Saturday is FULL of events on both coasts, you guys. And this one sounds like so much fun: the Oakland Cat Vid Fest! How much fun? Let’s see:
The Great Wall of Oakland is collaborating with the Walker Art Center to bring the Internet Cat Video Festival to Oakland! On Saturday, May 11, from 3 to 10 p.m., an estimated 5,000+ cat-lovers and friends will be celebrating felines and exploring the low-art of Internet cat videos together, in real-time, as we transform West Grand between Telegraph and Broadway into a cat-lovers wonderland. Best of all, proceeds benefit the East Bay SPCA!
During the day, cat-lovers and their allies can peruse cat and pet products and arts and crafts from a host of vendors, adopt cats from local rescue centers, learn about kitten fostering, listen to live bands, nom delicious human food from local food trucks, and participate in a plethora of cativities, including art projects.
As the sun sets, festival attendees will gather in front of the Great Wall to view the Bay Area premiere of #catvidfest, [Minneapolis, Minnesota’s] Walker Art Center’s curated collection of Internet cat videos. See your favorites: “Henri,” “Cats Playing Patty Cake,” and “Cat Says NOM NOM NOM.” The Great Wall’s artist in residence group, Bandaloop, will perform a cat-themed aerial duet off the 100-foor wall before the screening.
The Oakland Internet Cat Video Festival is a unique community event celebrating cats, art and technology while educating the public on the importance of cat adoption and kitten fostering.
Ridiculous and delightful, right? Check out this recap of the original CatVidFest that now works as a preview for Saturday’s event!
For more information, visit Oakland Cat Vid Fest online.
Got a tip about an awesome vegan-friendly event? Let us know! We love fun!
Can’t see the video? Watch it on Vegansaurus.com!
Dolphins have names for each other! I guess they already knew dolphins named themselves, but this new study discovered that they will call each other by names, especially when they are separated.
“Animals produced copies when they were separated from a close associate and this supports our belief that dolphins copy another animal’s signature whistle when they want to reunite with that specific individual,” lead author Stephanie King of the University of St. Andrews Sea Mammal Research Unit told Discovery News.
So of course they totally harassed dolphin mamas and babies to find this out but we can still appreciate the implications of the science even if we disapprove of the methods: dolphins are awesome!
If you want to help dolphins, who are slaughtered by the thousands every year (not to mention help captive in shameful zoos and aquariums), check out Sea Shepherd’s dolphin initiatives.
![Hey New York! It’s time for the May Vegan Shop-Up!
This month the Cinnamon Snail has a prior engagement, but that means more room for Bunna Cafe, whose Ethiopian food I have yet to try (because of this I’m kind of obsessed with it). As a one-Shop-Up veteran, I recommend getting there on the early side; I rolled up to the April Shop-Up around 4 and almost everything was sold out. And then the Cinnamon Snail truck’s battery died, and they had to stop taking orders! It was nuts! At least there were scrumptious, not-too-strong bloody marys.
Check out the full list of vendors, and bring your cash. Mother’s Day is Sunday, so if you can bring your mom, too! Moms love bloody marys (and sober moms love virgin marys, because moms love tomato juice).
The Vegan Shop-Up runs from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, at Pine Box Rock Shop, 12 Grattan St., off the Morgan L stop in Bushwick. See you there? Ice cream and Ethiopian food and macarons, oh yes! [And Alchemy Creamery will be there! And they should have their new espresso ice cream! OMG! -Megan]
Got a tip about an awesome vegan-friendly event? Let us know! We love fun!](http://24.media.tumblr.com/f7b023fa0983a7c85e431180376e96eb/tumblr_mmcl5viZPT1qzq14lo1_500.jpg)
Hey New York! It’s time for the May Vegan Shop-Up!
This month the Cinnamon Snail has a prior engagement, but that means more room for Bunna Cafe, whose Ethiopian food I have yet to try (because of this I’m kind of obsessed with it). As a one-Shop-Up veteran, I recommend getting there on the early side; I rolled up to the April Shop-Up around 4 and almost everything was sold out. And then the Cinnamon Snail truck’s battery died, and they had to stop taking orders! It was nuts! At least there were scrumptious, not-too-strong bloody marys.
Check out the full list of vendors, and bring your cash. Mother’s Day is Sunday, so if you can bring your mom, too! Moms love bloody marys (and sober moms love virgin marys, because moms love tomato juice).
The Vegan Shop-Up runs from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, at Pine Box Rock Shop, 12 Grattan St., off the Morgan L stop in Bushwick. See you there? Ice cream and Ethiopian food and macarons, oh yes! [And Alchemy Creamery will be there! And they should have their new espresso ice cream! OMG! -Megan]
Got a tip about an awesome vegan-friendly event? Let us know! We love fun!
Vegan Happy Hour is back at the Hemlock Tavern! How awesome is it going to be?
All one has to do is bring something—anything!—vegan to share. There will be drink specials and a DJ, too. In the past few months, we’ve had build-your-own sliders, fajitas, awesome grain salads, tamales, insanely good cookies, and tons of other tasty treats.
So awesome! So get to the Hemlock, 1131 Polk St. in S.F., from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 10. Bring a dish, bring some crafts, bring your beautiful self and all your gorgeous friends. Make vegan pals! Drink! Dance! Share! Community and fellowship, you guys; it’s like vegan church but way more debauched. Details on Facebook.
Got a tip about an awesome vegan-friendly event? Let us know! We love fun!
I attended Farm Sanctuary’s Fashion Loves Animals event this past weekend, they were honoring one of my favorite people: Leanne of Vaute Couture! As we arrived, I was quickly given a shot of asparagus soup (pictured above) made by new celebrity chef Jay Astafa! I was completely stoked since I had missed his popup dinner. I was also stoked because the soup was delicious!
Here’s Jay prepping behind the scenes.
Now, on to the Vaute fashion show!
Yes, lovely outfit. More importantly: OMG what a cute dog! And all the pups were up for adoption. No but really, the clothes were lovely. And I love these shoes by Love is Mighty. They’re made of old candy wrappers!
Notice the Brave GentleMan kicks.
I love this dress. There were new versions of this dress I’d seen at Vaute’s fashion week show—now it comes in lots of pretty floral patters! Leanne said they are at the Vaute Couture store now. Yay!
Beautiful picture of the back of this dress by me.
This puppy stole the show of course. Because PUPPY!
Beautiful picture of the end of the show by me. There’s Leanne with models in tow.
Here’s a behind the scenes shot from Max Gordon Photography (all the pics not taken by me were supplied by Vaute’s lovely PR person Meredith and are by Max Gordon or Farm Sanctuary). Also check out the sweater, I love it. I need it.
And here we have the stars of the show—and really the stars of any show they attend for that matter!: Leanne, Gene Baur, Discerning Brute Joshua.
And in closing, here’s a lovely Vine video I took:
OMG I had so much fun! Thanks, Farm Sanctuary!
Late last month, your Vegansaurus was invited to attend a fancypants vegan pop-up dinner by up-and-coming vegan chef Jay Astafa. As part of our constant effort to bring you the most important news on the best vegan dining, we accepted.
The pop-up was an eight-course tasting menu of Jay’s savory vegan delights, with dessert by vegan pastry chef and fellow wunderkind Dani McGrath, and wines by the Vegan Vine.
Here are some photos that I took. They’re … adequate.
First course: King oyster mushroom scallop with aged balsamic caviar and green pea purée
Second course (one of my favorites!): Spring crostini duo (ramps & cashew chèvre; sorrel-mint pesto, micro pea tendrils, green peas, cashew parmesan)
Third course: Chilled potato and leek soup with chive olive oil foam
Fourth course (SO GOOD YOU GUYS): Ravioli with asparagus and ricotta (house-made cashew cream butter, cashew parmesan)
Fifth course: Smoked cauliflower steak with sunchoke purée, morels, fava beans, snap peas, green garlic, truffle vinaigrette, shaved black summer truffle
Sixth course: House-made cheese plate with aged cashew cheese and brie, strawberry-rhubarb compote, orange-infused vegan honey, rosemary-almond crackers
Seventh course: “Dragon Breath” caramel popcorn
Eighth course: Grand Marnier-infused chocolate rart with pistachio gelato, raspberry coulis, pistachio tuile, raspberry pop candy, fleur de sel salted caramel powder
Lucky for you, Ms. Hannah “Bittersweet Blog” Kaminsky took much better pictures of the menu that really do Jay and Dani’s dishes justice. She also has Jay’s recipe for the sorrel-mint pesto crostini, which was one of my favorite dishes and which I fully intend to (attempt to) reproduce, because holy moly, it was so good. Go see for yourself!
To find out more about Jay Astafa and Jay Kitchen, follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He also catered Farm Sanctuary’s Fashion Loves Animals event (which we attended, too!) last weekend. Keep an eye out for more from this super-talented kid; he is amazing, and we are lucky to have him on team vegan.
(And seriously check out Hannah’s photos, they are gorgeous.)
Got a tip about an awesome vegan-friendly event? Let us know! We love fun!
Last year your votes helped place some great ads from the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition on BART. Now you can help FFAC get a new round of free BART advertising this year by voting again via the BART Blue Sky program Facebook poll.
Voting closes on Sunday, May 12, and the top three finishers will receive $50,000 worth of BART ads in stations and onboard trains. All voters can also enter to win a $500 Clipper card.
If you want to see more ads like this during your commute, get clicking! Help out FFAC and promote cruelty-free living.
[BART photo by Thomas Hawk via Flickr]
You might make some friends with this shit here. Roasted strawberries and coconut flakes make this salad look classy as fuck but it’s still a choice delivery method for all that fiber and antioxidants. Make some room on your plate for this nutritious motherfucker.
We did this with our friends at FoodBeast. Check their shit out. I’ve been reading dessert recipes over there for the last hour, I should probably get back to work.
ROASTED STRAWBERRY SALAD
16 medium strawberries, about 1 pound
1 teaspoon olive oil
a pinch of salt
½ cup coconut flakes (you can use sliced almonds to save some cash)
¼ cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
a big bunch of basil, chopped into thin strips, about 2/3 cup
salt and pepper to taste
1 big head of lettuce (green leaf, spinach, butter, whatthefuckever kind of lettuce is fine)
Warm up your oven to 400 degrees. Cut the green tops off the strawberries and throw that shit out. Slice the berries in half lengthwise. Toss them in a bowl with the teaspoon of olive oil and salt. Mix that shit up good so everything is coated. Put the strawberries cut side down on a cookie sheet. I hate doing dishes so I usually cover the cookie sheet with foil or something because the strawberries can release some juice and it’s annoying as fuck to clean. Roast the strawberries for 10 minutes. Throw the coconut flakes in their own section on the cookie sheet and then roast them at the same time for 3 more minutes or until the coconut looks toasted. Let everything cool the fuck down to about room temperature.
Mix together the lemon juice, vinegar, and oil in a small glass. Toss the lettuce and the basil in a big bowl and add as much of the dressing, salt, and pepper as you like. Make sure everything is coated and then put the strawberries and coconut flakes on top. Arrange that shit so it looks nice. If you don’t feel like fucking with the oven then just leave the strawberries raw. I don’t give a shit JUST EAT A FUCKING SALAD or 10.
Serve 4 people as a side or 1 jolly green giant
A reader tipped us off to Thug Kitchen. Seems pretty great, right? Salads are like plant nachos, and this one looks particularly good. Roasted strawberries and coconut!
It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!
First, some good news in our campaign to eradicate gestation crates from pork production: The top eight grocers in Canada (including Walmart Canada) committed to phase out gestation crates. This led one ag reporter to editorialize, “It seems to me like you might as well stick a fork in its butt and turn it over: the gestation stall debate is done.”
Now, some more good news: The Indiana ag-gag bill was killed this week.
I had a new op-ed on CNN.com this week about ag-gag bills that you may want to check out. Also, you may be interested in another new piece of mine (this one on Huffington Post) about the pork industry’s Orwellian name game. And I was glad to do an interview on HuffPost Live this week.
In Tennessee, the ag-gag bill’s sponsor, pork producer state Rep. Andy Holt, created headlines when he sent an email to my coworker comparing HSUS’s cruelty exposés to rape and human trafficking, even calling our work “tape and rape.” There was a lot of attention on this repulsive comparison, but this one
The Tennessee governor is still deciding whether to sign or veto the ag-gag bill. In the meantime, more than 300 Tennessee clergy members sent a letter to him urging a veto.
A woman was arrested in Utah this week for taking photos of a slaughter plant from public property, though the charges were subsequently dropped, leading the Salt Lake Tribune to editorialize that it’s an “ag-gag backfire.”
A new ag-gag bill was introduced in Pennsylvania this week, and the Wayne Independent is the first paper in the state to editorialize against it, asserting that it “goes against everything this country has stood for since its inception.”
Finally, you’ve heard of schools doing Meatless Mondays, but have you heard of them going all-vegetarian? Now you have. Perhaps that’s no surprise, especially considering that a new Consumer Reports study found 90 percent of retail turkey samples contain dangerous bacteria. Whatever the reason may be, meat-free eating is catching on in a major way. As one AP article this week proclaimed: “Vegetarian cooking goes mainstream.”
P.S. Video of the week: Cat loves vacuum
P.P.S. Too fascinating not to share: With smoking declining, U.S. tobacco growers are turning to growing chick peas to supply the increasing demand for hummus. Apparently the invisible hand of the free market is working==and it likes to dip veggies in hummus.
What’s a girl to do when a case of winter S.A.D, holiday fatigue, and the daily grind have got her down? Go to the Grand Canyon for Spring Break! Beat the blues by visiting one of the greatest natural wonders the Earth has to offer. Cautiously stand six feet away from the ledge, watch a group of men take a picture of their friend plank on the edge (thinking that surely you are going to watch a handsome Englishman plummet to his death right before your eyes, frozen in fear and experiencing vertigo just looking at him) and forget your own emotional baggage for a couple hours.
Sick of winter and worn out from the holidays, my bestie Britney and I began planning Spring Break 2013, or SXAZ, as it seemed everyone else was in Austin at the time. What was initially envisioned as a road trip from Vegas to Santa Fe quickly became reduced once travel time and expenses became a reality. Enter PHOENIX! VegNews just profiled Tempe and Phoenix vegan hotspot Green, Air BnB rentals* are plentiful, and for the four-hour drive to the Grand Canyon, Zipcars are available.
Now, if you should for any reason, find yourself in Phoenix, it is imperative that you eat at Green restaurant. Britney and I ate at Green three of the four days on that trip, we just COULD NOT get enough. By far, for both us, the most incredible item on the menu was their Big Wac, a vegan take on the (in)famous McDonald’s burger. We loved this sandwich so much, we stopped by for the third visit on our way to airport so we could eat our Big Wacs for dinner in San Francisco. Consider us obsessed.
Upon returning home, within four days I had to make my own. So I present you with the Big JB.
I like my junk food with a side of sautéed kale. Or chocolate cake, whatever is available.
Ingredients
Two imitation burgers of your choice (I used Whole Foods brand)
Vegan cheese (Daiya cheddar wedge)
Romaine lettuce
Buns (whole wheat if you are healthy, white flour if you love decadence like me)
Equal parts vegan mayo and ketchup (probably about 2 tablespoons of each)
Dill pickles
2 to 3 tablespoons diced white onion
Instructions
Cook your burgers as instructed on the box. I fried mine up in vegetable oil, in a saucepan on the stove, because if I’m making glorified fast food for dinner, I’m not going the healthy route. Melt your vegan cheese atop burgers as you see fit. I like to put it on the burgers when they are almost done in the frying pan, turn off the heat, and cover the pan till the cheese melts. Smear your buns with “special sauce” (i.e. ketchup and vegan mayo), add diced onions and a couple pickles. Add your romaine lettuce as desired for nutrient value. Design burger as pictured, because you need that extra bun layer, believe me.
*We stayed in a hippie house that put Berkeley to shame. TO SHAME. No matter my minor in hippie studies from Humboldt State; I broke pretty much every rule in that house with my mere existence.