Very rarely do new kitchen experiments work right off the bat. Sure, if I am veganizing a recipe of mine, I can usually do on the first shot. But a new recipe idea I have never tried before? That is going to take some work. Sometimes it is close, but needs tweaking; other times, it can be a complete flop. However, every now and then I have a kitchen event that is such an epic disaster I can only laugh about it after the horror is gone. What follows is one of those moments involving chocolate… (and for those of you who were there in 2006 for the Chocolate Spin Art, that is not the event I am talking about. The rest of you are really intrigued by that now, aren’t you?) But I digress: Picture it, New York City, 2005: Ethan had done a day trip to Albany to see
Ethan and I are selling our house. Our realtor, PJ DeCicco, knowing we are vegan, promised that at the brokers’ open house, all the food would be vegan. On the day of the open house, we took the dogs with us to work, so the house would be in perfect condition. When we got home that evening, there was a note from PJ saying he left something for us in the refrigerator. In the fridge was a box of red velvet and carrot cake mini cupcakes from Cake’s Babies. We called PJ to check on how the open went and also to make sure they cupcakes we vegan. He assured us they were and we dove in. They were fantastic: moist, flavorful and not too sweet. I knew I had to find out more about this company. I jumped online and read all about LaTasha Carter and her company. When
Language matters. Words have power and meaning. As an undergraduate majoring in French, I had to understand the subtleties and nuances of words having multiple meanings, both of which could be correct at the same time. When translating a foreign language, translators have the daunting task of picking only one of the meanings. For example in French, the word flamme literally translated to English means a flame from a fire, but it can also figuratively mean flames of passion. A particular scene in the novel Madame Bovary illustrates this point. When read in the original French, both meanings work. However, in the translated English version, they had to use the literal translation, losing the subtlety and nuance of the scene. As a law student, I became even more practiced at the use of words. The distinction between using “and” versus “or” can have a huge effect in a legal document.
I graduated from Washington University in St. Louis twice: first in 1993 from the College of Arts and Sciences and again in 1996 from the School of Law. I loved my time as an undergrad at Wash U. I don’t know many people who loved law school. I made some great friends over the seven years I spent on the campus. I am still friends with a few of them, but sadly I’ve lost touch with most of them. I had such fun in my first four years there, including some nights I don’t fully remember. I learned a great deal about myself during these years. I cannot speak fondly enough about my time at Wash U. As much as I loved my undergrad years, my law school experience somewhat tarnished my opinion of the university as a whole. It was a case of one bad apple spoiling the whole
This morning I was looking at my Facebook news feed and saw the most adorable photograph of my dear cousin’s beautiful three-year-old daughter. I’ll call her “Susan”, as my cousin really does not want her daughter referenced by name in this piece. Susan is the kind of child that is so beautiful that people stop and stare. She has these puppy dog eyes and an inquisitive nature that is readily apparent through every expression of her cherubic face. In the photographs, Susan was out shopping with her mother who is a bit of a fashionista. The caption under the photo was that she looked “too cool with her leather jacket and $2,000 Celine bag.” For some reason, the photo and caption combination irked me all the way through my 5K run this morning. Then it finally hit me why it bothered me so much. It wasn’t just because this sweet
The movie musical Doctor Doolittle opens with Rex Harrison singing, “If I Could Talk to the Animals.” He sings about how wonderful it would be if he could effectively communicate with all animals, each in its own language: If I conferred with our furry friends, man to animal, Think of the amazing repartee. If I could walk with the animals, talk with the animals, Grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals, And they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to us! Anyone with a companion animal has undoubtedly wished this too. I know I’ve spent hours talking to my dogs over the years. Sometimes I just needed someone to listen to me, other times I wished they could talk back. Of course there are times I am thankful they cannot, but for the most part I wish they could. More precisely, I wish I could understand what
People who work in the food services industry are uniquely poised to help spread veganism. I was reminded of this fact a few weeks ago when I ran into my friend Anthony after shopping at our local Whole Foods. Adjacent and connected to our Whole Foods is a small restaurant. Years ago, when it was called Osteria, Michael and I would eat there as it had non-vegan items for Michael (as he wasn’t yet vegan at that point) and vegan options for me. A few years ago, a different management took it over, entirely changed the menu and rebranded it Corner Table. Unfortunately the new menu had no vegan options. Gone were the delicious tofu cacciatore and pasta with vegan sausages, and in came the chicken wings, burgers, chili and a plethora of other corpse-containing items. One day while shopping at Whole Foods I ran into my friend Anthony. Because he is an ethical vegan, I was surprised when he told
During our 3 days in Los Angeles, we ate… a lot. We said, “bye-bye diets, this is vacation.” So, without further ado, here is our review of our culinary adventures in Los Angeles. Hugo’s – 8401 Santa Monica Blvd. 323-654-3993 Hugo’s is a fixture in West Hollywood. Hugo’s has an extensive menu with ample vegan options. The menu has a key to help quickly identify Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free, Can be Vegan, Can be Vegetarian, Can be Gluten-Fee and Contains Nuts. We truly appreciate a restaurant that does this as it makes reading menus much easier. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. If you have any questions, they can usually answer them without having to run to the kitchen to check. Hugo’s is a great option if you are dining with a mixed group of omnivores and vegans. The menu has something for everyone. We had 3
Our dear friend JL Fields of JL Goes Vegan has a wonderful blog of recipes, articles, advice and coaching on all things vegan. She is an invaluable source of information, an amazing person and someone we are so fortunate to call a friend. While she is hard at work finishing her second book, she has enlisted some of her “favorite authors, chefs, business owners, and bloggers to share ‘Quick Tips’ with you – simple and easy ideas to make your vegan, vegetarian or veg-curious journey even easier! Print-friendly, if you want to keep the tips on hand you can clip them with Evernote or print and stick on your refrigerator!” We are honored to be the inaugural guest bloggers for this feature. We offer some of our tips for worry free vegan hosting. Read it, print it, send it to your friends and family. This is a great piece for anyone who is
Michael and I traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for New Year’s week. This was our first trip back since 2006 and our first time there as vegans. In general, we have found Mexico to be quite a vegan-friendly travel destination, as long as you can communicate in Spanish, ask questions and make requests for food prep modifications. Puerto Vallarta (PV) is no exception to this rule. As always, we checked the listings on HappyCow and PlantEaters before travelling so we had an idea of the lay of the vegan landscape. We arrived on a Sunday night and most of the vegan-friendly places we knew about were closed by the time we were settled at our hotel and ready to go get dinner. Thankfully, Planeta Vegetariano was open. Unfortunately, HappyCow had it listed in the wrong place on their map(that happens a LOT on Happy Cow) and our taxi driver had
