Music Monday

?uestion: How do you put out an innovative new record after acting as the house band for a late night TV show for over a year? With a lot of help, evidently. The Roots' new record, How I Got Over, out last Tuesday, features Monsters of Folk, the women of Dirty Projectors, and none other than Joanna Newsom, among others. True, Joanna Newsom really only appears as a sample, but it works nonetheless. Like a lot of great hip hop, this week's Song of the Week, 'Right On,' leans heavily on the juxtaposition of rhythmic verse and more melodic breaks, so we're not really covering a whole lot of new ground here, but that doesn't make this any less enjoyable. Check it out and, if you like, take a listen to the rest of the new Roots record over at their MySpace page.

Not Just a Phase

As always, dear reader, apologies for the recent radio silence, so to speak. Between work, the onset of summer, and the glories of the World Cup (DONOVAN!), we've been stretched thin a bit in the realm of free time. That said, we endeavor to bring many exciting things next week, including a photo shoot piece we're very excited about that'll feature one of our favorite companies and clients. In the meantime, we're happy to bring you another installment of our version of the Veggie Tales, Not Just a Phase (explained in detail here).

I grew up around the farmlands of Connecticut. Although we didn't live on a farm, it wasn't long before we acquired many farm animals. Horses (the most intimidating), goats (the comedians), rabbits (the laziest), pigs (the most fascinating), as well as a regular assortment of frogs, snakes, dogs & cats.

I also grew up during the birth of MTV and it wasn't long until it became my church. I worshipped Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, and random new wave pop and it wasn't long before it started reflecting in my wardrobe. I wore the thriller jacket & the rhinestone glove to school in 7th grade, but while I was moonwalking down the halls, the other, rural Connecticut never-exposed-to-diversity kids were plotting my demise because they did not know what to do with me.

This awkward time of not relating to others (humans especially) made me dive into getting to know our farm animals, which were always there and always ready to interact with us. So I did. I got to know the 4 pigs and 2 goats on a level that no one else in my family seemed to be experiencing. I had friends! I ran off the school bus to get back to them and they greeted me with equal enthusiasm. The goats would play with me so hard that I would be rolling in the grass with them cracking up. As for the pigs, I cleaned them, I fed them, I rode them around the house, and even though they hated when I managed to catch up and grab a 2 second ride, they loved the game of it and I knew it. I felt it.

One day I came home from school and the pigs were gone (this particular story is just the 1st time this happened). They had been killed, slaughtered, cut up and wrapped in white paper packages and stacked up neatly inside the freezer in our garage. I wasn't told; I discovered it by myself when I opened the freezer. Everything came to me in seconds—the emotions, the shock, the confusion, the anger, the absolute undeniable feeling of wrong.

These few seconds directed the rest of my life. It wasn't long before I hit the nutrition books and combined scientific fact with what I had known in my heart all along—animals are not food. Realizing this also made me realize that, just because I want to wear shoes, carry bags, wear belts and carry a wallet, none of that has anything to do with animals, so why drag them into it? Let alone rob them of their lives and make these items from their actual bodies after being forced by us to live a life of torture. If I don't want that done to me then why should I do it to anybody else?

These were the pieces of my puzzle, but why others find my position disagreeable continues to baffle me to this day.

That's my story morning glory.

Brian Duprey

Duprey Cosmetics
agent: Judy Casey Inc.
Judy Casey, Doni Miller, Mary Ching.
212.228.7500

Pictured above, Brian's farm friends from, circa 1981. Brian now owns a line of completely cruelty-free cosmetics, Duprey Cosmetics. Check them out. And have a great weekend.

Music Monday

In honor of the first day of summer and the countless steamy, beachy days to come, this week's Song of the Week is brought to you by Major Lazer and La Roux.

For anyone who doesn't already know, Major Lazer is Jamaican commando who lost his right arm in the ill-fated zombie war of 1984, but—being the 'silver lining' type he is—took the opportunity to go 'gun-arm.' Makes sense. Now he rides his rocket-powered hoverboard around town battling the undead and 'bringing the party,' as the kids say. He's also the alter ego for DJ duo of Philly-based Diplo and Britain-based Switch. The two have teamed up with La Roux (AKA—London's Eleanor Jackson + Ben Langmaid) to bring us all their remix of La Roux's Buletproof, the catchy, dubbed-out, elctro-bliss that kicks off both the summer and their mixtape, Lazerproof. Download the whole thing here for free and off to the beach party with you!

Not Just a Phase

Today we're posting another entry for our Not Just a Phase series, started a couple weeks back and explained in a little too much detail here. Our friend, Natalie, took the time to pass on her story of feline intervention. ...sorry. I couldn't help it.

It happened one night in the year 2000. I was sitting in my kitchen in Pittsburgh, holding a piece of chicken from the Bloomfield Foodland in my hand. I was about to take a bite when my cat (lovingly pictured below) jumped up on the table and started milling around in front of me. Watching my beloved feline (okay, okay, I know it’s weird that I let my cat on the table—she’s spoiled, what can I say?) pace back and forth, I took a bite out of the chicken and suddenly became conscious of the fact that, like a ravenous zombie or a starving castaway, I was eating an honest to goodness bona fide leg. I was disturbed. I was repulsed. And, that right there was the beginning of the end. Soon after, I went vegan, because, once I honestly and truly realized that meat, milk, and eggs came from animals, just like my naughty table-jumping cat, those grey, stretchy things in my drumsticks suddenly transformed into veins; milk started to taste a lot like cows (or at least the way I remembered them smelling on the dairy farm I grew up next door to); and, maybe grossest of all, those little red specks in the egg yolk revealed themselves for what they were – bits of blood.

Yep, it was all pretty much a gag reflex—a gut reaction, if you will, rather than some big spiritual awakening or epiphany resulting from consultation with Buddhist monks, a chance encounter with Donovan, or even an afternoon spent smoking cloves and sitting in a dark room in Poughkeepsie with “Meat is Murder” on a loop. It was just that, once the realization that I was actually EATING ANIMALS fired through the synapses of my brain and started going all crazy up in there, I couldn’t go back. I could never again gnaw on someone else’s leg.

Natalie Bowman, Grossed out vegan & maker of the world’s best vegan bunny cake (pictured below)
And, because I think vegan sweets ARE the answer to all the world’s problems, here’s a favorite link of mine.

Journal of the Movement of the World

You've likely already seen Shepard Fairey's new mural in Keith Haring's old spot at Houston and Bowery, but we wanted to post a shot of this one along the Gowanus here in Brooklyn, a hop skip and a jump from our office. Street art proppa. Here's a video on the Manhattan mural and various other arty, political-y topics.

I know, right? You're all like, "Pssh. Where you beeeeeeeen?" I have no good answer for you, reader. Actually, that's not true. I have many good answers for you, but none excuse us from our Webbly duties. Here they are nonetheless:

1. At the end of last week, we were celebrating dear Katie's birthday. Happy birthday!

2. WORLD CUP!!

3. We HAD been trying, this weekend and in the past couple days, to move things over from the antiquated, non-sensical method of dual posting on Blogger and then on our actual site by creating a new location on our site to which Blogger could post directly, but we've been having MAD DNS issues with our host. So, we're still working on it, but we felt the need to post in the old method, dear reader, because we know you need us. And there's been a picture of hot dogs on here for like a week.

4. Also, WORLD CUP!!!

With all that said, check out this week's Song of the Week, So Close, by Spain's Delorean. Yes, they are named after the über-cool car with the flux capacitor, and yes, they do indeed blissfully blend beachy dream-pop with catchy dance music well in this track. Check it out. And, if you like, catch them at Bowery in a couple weeks.

Yours in technical confusion, KoR.

The Find

Two things: First, yes we did, yet again, fail to let you know about this week's musical selection yesterday. What can we say. We were enamored with the sheer perfection of the day.

Making up for it today though, we've posted We Are Scientists' brand new and pop-rific Rules Don't Stop, from their forthcoming third album, Barbara (out state-side next Tuesday). And soccer fans, be sure to check out the slightly traitorous but still funny song they posted on their blog today too, Goal! England. Need non-soccer-related advice? They provide that too. Funny guys.

Second, yes we did indeed take the free Brooklyn ferry over to Governor's Island this their opening weekend and we were indeed pleasantly surprised to see not only soy dogs on the menu at the Water Taxi Beach, but also vegan potato salad (both lovingly pictured above)! I know, right? And it was totally good. For anyone who hasn't yet been to Governor's Island, we strongly recommend a visit. Bike rentals, gleanings from little-known NYC history, open exploration of a fort, bizarrely-placed fashion exhibits, cool ass concerts, quick free ferries, a distinctly eery New Otherton feel, and beer and vegan food. Who could ask for anything more? Be sure to check out the tucked-away munitions tunnels in the fort when you go. And watch out for the smoke monster.

Over and out!

Not Just a Phase

Hello, dear reader. On this weekend-eve, as we approach the edge of summer and the future of a thousand fond, warm (maybe too warm in New York) memories, we want to kick off a new feature that we hope will become somewhat of a regular one.

Yes, yes, I know. Usually on Fridays we pretend to be all "in the know," as the kids in the know say, telling you various Webby or New-Yorky things of interest...or, more often than not, we just want to get the hells out of the office, so we exercise the 5th. But lend us your electronic ear for a moment. We want to try this out.

So, we're attempting here to examine a piece that looks back at the stories of who we are and why. More specifically, we want to chronicle the choices we've made in our lives as they pertain to animals and vegetarianism and/or veganism. But in a fun, personal way. See, for many of us, the choice to stop eating animals is one that—whether we knew it or not at the time—began to sketch out the fine lines our lives have followed. It steered us in a direction that, often, led to who we now are as adults. It set a compass, so to speak, for choices to come—be them moral or health- or environmentally-minded.

With all of that in mind, we're kicking off what we're calling Not Just a Phase, where we ask friends, family, co-workers, and clients who happen to have chosen at whatever points in their lives to go vegetarian or vegan to tell us their stories. Though it's such a choice that affects so very much in the world, it's also one that's extremely intimate and intense. As many authors have written in the past, what we choose to eat is a wildly personal thing. And so, it follows that making such a significant choice often has an intriguing, affective story attached to it. A few weeks ago, we asked many people we know to be so kind as to tell us those stories. We've received a number of really moving stories already and hope to be able share many more in the future. For the time being, here's our friend Marisa's story.

The story goes, I refused to eat anything other than fruit and vegetable baby food, so even though my pediatrician said I was growing just fine, my mother started feeding me a concoction called a "milkie" that was frozen yogurt, whole milk, chocolate syrup and...a raw egg. Every day. I eventually succumbed to eating meat, but I remember that growing up—I always sort of hated food.

Fast forward to fifth grade where my best friend, Saba Syed, convinced me that eating pig meat was dirty. Then seventh grade where my friend, whose mom was a hippie, convinced me that "red" meat was bad for you. I had about two more years of a chicken-based diet when I went to visit my sister in Atlanta. A weekend's worth of southern fried chicken did me in. We ate at a Jamaican restaurant to mix things up, and I ordered my first ever veggie burger and OHMYGOD it changed my life. Then and there, I vowed never to eat meat again. I was 13 years old. At 15, I began a 6-year excursion into veganism, and while I've wandered back there now and again, I've never been strict about it since I graduated from college. But I haven't eaten meat in eighteen years! Told you it wasn't a phase! But the best part is I love food and cooking now that I know I don't have to eat dead bodies.

Marisa, Lawyer

Marisa contributes to this veg recipe blog from time to time and wanted to share it.

Above, Marisa way back when with a new pal at Farm Sanctuary in upstate NY.

If you'd like to share your story, we'd love to hear it. Make it as simple or as complicated, as heart-rending or as trivial as you want. But do please make it succinct. I mean, it's a blog, right? Visit our company's contact page or click here to send us an email if you'd like to share. Be sure to tell us your name, what you do (whatever that may mean to you), and give us any link you may have to your site or anything else you want. Send associated images you'd like too. We love photos. We'll be posting these in the order we receive them whenever possible, likely every Friday or so.

And have a great weekend!

Journal of the Movement of the World

We usually focus on images or artists we consider beautiful on these Journal days. Today, we look at an idea.

Last year, we created a logo for a Web start-up called Send Your Best. The idea behind Send Your Best is to create a network of support for people battling cancer or going through other serious hardships. As the boys at SYB put it—

After creating a personal site for a close friend battling cancer, we quickly recognized the tremendous value of shared experiences and the comfort they bring. Our objective is to create a global support network and private communication tools for individuals and families as they face and overcome cancer in its many forms.

Pretty cool, eh? Now they're up for a Pepsi Refresh Grant and could win as much as $250,000 to complete the site and help to create personal and private support networks for anyone in need. And you, dear reader, can help. Pepsi is giving away millions of dollars to people, businesses, and non-profits making a positive impact but since, as we've all know, corporations don't always make the best decisions (Emergency valve? Who needs it.), they're leaving it up to us as to how they pass out all that cash. From now until the end of the month, you can vote for Send Your Best to receive a Refresh Grant once a day, and we strongly encourage you to do so.

Here's how you do it: 1. Click here. 2. Click that little button that reads "Vote for this idea." 3. Sign in using your Facebook account or by signing up with Pepsi (I guess you'll get soda updates or something?) 4. Check that it counted your vote and then tell others. For real. They're clients, but, all biases aside, it's a great idea. And remember, you can vote every day until the end of the month. Refresh!

From the Nest

Terry Hope Romero represents half of one of the best-known vegan duos out there. Together with her friend, Isa Moskowitz, she's helped to bring the vegan lifestyle from the shadowy world of all-ages punk shows and back alley health food stores to mainstream America, while still safeguarding it's rough-and-tumble roots. Romero first paired with Moskowitz to co-host the fabled Brooklyn-based television show the Post-Punk Kitchen, which paired vegan cooking instruction with live performances from bands like Made Out of Babies and Stupid. Following up on the success of the show and blog of the same name, the two went on to co-author a series of vegan cookbooks covering everything form cookies to casseroles to cupcakes. Now Terry's striking out on her own with her first solo cookbook, Viva Vegan!, a grimoire for the invocation of all cuisines hailing form the realm of vegan-Latin. We were lucky enough to sit down with Ms. Romero, electronic style, and talk about Latin cooking, indie music, superpowers, and many other nerdy, nerdy things. She even shared a recipe with us! Check it out.

Kindness of Ravens: Honorable Ms. Romero, we here at KoR would like to thank you for taking the time to talk with us here. And by here, I mean the vacant imaginary space populated by only ones and zeros that is our blog. Welcome. Or, I should say, 0101011101100101011011000110001101101111011011010110010100101110.

Terry Hope Romero: That’s a pear tree, a sofa and a lemur Matrix-style right? No? Well let’s get to it then!

KoR: Indeed! So, how did you get wrapped up in the crazy, cutthroat world of vegan cookbook authorship? I’m guessing it has some roots, at least, in the Post Punk Kitchen?


THR: Yes it’s true, I did start sailing the high, bloodthirsty seas of VCA (vegan cookbook authorship) back the golden age of the PPK show. The show ushered on Isa’s first book, Vegan with a Vengeance (2005), where I make a few appearances (AKA - the sushi slut or goings on about Spanish potato tortillas and spanikopita). Soon after, we joined forces again to bring on a 1000-year reign of vegan cupcake domination and, after two years of tireless eldrich exploration into the non-Euclidean depths, we unearthed mighty Veganomicon (2007) from it’s long and dreadful slumber. The rest is history. Lovecraftian vegan history, at that.

KoR: I KNEW Veganomicon was one of the Great Old Ones! That’s why I never look directly at it. Makes for some tough cooking. Back to the PPK—what was the inspiration behind pairing music and cooking?

THR: Maybe it was the name with “punk” in it that led to the logic of having an indie band playing in one’s living room—helping with chopping sweet potatoes or eating leftovers. I don’t remember exactly what triggered it but we had a pretty good run with the concept and it made us feel really cool—hanging out with bands while wearing a kitchen aprons. That seemed motivation enough.

KoR: Makes sense. So, as far as we can tell, there are what, four complete PPK episodes? Is there any secret footage from any half-completed shows?

THR: Did you just read my mind, ‘cause that’s scary and you could probably ace that ESP test that Bill Murray makes that guy take in the beginning of Ghostbusters. There is a lost 5th episode that never got edited due to all kinds of crazy life stuff. It’s several years old by now. From what I remember, we’re both wearing black and we’re cranky and making pie maybe? But how is this different from every other day, you may ask? Someday it’ll grow up and become a real video or end up on VH5000 years from now.

KoR: Bill Murray was so mean to that kid. But PPK sort of evolved eventually into a blog/recipe bank/forum/Web site of the same name, right? Is that pretty much defunct now?

THR:The PPK is all that, but the show is kinda on permanent hiatus. Isa and I live on different coasts now, but really what’s 1000x more difficult than filming a show with zero budget is editing the whole thing together to make that certain special something happen. And the fact that web based programming is the way to go (not our original public access format at a whopping 28 minute average). I would love to do a few teeny 3-minute reunion shorts someday.

KoR: I think you'd get a lot of support for that. So, after co-writing the very superb Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (2006), Veganomicon (our fave all-purpose cookbook, 2007), and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar (2009) with Isa, you’ve now got Viva Vegan! (2010), your first solo venture and, if we’re not mistaken, the only vegan cookbook for Latin food EVER! What made you want to do a vegan cookbook dedicated to Latin American cuisine?

THR: When I think about food, it’s usually how I would pull this or that cuisine into my alternate vegan kitchen world. Latin American food often gets top billing. Plus there is so much of it and sometimes it seems that our fellow veggies and vegans are only eating the tip of the burrito iceberg. My parents are from Venezuela and I grew up with not just that food but my dad’s constant experimenting in other regional Latin cuisines. So, while working on VV, I would call and pester him about arroz con gandules along with arepa techniques. VV will have you playing with dough just like a kindergartener, minus the handmade ashtrays but plus tamales and pupusas and tortillas. That’s a whole world of cooking fun vegans need to embrace.

KoR: Yeah, we’ve used the cookbook a few times now and have to say, it’s really great. One of the things we love about it is how your recipes are filled with easy-to-access cross-references that point to in-depth information you can check out at your leisure. Things like your thoughts on different peppers and their various culinary uses or how to prepare staple foods like beans and rice…really helpful sections that address more the gestalt of Latin American cuisine. Was that insanely tedious to do? Or maybe you had an intern you could pile heaps of admin-related abuse on?

THR: Oh, to have an intern! The nuts and bolts of VV! are all me. It probably was tedious and, for my own sanity’s sake, I don’t recall the details, but after three cookbooks, writing about beans or tofu or cast iron skillets becomes second nature. I like writing about food and can pump out quite a bit when I’m in that zen, vegetable-like writing state. At the time of writing VV! (and Vegan Cookies and the other books) I also had a full time day job as a graphic designer, which basically would put me in the situation of coming home at 6PM after shopping, cranking out a dish, working up a recipe, and writing it all down before midnight. Since then, I’ve been, as they say in this economy, "downsized", so I’m taking more time to dedicate myself to vegan cookery. And increasingly wearing no pants: It’s quite easy when there’s no need to leave the house every day first thing in the morning.

KoR: Pants-free—the only way to be. So how long does it take to write a cookbook?

THR: Millions of years of constant heat, pressure, and strong green tea will transform the germ of an idea into a diamond-hard cookbook. Or 16-24 months, depending on all kinds of factors. While working on VV! I moved, couch-surfed for a month, and renovated an apartment, which in total left me kitchenless and not cooking for over four months. With the best-intended projects, advanced planning is great but the bulk of the work happens when that deadline looms ever closer.

KoR: Amen to that. Viva Vegan! totally changed how we cook beans. We’ve been pro-can for years—primarily out of gas-related fears and annoyance with prep time—but, I have to say, you really cleared a lot of that up for us. No pun intended.

THR: That’s a whole lot of information to work with! Dried beans are so freakin’ cheap and good for everyone, they should be a requirement in every home economics cooking class. And they’re not impossible to work into preparing during the weekday. My favorite thing to do is put them to soak (sort them the night before for debris and put in a bowl if you don’t want to be bothered in the morning) before leaving for work. Eight or whatever hours later, come home, boil and simmer while you’re playing X-box or blogging or reading or whatever, and a big pot of beans will be ready for the week’s recipes before you pass out.

KoR: Yeah that’s totally a great culinary trick of the trade. So, as a cookbook writer, do you get entirely SICK of testing recipes? Especially genre-specific ones? I can only imagine that, after sending the final copy of VV! off to the publisher, you celebrated with Chinese take-out or something.

THR: Too true. It helps that I had a legion of amazing testers to tread through these recipes. But by now I’m actually getting a little nostalgic for the days when I’d open the freezer and a tamale would fall out and bop me on the head. As far as eating, I’ve been on a huge Indian kick lately…for like the past 20 years, so I guess that doesn’t count.

KoR: Alright, everyone always asks cookbook writers what their favorite recipe in the book is, so screw that. What’s the CRAZIEST recipe in the book, either in terms of preparation or of terms of the taste party that ensues in your mouth upon eating?

THR: Well, there are a lot of recipes in VV that require all kinds of preparation adventures. Making flan can be harrowing if it’s the first time you’re wrangling boiling hot melted sugar but it requires fast work, so everything comes together rather quickly. Empanadas demand double duty with making the crust and filling, but the payoff will make you forget everything that came before, like the best food amnesia ever. If you make two plantain recipes this year, fry up a few green ones for the Tostones with Avocado Palm Heart ceviche, then let the rest of the plantains ripen and make Nutty Roasted Plantains—so sweet and rich and salty and nutty, they’re not to be missed!KoR: The cover of the book boasts “200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers.” We’re not saying anything, but 200…that’s a pretty even, round number there. Suspiciously round, some might say…. Tell the truth—are there any filler recipes in there? Like…I don’t know…RErefried beans…..

THR: 2000 Ways to Re-Refry Beans was the original title so you’re all sooo in luck. Some recipes are variations of a “standard” version with a few teaks here and there but deserve to be noted as recipes in their own light. We just love our variations to pieces—cooking for all of the books has always been something of a personal affair, so I feel like everyone should come to feel comfortable adding a little bit of this or that to customize it up.

KoR: Are there any recipes that you REALLY wanted in the book but just didn’t make it for whatever reason?

THR: There were actually well over 200 recipes, so some had to be trimmed…the book kept growing and growing! There’s a sublime roasted pumpkin quinoa risotto that will come out and play in some other format in the future, just to name one of many missing recipes off the top.

KoR: Can I propose a vegan taco-eating contest to promote the book? I can make a commitment to host and/or participate in such an event. Or both, really.

THR: Love it. Let’s eat tacos to help ourselves and promote some other worthy cause that helps out animals while we’re at it.

KoR: Done. We’ll talk. The only all-vegan Latin restaurant we can think of is V-Spot in Brooklyn, whose menu isn’t really 100% Latin and about whom, honestly, we have mixed feelings. Not to put you on the spot (hah), but what do you think of them?

THR: I’m not in Park Slope often and the few times I did visit V-Spot it was a while back and I believe was before they had many Latin menu items. I’ll have to sneak in wearing dark glasses and wig to get a better sense of what’s up now.

KoR: Are there any other good veggie/vegan Latin restaurants out there that you can think of? NYC-based or not.

THR: In L.A. there’s a fabulous just-tamale operation Tamara’s Tamales. While not totally veg, they have amazing veggie and vegan-friendly tamales as big as your head.

KoR: My head’s actually kinda small, but okay. So, have you ever given any thought to opening a restaurant?... Please….?

THR: Whooboy, the idea of a restaurant simultaneous excites me and makes me want to run into the street screaming. Having worked in kitchens, especially teeny little cramped crazy NYC ones, I know it’s damned hard work and financially terrifying. I’m not saying no but it would require a whole lot of magical things and people to converge all together to make it work, which sometimes happens. Or something small like a cart or a teeny shop instead of a full-fledged restaurant is a way to think about it without engaging in panic scenarios.

KoR: We’d excitedly take that. It seems like there are a number of theories on this, but why do you think vegan lifestyles seem to be finding so much more of a foothold in popular culture?

THR: Well if we’re not working to destroy the planet it’s increasingly becoming more acceptable to save it. The more middle-class Americans who see the impact of either decisions on the well-being of others and themselves, the more these issues are going to move from the fringes into the center. Saving the environment, our fellow animal earthlings, plants and other people couldn’t stay in the hippy punk closet forever.

KoR: Well-said. So, aside from touring to promote the book and such, what’s next for you?

THR: Just cleaned out the fridge in preparation for the onslaught of lettuce from my CSA. More writing. Making pickles.

KoR: Alright, alright, alright, that’s enough on-topic-ness. Time for the lightning round. Or, as we sometimes call it, ¡RAYO RONDA!

KoR: Best dance move?

THR: Pickin’ up the change, à la mid-90’s hardcore mosh pit.

KoR: Best dance movie?

THR: Step Up 2. You’ll see me in line for Step Up 3D!

KoR: Favorite restaurant in NYC?

THR: Dosa Place in Jackson Heights. Love Pukk and Lan Café too.

KoR: Favorite non-restaurant in NYC?

THR: What’s a non-restaurant? Eeerr…The Main Branch Public Library on 40th!

KoR: That counts! Super power you’d most like to have?

THR: Be able to Hulk-jump (like bound over buildings) plus nigh invulnerability, ‘cause I’m greedy.

KoR: Most under-appreciated food?

THR: Carob, I am your champion.

KoR: Wow. Bold move, my friend. Nerdiest thing about you?

THR: I am 100% nerd. At home and surrounded by hundreds of comic books right now…superheroes, monsters, horror, you name it. Play indie role playing games—D&D is so mainstream that people make their own homemade DIY games. Struggle to keep myself from buying toys and nerdy crap all the time. I’m so nerdy I regularly attend conventions for said comic books, indie role playing games, and general sci-fi weirdness. Yeah, that kind of nerd.

KoR: Well, I mean Burning Wheel and the like are the only real alternatives when Wizards of the Coasts goes all corporate with 4th Edition and tries to make a pen and paper version of Warcraft, right? I mean, um…NERD! Favorite band right now?

THR: It’s funny you mention Burning Wheel…Isa and I are friends with the creator and staff there. Vegan Cupcakes and Burning Wheel were developed at the same time on parallel schedules, so we speculated there’s a secret roleplaying cookbook called Burning Cupcakes out there somewhere. But anyway, music! I’m into Three Inches of Blood and Die Antwoord now but can always listen to Flipper or Danzig. Think I will right now.

KoR: Right, so smooth jazz type stuff. Cat person or dog person?

THR: Neither and both…I like cats and dogs but don’t live with any. Had chickens when I was a little kid and if I had a backyard, would love to have more chicken friends.

KoR: Best hot sauce?

THR: El Yucateco! But also a recovering Sriracha addict.

KoR: Sriracha is like crack. Spicy, sugary, scrumptious crack. Finally and most importantly, robot vs. dinosaur. Who wins?

THR: Are we picking sides for the inevitable robot dinosaur apocalypse of 2020? Either way I will welcome my new cyborg-pteradactyl overlords.

Terry Hope Romero's new book, Viva Vegan!, comes highly-recommended by yourses truly and is available online and at a bookstore near you. Yes, YOU! Terry's been kind enough to pass the book's recipe for Yuca with Cuban Mojo Sauce which we've featured below. Book cover photo: Miha Matei.

Yuca with Cuban Mojo Sauce
serves 4 as a side or more as an appetizerThis Cuban style of serving yuca (a tropical tuber veg found in most any Latin market and many supermarkets too) is the ultimate comfort food, similar to a super starchy white potato with the enhancement of sweet, nutty nuances and a flakey yet creamy texture. A richly seasoned garlicky oil sauce makes it irresistible. Serve as an appetizer on a platter or arrange individual servings as a side with any Caribbean or tropical entree.

Tip: Yuca is large tropical tuber with a dark brown, woody and somewhat fibrous skin. It's also known as cassava or manioc. Often the skin is waxed and it's always removed prior to cooking. In well-stocked Latin markets you can also find frozen, pre-peeled and sliced yuca, perfectly convenient if you don't feel like wrangling with roots. Follow the package direction for boiling and make the sauce as directed.
• 2 lb yuca (one really big fat yuca root)Mojo Sauce:
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 6 large cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 small yellow onion, peeled, cut in half and thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Trim ends of yuca and and use a sharp "Y" shaped vegetable peeler to remove the waxed outside skin. With a heavy sharp chef's knife split the root into two or three equal pieces horizontally, then cut each piece in half lengthwise. You should have 4-6 large semi-circular chunks of yuca. Slice each chunk into two or three more pieces. Place in a large pot and pour in enough cold water to cover yuca by at least 3 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, partially cover the pot and cook for 25-30 minutes or until yuca is very tender. Fully cooked yuca is ready when its white flesh has a semi-translucent appearance on the edges and it also flakes easily when pierced with a fork.

While yuca is boiling prepare the mojo sauce. In a large saucepan combine olive oil, minced garlic and onion and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then turn heat down to low. Simmer for 12-14 minutes or until garlic and onions are very soft and just starting to turn golden. Remove from heat and stir in salt and ground cumin...resist the urge to drink the luscious scented garlicky cumin oil. Set aside for 2 minutes to cool slightly. Gently whisk in lime juice and add a few twists of freshly ground pepper.

To serve drain hot yuca from pot. Occasionally cooked yuca may have a thick rubbery skin on the outside edges of the root: this peels of easily so just remove and discard. Arrange yuca in a mound on serving platter and drizzle with garlic sauce and pile onions on top of yuca. Serve immediately.

The Find

You know how we all have a friend who is, like, nut-bustingly good at something? Like your friend who bakes cupcakes that make angels cry? Or your pal who just 'whips up' a dress for their own wedding that looks like it came right off the runway? Jerks, right? No, I kid. But, really, you do all know someone who is unbelievably creative AND productive.

Well, dear reader, we're here to tell you that, compared to our friend Michelle, your creative, productive friend is a total rube. Seriously, this lady's got chops. She may well have made nearly everything she owns. Problem is, up until now, only Michelle's friends and family really knew of her crafty genius. But now the rest of you can count yourselves lucky because Michelle, along with her partner, Julia, has brought her creatively critical eye to bear...kind of literally...opening up Black Bear, a store in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn that features choice vintage and hand-made goods.

And—no surprise to us at this point—their selection is pretty impeccable. From hand-selected vintage clothing to genuine 1970's mood rings to a wide array of animal-themed pillows and bizarrely awesome doll-head-planters, the vast and colorful range of items that makes up the store's inventory creates an oddly cohesive, appealing disposition, no doubt owing to Michelle and Julia's discerning taste. Check them out when you get a chance (16th Street at Prospect Park West, right next to the 15th St-Prospect Park F stop).

Pictured left, Michelle being guarded by a weird bald dude on a unicorn. Below: Doll head and (in the background) cat-doll head planters by Plant on the Brain; 70s mood rings; men's and women's clothing; hand-made pillows by co-owner, Julia; two slightly shifty-looking rabbit pillows.