One of my favourite veg*n place in New York, teaNY, has been destroyed by a fire. An electrical fire ignited the veg*n eatery and gutted the building on Rivington Street, in Manhattan's Lower East Side on Thursday night (18Jun09). The tea / restaurant is owned by Moby and his ex-girlfriend Kelly Tisdale.  Moby is currently on tour in Europe and writes on his blog, "Yesterday there was a fire (no one was hurt, as far as I know) and Teany was destroyed... I'm really glad no one was hurt."
But Moby and Tisdale are planning to rebuild and reopen the cafe before the end of the summer (09). He adds in a later post, "Apparently Kelly is working hard to repair it and get it re-opened. So there's a good chance that Teany will re-open at some point in the next month or two."

When I'm in NY, I usually go there for a vegan BLT and a Chai latte. It would be a shame if I can't do that next time I'm visiting gringoland.

How cool is that? An iPhone application powered by happycow.net!? Wherever you go wherever you are, it will locate and give you the directions to the nearest veg*n restaurants. My current tariff is coming to its end and I can wait to get a hold of an iPhone. I know it's a bit sad but I'm a mac nerd.

Check the Vegout website here. 

I caught up with the self confessed ‘international superstar’ to find out a little bit more about the man behind Heavy Metal Vegan Cooking.  Tim lives in Syracuse, NY, with his video camera and death metal record collection.  If you have no idea what I'm on about check out the videos here!

How long have you been vegan for and why was it the right choice for you to make?

I've been vegan for about 2 years now, however I had been vegetarian for 12 years before that. I made the switch to being vegan after discovering the truth about the places where animal products and goods really come from. I decided that I wanted to have no part in supporting industries that profit from animal abuse.

In the second chapter of these cool short films, John Joseph of The Cro-Mags talks about his book "Meat is for pussies", and the ins and outs of living cruelty-free! I'm really digging these.

Sadly, John's spoken-word European tour has been postponed. I will post up the new dates when they are confirmed. Until then, enjoy this vid!

After 3 years, Josh Harper, who is part of the Shac7 has been released from prison!! Welcome home Josh!

 To find out more about Josh and the whole Shac7 case please see the above website or check out this video:

mix:

• 2 1/4 cups of gluten and wheat free plain white flour (blend of buckwheat rice tapioca potato and maize flour)
• 1 1/2 cup of sugar
• 4 Tbsps of ground flaxseeds
• 3/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• in a large bowl
• then add
• 2 cups of whole earth coke
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 tsps white apple cider vinegar
• 2 1/2 vanilla extract
• and blend it well
• then mix with
• 1 1/2 cup of blueberries

Fill cupcake liners three quarters full and put in the oven for aprox. 20 min remove from oven and let them cool to room temperature. Meanwhile prepare the blueberry frosting

you need to blend:

• 4 cups of icing sugar
• 3/4 cup of margarine
• berries

and leave it in the fridge for an hour
start melting:

• 2 cups choc chips + 3 Tbsps of veg oiland leave it on a side to cool

fit a pastry bag with a star-tipped nozzle, then fill bag with blueberry buttercream frosting, decorate every cupcake and leave them in the fridge for half an hour.

Once the blueberry icing is done, turn the cupcakes upside down and dip them into melted chocolate, until the icing is completely submerged in a thick layer of rich dark chocolate.

Let any excess chocolate drain back off into the bowl, so that the cupcakes are left with a balanced amount of chocolate coating. to finish them off put a cherry on top (you can use variations, such as a couple of blueberries or raspberries if you wish) once all the cakes are frosted in chocolate and topped with a cherry.
Put them in the freezer for a short period of time just to let the chocolate set (so when you bite into them, you break through the chocolate into the sweet blueberry icing)

Keep in a fridge or eat all of them straight away