TOM AND KATHY FRESTON HOST COCKTAIL PARTY TO CELEBRATE

JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER’S BOOK “EATING ANIMALS”

New York, NY – Friday, November 13, 2009–Media moguls Tom and Kathy Freston hosted an intimate cocktail party last night at their elegant townhouse on the Upper East Side to celebrate the launch of acclaimed author Jonathan Safran Foer’s latest book and first non-fiction title, “Eating Animals.” The star-studded event included guests Jonathan Safran Foer, Elvis Costello, Liev Schreiber, Sandra Bernhard, Bobby Flay, Stephanie March, Greg Lauren, Elizabeth Berkley, Katie Lee, and Chairman and CEO of MTV Networks, Judy McGrath.

Guests dined on delectable vegan hors d’oeuvres by chef Todd Lindeberg including Seaweed Caviar with Soy Sour Cream on Buckwheat Blinis, “Beef” Tips Gardein, Roasted Walnut Cremini Mushroom Pâté on Plantain Chips and Quinoa Nori Rolls with Cajun Portobello Mushrooms and Avocado.

The evening commenced as guests were greeted by Tom and Kathy Freston who led them into their library and veranda on the second floor of their home. The guest of honor, Jonathan Safran Foer, gave his remarks an hour into the reception citing his inspiration about what led him on his personal journey to write the book “Eating Animals.” Throughout the evening, thought-provoking conversations took place on various topics surrounding factory farming, food and family traditions, vegetarianism, veganism, and knowing where your food comes from. Foer also autographed and personalized messages inside his book for special guests who attended the event.

www.eatinganimals.com

www.seanecorn.com

For those of you who don’t know, I LOVE Halloween ; ) Dan and I love dressing up as a fun and famous duo each year - last year it was Bonnie and Clyde! The crisp air, the colors and onset of the holidays season, Halloween is nothing but a big ol’ treat for me!! From October 1st on, I relish each day by burning pumpkin candles and planning which haunted houses to hit up while helping Dan build one of our own in front of our house to entertain the neighborhood ghouls on all Hallow’s Eve. For the past 2 years I have offered up some healthy as well as eco ideas for a slim and trim as well as green Halloween  - you can view the past posts right here - 2007 and 2008.  Lots of fun tips and recipes to make this a rockin’ Halloween for all.  Below I have also compiled some new tips and recipes to try out this year at your own or if attending any spooky festivities!!

* The best new vegan chocolates on the market are by Go Max Go Foods - they are hoping to roll out the holiday fun size bars in 2010 but for now, hand these sweet treats to the best dressed kids in your hood ; )

*  Another great healthy candy find are Surf Sweets! Healthy, naturally sweetened, gluten free and mostly vegan (a few items aren’t so make sure you read the ingredients) gummy and jelly beany treats. Awesome!

* Visit and sign up for Green Halloween - it’s a great resource for parents & schools to help make Halloween healthy and safe for our most precious goblins ; )

* Visit school and community organized Halloween events, pumpkin patches and haunted houses.  It’s a great way to help out your community while having some good clean fun.

* If you are hosting a party, opt for the weekend after Halloween. This way, you can enjoy the actual Halloween night as well as the competing parties and you have an excuse to wear your costume 1 more time!  It’s also a great way to rid yourself of left over candy and be able to enjoy the fun for a bit longer ; ) Or maybe, celebrate Dia De Los Muertos Day on November 1st with some creepy pinatas and fun Mexican style cuisine!

* Make creative and healthy treats for your guests as well as opting for home made or recycled decorations.  Please visit my previous posts for some green decoration as well as yummy recipes to go withe the ones below:

Spooky Juice

1 oz Organic Vodka

2 splashes Blue Curacao

1 splash Grenadine

Fill with Orange juice

Mix with ice and serve in a scary goblet!

The Great Pumpkin Punch

1 Pumpkin

1 part Apple cider

2 parts Ginger ale

1 part Rum

Sprinkle with nutmeg

Serve in a hollowed out pumpkin with floating pumpkin chunks. (make non-alcoholic by removing the rum)

Cranial Cream Cheese Dip

Plastic wrap

1 small party favor plastic skull candy container

1 package vegan cream cheese

1 jar chunky salsa (or fresh home made salasa!)

crackers or chips for spreading/dipping

Set the cream cheese out to warm to room temperature. Line the inside of the plastic skull dish with plastic wrap leaving enough edges to wrap around later. Spoon the softened cream cheese into the plastic-lined skull dish, mashing in as much cream cheese as possible to pick up the most detail in the mold. Scrape any extra cream cheese off the top so it is flat. Close the plastic wrap over the flat cream cheese top and place in the freezer to set. Once set, remove the plastic wrap from the skull dish, and serve. Place the skull in a shallow dish, garnish with the bloody salsa, including inside the eye sockets, and stab with your favorite spreader. You can extend the time before needing to refill by placing the skull on half a block of cream cheese, but cover the plain cream cheese with enough sauce so you can only see the skull above the “blood.”

Pump-cicles

2 1/2 lbs. butternut squash

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

2/3 cup vegan whipping cream

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Cut a butternut squash into quarters and scoop out the seeds.  Boil or bake the squash until soft. Let the squash cool a bit before scooping its flesh into a medium-size bowl.  Add pure maple syrup, vegan cream, and pumpkin pie spice to the bowl. Use a potato masher to mush the squash and blend all of the ingredients. Spoon the mixture into ice pop molds, add sticks, and freeze for at least 6 hours before serving.

Healthy & Haunted Graveyard

1/2 cup fresh spinach

10 ounces garlic hummus

Broccoli and Celery (for trees)

Pretzels (shirt, thin sticks & mini twisties for the fence)

Tofu (marinated in clear or white marinade like italian dressing & cut into ghost shapes)

Crackers (square for tombstones)

Black olives

Paint brush and black food coloring

In a food processor, puree the spinach and hummus.

To make the tofu ghosts, cut slits and insert black-olive facial features. Use the small paint brush and food coloring to turn crackers into tombstones.

Mound the dip on a tray and top it with veggie trees, a pretzel fence, tofu ghosts, and cracker tombstones to create your graveyard!

Dead Gingerbread Men

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegan shortening

1 egg replacer

1 cup molasses

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons warm water

1/4 cup raisins for decorating

In large bowl, cream vegan shortening, sugar, egg replacer and warmed molasses. Dissolve baking soda in warm water and add to egg replacer mixture. Beat until smooth. Slowly add flour, spices and salt. Mix until well blended. Cover and chill for 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Roll out dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch on a floured surface. Cut out gingerbread men using cookie cutters and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on wire racks.

Use black icing to make an “X” where the eyes should be, you can also make a frown for a mouth using the icing. Break off some of the heads & use red icing for blood around the neck on the heads & bodies ; )

Have a very happy and healthy Halloween!! OOOOHAHAHAHAHA!!!

For more information, visit www.healthyvoyager.com

YogaHop is the home of high energy, FUN yoga.

YogaHop yoga offers a celebratory twist by featuring music of the hip-hop, rock and pop worlds jamming out of booming speakers, headset-microphoned teachers and all the energy of a dance party. The result is an East meets West yoga style that’s athletically fulfilling and spiritually soothing.

The YogaHop philosophy encompasses flowing yoga, exhilirating workouts, and rockin’ music to give you a life-altering experience. Men and women who practice regularly experience profound changes in their body including dramatic weight loss, improved strength, endurance and flexibility.

We offer all levels of classes, from beginner to advanced, and have mid-day adult/child classes with adults grooving in one room and kids bouncing in the other room.

As the yoga style is unique, so are the aesthetics of the yoga studio itself. The two yoga rooms are labeled “East Coast” and “West Side.” The bold color schemes of the boutique’s chocolate-brown wood with guava-colored walls complement the striking logo: a sizzling yellow lightning bolt meeting a pool of calm blue water, creating a new American Yin-Yang.

To accommodate for students’ busy schedules, YogaHop offers a reservation system to eliminate waiting in line, on-site parking and additional parking nearby.

YogaHop was founded by CEO, Mary King; Marko King; Matthew Reyes; and Jonathan Watters

http://www.yogahop.com

Macro-fusion maybe? Sorry George (Ohsawa) and Michio (Kushi), but the time has come to rename this Rose called Macrobiotics. It is a Rose but the name still strikes unpleasant associations in the minds of many and doubts in their hearts. Like what is it really?  It’s time for IT to get with it. It’s not Japanese anymore. It should be an intimate awareness of who we are, where we come from genealogically, environmentally, our DNA from however far back we can go including all the food textures and tastes that went into our makeup from way back there to here.

Macrobiotics sounds like a disease itself, like there has to be something wrong with you. Having come across so many who are hesitant to even try the lifestyle without being sick, and with managers of cooking schools impressing on me not to use this ‘M’ word in my classes, that it scares people away, and having taught it and cheffed it for at least half my life, I’ve come to the conclusion that it needs a name change with more pizzaz and panache. The content doesn’t need changing but does need expanding…infinitely. Michio used to say that if you are healthy, happy, and can transmute anything, then anything is good. Back in the early ‘70’s we didn’t have so many chemical additives and laboratory teched food ingredients, just major sugar, so I think he would amend that statement now. The point being that if you’re healthy, go for ‘it’. A few parameters are necessary and some guidelines to follow for when you’re paying for your playing. Only fair. Isn’t that what you’re doing by taking Western meds?

Macro: all-inclusive. Biotics: in-body. By virtue of it being called ‘Macro’, it is all-inclusive – something that seems to be misinterpreted pretty much by all to be the exact opposite – micro, tiny and inhibiting. Macro speaks to all foods of all peoples of all cultures of all biological make-ups and all should be included when adopting it as a lifestyle. We are Fusing our cultural food diversity. We are not all the same with the same sized shoe. We come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors ancestrally birthed from many different cultural and ethnic origins. That is Macro. When I lived in the Boston Macro birthplace back in the day, learning from Michio and Aveline in the early ‘70’s, it always bothered me that that the food  preparations were pretty much geared to the Japanese palette. Delicious though they were/are what about my Jewish/ Russian/Spanish roots? Within each culture there are handed down cures and potions that in themselves are pure and ‘Macro-biotic’. Nothing wrong with them. Case in point: Chicken soup is not Japanese. Did I become healthy by embracing ‘pure’ Macrobiotics in the first place? You betcha! But as with all maladies, when you are well, you stop the ‘medication’. MacroFusion,  as a ‘medication’, is whole food that can morph into a lifestyle which will be all inclusive and preventative.  It will no longer be only a curing regimen but will be a way of life that intrigues you, a life of delicious culinary delights that doesn’t exclude friends and family but includes them and invites them into the MacroFusion world.

All other name change suggestions will be considered, so please tell me what you think.