13 Hours in Manhattan
Since I moved to Boston I've been doing this wacky thing where I go down to New York just for the afternoon and evening (usually for a Yaddo get-together), then I take a late bus back so I can (in theory, anyway) have the whole next day at home to be productive. Here are some pics from a quick trip down the week before last:
A light meal before yoga class at Jivamukti NYC: an Abundance smoothie (cherries, strawberries, raspberries, cocoa, coconut water) and steamed kale with turmeric tahini dressing. They do say you should eat as colorfully as possible, right? I got off the bus feeling generally off kilter, but this snack totally pepped me up for yoga.
(I went back for a sandwich after class, and overheard a guy telling his companion about a friend of his who buys old clothing on eBay with weird stories attached. For instance, she once acquired a 19th-century wedding dress with a gaping hole in the bodice, with dried blood still visible around the edges. It seemed the groom was already married, and when his first wife found out about the illegal wedding she came to the church and stabbed the second bride in a jealous rage.)
Then I met some of my Yaddo buds at Congee Village on Allen Street for dinner:
Afterward we headed across the street to Berkli Parc for wine and coffee. My bus wasn't leaving until four (I know, I know! I am nuts), so it was actually the smart thing to do to order two "dirty chai" soy lattes (i.e., chai + espresso) between 10 and 11 o'clock at night. BOING BOING!
I got good work done in the almost-hour after everyone else headed home, and when the cafe closed at midnight I went to Penn and wrote in the 24-hour Au Bon Pain on the lower level. (No way I was gonna wait for more than twenty minutes at the Port Authority. That place is sketchtastic.)
Pretty street art.
(Um, what? I Googled, to no avail.)
I may not be ahead of the trend after all...
@cometparty you working at a 24-hr coffee shop while waiting for your 4 am bus was inspiring. I have the poem taped to my journal. Thank you
— Mieke Zamora-Mackay (@MZMackay) March 28, 2014
Eating Out in New York, continued
I've been down to New York twice in one week—first for a Yaddo "family reunion" at the Brooklyn Brewery last Wednesday night, and then to see a very dear friend visiting from far away. Naturally, I ate a lot of gorgeous vegan food. 
I haven't ever spent much time in Williamsburg, so I Googled to find a list of vegetarian eateries near the Brewery. Bliss Café was the most convenient—cute, romantically lit, and bustling even at 6pm on a Wednesday. I ordered a "bliss bowl"—steamed kale and other veggies with beans, rice, tempeh, and lemon-miso dressing—a simple but delicious meal, washed down with beet-carrot-ginger juice. 
I've been treating myself to a lot of dessert lately. (My birthday is tomorrow, after all!) This brownie, alas, wasn't nearly as moist and flavorful as the vegan walnut brownies at the Armory café, but at least the coffee was top notch. Overall I can't say I'd hurry back here—the service was a bit "oh? you want to eat? all right then, you can sit there I guess," and I do prefer to patronize restaurants that are 100% vegan. 
The Yaddo party was fantastic—I didn't sample the brew (although most of their beers are vegan), but I made new friends and reconnected with a few members of my original posse. After the event we moved to a dive bar down the street. I was taking the train back at 2:40am, but I didn't actually have all that much time to wait around beforehand! 
I found a 24-hour deli near Penn Station selling vegan cookies. Much much better than that Bliss brownie, but it tasted disconcertingly like egg nog! So the spices were there, but not in the right proportions, I don't think. And not enough pumpkin, clearly. That said, it was going on 3am and I was hungry, so it did the job.Now on to visit #2: 
Yesterday was one of the very happiest days of 2013, hands down (tell you why later). My friend and I talked for hours over a thoroughly delicious quinoa and avocado salad at Peacefood Café on the Upper West Side. We also ordered gingerade and chickpea fries, of course! 
Polished off lunch with a Brazilian nut chai and a chocolate-dipped macaroon. You wouldn't know it was vegan, right? SO SO GOOD. I also have to give Peacefood a shout-out for some excellent customer service. I love it when a server actually says "Welcome! How are you?" 
Alone again at half past nine, I headed downtown to a restaurant I used to love in my NYU days called Quantum Leap (Yes!), but I was disappointed to discover they now have fish on the menu. (New owners, probably.) So I went to Sacred Chow just around the corner (which I love, as you know), and even though they were about to close, they still fed me and didn't rush me out. Not only is their food really good (especially the tapas!), but their service is hands down the best of all the New York restaurants I have ever been to (not just the vegan ones). It is very rare to find a bustling restaurant where the staff make you feel totally comfortable about dining solo (and in the case of my first visit, taking up three empty seats). I said as much to my server, who replied that the owners made a conscious decision to make people feel welcome even if it meant losing a bit of money in the short term. Smart, right?—I keep coming back! Last night they had a Caldo Verde soup special, with kale and onion and potato in coconut broth, and it warmed me up beautifully.A bunch of us are going to Veggie Galaxy tomorrow night for my birthday, so I'll have to blog about my chocolate banana frappé next week!
Vegan Eats on Either Coast
I feel like I've been bopping all over the place since I got back from Uganda. The Monday before last I went down to New York for my Yaddo pal John Searles's book launch (more about Help for the Haunted soon), and had an exquisite tapas dinner at Sacred Chow with Steve beforehand. (We hadn't seen each other since London at the end of 2010, so it took me awhile to get used to seeing him with no dreads!)
Smoky home fries, BBQ'd ginger seitan, Dijon marinated raw kale, grilled black olive seitan, root vegetable latkes, (those waffley things—they came with a delicious sour-creamish sauce), and sunflower lentil pâté with jicama. I could hardly pick a favorite.
Turns out Steve is a vegetarian now. I used to think of him whenever anybody mentioned chicken quesadillas, so it feels good to see him eating healthier foods.
Banana pound cake and a macaroon with blueberry compote. Not the sort of macaroon I was expecting, but it was still pretty tasty.Then last weekend I went to San Francisco for Aravinda and Nevin's wedding (more on that soon, too), and the day before I met up with Spencer for lunch at Herbivore on Valencia Street. His "meatballs" were really delicious, and my grilled corn-cake platter was a welcome change from the tofu scrambles I usually order for brunch (mostly at Trident).
Black beans, salsa, guacamole, home fries, and grilled corn cakes with vegan sour cream.
Minnie Minster promised a vegetarian Indian buffet after the wedding, and HOLY MOLY was it ever good. That's a masala dosa.
On Monday I wandered around the Ferry Building before meeting up with a new friend to watch America's Cup, and found a juice bar and vegan doughnut stand right next to each other. I guess they kinda cancel each other out, but don't know that I've ever had a vegan doughnut before, so I couldn't resist. It was insanely delicious. (Blueberry frosting!)
(Random sign that made me smile. Probably not vegan though...)
A Room with a View
(Mr. Forster, wherever you are...I hope you can forgive me.)I've only ever stayed in New York City hotel rooms for my launch parties, but for the Main Street Vegan Academy mini-reunion last weekend, I booked one thinking two out-of-town friends would be joining me. Alas, their travel plans fell through, but I decided to make the best of the situation by turning it into an all-night writing retreat of sorts. Check out wasn't until noon, after all...(You may have noticed my tweets from one night a couple of weeks ago, when I drank too much coffee at the Starbucks down the street and ended up working 'til 6am.)
Five thirty. Colorless sky. Birds a-chirping. I can hear one of our Muslim students singing his prayers.-- Camille DeAngelis (@comet_party) July 9, 2013
Yup, the hotel is literally at "Ground Zero" (with a Morton's steakhouse downstairs, no less). I was living in an NYU dorm in Chinatown on September 11th, and saw more that day than I care to describe here. I still think about how many people lost their lives, and I bless them, wherever they are, but I've never felt the need to actually visit the memorial. (Now you see why I was in a rather morbid frame of mind.)
After saying goodbye to my MSVA friends, I stopped at the Trader Joe's near Union Square to pick up some "fuel" for the long night ahead. (I would be so deliciously productive! It would be SO WONDERFUL!!!!!)Not long past midnight, though, my energy began to flag. The coffee I'd brewed in my room was really weak (even the decaf I made in the morning had more caffeine in it!), and I suddenly remembered I'd only gotten five hours of sleep the night before. With a couple of iced coffees I was hoping to ease myself into that elusive "sweet spot," the "theta state" or however you like to label it, but it just wasn't happening. I needed some shut-eye. So I promised myself I'd get a good three hours done in the morning, and climbed into the king-size bed.
I used to write until 4 or 5 almost every night when I was in grad school working on Mary Modern. Twenty-four doesn't feel that far from thirty-two, but I gotta face reality here: I'm not that young anymore. I can pull one of those exhilarated all-nighters every now and again—they are still every bit as fun as they were then!—but it's going to take more planning than it used to. At any rate, in the morning I managed to finish a draft of the outline (or "chapter flow") I'd been working toward, which had been my goal for the night anyway.The other take-away from my experience over the weekend is this: you won't be touched by some divine hand of inspiration every time you sit down to write. Much of the time it's just putting one word down after another, and that's perfectly okay. That's how a book gets written.
Life After Life After Life
(Main Street Vegan Academy, part 4.)I was staying downtown (more on that tomorrow), so on Sunday afternoon I took a wander through the Trinity churchyard.
Every time I see an 18th-century grave marker I'm fascinated, again, by the phrase departed this life. I like to take the words out of their Christian context, and simply consider death as an onward journey. I can almost get excited when you frame it that way--as J.M. Barrie put it, "an awfully big adventure."
One of the doors to Grace Church.On the other hand, don't we "depart this life" and begin another quite frequently throughout our lives? Coming back to New York often feels like peeping in on that version I was living twelve or fourteen years ago. I pass Grace Church on Broadway, and remember how I admired the view over the churchyard from the window of an NYU dorm room when I was visiting as a high school senior. I walk through Washington Square Park, and think back on all the conversations I've had there, all the interesting people who came in and out of my life.
(Some things thread themselves through, joining each chapter together: to the end of my life (the actual end), whenever I see hydrangeas, I will always think of my sister.)
Maybe it's odd that I love graveyards as much as I do. Part of it is the romance and the gothic flavor and all that, but there's a practical reason too. We need every reminder that our lives won't last forever, that we must experience them as fully as we can—the highs and the lows, avoiding none of the messiness. Those colonial New Yorkers have had their turn; now it's ours.
Main Street Vegan Academy, part 4
Sometimes you find good advice where you least expect it (in this case, the ladies' restroom at South Station.)Saturday morning I took the bus down to New York for a Main Street Vegan Academy reunion dinner at the marvelous Peacefood Café (at Union Square). It was so lovely to reconnect with my classmates and meet a few new friends from the earlier sessions (one of whom, J.L., has a brand-new book out called Vegan For Her!)I've gotten to the point that when I'm in a totally vegan-friendly place like New York, a Chipotle burrito isn't going to cut it when I could patronize a cruelty-free business instead. I hadn't looked up a vegan option near the bus stop beforehand, but I decided I would find one without having to try too hard (I think most of you know I don't own a smartphone).And what do you know? A block and a half north of the Megabus stop (7th Avenue at 29th Street), there is a Loving Hut.
The girl behind the counter actually remembered my name, and used it each time she asked if I needed anything and if I was enjoying my food. A seitan sandwich with chipotle mayo and a side salad with carrot ginger dressing were so satisfying after a four-hour bus ride!
Already daydreaming about dinner at @peacefoodnyc with my #mainstreetvegan posse tomorrow. Gingerade & chickpea fries, for sure. #vegan-- Camille DeAngelis (@comet_party) July 20, 2013
More deliciousness at Peacefood that evening: gingerade, chickpea fries, and a Daiya cheeseburger with sprouts and plenty of pickle and mustard on focaccia.
Part of the Main Street Vegan crew. Oh how I adore these people!!!
Afterward we went to Chloe's for some fruity soft serve. Tali always orders the large.
So much fun tonight!!! RT @victoria_moran: With Main Street #Vegan Academy grads @chloesfruit in Mamhattan. pic.twitter.com/KXeJVXnxpG-- Camille DeAngelis (@comet_party) July 21, 2013
For brunch the next day I went to Sacred Chow (on Sullivan between West 3rd and Bleecker), which Tali had recommended. Stellar service--I love it when waitstaff don't try to make me feel weird for eating solo and taking up a whole table--and the fresh market greens salad hit the spot (after two faux meat sandwiches the day before, I was really hankering for some roughage).This was my first experience of jicama (that's the white bits), and I wasn't thrilled with it—it doesn't seem to have a taste at all!—but the raw cashew kefir dressing and "almond and sunflower nutmeats" were really delicious.Much more to say about my night in New York, but I'll save it for later this week.
Main Street Vegan Academy, part 3
(All Main Street Vegan Academy entries.)Friday morning Victoria offered several very useful lectures on public speaking and the nuts-and-bolts aspects of working with clients. She's so knowledgeable practical and wise. If you ever get the chance to hear her speak (or better yet, attend the vegan academy yourself), you should JUMP on it. And read Main Street Vegan, of course! She presents everything you need to know in such an easy and loving way; I admit that some of us vegans get REALLY impassioned to the point where we might alienate the "veg curious," but in her books and on her podcast, Victoria's approach is always gentle and friendly.
Got public speaking advice from @victoria_moran so awesome I had to bring my notebook into the bathroom so I could keep taking notes. #vegan-- Camille DeAngelis (@comet_party) June 22, 2013
After Victoria's talks, our classmate Ilana gave us an introduction to Ayurveda, which is an ancient Indian tradition of natural healing. (Ayurvedic practitioners generally use milk and ghee, but some vegans are modifying the tradition--see Talya Lutzker's new book The Vegan Ayurvedic Kitchen. Talya was a guest on Victoria's podcast last month.) I'll write more about Ayurveda in a future post. Then we took the subway downtown to Pure Food and Wine for a languid lunch, and by that I mean three courses over three hours, or close enough to it! (I'd been there earlier in the week with Kate and Sara, remember, and while the company was excellent my burger was a little disappointing. This meal more than made up for it!) 
The Mediterranean salad: arugula, kale, kalamata olives, tomatoes, pumpkin seed macadamia parmesan, balsamic vinaigrette. Awesome.
Brazil nut sea vegetable croquettes with a tartare sauce. If I had to pick my very favorite dish out of all the meals at NYC vegan restaurants I've had, this would be it. It's the sort of thing you really want to recreate at home, but you know you won't be able to! Exquisite. (I also ordered a "swan greens" juice--cucumber, spinach, dandelion, pear, grapefruit, tarragon, spearmint, and yuzu...which I now know to be an East Asian citrus fruit, thanks to Dr. Google.)
I was a bit skeptical when this lemon bar showed up—it looked kind of plasticy—but appearances can be deceiving and all that. Really flavorful—a PUNCH of lemon—and a perfect almond coconut crust.
After lunch we walked to an Indian grocery, where I picked up a bunch of interesting powders and oils Ilana recommended on the fly. (This photo with Ilse, Zachary, and Stephanie.) I haven't had a chance to try any of them yet, but when I do I'll let you know how I find them.
Just posted a photo @ MooShoes http://t.co/mcHfr2KGTU -- Zachary Koval (@Zachary_Koval) June 21, 2013
Then it was on to Moo Shoes, which I somehow hadn't visited since 2004. I'm happy to say that vegan footwear has come a LONG way in that time! (By the way, my other favorite place to buy fashionable, quality, breathable shoes is Vegetarian Shoes in the UK.)
Margo gave some love to the Moo Shoes resident kitty.I spent so much time trying on shoes that I missed out on Babycakes (everyone had left by the time I got there, and I didn't feel like eating cupcakes by myself), but I did manage to meet up with my pal Kathy (for whom I used to work back at HarperCollins) for cocktails and some delicious gourmet pizza with Daiya cheese (made of arrowroot and tapioca as opposed to soy, by the by--melts just like dairy cheese) at Pala, which offers a vegan menu. (Sometimes I do wish I still lived in New York...!)
I don't go gaga over shoes, but I'm in love with these dove-gray oxfords I just bought from @mooshoes_nyc. http://t.co/Zqhbvg0I91 #vegan-- Camille DeAngelis (@comet_party) June 22, 2013
Saturday morning we reconvened at the grocery store around the corner from Victoria's apartment to meet her daughter Adair, who was playing our hypothetical client. I picked up several new pieces of knowledge in the course of the "tour," the most scary of which is that tin cans contain BPA unless otherwise noted on the label. You know how water bottles will say "BPA free"? That's because studies have indicated that BPA is a carcinogen. So you have to look for cans of soup or beans or sauce that specifically say "no BPA." Here's a list of seven brands you can trust on Treehugger.com. (If you do a quick Google search on BPA, you'll find that it's the organizations profiting from it who say it's perfectly safe, and it's not like you can actually trust the FDA, due to the influence of said corporate interests.) Afterward we went back to Victoria's for Fran Costigan's talks on food demos and comparing all the different kinds of vegan sweeteners for use in pastries and desserts (coconut sugar, date sugar, rice syrup, Sucanat...) Her new book, Vegan Chocolate, comes out in November, and the confection on the cover looks every bit as decadent as an ordinary chocolate cake. (But like I said, you enjoy your treats way more when you know they're fair trade and cruelty free...)
After lunch we had a panel discussion with Gary Gibson, Dianne Wenz, and Jaime Karpovich, all MSVA graduates, who offered more practical info on starting a vegan coaching business. Michael Parrish DuDell gave the next lecture--half was marketing and business-y and the other half presented the case for veganism from an environmental standpoint. Did you know that raising animals for food contributes more to global warming than every mode of transportation in the world combined? It sounds unbelievable, but this is a statistic generated by the U.N. in 2006. No one is making this up; no one would ever want to. You can see why Michael says he initially went vegan for the sake of the environment. That night we went to Blossom for dinner. I've had pretty good meals there in the past, but nothing truly inspired until Friday night: 
Seitan Frites Au Poivre with creamy mushroom peppercorn sauce, shoestring fries, and grilled asparagus with horseradish cream. The chocolate mousse pie was awesome too, and I almost collapsed with ecstasy as I sipped the organic mint chip shake Lindsay ordered.
Another awesome day at #vegan academy, culminating in chocolate mousse cake and impromptu tarot readings at @cafeblossom. (I love my life.) -- Camille DeAngelis (@comet_party) June 23, 2013
Sunday was our last day. We had lectures from Sharon Nazarian on social media and Rynn Berry on the history of veganism. Professor Berry's talk was absolutely fascinating, and I'll be blogging about his books (Food for the Gods, etc.) in the months ahead. (He even gave me an extremely useful tidbit for my Edinburgh novel! Like I said--collecting the jigsaw pieces...)
A refreshing glass of gingerade and a Mediterranean panini at Peacefood Café on the UWS, where we celebrated our graduation. The chickpea fries (in the background) were INCREDIBLE.
Photo: Grad lunch @peacefoodnyc w/ @Victoria_Moran, @jamsmom, @PettyMagic et al. #MSVA #vegan #NYC #travel... http://t.co/zp2ESxoSGc-- Stephanie Gorchynski (@StephGorchynski) June 26, 2013
After lunch and a round of goodbye hugs, I went to a wine bar with Ilse and Stephanie to continue our conversation, but I didn't order a glass myself since I was heading out to Park Slope for yoga with our classmate Jean. That was another full circle experience for me, since I used to go to that studio when I lived in Brooklyn nine and ten years ago. (More about this when I blog about my pretty-much-daily practice at Back Bay Yoga.)Thus concludes my MSVA recap, although I do feel I ought to take another post for reflection as opposed to "we did this and this and this." It would be impossible to overstate how much I loved and learned from this program—I'm truly only scratching the surface here!
Full Circle
With Tali and Margo on Washington Square East, en route to the PETA talk at the Kimmel Center. Photo by Rain.
As you may know, at NYU I was an opinion columnist for the Washington Square News. (If you're interested, here's the best thing I ever wrote for that paper.)One time the animal rights group on campus circulated a pamphlet stating that NYU researchers, funded by our tax dollars, were practicing vivisection on rhesus monkeys, supposedly to discover a cure for lazy eye. I was going to link to the definition of "vivisection," but I think I'd better define it for you here:
viv·i·sec·tion [viv-uh-sek-shuhn]noun1. the action of cutting into or dissecting a living body.2. the practice of subjecting living animals to cutting operations, especially in order to advance physiological and pathological knowledge.
I was so shocked and disgusted that I hastily typed up an opinion piece decrying what was going on in our university research labs. It was an absolutely lazy piece of so-called journalism--I did virtually no outside research--and the next day we published a letter from the NYU spokesman (part of whose job it was to take us pesky kids down a peg on a regular basis) that began, "Camille DeAngelis parroted the contents of a nasty pamphlet..."Funny that he should use the word "parrot," right? Because parrots repeat what's actually been said; they don't obfuscate, as humans are wont to do. The NYU spokesman didn't deny anything about the vivisection itself--he only attempted to rationalize it by saying people would be helped by the "work" they were doing, and that the animal rights activists were just getting in the way of medical progress. As if making use of our first-amendment right was "nasty," and drilling holes into monkeys' heads WASN'T.Yeah, I think the monkeys would have a thing or two to say about that. But we don't speak their language.
"A few polite words, properly placed, can change a life forever." --@IngridNewkirk at @PETA #vegan #govegan-- Camille DeAngelis (@comet_party) June 21, 2013
Does "progress" necessitate the torture of innocent, sentient beings? Scientists like T. Colin Campbell believe this to a certain extent--for without his lab rats we wouldn't have as much scientific evidence that a plant-based diet is THE way to fend off cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, and there's no denying that animal testing has saved many human lives through vaccines and other critical medicines. Our technology, however, has advanced to the point where animal testing (for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and so forth) is actually the least effective way of doing things. And yet many companies are still dropping chemicals in rabbits' eyes before sticking them back in their cages.I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a party to unnecessary suffering in any form. I wish I had actually joined People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals back at NYU, and gotten involved. I thought I was doing enough by being a vegetarian, but I know better now.
.@ingridnewkirk on speciesism: "We think we're sophisticated because we invented Cheetos and the dishwasher." @peta #vegan-- Camille DeAngelis (@comet_party) July 5, 2013
Ingrid Newkirk's lecture included photographs and video footage of animals doing extraordinary things...and animals being treated with extraordinary cruelty.As our vegan academy group walked down to Washington Square for the PETA lecture that Thursday night, I thought back on that ill-executed yet thoroughly righteous editorial I'd once written. I also remembered a brief conversation outside the NYU Main Building I'd had with a really nice girl named Lauren, who was active in the PETA group on campus and was thrilled that I'd written about the vivisection issue. I was sipping a hot chocolate, and I offered her some. She asked if there was milk in it, I said yes, and she politely declined.Why didn't I get it?I wasn't ready, I guess. But I really wish I could have been.
THIS is your milk, your cheese, your butter. Still think dairy doesn't hurt cows? http://t.co/sn0wG2g4px #Dehorning #Reasons2GoVegan-- PETA (@peta) June 21, 2013
(All Main Street Vegan Academy posts here.)
Main Street Vegan Academy, part 2
We kicked off Main Street Vegan Academy Tuesday evening (June 18th) with a delicious chickpea curry, DF Mavens ice cream ("the best dairy-free ice cream in the world" is no exaggeration), and a presentation by Dr. Robert Ostfeld of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Dr. Ostfeld did a great job of explaining the mechanics of heart disease in layman's terms. ("Grummus" is something you do NOT want inside your arteries, but it's such a fun word to say!) Dr. Ostfeld and nutritionist Lauren Graf offer a plant-based cardiac wellness program for their patients, many of whom are living on limited incomes. These are awesome people doing awesome work, and I know we all felt very lucky to learn more about it.Wednesday was our most lecture-filled day. First up was Marty Davey, La Diva Dietitian, who offered us a basic course in vegan nutrition, followed by special guidelines for pregnancy and children, athletes, and the elderly. Marty is very wry and witty, making the material way more engaging than it might have been. (She likes to tell teenage boys that if they stick with the standard American diet, "by the time you're 35, Mr. Happy may not be so happy!")After lunch, Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan of Our Hen House gave an impassioned and very articulate talk on animal rights and animal law (Mariann is a professor of animal rights law at Columbia and a couple other NYC schools. I really loved it when she said, "What was I thinking before the light bulb went off?", because that's how I've felt every single day since I went vegan.) If you're interested in exploring the philosophy around animal rights, their website is a great place to start. (See also Main Street Vegan Academy Will Change Your Life.)After their talk, Jasmin and Mariann were guests on Victoria's radio show, with our classmate Zachary co-hosting. We got to be the live studio audience.
Truly inspired afternoon with @Victoria_Moran & @ourhenhouse - love this candid pic of the podcast! #mainstreetvegan pic.twitter.com/tLsBIGJfvc-- Stephanie Gorchynski (@CompassionAteTO) June 20, 2013
After the radio show, Joshua Katcher of Brave Gentleman and The Discerning Brute gave an equally powerful presentation on animal cruelty in the fashion industry: fur, leather, wool, silk, and feathers. For a quick intro (no, shearing sheep isn't the same as a haircut!), check out the FAQ on his blog."We must not allow the beauty of an object to blind us to the horror of its origins."Joshua designs vegan business suits, which are manufactured in Italy. Fashion may seem frivolous on the surface, but the work he, Leanne Mai-Ly Hilgart, Jill Milan, Jaclyn Sharp, and other designers are doing is so, SO important. An estimated one billion animals annually are killed for their skins, and the undercover footage Joshua showed us almost literally made me sick.(You don't want to watch this, but you really should. This particular footage was taken at a fox farm in Illinois.)People like to think if you're going vegan you can only dress in burlap sacks, but there's absolutely no excuse to wear leather or fur when alternatives exist that are ethical, sustainable, and stylish.Wednesday evening, after a delicious avocado quinoa salad at Candle West (I skipped dessert, though I did have a bite of Marcia's cannoli and it was just as tasty as "the real thing"!) I went down to Union Square for some edible and inedible treats.Thursday morning Jennifer Gannett gave us a very practical presentation on "mixed" families (i.e., not everyone in the family wants to go vegan) and transitioning to veganism in general. That'll be really useful for those of us who will be focusing on private coaching.
Thursday lunch: carrot-pecan-coconut salad; mock tuna salad; Aztec salad with black beans, red onion, red pepper, tomato and cilantro; and a creamy dill dip. Words can't express just how much I enjoyed this meal.Thursday afternoon we took a field trip to a cute little raw food store called High Vibe, followed by Sustainable NYC and Vaute Couture. After dinner at Jivamuktea, we headed down to NYU to hear a talk by Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. I'll be blogging about Vaute and the PETA lecture over the next couple of days.
More Main Street vegan fun :) #msva http://t.co/KEQAIY8hHi-- Treehousechatter (@treehousechat) June 20, 2013
(All Main Street Vegan Academy posts here.)
Treat Yo'self!
Thursday night (of vegan academy week), after a delicious dinner at Candle West with my classmates, I went down to Union Square for dessert and some browsing at one of the world's best bookstores.(That "treat yo'self!" episode of "Parks and Recreation" is the only episode I've actually seen, but I do like to quote it.)
Dairy-free dark chocolate YUM in a pretzel cone at Chloe's Soft Serve Fruit Company.People sometimes have this notion that being vegan means giving up all the fun stuff. Not true at all! I enjoy a treat way more now, because I can feel good about where it came from.
As much as I enjoyed that "soft serve," browsing at the Strand was an even bigger treat. (Here's an example of something awesome I found there on a past visit.)
Delicious books! The Decomposition Notebook was a gift for a friend, but isn't that sort of a treat for myself too?(I'm almost finished with Hardcore Zen, which my friend Mike recommended to me years ago. It's a great book. I'll be blogging about it.)
I don't usually spend much time perusing the clearance books outside the store, although I do like to daydream sometimes that the Strand is still around a hundred years from now, and some NYU student finds one of my books on the dollar cart, reads it and loves it....Is that weird?
(And here is a random window shot of a store called Mantiques Modern. Ha! Love it.)(All Main Street Vegan Academy posts here.)
Main Street Vegan Academy, part 1
Where do I even begin? It was that wonderful.Last week was thoroughly life changing. I made lovely new vegan friends and colleagues, learned a TON, gained confidence, and ate some of the most delicious food EVER. I've already noticed that I'm thinking more critically and I'm more sensitive to the issues. I want to speak the truth in a loving and compassionate way, and I feel empowered to do that now.How is this all going to play out in my life and work? More on that soon. I'll do a proper blog post later this week, but here are some highlights in the meantime.
Rain and Margo en route to Sustainable NYC and Vaute Couture. Here are some incredibly happy, healthy, gorgeous people!! Vegan is love, baby.
Thursday lunch, topped with Treeline cashew cheese. D-I-V-I-N-E. Dairy cheese is literally addictive--it contains casomorphin, an opiate (!)--and while this "cheese" is insanely tasty, you can eat all you want and stay healthy!
On Saturday morning we went on a supermarket tour, with Victoria's daughter Adair playing a new client who wants to eat healthier. Whether or not you're vegan (yet!), it's so, so important to read every label before you drop the item in question in your cart. Also very helpful to know which fruits and veggies contain which vitamins and minerals.
More fieldtripping. (We spent much more time in lectures, but apart from one food demonstration I didn't take photos.)
Seitan burrito at Jivamuktea. Thoroughly delicious.
A great photo of us, in every way! RT @Victoria_Moran: Main Street Vegan St. Vegan Academy class @JivamuktiNYC Cafe pic.twitter.com/KdP5SZXuaT-- Stephanie Gorchynski (@CompassionAteTO) June 24, 2013
Thursday night we heard Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, speak at NYU, and she was electrifying. I was so inspired!(Main Street Vegan Academy.)
Vegan Academy Prelude
(The Heart is a Compass; Victoria Moran's Main Street Vegan Academy.)I'm in New York City this week for Main Street Vegan Academy, which began with a glorious dinner (chickpea and green bean curry, lemon broccoli, lovely fresh salad with shitake mushrooms, raw chocolate cake and non-dairy ice cream) and a very informative lecture by Dr. Robert Ostfeld of Montefiore Medical Center.But before that, I got to have lunch at Pure Food and Wine with my lovely agent and my new editor at St. Martin's! We shared a plate of guacamole and a celebratory bottle of white wine. Such a treat. I also found out that they sold the rights in Italy, so Bones & All will be translated into my ancestral tongue. My grandpa would be proud.
Portabella and hemp seed burger. Sprouted manna bread, caraway kraut, lapsang souchong tea smoked cashew cheese, house made mustard, pickled pink onions. The "cheese" was my favorite part. More filling than it looks!Plenty more MSVA-related posts coming up! I'm already having a ball, and I can't wait to share it all with you.
First night of @victoria_moran's Main Street #Vegan Academy = AMAZING. Amazing food, amazing presentation by @drostfeld. So jazzed!-- Camille DeAngelis (@PettyMagic) June 19, 2013
The Cloisters
I'm in New York all this week, and taking the opportunity to do a few things I don't usually have time for when I'm only up for a night or two. I can't remember if this was my third or fourth visit to The Cloisters, but at any rate I love being able to pretend I'm back in Europe for a few hours. It was gloriously warm and sunny out, entirely too spring-like for late November.
The Bonnefont Cloister and herb garden.
These ladies have always been my favorites of the collection. They're early 16th-century reliquary busts; here's a better photo.
One of many spooky characters carved in the capitals of the Cuxa Cloister.
Tomb effigy of a knight in the Gothic Chapel.
(I'm skeptical.)
Happy New Year!
I haven't posted in awhile because Brendan was here in New Jersey meeting the folks. We had a lot of fun in Philly, New York, and D.C.
(That's the Hans Christian Andersen statue in Central Park.)I'll try to finish up my Germany pics over the weekend!