March 13, 2016
A long time ago, when the Earth was green, I swam with the manatees in Florida’s Crystal River, where hundreds of manatees flock to in the winter months when the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are not as warm. It was time to see the manatees again, though the Read more…
December 30, 2015
Match #1 of the V.V. Burger Showdown Semi-Finals: I Must Break You(r Brand Marketing). Pickle Shack vs. Bareburger We are now in the Semi-Finals of the V.V. New York City Burger Showdown! Sixteen burgers in, I have tasted some amazing burgers. But with new burger options already in waiting for another match-up, this field is ever-evolving. Read more…
December 17, 2015
Match #8 of the V.V. Burger Showdown: The Battle of Charmed Timing. Cafe Ghia vs. Cinnamon Snail Gentrification surrounding the L-train stops has been happening for decades. 20 years ago, as a straggly teenager who frequented the original Domesy’s Warehouse on Kent, I walked through Williamsburg’s then shady streets to pay for my Read more…
October 24, 2015
It annoys me how NYC food culture vultures and foodie scenesters so often snub vegan food… especially when they really have no experience with it. Well, wait. That’s not necessarily true. They have no experience with it as cuisine genre. Those who think that “vegan” is a curse word, well Read more…
July 27, 2015
The music used to be your own. Some songs you listened to on your record player. And you noticed the unique speed of your turntable when hearing it for the first time on another’s. Mine was just slightly faster. And the vinyl’s unique scuffs made it even more yours. You Read more…
February 1, 2015
Taking the LIRR’s Babylon line towards Atlantic Terminal on a weekday morning and you may end up in one of the train cars that platform at Boland’s Landing, an employees-only station for the men of the Morris Park maintenance facility in Queens. The cars who make this stop are filled Read more…
January 4, 2015
I’m thinking of the piano chords to Morning Has Broken by Cat Stevens. They’re kind of thundering, like a definitive decision, like a confident first step of something. I love how that song makes me feel. What is so delightful about music is that you get to pick and choose the emotion you Read more…
August 10, 2014
Where New Jersey meets Pennsylvania, the Delaware river also meets the Appalachian mountains. The result: the Delaware Water Gap, a recreational area that draws nature enthusiasts, hikers of the Appalachian Trail… and a couple of gals hoping for an inspired vegan food option. In the little town that boasts the Delaware Water Read more…
August 27, 2013
Vegan food is just like “regular” food. You put it in your mouth, chew it, then swallow. And just like “regular” food, it can be made of junk or it can be made of quality. Vegan foods are not exempt from the simple truth that the more pure and unprocessed Read more…
June 30, 2013
Growing up on Long Island, Chinese food was an early source of vegan sustenance for me. On this massive suburb benefitting from New York City’s proximity, you can get good bagels, good pizza, and good Chinese food. Three staples you learn, with time, that the rest of the country doesn’t do Read more…
October 28, 2012
Happy 16th Vegan Birthday to me at Catskill Animal Sanctuary. I’ve been vegan so long. And while every year my passion for vegan food (and vegan food reporting) grows stronger, my reason for going and remaining vegan have nothing to do with food at all. It’s about animals. It was Read more…
August 19, 2012
I enjoy flipping through an old magazine looking at their advertisements. From my teenage years I was fascinated with exploring subliminal advertising in old liquor ads. I remember clearly seeing the “S E X” spelled out in a pile of ice cubes, the women–open-mouthed–holding many-a phallic object, and the far-fetched, Read more…
August 17, 2012
Getting into the swing of my cleanse, I spent Day 3 embracing it. I set the hammock up in the backyard to peruse the newspaper and then headed to the nail salon for a low-cost massage. My achey neck and shoulders certainly needed it. After juice #4, I began to Read more…
August 16, 2012
My trip to the west coast was a gluttonous one. At some point during the trip, I realized a juice fast would be the only thing that could restore balance to my body after the West Coast Eating Extravaganza. I ordered a 3-day supply of HOHM juice from American Yogini, Read more…
July 21, 2012
One of the most important ingredients in a great chocolate chip cookie is salt. Sure, many know that real vanilla extract blows the artificial stuff out of the water, that a high quality oils, sweeteners, chocolate make for a better end product, yes. But many don’t give much thought to Read more…
July 3, 2012
I’ve been called a snob many times in my life. But I’ll get back to that. As a budding adult, in weird‘s last true gasp, I found transitional identities that touched each of my developing ideals. Being straightedge was more than a penchant for guys with shaved heads, it was Read more…
June 28, 2012
I have long been fascinated by men. Sure, as a woman, aren’t we all? They’re are from Mars, right? A whole other type of human being. Biologically speaking, of course we know there are those different parts but it’s more than that. The Y chromosome has its function. Make a Read more…
August 9, 2011
Like its name implies, Long Island is looong. Heading east from my starting point in Freeport, it’s almost 100 miles to Montauk Point (a.k.a. The End). With a year-round Hamptons local as my guide, I spent the day on this long stretch of road, searching for vegan eats but finding Read more…
July 30, 2011
Living in the shiny apple of the Tri-state area, I don’t get to New Jersey very often. But in the search of sun and sustenance not-so far from home, I was surprised at how plenty the Jersey Shore was with vegan options. It was time to return to the Jersey Read more…
July 17, 2011
…but, this time, I was a little scared to. The NY Time’s article on how it’s the new “anti-Hamptons”–the boardwalk being the “new Bedford Avenue”–seemed to promise a mob of hipsters… and local backlash of the influx threatened an old fashioned culture clash, ripe with all the associated generalizations. Diehipster.com‘s rant on Read more…
July 15, 2011
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 Read more…
April 30, 2011
I wrote this ode in August of 2009. I’m “reprinting” it today as I am struck by the realization that I’ve grown to need Radiolab… for support, for inspiration, for a connection–in a world where the homogenized, trite and shrill voice of mainstream culture succeeds in alienating me. In my Read more…
February 26, 2011
I did most of my growing up in the 90’s. I did a zine. Worked in record stores. Went vegetarian. Fell in love with misfits.. often who listened to The Misfits. Had an amazing record collection. Listened to Riot Grrrl. [Balanced that with Lou Barlow. Balanced that with Unwound.] Music was my Read more…
November 12, 2010
Summary: I kind of love V & T Supermarket in Hempstead, Long Island. Scoring the car for the day for some errands, I knew I had to hit V & T Supermarket on Franklin street in Hempstead. I had been seeing it for years, the huge white cryptic building off Read more…
October 15, 2010
I hate to bad-mouth an all-vegan establishment. Believe me when I say that I struggled with how to word this delicately, searched for the silver lining to the many clouds… but Ithaca’s Food For the Planet downright stunk. It pains me not to be supportive to a veg-friendly establishment, but I have Read more…
October 7, 2010
I named you Jack Nimble because you were narrow and slender and small and I imagined if there were a lit candle you could arc it swiftly. I felt your spine, each bone under a soft slip of skin, that knocked gently at my knee. Your movement, a plea Read more…