Emmy winner, vegetarian cookbook author Dalia Colón shares best day ever

Dalia Colón knows skipping meat doesn't mean skipping out on fun.

State of play: The Zest podcast host and Emmy winner just released The Florida Vegetarian Cookbook , with more than 100 recipes using local ingredients.

We wanted to know: What does her perfect (vegetarian) day in Tampa Bay look like?

🌅 To start: Watching the sunrise on her porch swing after a run, along with a YouVersion Bible study and Insight Timer meditation .

• "That's how I feel ready for the day. My mind and body are ready to go."

🥭 Breakfast: "If it's a Sunday, I'm going to the Thai temple market and eating mango sticky rice at a picnic table on the banks of the Palm River. And I'm buying an orchid."

🚲 Mid-morning: "In a perfect world, I'd convince my family to go for a bike ride with me on the Upper Tampa Bay Trail . We did a lot of biking during the pandemic and that's one aspect of the lockdown I actually miss."

🥑 Lunch: " Fresh Kitchen . I'm a cheap date. I love that they have a lot of plant-based options and it never disappoints."

• And then a brownie at Cafe Hey in Tampa Heights before browsing the stacks at Black English , the new bookstore owned by Gwen Henderson.

🚋 Afternoon: Riding the streetcar around downtown and looking at the roosters. "When my son was a toddler we started doing that together. We might get off at the Embassy Suites and ride the glass elevator to the top and back down. He's 8 and he still loves it."

• 🎭 Followed by a show at the Straz Center. "I'm packing my own snacks: dried mango, plantain chips and my homemade granola cups."

🍝 Late dinner: Pasta alla Norma at Casa Santo Stefano . "It's a crowd-pleaser. Everyone in my family will find" something they love.

🍪 Dessert/nightcap: Making mojito cookies from her cookbook!

• She's in bed by 10, eating a bowl of popcorn and reading a novel (currently " Mad Honey ") with her cocker spaniel, Max, at her feet.