

Before I support from a company I look to see if they are a business that is aligned with my beliefs. Some of the things I look for is if they are black owned (you can check out my article about that here ), woman owned, Muslim owned. I check to see if they are vegan, halal or cruelty free. I gravitate towards products that are natural or at minimum non toxic. Lastly, I get particularly excited when I see that companies give back or donate to charities.  Both inquiring where companies spend my hard earned dollars and how they treat my community is something that my mother ingrained in me. I don't think she intentionally encouraged me to pay attention to where my dollars would end up.  Rather she would share with pride that this organization she gave to spent on such and such.  I remember she wouldn't shop at this supermarket a block away because of how they treated black people. Instead she would walk to the next neighborhood to do our weekly shopping.  (Interestingly both stor

# Buy Black, # Support Black Business.  Today's social movements are often spurred and organized online.  You can't go on social media without hearing about a cause or the cause. But how do we move from talking about an issue to being an active part of the change?  Choosing to buy black is no different. It can difficult to put your money where your mouth is and be about the cause.  The reality of life is in The buy black order to be successful at anything some sacrifices will have to be made.  Whether its time, money or just effort in order to be a part of a change, we must change. Do's and don'ts Do Walk the Walk  I am writing this as if you already know the who, what and why of the Buy Black Movement. If you do not, no worries, look out for my article on the History Of The Buy Black Movement. If you are not quite there and you are wondering when you should get started. I say there is no time like the present.  Just start and chances are you will find that many of

We love to eat pancakes in the morning. But nothing is better than pancakes you can feel good about eating. It can be very tempting to pop open a box of prepackaged pancakes, but the truth is pancakes from scratch are very easy to make.  They are also an easy way to get in a serving of fruits. This morning I decided to make lemon blueberry barley pancakes. It sounds fancy but they were quick to put together. The ingredients    The pancakes 1 cup barley flour 1 tsp. baking powder dash of salt 2 tsp of sugar (I used coconut sugar) 1 cup milk (I used soy but any milk would do) 1 flax egg (1 tsp of ground flax and 3 tsp water, feel free to use your favorite egg) Juice from half a lemon heaping handful of blueberries (I used frozen) zest from one lemon    The syrup  1 1/2 blueberries (* no need to add water when using frozen blueberries)  2 tsp sugar (I used coconut sugar) juice from 1/4 lemon  Directions If using a flax egg make it first. Set aside for use late