crack the plates

thursday 14 July 2011

This was my first time in New York City and it was perfect.

I went without high expectations or a list of what I must do/see – just a list of recommended restaurants scribbled on a paper bag. Instead of getting my hopes up, I now realize I’d steeled myself with skepticism; as a good southerner, I’ve always been a little suspicious of the city that never sleeps. (Seriously, some of the stuff that still circulates about the horribleness of “the North” and particularly NYC would blow your mind.) Even after tempering the more fanatical warnings with my own reasonableness, I remained a teensy bit worried that we’d emerge from a grimy, stuffy subway to streets choked with rapidly-moving, intimidatingly-well-dressed people who’d just as soon spit on me as say hello. Omnipresent skyscrapers would tower and bully. I might not last the day.

Okay, maybe not that bad. But almost!

And it’s true that my first move was to venture deeper into Grand Central without a map or a clue if the train I awaited was bound for Brooklyn or Queens. I didn’t take it as a good sign when almost no one lingered where we ended up – the cast-off shoe and litter didn’t help. But then a kind woman spied us and walked down an extra flight of stairs with her young son to offer some guidance. She worked for MTA, but it was her day off, and serendiptiously, she happened to live on the same street in Bed-Stuy as where we were headed!

When the subway glided aboveground, things looked, well – normal. Way more skyscrapers than usual, of course, but skyscrapers all the same. Reasonable enough. I thought of Toronto. Passing over the Williamsburg Bridge into Brooklyn, I remembered Chicago. Familiar. Comforting.

And then! Who might be waiting for us — not counting Adjua, our wonderful hostess — but a cat! And not one cat but TWO CATS! How could the Universe have known? All I ever want to do is hug a cat!! Say hello to cuddly Radio:

Perhaps I’ll find a picture of Otto, Radio’s brother, for the next post.

This post is all about our incredible first-day eats at Hangawi & Kajitsu, but just in case I never return to the subject above: NYC is totally lovely, people are kind and hospitable, the subway is clean and air-conditioned and for the most part, comes exactly when it says it will. I never felt unsafe, unloved, or under-fed. I can’t wait to return!

Today’s news: a heat-stricken US on the cusp of default, a body count in Oslo that continues to rise, Amy Winehouse found dead, and folks so desperate they’ve taken to stealing GRAPES and BEES and shipping meth in CAT FOOD. Yeah, lots to be miserable about.

Thankfully there’s also a grand gala opening for New Paltz’s only vegan & fair-trade chocolate shop, thrilled New Yorkers getting ready to wed tomorrow, a vegan featured in my local paper, my cats sleeping in the same bed, and a leading Republican with a last name that lends itself to dick jokes.

Oh, and the famously-offensive Dairy Council retracted their hideously misleading and super-sexist “Everything I Do Is Wrong” campaign. You see this? You hear about this? Yeah. In weak moments I feel like I’d be OK if everyone I knew just gave up dairy. It’s so weird and wrong and if you use it you’re not only supporting an industry that exists to cruelly hijack the reproductive systems of cows (hellooo feminism+food!), but you’re giving a thumbs-up to the assholes who think it’s hilarious to give PMS-sufferers the finger! Sigh.

Enough with the reality check. Let’s go dream about vacation…

wednesday 13 july 2011: our last full day of fun in the Hudson Valley area

One of Nate’s dear friends – who he met when he was eight! – has been giving tours at the Vanderbilt Mansion near Hyde Park for a few years, so we decided to go hear how he’d perfected the spiel. It was fantastic! Dimitri wrote the tour himself and delivers it with a clever eye for his audience. Ever the historian, he shyly confessed two tracks to the narrative, or how he frames it differently depending on his tour’s demographic. If they seem younger and more left-leaning, he highlights the wealth and obsolescence and decay – the “had it comin’” we liberals lap up; if they’re older and more conservative, he focusses on the family’s deep commitments to philanthropy, education, and social services. What a guy, eh?

Some (possibly illegal) pictures:

the Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park, NY

And on the sixth day, the vegans deepened friendships, drove carefully, and copiously ingested sodium.

Or something like that!

Hey pals, thanks for checking back! I’m home in Atlanta now, listening to american analog set and shaking my head over the volume of posts I need to share in the next few days. The good news: we just got internet back after going without since early May! Going day-by-day seems like a decent strategy now, so here goes:

tuesday 12 july

Started our day by adding several more miles to the clicker en route to Pine Bush, NY for take-out from Pure City Healthy Vegetarian Restaurant, at new friend Mark’s suggestion.

hello from New York! This super-long post is the first report on the vegan road trip I’m taking with my sweetie Nate. We left Atlanta for NY on Thursday at noon, stopped overnight in Virginia, and then finished the journey Friday. Since then, we’ve been hanging in the Pleasant Valley/Poughkeepsie/New Paltz area. This entry is about the first FIVE days.

Beware: this post is really, really long. There’s a decent narrative hidden in there, but I don’t mind if you mostly look at the pictures.

It began the sensible way: with carefully packed nutritious road food!

Organic strawberries, cherries, grapes, bananas; a roasting pan’s worth of mixed organic root vegetables; chocolate; crackers. Proudly, I left little 333 with a spotless fridge!

Tomorrow I leave for a two-week road trip to New York with my sweetheart. Today has been a busy one, full of cleaning and roasting vegetables and picking out dresses. I’m hoping that when we return we have internet in the apartment once more, but for now, we’re at Whole Foods mapping our trip and scouting vegan places on the journey. And I’m updating my blog! I just didn’t want to leave without telling you all about my fabulous fourth.

In my last post I mentioned that I would be cooking a lot of fourth food in hopes of raising money for our trip. That hope became a reality! Not only did tons of friends and friends-of-friends order lunches, but I got a great big catering order! Thanks to your generosity, we’re no longer freaking out about having to put any portion of our trip on the credit card. I feel great.

Thursday night I made eight dozen chocolate espresso cupcakes for Nate’s officemates. Three dozen had already been “reserved” – the others were up for grabs. Nate came home with an empty tray!

I started the fourth orders after the cupcake drop. Friday morning & me: 8 blocks of tofu, cubed, fried, drenched in gravy: