Currently viewing the tag: "New York City"
I first noticed Dun-Well‘s doughnuts popping up at Bone Shakers in my neighborhood in Brooklyn quite some time ago. Since the dapper vegan doughnut duo have raised their fundraising goal on Indiegogo & opened their very own space on Montrose avenue in East Williamsburg. It took me several weeks to check the place out even though I’ve since learned it’s about a 15-minute walk from my apartment.
With an early start and high hopes for fresh vegan doughnuts that can do the East coast proud, I was finally outside their door. With the West coast trumping big time (the almighty Mighty O in Seattle, the quirky vegan selection at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland & Eugene, the famous Ronald’s Donuts in Las Vegas and San Fran’s Peoples Donuts, etc), doughnuts just seemed to be an aside for the big east bakers. The doughnut ain’t no cupcake, ain’t no cookie. It’s a damn doughnut.
And here they are. Rows and rows of doughnuts, dressed to kill. Yeasty raised puffed pillows of yum. Deep fried wonders drenched in a shiny sugar dress. I want to bite you. But first, I want to look at you… Ok. Special thanks to the Dun-Well man for letting us behind the counter to take a shot. It was decision time.
I chose the banana-walnut yeast-raised baby, dripped and drizzled in vanilla and chocolate glaze. It was a fantastic doughnut. New York City gets a bit more vegan credibility and I have a new neighborhood option in which to devour all that which my taste buds desire. Next time I will have to try a fried one. Or two.
I am so excited Dun-Well is here and wish them success. With this level of quality, maybe NYC can be a contender in vegan eats. C’mon New York!
Hunkered down within the Hurricane Irene pandemonium, the exuberance of local weatherpeople becomes kind of numbing. I am just going to talk about peanut butter for a little bit because Irene catch phrases are starting to bother me. With a jar of Peanut Butter & Co.‘s White Chocolate Wonderful purchased as a high-end emergency edible, I knew I had to make a batch of cookies. Inspired by this recipe, I cut the sugar since my peanut butter was sweetened with cane juice already and used 2 TB of arrowroot for a binder. Let’s look.
With my good camer a stowed in Brooklyn, I used my old point-n-shoot that has like 5 mega-pixels. Considering, I think I got some nice shots of these buttery and delicate cookies.
I tend to be turned off by a peanut butter cookie… thick, dense… and I wished I had some chocolate to add, but these were damn good.
Lest I forget I am under mandatory evacuation, New Jersey governor Chris Christie and New York City Mayor Bloomberg reminded me often.
I don’t find myself above 14th street on the east side very often. Besides the senior I visit, there is no reason to be. I also dislike the 4/5/6 train. I dislike the screech of it entering stations; I dislike its path… how it’s always at an arctic temperature of -12 degrees. I try to avoid it, even taking snail-like crosstown buses to reach more plentiful and comfortable subway lines. But on a gorgeous summer day I decided I’d try the East River Ferry. From the midtown terminal at the FDR, I hopped on a ferry at 4:29 and arrived awed and sufficiently windblown in North Williamsburg at 4:45. That’s right: 15 minutes from midtown east in Manhattan to my home across the East River. I found my new favorite way of getting around New York City.
The views were magnificent. Spy the U.N. building and the Queensboro Bridge (which is apparently now the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, named after the Mayor of New York City during the entirety of my childhood). There were only about 7 or 8 passengers who made the voyage across the river with me after I stepped off the free NY Waterways bus–a couple of savvy commuters, a family, some tourists, some hipsters.
The northbound East River Ferry first stops in Long Island City, where those high-rises are peeking out. It’s such a quick ride. No reason to head to the hot and sticky tunnels with the masses when you can travel by boat. Given the development of the waterfront areas in in Queens and Brooklyn, it won’t be long before all those fresh-faced high-risers get their Applebee’s and Olive Gardens just like back home. So jump on the boat before it’s too late!
I love being near the water, on the water and in the water. I could never live inland. People say you’re either Beatles or Elvis, crunchy peanut butter or creamy, but you’re also either pool or beach. Natural water, unpredictable, enveloping, furious, infused with life… or concrete and chemicals. Easy choice.
Good bye, East Side. I’m heading across the river.
My Empire state.
The Williamsburg Bridge.
Second stop is Greenpoint. Notice the crane there too. Uh-oh.
My vessels drops me to an unfamiliar part of Brooklyn: the Williamsburg waterfront. The ferry continues to South Williamsburg, then D.U.M.B.O. and ont Wall Street, back in Manhattan. The Friday Loop, however, continues to Brooklyn’s lower harbor in the gorgeous Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Look at it! It’s unrecognizable. Insert token story of how different the Williamsburg used to be in 1993 or 1994 when speaker used to cut school to thrift shop at Domesy’s.
Ah New York, I feel like this post is all over the place. What started as an excited report of the ferry grew rant-like. I’m enthused still with you, still, but worried too. You see New York, I’m getting more resistant to change–because like the rest of the world–your change is for quicker, simpler, trashier and profit-tier. Those shiny, new highrises look awkward on you. You’re old, rooted in rebellion, strife, seediness, an energy unmatched. Now, not so much. It used to be that you could avoid Times Square and, in essence, avoid homogeneity and its take-over. But it’s creeped in. And it is wearing neon green Ray-Bans.
Remember, faithful reader, my obsession with Kow Dom Mat, the local dessert I lived off of for two months in Thailand? Save for Sookk on Manhattan’s West Side, I have basked in memories of the street delicacy since then. Surface perusal of Asian bakeries in and about New York’s Chinatown were fruitless and, well, geared towards Chinese confections. But there was one lead I hadn’t pursued in my quest–a website bookmarked in subfolder “To Go & Eat”: Bangkok Center Grocery–a website that had been past on by a roommate-hopeful in my last search over a year ago. I was full of optimism as I set out for Canal Street in the sweltering heat.
Bangkok Center Grocery is located on Mosco street, a narrow little curve connecting Mott and Mulberry streets. Inside I was met with part confused-part amused glances from patrons and store employees, just like it had been in my Thailand travels. Unfazed, I was immediately mesmerized y the hum of the refrigerators. I knew I was onto something. I saw right away the bright, gelatinous confections I had once loved in Thailand! {See here and here and here} I think I started talking to myself and my nose was certainly on the glass when a young Thai women walked towards me, delighted in my delight. I conjured up my best Thai to ask for my beloved Kow Dom Mat. With an immediate spark of understanding, she hurried me to the freezer where there lay Kow Dom Mat–in banana and in tarot. I immediately began babbling on about how I loved them.
Here they are. Four big, frozen Kow Dom Mats or “Frozen Banana Dumpling”, exported by Sethachon or “Food Hut” and distributed in the states by the Maryland-based Eastland Food Corporation. For four big ones, I paid $4.00, far better than Sookk’s $6.00 for one.
Two babies wrapped up tight in banana leaf pose for a picture for a minute in the microwave.
The glistening coconut milk creeps from the folds of banana leaf as my first sits waiting on a doily. I broke out the fancy plate for this occasion.
Unwrapped. Remember the steamed banana turns pink… and those little black beans add some texture. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into the sweetened coconut milk infused sticky rice.
Exactly how I remember it. Taste sure holds onto memories.
Perfect. Now I have a place to satisfy my Kow Dom Mat needs.
Along with the Kow Dom Mat, I just had to pick up some other sweet treats. These simple, sugar-laden Thai desserts use minimal ingredients and are all about the coconut. The green Kanom Chan is made of the highly-glutinous Chan flour (tapioca starch and sweet potato flour), coconut cream and sugar. These beauties are locally made in the Bronx by “O Thai Dessert”. $3
These are almost exact replicas of ones I ate in Sukhothai.
I also picked up “Cassava Dessert” made from cassava (tapioca), shredded coconut and sugar. These I bought because they reminded me of the coconut dreams pictured here my host Urai whipped up for me when I stayed in Bangsai. Here is Urai with some of the kids I met while I was there, from some Canadian guy’s Flickr photostream.
What a wonderful discovery! I will be returning to Bangkok Center Grocery real soon. And someday, back to Thailand to attend their Vegetarian Food Festival… but until then…
When the Bouncing Souls announced they’d be playing discography shows in New York, I was a bit giddy. The years surrounding The Good, the Bad and the Argyle and Maniacal Laughter marks the period in my life where every morsel of discretionary income when to buying and seeing music. And the Bouncing Souls were one of my favorite bands of that epoch. Though I never heard their music after these albums, they had already been cemented as a band that summated my youth and my emerging values: Antiestablishment but with a tongue in cheek. 
From the archives of 1997: Check out the price (and service charge) of the ticket. And my hair growing in from when I shaved it off.
Now, more than a decade later, it was time to revisit these two albums with a friend who was there with me back then. Since, we’ve branched off into two separate universes. But for the night, we were back–sharing glances of excited recognition as we heard the first notes of the songs that meant so much; songs that had shaped; songs that had offered a kindred, a momentary escape from an alienated youth. 
1999 with Josh, on one of the many photoshoots on my purple carpet.
Shows are hard in your 30′s. Especially with so many overgrown man-children “moshing” near the stage. I couldn’t see much of it, just fleeting glimpses of still-dreamy Greg Attonito who thankfully perked up in-between the two albums. The set was only about an hour, as both albums consisted of punk-short 2 minute wonders. Catching New Shirt/Heather Lewis from Weston‘s Got Beat Up was a nice start to the show but uptight, rampant security made it difficult to forget where you were, how old you are and how differently things were “back then”.
At shows now…there’s always a part of me that wants to be home, listening to the songs in comfort. Like Frankie and his Califone headphones.
But I made it through the show, thankful to the proximity of the venue to the L train. With a fished out Metrocard ready as I descended the stairs, I thought of how much has changed. And how much was the same.
An aside: Leadsinger Greg Attonito and his wife wrote a children’s book.
Pine Box Rock Shop, a vegan-owned and operated bar in Brooklyn, hosted a special Cinco de Mayo feast, courtesy of Yummy Eats [a pop-up restaurant] and Verily Baked Goods [an impressive baker that does both omni and vegan treats]. Here was the impressive pre-fixe:
Having the choice of two appetizers, I selected the black bean and mango salad in a delish tortilla bowl, as well as guacamole and chips. They also were offering fresh salsa and chips; mushroom ceviche; a kiwi, cucumber & jalapeno cup or a sexy green salad. These fresh, flavorful bites were paired with a sweet blanco sangria filled with yummy berries.
Entree was a smoky veggie chili in a whole wheat bread bowl. It had a lot of heat and I wished I had ordered it atop lime rice rather than in the bowl, which was quite dense.
Yum. Verily’s delicious avocado cupcake. This was spectacular–a moist muted chocolate cupcake with a perfectly textured and sweet-pitched frosting. The frosting tasted a tinge bit like how Play-doh smells but it worked! It was such an interesting flavor. I hope to try more of Verily’s goods, especially after perusing their Flickr album for their other goodies, most which are very un-vegan.
CandyPenny, ArtSparrow and VeganVictuals–and cupcakes.
1/1/11
#1: Volunteering.
Now that I have successfully decompressed from years of working and going to school in the evening, I have time to kill, time that often is wasted after work staring at various glowing screens. To make better use of this pool of minutes in 2011 I will incorporate a weekly volunteer position. I will be a “friendly visitor” for a homebound senior in New York City, thanks to Visiting Neighbors NY. This is thing #1.
Update: Shirley, my senior match, and I have settled on bi-weekly visits. I’m still hoping someone will get in touch about her cat Cindy, who is in need of a home.
1/8/11
#2: Reading.
I have a hard time reading. During the long span of college and graduate school, leisure reading was impossible. I read journals and research papers, technical writing; I read looong boring books about reading and craft-less writing about writing. It’s no wonder whatever morsel of free time was spent stimulating other senses. I was rebelling from what bound me, draining my energy and time. Now that I am decompressed, I am going to read again, open myself again to the world of books, my thing #2.
Update: My 2011 Completed Book List: The Tender Bar by JR Moehringer, Demian by Hermann Hesse, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by by Stephen Chbosky [current].
1/15/11
#3: Giving.
I am the Universal Donor. This sounds like some kind of WWF wrestler but no, I am talking about blood type. 39,000 units of blood are needed everyday in America, blood for individuals undergoing cancer, surgery, transplants, as well as accident victims and those with blood disorders. In 2011 I will try to give every 10 weeks. This, along with my being a registered eye, tissue and organ donor, is thing #3. Update: I’m still waiting for my first appointment at the Blood Bank.
1/22/11
#4: Crafting.
It’s official! I am running a weekly after-school crafting class! I will be spending 12 weeks with a group of precocious young ladies, making owls, cross-stitching and decoupaging. I am very excited to see what the young ladies can do during our time together, but I am also very excited to know that I will have set time to work on my own crafts. After a shopping spree at Michaels, I am set to go. Update: Craft program continues and I love it.
1/29/11
#5: Exercising.
As I embark upon my thirties, it is very important I set good exercise habits, especially given my predisposition for a sedentary lifestyle. In 2011 I will make sure I commit to regular intervals of movement, exert some control over the condition of my muscles-a preemptive action to ensure years of adult living ahead. Sure, 30 is the new 20… and my eating habits are a strong deterrent against illness and weight gain. But I still need to strengthen the levers and pulleys inside. 2011′s standard will be a minimum of 3 classes at NYHRC per week.
2/5/11
#6: Shopping.
I’ve been tolerating two left-foot slippers too long. Tattered free totes hold my goods. Ill-fitting unflattering garments fill my closet. As a teenager, I equated shopping with a gender-stereotype–materialism–and rebelled against it by wearing second-hand clothes dug up at thrift stores. I was a ragga-muffin. Fortunate for me, I suppose, such a look was “chic” and I wasn’t wholly ostracized. Flash forward to now, I realize that the extreme views of my youth have left me with too high a tolerance for crappyness. In 2011 I will shop, not as a hobby, but to build a closet and a home of quality, efficience, durability. I will accept the lifespan of my things… and donate them when they fail my needs. Update: I have expanded my wardrobe quite a bit already.
2/12/11
#7: Flossing.
This is hardly the forum for this, but my teeth are terrible. My wonderful dentist does his best to blame genetics for unfortunately weak enamel but I know the truth. I neglected my teeth in my youth. I have more then paid my dues for this financially and in minutes, hours under the harsh roving light of the dentist’s office, diagonally sloped in its chair contraption. So I am not one to bask in denial; I take responsibility, which helps me to actively participate in a solution. Enter my new friend, WaterPik FLW, a battery-operated flosser. Flossing may be one of your daily rituals, but it was certainly not mine. Declaring it Thing #7 will help. Update: I dig the flosser a lot.
2/19/11
#8: Growing my hair.
I haven’t had long hair since I was a little girl. I spent most of my young adult days fluctuating between chopped “pixie” do’s and bangs & bobs. Now it’s an uneven mess of mismatched layers and chunky in-betweens. It gets to shoulder-length and I get the chop fever. Life with my short hair was easier… I didn’t need to do much for it to look fine in my eye: wake up, shake my fingers through it- done. With longer hair I am faced with the reality that I’m not so skilled at primping/toiling in front of a mirror. I’ve always been a bit low maintenance (strictly in the exterior sense). Like my clothes, it never really mattered. But now: growing my hair aligns with my accepting that I am no spring chicken… and I’m going to put in some effort into my upkeep. So while dealing with your hair may be not be cause for declarations, it is my thing #8. Update: So my Chris at Mousy Brown is gone! I made an appointment with Kristi at High Horse for this week.
2/26/11
#9: Teaching.
After being granted my professional certification as an elementary educator, I need to begin to collect artifacts and tangibles to be granted tenure. With new tenure requirements set by the Department of Education in New York City, I need to revamp my portfolio, not touched since I was job hunting, with evidence of my effectiveness as an educator. Thing #9 is building this portfolio. With course offerings from my union, leads from my administration and many teaching periodicals, I plan to take at least 1 professional development course per month. And maybe consider a second masters… a little further down the road. In Math. I love math.
My buddy and I woke up to the chime of my phone. 10 minutes before I received the NYC Alert text, The Electrician delivered the sweet, sweet news of the snow day. I texted the other 5th grade teachers and went back to bed, lulled by the exclamations of the ambitious shovelers outside and the spinning wheels of snow-trapped vehicles. Too soon I woke with a caffeine withdrawal headache and needed to trudge the fresh snow to Lula Bean for a large black.
The snow enveloped cars in white mountains, trimmed winter sticklings like a lush coat and brightened up the mismatched colors of apartment buildings down my street. With my pajama pants tucked into my huge 80′s-style Hoth moon boots, I enjoyed my walk in the snow. The day was brimming with opportunity and I was hoping not to squander it. Coffee will help.
My first endeavor, nutty wheat bread. It’s been a while since I last made bread. I was discouraged by uneven slices, impatient about letting it cool thoroughly after a 4-hour session in the bread maker and plagued by too much bread left over. But these are easy fixes! I reduced Nutty wheat above to a 1.5lb loaf, subbing curdled soy milk for buttermilk and some Earth Balance for the butter, and got a reasonably sized loaf. I added in some mixed fancy nuts I’ve been meaning to get the heck out of my pantry. Pantry turnover, as well as lunch for all of next week, was my mission.
Having a capital-S Slew of fresh dill in my possession, I made a vegan dill mayo with some sprigs and the remainder of my Vegenaise. This will top my lentil burgers. I am happy to announce that the green lentils have left the pantry. What a relief! They were bothering me in there. I am neurotic, yes.
I also made a simple wheat berry salad as an accompaniment to my lentil burgers. Just some wheat berries, raisins and some splashes of olive oil, fig balsamic vinegar and some red wine vinegar. To the right, the cooling lentils for my patties. Did I tell you that making this patties also killed the rest of the bread crumbs in my pantry? Booyah! Anyway, the patties were quite easy: lentils, onion, carrot and some spice and heat. I also added corn for color.
…how wonderful life is while you’re in the world.
The List of Love, 2010 version.
1) letterpress printmaking
2) brunch
3) 10-year olds
4) capable men
5) gnocchi
6) Intervention
7) uplifting guerrilla art
8) Bodo Riemer
9) bench seats
10) Cake Wrecks
11) old New York
12) old Brooklyn
13) old everything
14) Orson Welles
15) cats on glass tables
16) baby feet / cat paws
17) Missed Connections drawings
18) Seitan Piccata at Candle 79
19) everything bagels
20) free fonts
21) fffound
22) 
23) Antiques Roadshow
24) Perpetual kid
25) Bodie Broadus
As the Industrial Revolution took hold of the nation, the average American in the late 1800s worked 12-hour days, seven days a week in order to make a basic living. Children were also working, as they provided cheap labor to employers and laws against child labor were not strongly enforced.
With the long hours and terrible working conditions, American unions became more prominent and voiced their demands for a better way of life. On Tuesday September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers marched from city hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first-ever Labor Day parade. Participants took an upaid day-off to honor the workers of America, as well as vocalize issues they had with employers. As years passed, more states began to hold these parades, but Congress would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later.
On May 11, 1894, workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago struck to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. They sought support from their union led by Eugene V. Debs and on June 26 the American Railroad Union called a boycott of all Pullman railway cars. Within days, 50,000 rail workers complied and railroad traffic out of Chicago came to a halt. On July 4, President Grover Cleveland dispatched troops to Chicago. Much rioting and bloodshed ensued, but the government’s actions broke the strike and the boycott soon collapsed. Debs and three other union officials were jailed for disobeying the injunction. The strike brought worker’s rights to the public eye and Congress declared, in 1894, that the first Monday in September would be the holiday for workers, known as Labor Day.
(source)
An Updated How-to Celebrate Labor Day list:
- For inspiration, read chapter 13-15 of Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States aloud with a friend.
- Watch Matewan. Giggle at Will Oldham.
- Sing Joe Hill‘s labor songs (And you thought Bikini Kill wrote “Rebel Girl”.)
- Make a boycott list on manufacturers who use sweatshop and child labor: check here and here and here for starts.
- Support the Fair Trade label
- Pete. Seeger.
- Grab a Union Jack or Maid and enjoy the weekend. Weekends exist because of them.
The Almanac Singers, 1941: Woody Guthrie, Lee Hays, Millard Lampell, Pete Seeger
Cobble Hill, Brooklyn’s renowned Alma Restaurant earned a recommendation in the prestigious Michelin Guide in 2009. Why a tire company sets the standard for exceptional dining has always perplexed me but why Alma received a coveted mention does not. The view, service and cocktails would stun any hungry patron, yes. But it was the Veggie Tacos al Pastor and only the Veggie Tacos al Pastor that prompted our visit. This celebrated vegan-option of marinated skewers of seitan, pineapple, peppers, and onions grilled and served with a fresh piles of chopped cilantro and red cabbage and fresh corn tortillas was not always on the menu, reports CandyPenny, who has lived blocks from Alma for many years. The dish was brought to my attention a few months back by the Electrician who had just learned vegan vocab staple “seitan” and it’s sat on my radar since.
With Brooklyn’s colorful shipping yards in the foreground and Manhattan’s east side the background, Alma’s rooftop lives up to the hype. Being famished, we ate several baskets of complimentary chips and salsa while sipping our adult beverages. At this altitude the pineapple-vanilla cocktail and apricot margarita calm our sun-drenched heads to the sway of the hazy heat of the city. Add the esoteric and tangential chat of a party whose years of friendship have reached the feisty teenage years, and you got a wonderful afternoon, all conditions defining why I love Brooklyn and why I love New York City. 
Onward to the food! Alma’s modern twist on Mexican presented a delicious dish of grilled tender seitan, chunks of juicy pineapple and flavorful onion and red pepper with several fresh corn tortillas to make a few sublime tacos. The feast had the F-word all over it: FRESH. (This is likely the most common craving I have… fresh food, though foodie companion CandyPenny and I can stretch this conversation out through loops and circles, descriptives in a dedicated journey to pinpointing and articulating the nuanced and fickle whim of our frequent food cravings.) The dish was just what I needed and enough to have me shut up about being hungry for at least a good hour. 
Alma is high-end dining so the Veggie Tacos al Pastor had a hearty price tage of $17. I mention this because to many a dish’s value, or lack thereof, has direct consequence on the dining experience. I, on the other hand, splurge not on designer jeans or regular beauty treatments but treat myself often to flavorful, nutrient-dense and texturally satisfying food. I don’t eat cheap because eating is one of the most important decisions of one’s life, though many do not treat it this way. How others disrespect this intimate action and ingest without with care and selection baffles me. [Awkward pause.] Was it me that posted something about Nathan’s onion rings the other day? No, no. That was someone else.
Vegan Reporting By Location
