Hey Look!

More cookies!

Vanilla and chocolate thumbprints from The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur.

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Tis the Season

For cookies!

This week, I attended a cookie swap and reading for the Zinester's Guide to New York City (which everybody with any kind of interest in NYC should pick up), featuring pieces (and a whole vegan section) by Melissa Bastian. Sadly, she and I were the only people to bring vegan cookies (and someone brought - and wrote a song about - bacon brittle), but that didn't keep us from eating a whole hell of a lot of them.

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Cookie Time!

If you've read any part of this blog ever, you know I'm really awful at making food look good. I can't do pretty plating or decorating or anything like that. I'm lucky if I can make food appetizing enough to eat. So I don't really bother trying to model my food after cookbook photos. And I certainly would never dream of trying to copy a cover photo. Until now.

Hypnosis Cookies from The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur

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Get a Life!

The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life, that is.

I had the chance to hang out with Melisser and pick up her book (and Kelly Paloza's The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur) at their signing at Champs Family Bakery, a few weeks ago. Yup, NYC got another vegan bakery. I sampled a small fraction of what they had on offer and while I didn't LOVE everything, I really liked most things (hellooooo pumpkin cream cheese candied nut other crazy business crumb cake!), which is more than I can say for most places.

Check out VGGTL's 3-bean chili:

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The Home Stretch

We're in it. There are just two days left to VeganMoFo, so I'm going rogue! Yes, there will be no theme this week! I'm just going to post...stuff!

Today's stuff: pumpkin gingerbread cookies I made for Halloween:

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The Unphotographable

That's my lunch from Madras Mahal. It's delicious, but the photos came out so poorly I'm not even going to bother posting them. They're even terrible by my standards. Here's a picture of a guinea pig instead:

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Build a Better Bagel

If everything goes according to plan, this entry will post itself on Thursday. Happy Thanksgiving to the people who celebrate it! I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year and I have my blog posts set up in advance, so my Thanksgiving writeup will happen one day next week, probably to close out MoFo.

If I had a nickle for every time someone getting ready to visit or move to New York asked me where to get the best bagel, I'd have...at least a dollar. I spent most of my life confused by the idea of the "best" bagel because I grew up in Brooklyn, where (as far as I knew) all bagels were pretty much the same. And by "pretty much the same", I mean "the best thing in the world". In fact, I didn't even know bad bagels existed until I was in my 20s and working in midtown Manhattan. So instead of tips for finding the best bagel, here are a few ways to avoid shitty bagels:

• Don't buy them from street trucks.
• Don't buy them from (inter)national chains. This includes Starbucks, Tim Horton's and Dunkin Donuts. They may taste fine, but they're still not the same as a "real" New York bagel.
• Actually, to simplify, don't buy them any place that doesn't have the word "bagel" in the name. Or at least in big letters on a sign in the window. Or, failing that, carry at least eight different kinds and clearly does the bulk of its business in bagels.
•  Don't buy them if you're really far from NYC. Make your own, instead. It's not nearly as difficult as you'd think.

 This bagel breaks the first part of the third rule, since it's from Milk 'N Honey:

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These Boots are Made for...

...eating! We're continuing Midtown Manhattan week with pizza from Two Boots:

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So Much Food

I think I should point out that the meals you're seeing here aren't all that indicative of what I usually get for lunch. I almost never get dessert and I often get soup or a sandwich, but rarely both. I want to present a good sampling of what these places have to offer, though, so I'm splurging a bit (and sometimes finishing lunch for dinner).

Today's Midtown Manhattan lunch came from FreeFoods NYC.

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Lazy MoFo

That's me! The last week or two have kind of kicked my ass and I'm currently pet sitting, so even though I'll be cooking, I just don't have the patience to make sure it's all themed and photographed and blah blah blah. So this week's theme is Midtown Manhattan. It's considered one of New York's least vegan-friendly areas, but I'm going to prove you can eat lunch here for a whole week without going crazy. Photos will be taken at my desk, using my cameraphone, so don't expect anything spectacular. But to make up for that, there will also be pictures of the furballs I'm  hanging out with. Good deal?

OK, then. Let's start with Zen Palate.

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Three Strikes

And I'm out. I've tried to make this recipe three times and ruined it every time. The first two were totally due to my own carelessness, I realized it when it happened and I never even got to taste this stuff. The third time, I thought I finally had it, but as you'll see below the jump (the photo is so gross I can't bring myself to put it before), I still botched it.

Today's plant: Sea Moss
Used in: Sea Moss Punch from Caribbean Vegan

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This Post May Be a Lie

And if it is, I apologize. I have an open bag of wakame in my pantry but have no idea what I used it for. I made this soup so long ago that even though I remember how to make it (basically) and how it tasted, I don't remember what sea vegetable was in it (and don't currently have access to the recipe). Process of elimination: the wakame went in this soup. I may be wrong. It may be nori.

Today's plant: Wakame
Used in: Manhattan Glam Chowder from Appetite for Reduction

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Coo Coo for Cou Cou!

One of my closest friends lives in Barbados. I know very little about the Caribbean, so when we first met, she'd tell me all about their culture and (more importantly) food. She told me about her national dish, cou cou with flying fish, many times, but I just couldn't get a mental picture of it until I made it myself while testing for Caribbean Vegan. Please note this is one of the few recipes in the book that works better with special equipment: a cou cou stick. I got mine when I visited my friend in Barbados, but if you can't find one anywhere, you can also use a big wooden spoon.


Today's plant: Nori
Used in: Cou Cou and Tofish from Caribbean Vegan

 

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Kelp!

I need somebody!

Sorry, that was a terrible pun. I would say I'll try not to let it happen again, but if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that's a total lie. Anyway, it's still Sea Life Week over here, so let's move on:

Today's plant: Kelp
Used in: Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes from Vegan Brunch

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Welcome Back!

We meet again, MoFos. We're back with a new week and a new theme: Sea Life. Five days, five dishes, five sea plants for us to get to know a little better.

Today's plant: Hijiki
Used in: Hijiki Chickpea Salad Sandwich from Vegan with a Vengeance

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The End!

Good morning, my Field Roasts of doom.

I briefly dreamed of writing a cookbook the way I speak. There would be instructions like "Add wet ingredients to dry and knead the shit out of it for 3-5 minutes" and descriptions like "Makes one metric assload." We should all be thankful Warren Ellis beat me to it. Sort of. Mr. Ellis doesn't write cook books. He writes comics. And novels. And essays. And a webcomic. And Tweets. And a blog. And all sorts of entertaining and educational (depending on your definition of education) things. However, a recent edition of his novel, Crooked Little Vein, contained recipes, a playlist and an interview with Warren Ellis. I decided to use that as the inspiration for today's post.

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An Epic Post of Epic Epicness!

Hey there! It's time to check out one of my favorite comics and the best movie no one saw this summer: Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim!

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Just Chew It

Good day to you, MoFos! It's still Comic Book Week all up in here and today's post is a giant shout out to Rob Guillory and John Layman's CHEW. CHEW tells the story of Tony Chu, a guy I think it'd be best to just let the creators explain in their own words (and pictures):

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Open Letter to Bruce Banner

Dear Bruce:

May I call you Bruce? No? OK, then. Please calm down, sir.

Dear Mr. Banner:

It was recently brought to my attention (by my little brother) that you've gone vegan. Congratulations on making the compassionate choice! I'm sure you'll find the vegan lifestyle to be satisfying and fulfilling for both your ethics and your taste buds. However, he also pointed out the following incident, which occurred while you were living under the name Bixby:

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Sweet Tooth

Welcome back, MoFos. Did you have a nice weekend? Do anything fun? Eat anything interesting? I took a little walk. It was pretty awesome.

It's a new week, so I've got a new theme. This week's theme is comic books. Yup. I'm going to write five posts about food inspired by comic books and it's going to be just as nerdy as you expect it to be. Oh yes. Let's kick things off with Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth.

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Picatta!

One of the (many) good things about living in New York is that when it comes to vegan food options, you're pretty much spoiled for choice. No matter what kind of food you want, we have it. And we usually have more than one option for it. And no two people will ever agree on which option is the best. Every place is someone's favorite. Fine dining is no exception. Some people prefer Pure Food and Wine, some Blossom and others Candle 79. One thing almost every can agree on, though, is that the best thing to get at Candle 79 is the seitan picatta (but if you're there for brunch, get the tofu scramble. Seriously). So eating picatta always makes me feel fancy. Even when I make it myself, it looks like this and I'm eating it in my pajamas:

(how did I never notice how ugly this bowl is?)

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The Meal So Nice...

... I ate it twice!

OK, that's not really such a big deal. I eat a lot of the same thing over and over again because most recipes serve at least four and I usually cook for one, but I liked the rhyme. Recently, dinner was chickpea cutlets with mashed potatoes, gravy and steamed broccoli. The next day, I rolled it all up and took it for lunch as a wrap. It tasted far better than it looked!

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Meat and Potatoes

Oh hi! You're here! It's still Chickpea Week, so I think it's time to break out the recipe that had everyone going crazy back when Veganomicon came out: chickpea cutlets.

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Day Two

Yes, I am pleased to report I've made it all the way to the second day of VeganMoFo! Woooo!

Ahem. Anyway. It's still Chickpea Week and today we will discuss one of my favorite comfort food recipes: Chickpea Broccoli Casserole from Vegan With a Vengeance.

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Greetings and Salutations!

Welcome to week one of VeganMoFo! As promised, this week is Chickpea Week on this here blog, where we will explore a legume so versatile it's popularly known by at least three different names. They're such great multitaskers, I think calling garbanzo beans tiny little delicious miracles is only a very slight exaggeration. Let's start with what I think is the ceci bean's most popular use (if not, it's definitely in the top three): hummus! When I'm not just eating it on everything I can fit in my mouth, my favorite hummus use is in a wrap.

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Yo Yo MoFo!

It's VeganMoFo time again! Yes, starting Monday, a whole slew of bloggers (check out the ever-growing blog roll* here) will be writing about all things vegan for the entire month of November.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." So, naturally, I signed up for VeganMoFo (again), had all sorts of ideas for awesome themes (again), thought about trying to do some kind of giveaway (again) and was totally ready to make this the BEST MOFO EVER (again)....and didn't do any of that. So my contribution to VeganMoFo will be less than impressive. Expect a lot of talk about chickpeas. And seitan. And chickpea seitan. And really bad photos of chickpea seitan. There will also probably be a fair amount of poorly decorated baked goods.

Aside from that, enjoy the month, everyone. There are a lot of really awesome people participating and I can't wait to steal their recipes to impress my friends and family.


* Unrelated: I hate the phrase "blog roll". Sounds like what they call bathroom tissue in the UK.**

** And THAT is the kind of wisdom you can expect out of me for the next month. You're welcome.

Its Here!

Caribbean Vegan is here! And it's GORGEOUS!

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Sea Shepherd Sunday Sale Success

So Sunday saw Sea Shepherd New York's vegan bake sale in Montclair, NJ, where we raised nearly $2,700 for Sea Shepherd. We were hosted by the lovely Go Lightly Eco-Store, and received generous (and delicious!) donations from The Cinnamon Snail, Rutherford Pancake House and RAWbundant in addition to all our lovely homemade baked goods. I contributed some roasted garlic biscuits (my own recipe) and sea life themed gingerbread cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. The biscuits didn't look like much of anything, but here are some process shots of the cookies:

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Farm Sanctuary's Walk for Farm Animals

It's time for Farm Sanctuary's Walk for Farm Animals, an annual event that helps spread the word about the treatment of animals on factory farms and raises vital funds for their rescue, education and advocacy work.

To find a walk near you and participate, click over here.

To sponsor me in the NYC walk, click here.

Also, since it worked so well last time I did one of these things, I will bake for anyone who sponsors me or walks in NYC on October 24. Farm Sanctuary does amazing work, so please support them, if you can.  Do it for dudes like Herbie (left):

Photo taken at for the Animals sanctuary in Blairstown, NJ.