Cocktails and Dinosaurs: VeganMoFo Edition for the Weekend of 10-2-09

Semi-weekly posts of random things I find on the internet and all the food-related news you can handle for the month of October.

• Charlie on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is introduced to pears.
  
  
• Has the excitement of somen noodle night fallen flat lately? Maybe what you need is a Home Somen Shop from Bandai. (via eatmedaily.com)
  
  
• Alton Brown from the show Good Eats in a segment I'd like to call Food Network Secrets.
  
  
• Archeologists find what they believe to be the fabled rotating dining room of the Roman Emperor Nero.
  
  
• Barbara Walters takes Paula Deen to task on her new cookbook for kids and its potential to contribute to childhood obesity... and then she's distracted by a table full of baked goods and sandwiches.
  
  
  
  
• Pizza Hummus? Could it be true? The VegNews blog, This Just In, had a post last week about Tribe's new pizza hummus. However, the website for Tribe doesn't have it listed yet. I have tried a couple stores and haven't found it. Blog 'scuse me? will get to the bottom of this pizza hummus scandal. Stay tuned for updates.
  
  
• On Robin Robertson's blog, Vegan Planet, a new recipe was posted last week for Mac and Chard.

Libation of the Week: Margarita

On the rocks or frozen, margaritas are a great way to cool down on a hot summer day or in my case, imagine it's a hot summer day as I shiver from the crisp early autumn weather.


Send any news tidbits and cocktails ideas to: monicatara@gmail.com

Cocktails and Dinosaurs: News and Libations for the Weekend of 9-25-09

Semi-weekly posts of the news that's only a week old.

• Veganmofo is back!!! It's the Vegan Month of Food this October. Blog 'scuse me? will be participating again this year so check back often in October for some awesome food related posts.
  
  
• Fucked Up won the Polaris Music Prize on Tuesday! Fucked Up will be performing at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on November 5th with Andrew W.K. on keys, Vivian Girls on backup vocals and specials guests Titus Andronicus and Katie Stelmanis.
  
  
• Check out Honda's new Personal Mobility Device. Just imagine crowded city sidewalks filled with people on unicycles. (via engadget)
  
  
• I knew Wii Bowling was addictive. Police caught playing Wii Bowling during a 9 hour drug raid. In even more Wii-related news I found on engadget this week, as of September 27th, thanks to a price drop, the Wii will only set you back $199.99. It's like they're giving them away.
  
  
• In 2012, for the 100th anniversary of the Titanic, a cruise will follow the same route and even serve a similar menu as the original liner. For anyone considering this, here are some helpful survival tips. More importantly, soon we may be able to enjoy James Cameron's movie Titanic in all three dimensions.

Libation of the Week: Appletini



Special thanks to Tara for contributing a cocktail for this week. The Appletini, also known as an apple martini, the manliest cocktail you can drink. Add some maraschino cherries and an episode of Degrassi for that classic Tara flair.


Send any news tidbits and cocktails ideas to: monicatara@gmail.com

Ya know, darlin’, I’m 97 percent chum free.

Avast! International Talk Like A Pirate Day is this Saturday, September 19th, 2009!

Some holiday suggestions:

• Stock up on rum and rum cocktail making accouterments
  
• Play The Curse of Monkey Island
• Listen to Coeur de pirate (not really pirate-related, just good French Canadian music)
  
• Watch Johnny Depp movies
• Learn what bung hole means (I feel like Beavis and Butt-head have lied to me all these years.)

I wonder what Kanye West thinks about the Talk Like A Pirate Day website?

Cocktails and Dinosaurs: News and Libations for the Weekend of 8-28-09

Semi-weekly posts of the news that makes me giggle during my lunch hour and other random stuff I find throughout the week.

• The first single from the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack is streaming on Myspace and also available on iTunes.
  
  
• Did PETA go to far...again? Their tasteless "Save The Whales" campaign has created quite a bit of controversy (media attention), while poking fun at overweight women. Ingrid Newkirk of PETA sort of apologized in an interview with Montel Williams. The response posted on veganhope.com puts best what's wrong with this campaign.
  
  
• After hearing about the new sandwich at KFC which replaces the bun with two deep fried chicken breasts, I felt inspired to watch youtube videos of Patton Oswalt's standup.
  
  
• Rumors surfaced this week that Robin Williams may play "Britain's Got Talent" contestant Susan Boyle in a biopic. The Robin Williams Fansite denies that there is any truth to this story.
  
  
• The Best of Wikipedia Blog. No explanation needed.
  
  
• Lastly, I take back everything bad I have said about twitter.
  
  

Libation of the Week: Bourbon and Ginger Ale


Jack Kerouac drank a double bourbon and ginger ale in Big Sur. I like to get mine with a cherry to girl it up.

Send any news tidbits and cocktails ideas to: monicatara@gmail.com

Full Moon Failure

Has there been an as-yet-undetected orbital shift that is causing Earth to behave like a total psychotic douche? Has something (else) crept into our water supply? The past few days have been nothing but death, dementia, and dog abuse. Even more disturbing is the fact that VH1 is only partly responsible for the mess.

While we're on the subject of VH1:

As we all know, it is definitely a probable likelihood that the second guy from the right didn't not murder his ex-wife. As a screaming VH1 Reality whore, I often flipped to the blinged-out, vaguely creepy Megan Wants a Millionaire, and I was starting to assume that suave Canadian Ryan Jenkins would at least make it to the finale. A couple of weeks after the premiere, Ryan fled the country with homicide detectives hot on his trail and made it to the finale...of his life. (I used to write for Behind the Music. No I didn't.) In response to these grim events, VH1 has erased all traces of MWAM from existence. I really hope they give smug little Megan a second chance and toss her into My Antonio as a replacement for twitchy harridan Sarah, who is the hero of our next bit of news:

It became abundantly clear in episode one of My Antonio that contestant Sarah (who is inexplicably listed as a student) was a little "troubled". One can't help but wonder if her troubles were of the white, powdery variety. From dissolving into tears each time Antonio approached her to crying assault when a housemate offered her a bite of waffle with cream cheese (though I can't help but understand her horror), Sarah delighted audiences until her abrupt exit in the first half of episode two, during which she coined the immortal catchphrase, "LEH-GOAH-MEE-NOW!"

Beyond the glittery cable tv realm, current events are no more inspiring:

- Either Mayfly's guardian is a compulsive liar, or Gerard Butler is Satan.

- Animal activist-cum-jackass creates irony that even the most staunch hipster can't enjoy.

- Further evidence that animal cruelty and America's hatred of Brett Favre are like peanut butter and chocolate.

After all this shedding of blood, tears, and purple paint, I consider it my obligation to calm your frazzled nerves with this nugget of vintage misogyny:

Love the husband's appalled reaction to the high-five at 1:53.

Cocktails and Dinosaurs: News and Libations for the Weekend of 8-21-09

Welcome to the first of many (hopefully) semi-weekly posts of the news you may have missed and random news that I find entertaining. Plus a special cocktail to help you celebrate the weekend.

• New Jersey Police mistake a lost hobo for Bob Dylan... or the other way around.
  
  
• According the New York Times, that beer belly you've been trying to suck in all summer is actually quite sexy or this is yet another lame thing hipsters are trying to make cool. Resist!
  
  
• Shocking news! Only 40% of messages on twitter are "pointless babble". I find that hard to believe.
  
  
• Never want to leave your house again? Consider investing in an Arkeg. You'll thank me.
  
  
• Listen to a few sample tracks off of Andrew W.K.'s new album 55 Cadillac here.
  
  
• Screaming Females added to the 2009 CMJ Music Marathon from October 20-24 in NYC.
  
  
• Traces of cocaine found on U.S. currency. (I feel like there is a good 80's/James Spader/Less Than Zero joke here... I got nothing.)
  
  
• Ever heard of cold brewing your coffee?
  
  
• More news about the Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack.
  
  
• The people at yesbutnobutyes.com take a look at recent stage falls. I have to say I'm a little disappointed they didn't mention Bret Michaels glorious stage encounter with a slow moving piece of scenery.
  
  
• According to Scientific American, 25% of fish in U.S. waterways have unsafe levels of mercury. Sorry, Chris Kattan, looks like Jeremy Piven wasn't making that up.
  And other reasons not to eat fish.
  
  

Libation of the Week: Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky



Learn more about scotch whisky at the greatest online reference... Wikipedia!
Stay tuned. Next week I may have an actual cocktail. Fingers crossed.

Send any news tidbits and cocktails ideas to: monicatara@gmail.com

Martha Stewart (Encouraging Animals to Remain) Living

I love cupcakes. In June, the Martha Stewart Show celebrated these tiny confections with the reverence they deserve. During what I'll refer to as "Cupcake Week", she invited the mastermind behind Trophy Cupcakes in Seattle (not vegan). After watching her make these Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallow (follow the link for the recipe and video), I had to veganize them.

Veganizing this was pretty easy, I basically used the most straight forward replacements.

• For the eggs, EnerG Egg Replacer (if you try something different, tell me how it turns out)
  
• For the whole milk, soy milk with 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (to help it curdle a little)
• For the butter, non dairy margarine (I usually use Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
• For the marshmallow topping, vegan marshmallow mix (see below)

If I'm missing something or you have any questions, let me know. These cupcakes were too good not to share.


Cupcake prep: graham cracker crust plus bittersweet chocolate.


Here they are ready to go in the oven with a fresh sprinkling of graham crackers and chocolate.


Here's a gorgeous picture of the little babies fresh out of the oven.


My version of marshmallow topping... actual marshmallow. My topping came out super delicious, but the cake was moist and chocolatey and could pretty much stand on its own, if you're feeling lazy. You may notice that I did not toast the topping. I'm afraid of torches. It's mainly that devilish blue flame.





Check out that awesome graham crackery cupcake crust.