The Preen

After using the last drops of a recently discontinued tobacco-based cologne I bought him years ago, Troy recently asked "do you think I can learn to make my own cologne?"

Now, we make A LOT of things from scratch in our house. From brewing gnarly-looking batches of kombucha to saving a month's worth of veggie scraps to boil down to a rich broth, you'll often find us in the kitchen testing recipes rather than simply reaching for a bottle or box from the grocery store shelves. This leaves us with a sense of pride and accomplishment but very little free time.

Starting a perfumery, though, was not a journey I was prepared to embark on. Rather than crushing Troy's dream of having a never-ending supply of manly-scented colognes, I decided to take this mission to the streets and find the real professionals. (‘cause, let's face it... ladies love to shop. right? right?) 

There are many offensive colognes out there. You can practically smell them through the TV when you’re watching Jersey Shore. But D.S. & Durga's hand-crafted olfactory tonics change everything. Oh yes, I said olfactory tonics, but, sadly, I can't take credit for that. 

The duo behind D.S & Durga has thought of everything when creating their line of fragrances. Beautifully bottled and boxed, these colognes and perfumes do more than combine high quality ingredients. They tell a tale. For instance, their scent Mississippi Medicine is based on the “rituals for the proto-Mississippian death cult of the 1200s” and contains native birch tar, viola & white spruce grounded in incense & cypress root. I can’t attest to the accuracy of the scent, but I’m pretty sure the death cult would be pleased. Another favorite, Burning Barbershop, smells like it sounds – a slightly charred bottle of shaving tonics. It’s a rich, masculine scent, and nothing like you’ve smelled before…  unless you’re in the habit of burning down barbershops, something this blog does not endorse.

And, of course, we wouldn’t sing their praises if they weren’t also compassionate.  Their cruelty-free fragrances are tested on themselves and their friends only.

So, in the end, Troy is happy to have a beautiful bottle of cologne to douse himself with, and I have more time to read the classics or watch Jersey Shore. Win-win indeed!

You can find their line of colognes and perfumes at many of our favorite Brooklyn boutiques, including Bird and In God We Trust but you should visit the beautiful D.S. & Durga site for a complete list of stores.

The Find

Ah, Reader, sometimes—though we love you, obviously—we feel that we just don't know each other that well. I know, I know: You like music...from bands...and...breathing air. But I just feel like there's a distance between us, you know? You get me? You get me.

In a show of good faith, Reader, we're taking the first steps to building a more stable, healthy relationship.

Take a few, soon-to-be joy-filled minutes and take a look at this interview we took part in, conducted by Kristin of Rose Pedals Vegan Weddings. Doing so, you'll then get a brief, glittering glimpse inside our tiny little world of font-hatin', cat-lovin', and invite-makin'. You can see one such invite—available via Thomas-Printers—above.

And, astute as you are, Reader, I'm sure you remember the interview we conducted with Kristin last fall, but if you're interested in vegan weddings and how she started her business, check that out again here.

Now. Tell us a little bit about yourself. This is a two-way street, after all. Are you more of a cat person? No? Dogs? Do you like beets (you really should)? Long walks on the beach...? Give us something.

The Song

Big Deal • Chair

Reader, in the early nineties, back when many of us were just getting our post-Dave-Kendall-120 Minutes footing on the musical landscape and 'alternative' gave way to 'indie,' the cute little genre of indie pop—with it's tiny guitar hooks, intimate, unassuming vocals, and sometimes good, sometimes a-million-miles-from-good rhythm sections—quietly rocked across America. Artists like Lois, Small Factory, The Softies, Tsunami, and a hundred others, along with labels like K Records, Simple Machines, and Teen Beat kept us made our lives a little lighter and made us enthused to be a part of tiny, self-reliant world of music.

A couple weeks ago, it was announced that chickfactor—the nineties indie pop zine and now Web zine—would be celebrating its 20-year anniversary with "five blissful nights of sparkling indie pop on the Northeast Corridor of the USA (three in NY; two in DC) including the first shows in years by Black Tambourine, Small Factory, Pipas, The Aislers Set, A Girl Called Eddy, The Softies, The Lois Plus, The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group and Fan Modine and rare performances from such pop luminaries as Stevie Jackson (Belle + Sebastian), Frankie Rose, Lilys, Lorelei, Dot Dash, Versus, Bridget St John and Honey Bunch." 

Needless to say, those of us who consider ourselves nineties indie pop nerds wet our oversized second-hand corduroys. Two of the Brooklyn shows sold out pretty quickly, but as of writing, the third seems to have some tickets left, and, again, as of writing, I think the DC-area tickets have yet to go on sale. We'll be excited to see some familiar faces and hear a little bit of the music that we grew into adulthood with at those shows this April. 

With The Song (formerly Music Monday—what...? It's bird-themed!), we've always had in-mind that we'd very much be forward-looking, attempting to keep pace with the sometimes-hectic pace of the musical creative culture of the day. So, rather than post an old Retsin song and dwell on the past—which, we admit, is fun—we're instead writing today about a band the reminds us about all the good things from this early age of indie pop and twee.

England's Big Deal spin simple, intimate stories with their songs that harken back—for me—to Ida's debut, when it was just Dan Littleton, Elizabeth Mitchell, a couple guitars, and a whole lotta earnest emotion. It's bright and fuzzy and beautiful and touches on all the sweet little elements that lit the indie fire in our hearts in the first place, back when we'd read lyrics on the bedroom floor and whiled the days away learning new guitar chords and making falafel from a box mix.

The duo—comprised of Londoner, Alice Costelloe and native Californian, Kacey Underwood—released their debut on Mute in Europe late last year and it's due to hit state-side tomorrow. In the meantime, check out, "Chair," a catchy bedroom pop gem, and their summertime dream of a video for Distant Neighbor. The band will also be hitting up this year's SXSW festival, as will The Chain Gang of 1974 + The Big Pink, who we profiled over the past few weeks, as will every other band we profile with The Song until we jet on down to Austin to see in person all one million of the bands playing SXSW this year. Here's hoping they have vegan BBQ! 

And for anyone who doesn't like the band name, Big Deal, they evidently were first going to be called Hard Cheese. So there's that. Also, yes, I kind of have that dude's haircut.

Don't Break the Internet

The Song

The Big Pink • Stay Gold

British electro duo, The Big Pink, first hit the scene back in 2007 with some high-demand seven inches and singles, followed by a proper full-length on the venerable label, 4AD. While critically well-recieved, the 2009 release, A Brief History of Love, didn't produce a lot that I could personally latch on to. Plenty of good songs and a nice overall sound, but nothing that blew me away or made me fee like I had to hear more. 

But if the first single from their sophomore effort, Future This (out in the states tomorrow), is any indication of the album as a whole, sign me up for being blown away. The single, this week's Song from said album, "Stay Gold," seems like a great way to start off and thus counteract a seemingly low-motivation week. In fact, it seems like a great way to start off a dance party. Man. I hope this week's a dance party. 

Check it out and, if you like it, sign up for their newsletter for a free download of the song's AraabMUZIK Remix. And take a look at their recent 4AD live session below.

The Preen

First things first: After 2 exhausting years of interning for this Web log (re: pitching ideas and making Troy write them, eating at restaurants and asking Troy to take pictures of the food, finding cool things at stores and saying aloud, "Wouldn't it be cool to feature this on the blog?" and then assuming Troy will take care of it) I have finally earned my keep and have been granted my own column, entitled The Preen. Featuring everything from local jewelry designers to fabulous cruelty-free cosmetics, The Preen will take you on a wild reading adventure. Trust me, you're going to love it. And you'll be even prettier because of it. I mean, let's face it, beauty is like the most important thing ever. We've all watched enough nerdy girl makeover movies to know that's true.

Alright, so let's get this show on the road.

My first feature for The Preen involves a little back story. It's a beautiful tale of friendship, a request for seafoam green bridesmaid dresses, ever-lasting love, and, most importantly, a lost social security card. Actually, I'm realizing now that the story is too long for one blog post, so I will skip ahead to the ending: They tied the knot on a beautiful, yet chilly, day in October with all their friends and family in attendance. Not one bridesmaid could find a seafoam green dress. The end.

Now let's get to the good stuff.

As part of a dear friend's bridal party, I was recently given the task of finding a gift for the beautiful bride-to-be. I gave it several months of thought and came up with a long list of things I did and did not want. I wanted the gift to be wearable. I wanted it to be a keepsake. I wanted it to commemorate the wedding day. I didn't want it to be prissy. I wanted to support a local designer. I wanted all the bridesmaids to feel like they were part of the gift. I didn't want the bride to feel pressured to wear it on the wedding day. To be honest, I was completely overwhelmed by my list.

After visiting In God We Trust's  Bedford Avenue store, I knew I found my answer. A beautifully hammered, solid brass bracelet, The Boyfriend Cuff can be hand-stamped with up to 8 letters/numbers. With the support of my fellow bridesmaids, I purchased 3 bracelets and asked IGWT to hand-stamp the inside of the cuffs with the wedding date, the bride and groom's first initials and the first initials of the 6 bridesmaids. The hand-stamping is, well, done by hand, so the letters don't align perfectly, thus giving it a bit of edginess – a perfect fit for our bride's style. They can be worn stacked on one wrist or worn one at a time and the result is effortlessly stylish with a hint of nostalgia. And the bride loved them.

Mission accomplished. 

PS: It turns out that seafoam green is THE color for Spring 2012. The bride was so ahead of the trend!

From the Nest

We made the list!

Last week, Isa Moskowitz of the Post Punk Kitchen—who's so famous, she's got a Wikipedia page (WE want a Wikipedia page - *pouty kick at the ground*)—released her PPK 100, "100 ingredients, recipes, chefs, restaurant, tips, cookbooks, tools and websites" that made them swoon in 2011, one of the vegan-est years yet! As Isa puts it:

"I compiled the list by asking everyone from my mom to my favorite musicians what inspired them in 2011. I also posed the question on Twitter and Facebook (of course!) so that I could get as much feedback as possible. Since this is the Post Punk Kitchen 100, naturally there are a few items from Terry and I that made it on to the list, but I tried to make it as diverse as possible, giving shoutouts to the other people that made our 2011 a delicious year. I also tried to include things that everyone could afford to do right now today as well as a few items that you can add to your bucket list. For instance, I still don’t have a $400 blender but I can certainly swing an avocado masher. And hopefully there’s a tip or trick in here that will even save you money!"

We thought she'd just be putting together a few links when she first mentioned it to us. Foolish us! She went all out, with 100 separate entries from partially frozen olive oil to homemade candy bars to tips on peeling garlic, all super-well-written and in-depth. Holla!

When you get a chance, give it a read. And if you're interested, we're numbers 11 (the broth bag), 57 (hand pies), and 98 (solo supers). Now get eatin' Reader!

The Find • Maimonide of Brooklyn

Reader, if you, like us, are vegan and live and work in South Brooklyn, you, like us, likely hold a complicated mix of admiration + contempt for North Brooklyn, specifically the areas of Williamsburg and Greenpoint. These days, those neighborhoods are essentially spilling over with vegan cafés, pizza places with vegan slices, vegan doughnut joints, awesome Mexican street food with seitan and Daiya options, and outstanding Sicilian-style restaurants with beautiful interior design and separate, exceptional vegan menus. 

And in South Brooklyn, we've got V-Spot.

Obviously exaggerating a bit for the sake of emphasis. We've got other options in the area—from mostly vegan pan-asian to awesome nearly raw cafés to a wealth of relatively veg-friendly non-veg restaurants. And not to dig too much specifically on V-Spot. But we need more, South Brooklyn. Nay, nay—we DESERVE more.

Turns out, Paris-based hotelier, restauranteur, and, evidently, comic-book-enthusiast  Cyril Aouizerate agrees. Roughly four weeks ago, he cut the ribbon on a brand new vegetarian (vegan, minus some honey) restaurant that we guarantee will blow you away. Maimonide of Brooklyn structures its menu around open-face sandwiches they call MOBs—flatbread made from locally sourced Champlain Valley whole grains, shaped into Brooklyn Bridge style arches (you read that right), and topped with creatively combined vegetables, legumes, and vegetarian spices and sauces.  

On our visit last week—after walking into Maimonide's beautiful Atlantic Avenue spot and being greeted by our the staff, dressed like comic-book-style monks—we were given complimentary baked kale chips and ordered the Iron Man MOB (roasted shiitake mushroom, sauteed kale, horseradish aioli, parsley) and the Belly Charmer (tagine of eggplant, zucchini, and carrot, moroccan spices, pistachio, mint, cilantro), both pictured below on a tray Aouizerate had made to call out and honor the neighborhoods of Brooklyn. And yes, they were both really, really good. 

Other interesting-sounding MOBs include the Aphrodisiac (celery root braised and mashed with ras al hanout, asparagus, toasted almond), the Rock MOB (creamy white beans with fennel seed and almond milk, escarole, fresh pear, basil), and the Brave Heart (sun-dried tomato, caper and parsley pesto, rosemary grilled portobello mushroom, lemon). The menu also features some snazzy sounding salads, a really nice, creamy corn soup topped with popcorn ("in memory of the Native Americans who used to grow corn on boerum hill in Brooklyn"), and vegan chicken-style nuggets (they were out of those when we visited though). 

The kinda-hard-to-remember, off-kilter name, Maimonide, owes its origins to the medieval philosopher, rabbi, advisor to Egyptian kings, and physician, Moses ben-Maimon—AKA, Maimonide—who, well ahead of his time, evidently advocated a vegetable-based diet. The comic book (yes, comic book) that Aouizerate had produced for the restaurant's opening not only introduces us to the restaurant itself, but presents us with Maimonide's updated personification—a pizza delivery guy who, after crashing into a melon stand, becomes a superhero with vegetable-based super powers, donning a tiny turban and some mad kicks. Obviously. New York Magazine's got a partial scan of the thing if you'd like to see what we're talking about.

Better yet, stop by and pick one up yourself. The food's superb, the space is absolutely bizarrely beautiful—a hidden gem among the urban bustle of Atlantic Avenue—and the service is great. Our server—who was seemingly endowed with the super power of uncanny politeness—also mentioned that they're hoping to soon use the cavernous space for live music and regular DJs soon, as well as bring in wine and beer in February.

Maimonide is located at 525 Atlantic Avenue, b/t 3rd + 4th Avenues, a quick walk from the Atlantic-Pacific subway station and well-worth the trip. They're currently open seven days a week from noon to midnight. And give us a shout if you hit them up for lunch—we're a mere two blocks away!

Below: The Iron Man + Belly Charmer on the custom-made Brooklyn serving tray; the Iron Man; yucca fries, kale chips, and corn soup; purdy lighting; detail of the American flag panel art; Homage to Lemon; and samples of Anti Oxidant dessert MOD with single-malt bourbon banana confit, chocolate fig marmalade, and fresh mint.