July 16, 2021
Vegan Victuals Best of the Boroughs awardee Brooklyn Firefly‘s calzone is just pure perfection. It was a must for my friend to sample as we vegged out in my Bay Ridge apartment. With housemade sausage and two housemade cheeses stuffed inside, there is no denying this is a special eat… Read more…
With a friend in town, it is busy times in Brooklyn and Queens, starting with a mermaid shoot at Jacob Riis in the Rockaways. Of course we had to jump in the water with record-high heat! Before and after the Atlantic ocean… Brekkie at Le Petit Monstre.. despite everything looking Read more…
July 15, 2021
A brief stop back home, I dove into my favorite activities… cooking and baking. I miss my kitchen when I’m away, like I miss my bed. And with a house guest on her way, it would be a “welcome” batch of chocolate chip cookies. But first, tofu going for a Read more…
July 13, 2021
Happened to see these fields as I head to Middletown for some food, so I stopped in to trespass in the sunflower fields. This was a field out front for you to pick your own… No one was around, but me and the sunflowers… until the farmer on the tractor Read more…
July 12, 2021
Finding a meal that satisfies so fully while on the road is part of why I love to travel! And Col’s Kitchen in Concord, New Hampshire most certainly fits the bill. Bright, friendly and with a fantastic all-vegan menu, it was a welcome respite from yet another day of driving. Read more…
These train cars are the main draw for this Vermont/New Hampshire trip, originally planned for February but cancelled due to snow. At the time I created a loose itinerary around finding them, I scoured the world wide web for their exact location to no avail–though now I found it within Read more…
One thing to take note of when driving on the backroads of Vermont while using Google Maps GPS… they don’t really care if they put you on a steep dirt road winding into the mountains like the long driveway of some geezer living off the grid barely. That is how Read more…
It was pure joy to stumble upon Valley Vegan in Conway, New Hampshire while staying nearby. The all-vegan shop and bakery offered me (and others!) all I could need for sustenance. Fully stocked case made it difficult to decide… If I had a kitchenette in my room, I’d get some Read more…
July 11, 2021
In the back of my mind during a recent road trip was the fact that it was time for the New Moon. Since shooting the Milky Way is often less fruitful in the East, I didn’t make any plans around astrophotography. But as the sky darkened and that familiar cluster Read more…
Based on my experience, sanatoriums–hospitals that treat patients with Tuberculosis which was once thought to be cured with fresh air and sunlight–carry a lighter psychic energy than the ruins of sanitariums, typically to care for the mentally ill. I’m not challenging google search results that ultimately claim both to be Read more…
July 10, 2021
Lowell Lake State Park is Vermont perfection. It opened as a recreational area in 1880 and I am pretty sure not much has changed since that time. The cabins that once sheltered visitors during this time remain in the park shuttered (mostly), dotting the beautiful lakeside property with just the Read more…
Was passing this place, previously called Moon Wink Hotel, on the way to Vermont and had to pull in. It’s in sorry shape, with a tremendous amount of mold festering within. But I still day dreamed of owning it and decorating it. I have those fantasies a lot. I do Read more…
The Hollow Bar & Kitchen serves up some seitan wings, along with other vegan options, at their happening space in downtown Albany, NY. So I had to partake after a day of driving. The seitan comes from Halo Vegan Food Company, a wholesale supplier of vegan “meats.” Though they do Read more…
July 9, 2021
This place has been on my list to eat for years! I finally made my way to Caribreeze as I headed upstate recently and quickly became a member of the clean plate club. I ordered from the all-vegan Jamaican joint via Grubhub as I was on the road and could Read more…
Staying close by in Albany, I took a quick trip in Albany Rural Cemetery because my previous visit was snow-blanketed. And I am pretty nostalgic for cemetery visiting. But soon the Fall will give way to the cold and it’ll be cemetery season once again. Here are the ladies of Read more…
July 8, 2021
Now that my good friend is living on the North Fork of Long Island, I get to hit up the seasonal farms in her area… berries, pumpkins, and my most favorite field, a field of sunflowers. I try to deconstruct why I love them so… maybe because they seem like Read more…
Ice Cream Social was created by a James Beard-awarded chef. So they’re all homemade with attention to flavor detail. And they’ve got an impressive list of vegan flavors on rotation. There were only two options for vegans when I visited, though he would be making a slew more, the countergal Read more…
July 6, 2021
The last day of the desert adventure… before I would spend hours in the air waiting for New York City storms to clear the atmosphere before landing in Buffalo to refuel and finally seeing my bed in Brooklyn at 2:00 am as opposed to 8:00 pm as originally scheduled. It Read more…
July 5, 2021
Fremont Street is where the Old strip used to be, where vintage neon harkens back to less grandiose times. Of course this was always my favorite part of Vegas to visit. But now The Fremont Experience embodies a whole different time of vibe… dot dot dot Let’s just say it Read more…
A reigning Favorite Thing, I go nuts for tiki bars. Vintage decor, kitsch, seediness, decorative and impactful cocktails,,, and in the case of the legendary Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas–gambling, smoking, and lots of couples making out. Ah, a fantastic energy that is so nostalgic to me.
July 4, 2021
I really wanted to do this cosplay-astro shoot, a genre I may have invented as I have never seen other pictures fitting it… though admittedly I haven’t looked very hard. I wanted to battle my friend, galactic style. And so a portion of my suitcase contained the costume for this Read more…
According to the handy digital thermometer at the visitor center at Death Valley National Park, the day would reach a high of 117 degrees F. Though during my previous visit to the park in 2017 the temperature maxed out at 124, tonight’s night time low–which I didn’t stay for previously–would Read more…
You would think that a waterpark in the Mojave Desert might have staying power–and it did from 1962 to 2002. During that time the renditions of the space, named Lake Dolores (after the manmade lake named after the owner’s wife), Rock–A–Hoola Waterpark (a version of the waterpark that blared Oldies from Read more…
July 3, 2021
As usual, I have to eat a lot in LA. This time I tried to put a dent in the tons of vegan fried chicken places I have been drooling over from afar. Starting with Uncool Burgers… on my list because I thought I could get an Atlas Monroe chicken Read more…
July 2, 2021
After a few nights roughing it, a self-care day in San Diego. It started with Split Bakehouse, an all-vegan bakery I was really looking forward to. It’s inside a food court in a mall, but the food court has a bunch of dediacted vegan eateries. That is vegan friendly! Take Read more…
In El Cajon, California is the remains of Marshal Scotty’s Playland Park. The amusement park opened in 1967 and enjoyed success until the 90’s. Since the owner was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1990 parts of the property has been used as a day camp, a go-cart raceway, and, Read more…