Labor Day Get Together in LIC’s Gorgeous Parks!

We’re mixing city and state on Labor Day when we’ll seamlessly move between Gantry Plaza State Park and NYC’s Hunter’s Point South Park and it’s new annex.
This is the exact opposite of our Forest Park outing. Forest Park is acres and acres of native forest. These two parks are Designed to a D (yes, cap D). They’re also far more than what they represent aesthetically. These parks are engineered with rising waters in mind. They’re huge sponges and filled with drainage perfectly placed to get the water out. Amazing, no?
In the words of the U.S. Department of Labor: “Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.” When will our government think of Shop Til You Drop Day? – a salute to America’s great pastime – shopping! Oh, that’s Black Friday. 🙂
Our Plan:
12:00pm
We’ll meet at at the clock in Court Square. See photo below.
Bring a picnic lunch. There is a location of FoodCellar in Court Square with plenty of veg options for takeaway if you’d rather go that route.
We’ll make our way down to the waterfront and find a spot to enjoy our lunch. We’ll then explore the East River coastline right up to the Newtown Creek which divides Queens from Brooklyn.

Accessibility:
Court Square is not accessible at this time due to elevator modifications to take flooding into account. The nearest elevator stop which isn’t far away is Queens Plaza on the E, M, R routes. Everything else is entirely accessible. There are wheelchair bathrooms throughout our route.

More about the parks can be found here:
https://parks.ny.gov/parks/149/details.aspx
and here:
https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/hunters-point-south-park
FoodCellar:

Home

Hope to see you in LIC on Labor Day!

VegOut & Radical Love!

Is anyone else exhausted by the notion of World Pride? Over 4,000,000 visitors are expected for this month of celebration. That’s a whole lot of people!
True to our boutique spirit, we’re keeping things, well, boutique. We’re taking time to visit an underpublicized boutique-size exhibit that isn’t even mentioned in the official world pride guide.
Radical Love is the second exhibit in a trilogy at the Ford Foundation Gallery. The newly opened gallery space at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice is dedicated to presenting multidisciplinary art, performance, and public programming by artists committed to exploring issues of justice and injustice.
Excerpts from their press release: “Love, in the context of this exhibition, is defined by a commitment to the spiritual growth and interconnectedness of the individual, their community, and stewardship of the planet. Guided by the powerful words of bell hooks, “Were we all seeing more images of loving human interaction, it would undoubtedly have a positive impact on our lives.” The works in Radical Love are grounded in ideas of devotion, abundance, and beauty; here, otherness and marginality is celebrated, adorned, and revered. Employing everything in their arsenal, they create enchanting works that transform disabled, black, brown, indigenous, and queer subjects into protagonists of new narratives of love and redemption. Throughout the exhibition, artists demonstrate that when the world deems your existence unworthy, casting yourself as a subject is an act of radical love. Understanding the regenerative impact of this love, their work is an antidote to our collective pain.”
The Ford Foundation is one of the most glamorous buildings in all of NYC. If you haven’t seen it, you simply must!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/19/arts/design/ford-foundation-center-for-social-justice-renovation.html?searchResultPosition=4

Our Plan:
3pm – Meet and view the exhibit. One of the pieces is a sound installation within the Ford Foundation gardens. There is also a sensory garden to experience.
4pm – We head one block east to Le Botaniste for a vegan bite to eat and an opportunity to discuss the exhibit and whatever else comes to mind. http://www.lebotaniste.us

Hiking Blue/Orange and Yellow Trails in Forest Park!

Spring has sprung! What better way than to observe a native forest coming into green.

The Forest Park Trust describes the Oak Forest where our trails are located thusly: “The most continuous oak forest in Queens can be found in Forest Park. Protected as a “Forever Wild” area, it features 150 year old oak and tulip trees and is home to songbirds, small mammals, pheasants, hawks and owls. No bicycles, baby carriages or unleashed dogs are allowed in this area of the park. Three marked hiking trails help you traverse the undulating topography and explore this 165-acre forest.”

We’ll do a combination of the orange and blue trail and then the yellow trail in its entirety. The hike will be approximately three miles total.

The terrain is a native forest. It is hilly so we’ll do gentle ascents and descents as we make our way through the woods.

Our Plan:
We’ll gather at the Station Square side of the Long Island Railroad east bound track. (see photo)

You can take the LIRR from Penn Station to Forest Hills which is the first stop (16 minutes from Penn). Make sure to purchase a City Ticket for $4.50. Or you can take the E/F express trains to Forest Hills and then walk over to Station Square about 2.5 blocks as you’ll walk under the LIRR tracks to our meeting place.

If you take the LIRR details are here:
Approx Travel Time : 16 minutes
From NEW YORK PENN STATION
Take the BABYLON bound LIRR Train departing at 1:21 PM
Get off at FOREST HILLS STATION at 1:37 PM
City Ticket Fare : $4.50

We’ll depart Station Square at 2:00pm for our walk over to the Park. This allows a cushion of time for those traveling by subway.

After our hike through Forest Park we’ll return to Forest Hills for an optional early supper at Bareburger on Austin Street which has several vegan options.

More on Forest Park is here: https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/Q015/history

MTA TripPlanner is here: http://www.mta.info

Bareburger vegan options answered here: https://www.bareburger.com/faqs/

VegOut does Thai at CorTHAIyou!

Really CorTHAIyou does vegan at CorTHAIyou! This restaurant has the most charming vegan waiter who took it upon himself to request a vegan menu where he makes his livelihood. Wow!!! Talk about living in alignment with your values. This is major!
Let’s support his initiative and congratulate this lovely restaurant for doing the right thing. How about next Saturday?
https://www.corthaiyou.com
(Scroll down for the vegan apps and entrees)
Let’s be an all vegan party of 6 for Corthaiyou!

Afterward we can head over to Bar Chord for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to continue the conversation if we are thus inclined.

Getting there:
The Q is the way to go and it is super fast right to Cortelyou Road.

It’s Party Time! (VegOut Style!)

Happy birthday, Jim!

No, that’s not it.

Happy anniversary, Jim!

No, not that either.

Happy retirement, Jim!

That’s it! At the ripe young age of #%*, our fearless vegan leader has decided to get his act together and take it on the road! (Metaphorically, that is!) And we want to celebrate Jim’s milestone with a potluck!

We’ll be gathering on April 20 at the Yonkers home of me, Abe. Bring your favorite vegan dish (savory or sweet). Let the other participants know what you’re bringing by leaving it in a comment. (We’d like to try not to duplicate dishes.) Also feel free to bring your favorite beverage – whatever that might be. The party runs from 4pm-8pm. be there or be square.

Accessibility: Grand Central Terminal and the Yonkers MetroNorth stop are wheelchair accessible. My apartment is entirely wheelchair accessible.

Check MeetUp.com/VegOut-nyc for the deets.

XYST by Matthew Kenney!

Compare yourself to this normal person: Matthew Kenney is 32 restaurants and 13 cookbooks in. He continues to redefine vegan dining, cooking and high raw living. I think I’m in love and you should be too!

We’re going to settle in to one of his latest – XYST in Chelsea. Put a 2 in front of it and you have underwear. That’s not lost on me at all. Delete the 2 and you have the best Mediterranean inspired vegan cuisine out there. From North Africa to Spain and all the way to Turkey, Mr. Kenney has us covered.

So let’s tuck in to all things Mediterranean inspired. Shall we?

http://www.matthewkenneycuisine.com/xyst
https://www.theglassmagazine.com/%E2%80%8Bglass-reaches-vegan-nirvana-at-xyst%E2%80%8B-new-york-city/

Martha Rosler and Early Sunday Supper! 3/3/19

Feminism is a viewpoint that demands a rethinking of all structural relations in society. Feminism is powerful because it is true.”
—martha rosler

We’re off to the Jewish Museum for a 5 decade career survey of Rosler’s work. This is the last day of the exhibit. The Museum has this to say about their exhibition:

“Martha Rosler is considered one of the strongest and most resolute artistic voices of her generation. She skillfully employs diverse materials to address pressing matters of her time, including war, gender roles, gentrification, inequality, and labor. From her feminist photomontages of the 1960s and 1970s to her large-scale installations, Rosler’s vital work reflects an enduring and passionate vision.

Martha Rosler: Irrespective showcases both well-known and rarely seen selections from more than five decades of work. Installations, photographic series, sculpture, and video represent a practice continually evolving and reacting to the shifting contours of political life. Throughout, Rosler’s work has been characterized by intellectual rigor and sharp wit, along with a sense of urgency directed at social and political issues that remain as relevant and immediate as when they first emerged.”

More about the exhibit can be found here:
https://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/martha-rosler-irrespective

Following the exhibit we’ll head over to Hummus Kitchen for some delicious veg eats and post exhibit conversation. HK is not a vegan restaurant but there are good vegan options and the food is terrific! Portions are huge and shareable.
http://www.hummuskitchen1.com

Let’s do this!

On the left is the artist herself, Martha Rosler, discussing her work. On the right is a VegOuter himself, Michael, sitting down at Martha’s tablescape.