Soy Boy, No Doy!

 

I was doing a little research because this is always an issue guys love bringing up. So I highly recommend to take a lil read on this report out of Harvard. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/soy/ 

Feel free to debate.

Podcasts I Dig

During this summer there a lot of stuff to do with hands and eyes or walking around so here's how I entertain my ears when I'm not listening to the ton of music I love!


pic by Ben Taylor of Lit Riot Press, LLC.

Politics:

Even More News: I am not a political fellow by any stretch of the imagination but I enjoy the well researched work of Cody Johnston and Katy Stoll as they review world events and serve it up with a sarcastic heaping of snark. Also check out the Youtube channel Some More News. I'm sure it will infuriate you to no end.

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/httpevenmorenewslibsyncomrss/even-more-news

The Daily Show Trevor Noah and his team of newsie comedians have a podcast version of the show.

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/comedy-central/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-ears-edition


Horror:

Scary Stories NYC: Instead of bending to the popular allure of True Crime I personally like delving into the seedy underbelly of this city in Scary Stories NYC! Correspondent Peter Bernard leads the brigade on Alien disturbances and the latest whereabouts of Dogman, Bigfoot, and other urban legends in this New York based exploratorium of the weird and wild. You should check out their Youtube Channel and their Podcasts.

Wild Women:

Those American Girls are a long running animated band of musicians and social media influencers who's mighty tendrils reach into music, comedy and even politics! But have they come to save modern society or destroy it? Judge for yourself!

Fish out of Agua: Fascinating storyteller Michele Carlo spins classic tunes and interesting yarns on Radio Free Brooklyn but you may listen any old time here

https://fishoutofagua.podomatic.com/ https://www.michelecarlo.com/

Real Professional Podcast: Jackie Cheng (NY) and Jessica Stern (Florida) are 2 comedians that are up to shenanigans! They are constantly bugging out and cracking each other up. As a person who strives to live a life of controlled life of mindfulness (I do not imbibe beer nor consume cheesefries) I do however get a vicarious thrill from listening to these ladies that do not give an F and aren't scared of burning things down to the ground. Like a modern day American version of Absolutely Fabulous but more extemporaneous.

https://www.spreaker.com/show/real-professional

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCov1XNx7iIuO5H3Aa0KwUAw

Comics:

Dare2Draw's Creator Code: The great organization Dare2Draw has a lot of cool things going on including a show for all things geeky and quirky I have the pleasure being a part of! 

https://youtu.be/erKEikDCWak

Fatman Beyond with Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin have the pulse on the comic world so much that news sources are now quoting them. My personal favorite is Marc a quick witted Haitian American guy from the Bronx that is a kick ass writer. He is kind of the Robin Quivers to temper Kevin Smiths Howard Stern. 
https://www.smodcast.com/channel/fatmanbeyond

Emergency Awesome: I've been down with Charlie since he was giving "Hi Fives" He's one of my favorite go to commentators for all my favorite nerdy stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/user/emergencyawesome

Scene by Scene with Josh and Dean: Comic Artists Josh Neufeld and Dean Haspiel go through the movie version of Harvey Pekars American Splendor with a fine tooth comb,  Interjecting their person experiences with working with Pekar, humor, comic wisdom, deep research and industry insider stories. http://scenebyscenepodcast.com/

Cartoonist Kayfabe: I dig Ed Piskors work of Hip Hop Family Tree and Xmen so I'm happy to see he also has a deep love of comics! Teaming up with fellow Pittsburgh cartoonist Jim Rugg they do this deep diving comics podcast. If you dig visuals you can watch here!

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/cartoonist-kayfabe

Veganism:

Main Street Vegan  Victoria Moran one of the nicest people in the world. She did a book called Main Street Vegan who's non preachy way of presenting information and her personal experiences, left me to draw my own conclusions  thus helping influence my transition to veganism and changing my universe.  https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/unity-online-radio/main-street-vegan

Big Fat Vegan Radio: Comedian Laura Yaz and Drag Queen Honey LaBronx who's music, humor, intelligence and compassionate sassy spirit brings forth the vegan realness on  http://bigfatveganradio.com

Ska:

Ska Parade: Tazy Phyllipz is the long standing pinnacle of Ska shows! the Skafather a tastemaker and top DJ with a deep history of Ska plus a really cool cat! 

https://www.skaparade.com/

Readjunk: Rock photographer and graphic designer, Bryan Kremkau leads the Ska filled ReadJunk Podcast

https://readjunk.podbean.com/

Marco on the Bass: While Marc Wasserman isn't playing bass for Rude Boy George or many other cool bands or writing a book on Ska he has a cool blog and podcast!

https://marcoonthebass.podbean.com/

100% Ska Podcast:  From the brainchild of NYC DJ Ryan Midnight spins dat Ska!

https://www.djryanmidnight.com/ska-podcast/

Duff Guide to Ska:  Long time Ska Bon Vivant. Steve Shafer has told the NYC area and beyond  whats what in the Ska universe! Respect!

http://duffguidetoska.blogspot.com/

Skatune Network: I've gots to give props to Jeremy Hunter from Floridas We Are The Union. He is an ultra talented artist and unashamedly vegan!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCji2l5wcs6GoYJY1GgG_slQ

You Stupid Pig!

A fun little strip I drew. Click on it for full size.

My Vegan Mixtape

I have really gotten into making little mix tapes on Spotify. Ska, New Wave etc and finding popular and obscure tunes. Same for groups or singers I am totally crazy for. The latest Mix I am feeling is this Vegan one I did. I just really like the tunes. Who knew there was so much Vegan music to be had? There was lots of Reggae and Rap, Funny folksy stuff and instrumental mellow stuff and some Electronic. Give it a spin. If you hear any tunes I should add let me know.

Oddly while searching I saw there was an abundance of Vegan Metal and Hardcore stuff to be had but I didn't include it on my tape. Seemed a little loud and angry for me.

Vegan Pasteles

I've been Vegan since 2012 and I obviously eschewed a lot of foods from back in the day. This Thanksgiving my sister asked to come through and and I was all like, Nah.. Food holidays are not my gig. But then she said she had been developing an idea for Vegan Pasteles. Oh yeaaah? Normal pasteles have Achiote which contains lard (Yuck!) So I met up with my sisters in Spanish Harlem and and they helped bring life to this amazing idea!



The Center Concoction:

For the stuff you find at the center of the pastels we combine vegetable stock and olive oil then we add chick peas, a can of tomato sauce,  Half a jar of pitted olives with pimentos. (Yeah I like Goya best…)  I chopped up a zucchini, squash and eggplant and mock meat Pick your favorite form from a spot like May Wah or grab a quick can of Chai pow yu also known as Chinese braised gluten or a can of Vegetarian Peking Roast Duck (Mun Cha'i Ya) and chop it small.  Some people like Tofu in theirs Salt, Pepper, Adobo to taste, Some people also dig adding potatoes or raisins (if you like it sweet).

Masa Dough:

The base is according to my sis is: Yucca, cilantro, spanish onion, green peppers, garlic, (this can be also be used in your center concoction as well!) For every bunch of green bananas you chop up add one green platano. (Note: green bananas aren't platanos - surprise!) My sis did this weird technique where you slice them on the outside once then put them under hot water till the peels turn black. You may want to use gloves so your fingers don't turn black.  When we were kids we had to do the gruntwork and use a grate which trust me wasn't that "great", it was tedious and tiring but as my sister showed me modern technology totally rules! Also she added a sweet potato. Some people add yucca/ cassava/ tapioca but be careful! I learned that eating raw yucca is dangerous and it isn't an old wives tale like I used to dismiss.




When you run your hand through it, it's mushy and you get a displeased look like I have.




Once you have the Masa ready you take a spoonful of oily gravy from your center concoction and put it on the pasteles paper* in a circular motion then slap down some masa dough in there smoothing it out.

(*some old school people use an actual bay leaf instead of paper)






next up there's this whole folding and tying ritual. Here a video version I like: https://youtu.be/kFwnm83wZ9g (See? she's wearing gloves!)





My sis wraps them up by twos! Now I can be like the old doñas selling em 2 for $5 at the church during the holiday season! ...and while I'm at it, I need a gigantic flan! Just kidding. I used to love me some flan!





They pass the taste test on constancy. My sis sez to boil vegan ones for a about 45 minutes (Far faster than meat ones!) Don't forget to put salt in the water.



Here was my jovial holiday dinner of vegan pastels on a bed of kale with walnuts and sun dried tomatoes. with a center mixture of black beans, red onions and french green beans w capers.

End result: Yummy pasteles and bonding with my family. We listened to a lot of music that my mom used to love,  R&B, Disco and Spanish music: Celia Cruz, Frankie Ruiz, Charanga '76, Fania All Stars and the first Jimmy Sabater solo album that she used to rock on 8-Track. I truly have a lot to be thankful for.

Spring Break 2014

If you thought I'd be hob-nobbing at some Mtv Beach House or something like that you were sadly mistaken. Actually this years spring break is a major stay-cation. I am taking time out for for fun though. On Monday I met up with Zack and we headed out to Rego Park to catch up with The New York City Vegetarian & Vegan Meetup Group. We had a love meal at a new vegetarian /vegan buffet called Simple Veggie Cuisine. (95-26 Queens Blvd, Rego Park, NY, US). On out way home we noticed the moon was looking kind of strange not realizing it was a blood moon on its way to a lunar eclipse.

Here's me finishing my pumpkin soup appetizer.

My dinner was Buddhist Delight, tofu shrimp, "Lion Head" non-meatballs and brown rice with vegetables. And I had the meatless spare ribs. I also tried they vegetarian sushi which used brown rice. Very delicious!

Vegetarianism Up In Harlem

Harlem World is not all Fried Chicken, Waffles and artery clogging fare! In addition to vegetarian spots like No Pork On My Fork on 125th and Adam Clayton Powell (I love that name) you guys can get down with a NEW joint I just tried out called CAFE VEG at 2291 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. and 135th Street. They offer a lot of yummy soups, smoothies and vegetarian dishes in addition to a whole bunch of faux meat dishes. The BBQ ribs had me thinking twice. This is a mad unsolicited plug! I like to eat eat cruelty free, not flavor free! If you're like me and happen to be in Harlem, GO CAFE VEG!

Update in 2018: Cafe Veg no longer exists but Jahlookova does and they totally ROCK!