V Cafe

Following the Single Fare 3 opening Jim and I went out to grab a quick bite to eat while in TriBeCa. Now that I’m basically eating vegan paleo, it makes my already limited options even more limited. I had done some research in advance and had found Vietnamese restaurant V Cafe on Yelp, so we figured we’d check it out.

All in all we were really impressed with the ambiance as well as the service and the food. I’m not currently eating any grains, so for my meal I had their vegetarian pho with tofu (no noodles) and a nice big plate of tofu curry and vegetables. It’s making me hungry just writing out it. It was as yummy as it looks.

If you are a vegan or vegetarian looking for someplace in TriBeCa to eat, I highly recommend it. They had a large vegetarian/vegan section on their menu with tons of options.

Single Fare 3

On February 13th, Jim and a slew of other artists had work featured in the Single Fare 3 show at RH Gallery in NYC. Jim and I attended the opening and afterwards went out and grabbed a bite to eat. It was a fun, weekday date night in the city.

Single Fare 3 is unique in that it’s an open call art show. The only real criteria is whatever artwork you submit has to you the NYC Metrocard as the basis for the piece. It’s a really interesting show concept and as a result this is their third year holding the show and several well established artists submit pieces.

At the opening, during the first hour pieces sell at $200. After, everything sells for $100. We arrived during the first hour and were surprised at how many pieces we already sold during the first choice hour.

There were thousands of entries and each and every one of them as unique as the other. People painted on the metro cards, made sculptures out of them, or re-purposed them. These are some of my favorite images from this fun evening out.

Jim’s pieces at the show.

All this art talk makes me so bummed I missed Armory in March!

Gwynnett Street

Last Thursday evening, Jim and I participated in Dine Out Williamsburg for Sandy Relief. Gwynnett Street was a participating restaurant, and we’ve been dying to try it out for a while. What better way to try out a fancy new bistro than a night when 20% of their gross profits are going to provide relief to Sandy victims?

This meal totally impressed me.  Gwynnett Street is very vegan friendly.  So much so, they always have a vegan appetizer, entrée and dessert on their menu at any given time.

Jim started out with their Whiskey Bread, which wasn’t vegan but vegetarian.  It came with cultured butter and looked delicious.  I wish it was vegan, it looked so yummy it was torture looking at it.

For my appetizer I had the winter squash with bell pepper, szechuan pepper and peppercress.  Holy moly this was delicious.  Textures were great.  The squash had a nice bite to it, the herbs were flash fried, and it also had what I believe were pepitas throughout it which gave it additional crunch against the soft vermicelli noodles.  The sauce was delicately sweet and had a hint of citrus.  It was also probably one of the most gorgeously plated vegan dishes I think I’ve ever had.

For my entrée, I finally got to try their tofu.  This restaurant like Roberta’s was awarded a two star review by the New York Times, and the reviewer raved about their house made tofu.

This night it was prepared crusted in pistachio with avocado, celery and celtuce.  The texture was more reminiscent of a pate to me, and it had a great pistachio crust.  Very light and tasty, perfectly paired with the raw avocado, celery and celtuce (which I think is a combination between celery and lettuce?).

What absolutely made my night is when the waitress told me the chef was going to come up with a specialty vegan dessert for me.  She later came back out with what I believe was a sorbet with poached pears, fall spices (lots of cinnamon), a nut cream sauce, and fresh berries.  This was as delicious and seasonal as it sounds.  Isn’t the plating beautiful?

I was extremely pleased with my meal at Gwynett Street and will for sure be back.  It’s now one of my favorite restaurants in the neighborhood.

Have you tried the vegan options at Gwynett Street?  What did you think?

Robertas Pizza

Last Saturday, Jim and I dropped off a load of Sandy Relief donations at Roberta’s Pizza in Bushwick. We had never eaten there, and figured we’d stay for lunch. That’s not to say we haven’t tried to eat there before. Last time we tried it was closed down due to these folks eating there.

If you’re unfamiliar with Roberta’s, the restaurant somewhat pioneered the Brooklyn food scene and has given Brooklyn a rep for having restaurants just as good as Manhattan, if not better. In fact, the New York Times awarded them a two star review.  I don’t know they’re entire history and story but do know that they actually grow a lot of the produce they use on site.

There was of course a wait when we arrived.  They have an additional bar outdoors in a heated tent, so we sat out there for a bit while we waited for our table.

All the seating is pretty much shared.  So we were sat with another couple on one side and a family of four on the other, all at the same table.

I informed the waitress I was vegan and asked what she recommended, and she was very accommodating. I was recommended the Delicata Salad minus the cheese, which was roasted delicata squash with pea shoots and what I’m guessing was a pumpkin seed dressing.  It was absolutely phenomenal.  After the first bite I understood why Roberta’s was awarded those two stars.

They also made their hash brown potatoes minus the pork hash for Jim.  It wasn’t vegan due to butter, so I couldn’t have it.  He ate the entire thing so I know it must have been delicious.

Can’t go to Roberta’s without trying the pizza.  The Rosso pie is on their standard menu and is  vegan.  It’s very simple with a flavorful garlic tomato sauce.  This pizza was by far the best pizza I’ve ever had in New York.  The crust was perfection, light and crunchy, not too heavy.  I wouldn’t even think of bastardizing this with a layer of daiya.  And I LOVE daiya.  It was that good without it.

The food is just too good not to go again and again.  I’m really looking forward to my next visit.

MooShoes Fashion Night Out

Last week for Fashion Night Out I got to catch the very last hour of the MooShoes event.  I had a business dinner I couldn’t cancel, and I rushed like a madwoman to get there.  What’s amazing is I made it from Long Island to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in about 20 minutes.  It was pretty insane.

I’m so glad I was able to attend, because they had some fantastic vegan vendors there.  In addition to meeting some of the vendor owners, I also met some Brooklyn Bliss readers, which made my day like you have no idea.  When I wasn’t gabbing my face off, I was checking out the huge array of vegan shoes, handbags, accessories and books. That’s the reason I was there, right?

When it came to doing some shopping, I had been searching for a sleek iPad sleeve for a while, and found a perfect Matt & Natt version while there.  I also finally after years of wanting one put in a pre-order for a Vaute Couture Belden coat.  I can’t wait to get it!

Were you at the MooShoes FNO event?  What were some of the shopping scores you went home with?

Also, speaking of vegan accessories, don’t forget to enter the GUNAS Milla Wallet giveaway.  It ends on Thursday so if you haven’t entered yet,  get your entry in today!

NYC Color Run

This past Saturday, I woke up ridiculously early to finally get to run the New York City Color Run.  I had been looking forward to this race forever, and was so stoked the day had finally arrived.

I’ve run a lot of races in the past, including several marathons and half marathons.  This one was only a 5k and considered more of a “fun” run, which is what I was most looking forward to.  No training needed in advance, no pressure to perform under a certain time.  It was super refreshing for me.

Despite running into a few hurdles getting to the race (which included missing the exit and ending up on the Verrazano in Staten Island AND having my EZ Pass confiscated!), I got there just in time to pick up my number and get to the starting line.

If you’re not familiar with the Color Run, here’s how it works.  You start off the race all fresh and clean, wearing all white.

And during the race, you get a ton of color powder thrown at you by volunteers, and wind up looking like this:

This is what I looked like just after crossing the finish line.

After the race, there was a post race party which included a DJ, water, food and goodies, and of course even more colored powder.

The experience was so much fun, I’m already planning on running it again next year!

Did you participate in the Color Run?  If so, what city?  I’d love to hear about it.

Dex New York Makeup Lesson

A few months ago, my friend Tracy talked me into buying a Groupon with her to get a makeup lesson. I had a while back made a promise to myself to stop buying Groupons because I never use them. I had a change of heart for this specific one for a few reasons.

1. I’m an idiot when it comes to makeup. Seriously, the lesson would help.
2. After looking at the company offering the Groupon’s website, Dex New York, I learned not only are their products not tested on animals (they have the bunny logo!), but all their products were vegan as well.

We made our appointment for a few weeks later and went together.

Dex is located in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and isn’t so much a makeup store, but a makeup studio. They train makeup artists in their craft and they specialize in event and red carpet makeup. Though they are a studio, they sell all their products, which are mineral based, via their website.

Upon arriving, we were offered some refreshments and then asked to remove our makeup to get ready for the lesson.

Throughout the lesson we were given a face chart to complete so we would have all the information we learned to bring home with us and recreate. Step by step, as we went through the process our instructor would do one side of our face, with us replicating it on the other side. We’d then fill out the chart with the step, product used and brush used prior to moving onto the next step.

Our makeup artist, Rebecca, did a fantastic job not only explaining why she was choosing the products she was for us, but also why she was applying them the way she was. She did an analysis of our bone structure and our eye shape, and from there explained the best ways to apply makeup to bring those features out.

For my lesson, I had asked to learn how to best pull off a bright lip, which is something I’m pretty horrible at. I also wanted to learn a good day to night smokey eye look. Rebecca reviewed both with me.

Tracy asked for a lesson on camera ready makeup.  She does a bit of television work for her personal training business and wanted to learn how to apply makeup that showed up well on camera.  It was interesting to sit in and listen to her lesson being a lot of the tips Rebecca offered for camera ready were not necessarily things I would have thought of myself.  I picked up several tips which have since resulted in better photos for myself as well.

Here’s my finished result.

I wound up treating myself to an early birthday present and buying most of the products Rebecca recommended for me. I loved they were all vegan, and featured color names specific to New York (like Montauk and Wall Street Onyx). Their packaging is also very eco-friendly. All colors come in steel tins which snap in and out of a pallet. I love the pallet because you have all your makeup for your entire look in one slim pallet which easily fits in a purse or clutch. Plus, when you run out of something you don’t have to replace the entire pallet, just snap out the tin you’re out of and replace it.

Another reason I love it, the products do what they advertise.  My makeup has looked amazing in photographs lately, even when I do my makeup all by myself.  Can’t hate that.

Have you ever taken a makeup lesson? I’d love to hear your experience.

Babycakes

Any time I’m in the Lower East Side, I try to hit up Babycakes.

Babycakes is a vegan, gluten-free bakery who has I kid you not won awards for the best cupcake in New York City. I’m not saying vegan cupcake, just cupcake in general. Their cupcakes are freakin’ fantastic.

Another awesome thing about a visit to Babycakes? It’s literally right around the corner from MooShoes. What vegan girl doesn’t consider sweet treats and shoe shopping the best day ever?

Summer Rooftops

This summer has flown by so fast and I feel like I’ve barely had any time to enjoy it.  While taking some time to finally go through the photos on my camera this weekend, I came across a bunch from the last few weeks and it’s obvious where we had the best time so far this summer: on the city rooftops.

Here are some photos I took while sunbathing on my friend Tracy’s roof in Brooklyn, and at another friend’s rooftop party in Manhattan.

Ridiculously Easy Notebook Cover DIY

This is seriously the easiest DIY project ever. It’s almost cheating.

I’ve been a big fan of Rollabind notebooks for years. As I’ve may have mentioned on this blog, I’m horrendously OCD, especially with paperwork. As a result I can’t stand having old notes in a notebook. The Rollabind works great for me being you can easily pull pages out and reorganize them. It’s like if a spiral and ring binder notebook had a baby.

Only problem was my Rollabind I use for work was fugly. Vegan friendly, but very very fugly.

I came across these duck tape sheets at Staples and thought, “Wow! Those are cool!
I love zebra. What could I use these for?” and quickly remembered my ugly notebook. I picked them up for $2 each and had the project done in less than 5 minutes.

The first thing you do is measure the size of the cover. I did mine up to the stitching on the seams being my notebook has a padded cover.

Next, you draw on the back of each sheet of duct tape the dimensions. Then you cut it out.

Then you peel the backing off the sticker, apply it to the cover…

And voila! No more fugly notebook!

Repeat the process with the second sheet and back cover of the notebook and you’re done.

Nice part about this DIY is if you get sick of the pattern, you can just peel it off with no damage to the book.