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Writer's pictureDwan L. Hearn

Taste of West Louisville 2023

This weekend was tough. It started off really hard but ended pretty great, honestly.


The weekend started off dealing with my son. He's 9 and have a tendency to seek attention. My wife says it's because it's technically a middle child (He's my wife's first, but my second so he has an older sister and has had a younger brother for most of his life. There is also a younger sister at age 3).


Most of the issues we have with Donny involves lying or trying to manipulate the situation in his favor regardless on its impact on other people. Donny and I were about to take a walk when Jameson approached me to tell me about a strange smell in the house. Naturally, I wanted to address it and Donny realized that this would delay us leaving so he tried to convince me the smell was gone and that everything was suddenly fine. Turned out it was fine, but the issue came with him trying to hurry and tell me then make his brother come in tell me because I had the chance to check for myself. This is an ongoing issue with him and I had to nip it. Because of this history with this, I'll admit that I overreacted. My wife, also tired of this behavior also overreacted. Donny wasn't harmed, but we did blow up at him.


We took time to talk each other down (our reactions happened at different times) and we talked with him explain our reactions and apologizing for overstepping what retrospectively was the appropriate boundary.


Why would I talk about this? Because it's honest and that's what this blog is for. Parenting is fucking hard! Even when you do all the right things, bad things still happen. I have friends who have reached out about how their children getting involved in reckless behavior despite knowing better and when I talk to those friends it turns out that all the "classic professional advice" had been followed and the kid is STILL acting out. We've addressed issues, created safe places to openly discuss and share feelings explicitly without fear or punishment, we've tried to address their concerns and facilitate their needs to the best of our ability and within reason. We tried to reward good behavior and verbally and calmly address undesired behavior and YET we're seeing no changes. I think it's helpful to 1, flesh out the thoughts in the mind of a parent and 2, so that when other parents feel like they are the only ones in that space or dealing with that issue, they understand that they aren't also and, likely, their child isn't the only one troubled.


This was Friday and Saturday was typical as my wife and I did I weekly shopping, which is special because it's our time to talk and just be in each other's company. We've taken the time to be more open with each other especially about the things we would otherwise not talk about for one reason or another. This is another reason I blog about things like this - it's real and it's raw and it's honest and I feel that the stigma surrounding "martial problems" (in general, no need to put all your details out there) and "Parenting problems" needs to go away. Life isn't always an Instagram story - composed and filtered to be aesthetically pleasing to the general public - and I think we need to be more "real about our shit", so to speak.


Just my opinion, I could be wrong. I'm not, but I could be...


...but I'm not.


Sunday was a whole to beast! As my Father's Day gift from my mother, I attended the Taste of West Louisville, a lovely event showcase some of the finest food options in the West End of Louisville.


Typically when you hear of West Louisville talked about publicly, it's in reference to something negative. This public perception is harmful, not only to the good wholesome residents of West Louisville (which does include my family), the small, local, and typically (but not exclusively) Black-Owned Business in West Louisville and I was so happy to see such events being seen and recognized and quite honestly happening!


There were SO many businesses represented there and there was SO much good food there but there were a few that just owned the night for me! I made sure I collected their business cards so that I could reference them here. (Anyone who had read my blogs post-Imaginarium over the last couple of years knows how this is about to go down.) Shout out to UpliftedLifeNow.org for putting on this event. I will be back!


Angie's Soulfood and Sweets, LLC - I don't know a lot about Chef Shay, but boy, she has PRESENCE! I can tell you'll feel it when she's in the room and if you don't feel it, you'll see her in her Royal Purple chef's coat. That's what I noticed first and when she saw me at the end of the event after I had SO much food (specifically so much rice) she hit me with her "Savory Cupcake" which was a cornbread muffin, topped with mashed potatoes, and further topped with pot roast (meat and carrots and all) - Listen, it was the end of the night in the "cupcake" was cold, but SO GOOD! Just envision it hot and fresh. If this is any indication of what she's capable of, you should be encouraged to seek her out.




Donnie Ray's Catering - Listen, there is something magical happening when you're soul on a place because of their sides. The main protein was a really good chicken wing (keep in mind, these places are just serving samples). It was SUPER tender and moist (you're not getting dry chicken there!) and the mac-n-cheese had more than one cheese in it (the dude couldn't tell me this exactly, but your Moon knows Mac and I make a pretty good one myself) but it was the seasoned greens that sold me. Now, to be fair, I think I heard someone use the word "Glory" when discussing the greens and there is a VERY popular brand of Canned greens called Glory and it's possible it wasn't THEIR greens, which could make a different to some, but listen, that chicken wing was serious no joke and I'd get a tray of those just cuz... (and I think you really can so peep that website).



Prolific's Pound Cakes - So I walked by the booth and the guy was incredible personable (which to be fair everyone I'm mentioned here was but it just leads into this narrative). He was comfortable to talk to and I saw people seemingly just visiting with him. He had little pound cake muffins, which by the way, flavored pound cakes in underrated. Imma have to invest more into this area of the Cakeverse.. Anyway, I tried his lemon pound cake (I LOVE lemon cake) with an optional peach-bourbon glaze. I tasted both separately and they are on-point!


Their business card alludes to "The Profilic Experience" which looks to be some live events including one later this week. I will be otherwise occupied at the time, but it looks to be a great time! And if these cakes will be there, it'll be worth the door price ALONE!



A Chelle of A Dessert - If anyone knows me, you know that I love Banana Pudding. This booth had a banana pudding that tasted very familiar BUT had the consistency of soft-serve ice cream! Now this wasn't a layered Banana Pudding with bananas and wafers and the like, but this is silky and creamy. Being 100% upfront, I didn't really expect more because it was "Banana pudding without bananas" which is a sin to me, but the moment - the very second - that pudding touched my tongue I legit paused; froze in place. I didn't FEEL that coming. The texture ALONE shows me you're dealing with someone on another level.


Now, all I had at the event was the banana pudding, but as I was looking at her website I saw that she specializes in banana pudding and CHEESECAKE JARS!!!!! Listen Linda, I love a good quality flavored poundcake, I love a good banana pudding, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE cheesecake. Just go read her website. Just finish reading this and go.




West Lou Coffee - The first booth my mom and I stopped at was the one for West Lou Coffee. I started to love coffee because of my time at the gas station and with all the cool little coffee spots in town, I don't understand why everyone breaks themselves over Starbucks (but that's another post). My mom had their coffee hot, but I decided to go against my norms and try their cold brew, which was a blend of their Ethiopian blend and an almond milk based creamer (or maybe just almond milk - not sure) and it was great! It gave my everything I wanted from coffee and didn't bother my stomach at all. Sean, the founder, is a really nice guy and that personality is important to me when I think of who I'd want to do business with in the future or support in anyway.


While looking at West Lou Coffee's Instagram, linked, he's looking for some assistance with getting a roastry (is that the word?!) opened so support this guy if you can.



Nothing But Catering Company - With all due respect to everyone at Taste of West Louisville and to everyone I mentioned here today, if I had to crown a Winner of The Night, it'd go right here. What put them over the top? Juice. A Hibiscus Green Tea to be more specific that when we tried it, we immediately brought of bottle each (for only 3 dollars a piece) and I was already seeking more. I asked her about her about her website and she said it was being built as we speak so hopefully, if it's up this week, I'll link it in next Monday's blog. If it's up about July, I'll have it in the newsletter. Chef Carlette Kilgore was so friendly, you felt like you were instantly friends. She wanted to make a drink that was great tasting and not pumped full of sugar and she NAILED IT!


There was food there too and I'm so sorry I didn't try it, but I was so caught up on this juice I had blinders on. Hopefully, I'll have the chance to taste more of her food sooner rather than later.



If you take anything away from this blog, understand that we all have bad days and we all need some some help at times. Also, the West End of Louisville, Ky isn't how the news channels paint it. There are lots of people who are trying to establish their own place in the world and more specifically the Louisville economy and these businesses (amongst others) are more than deserving of your hard earned dollars. We have conventions and concerts in Louisville all the time and West Louisville is worthy of your time and consideration.


Thank you for reading my blog this Monday and every Monday.


- Moon Out!



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