LA Whoa! Man

Who: VN Publisher Joseph Connelly

What: A week of non-stop publisher duties in the Angel of Cities

Where: Hollywood, Torrance, and Anaheim, Calif.

When: March 8–15, 2010

Why: To live and dine in LA

The scoop: My week-long, über overflowing sojourn to the giant suburb that is our nation's second largest city could have yielded a Press Pass post every day. Alas, I know you are busy, so I've distilled it into this Top Ten Moments of Extravagance from the town that invented the concept. For additional photos of my festivities, check out VegNews' Facebook page. What? You aren't our friend? Better remedy that pronto. In no particular chronological order:

10. Cruzer's Pizza—Los Feliz's charming pizza joint has gone from meat to Daiya cheese to 100-percent vegan. I sampled the soon-to-be-on-the-menu VegNews Pizza, oozing with housemade pesto, mozzarella "cheese," artichoke hearts, tomatoes, spinach, and roasted garlic. Can you resist?

The first VegNews Pizza at Cruzer's

9. Exsalus Health & Wellness Center—I enjoyed a long chat with Dr. Matthew Lederman, co-founder of Exsalus (along with his wife, Dr. Alona Pulde). The couple has written a book, Keep It Simple, Keep It Whole. They practice plant-based nutrition in the style of Drs. Klaper, McDougall, Esselstyn, and Greger, and have plans to open clinics nationwide.

8. LifeFood Organic—For lunch, I dined with rauwthor Ani Phyo at this brand-new café in Hollywood with an outstanding menu of fresh, incredibly tasty, raw, live, organic foods. Chef Laurel Anderson has relocated from Seattle and added this steady gig to her catering uncookery, The Good Life Raw Food.

7. Real Food Daily—Though not all that hungry due to the late and scrumptious lunch, I could not turn down a chance to chat and chow with three phenomenal colleagues: fellow Bay Arean Marti Kheel, author of Nature Ethics; local activist extraordinaire Libra Max, and Rory Freedman, co-author of Skinny Bitch and VN's 2008 "Person of the Year." The food: Excellent. The company: Priceless.

6. Maggie Awards Judging—I ventured to the R.R. Donnelley plant in Torrance for a day of judging the Western Publishing Association's annual Maggie Awards, the longest running and most prestigious industry awards in the West. It was my fourth year as a judge, and quite a rewarding experience as I get to see what other magazines are doing.

5. Veggie Grill—The newest in the four-restaurant chain (the fifth in Santa Monica opens this October) which I've dubbed "the Sunset Grill," as it's located on Sunset Avenue in West Hollywood. Dinner company included co-founder Kevin Boylan and a trio of vegan athletes: Jon, Jesse, and Henry. Jon Hinds is the founder of Monkey Bar Gymnasium, and yes, he's big, and yes, he's vegan.

4. Babycakes NYC—On my way to Anaheim, I stopped at the brand-spatula-new Los Angeles satellite of The Big Apple's award-winning Babycakes NYC for some photo ops and staff treats. GM Jennifer Frizzell made sure we were well-desserted, which this "cookie sandwich" photo of our hard-at-work staff, just arrived from SF, clearly shows.

The VN crew kicks off Expo West weekend with dessert by the pool

3. The Natural Products Expo West —A three-day orgy of natural foods and products, the ultimate reason we are all here finally arrives. So you did follow Elizabeth's tweets and Abby's Facebook updates? You will be hearing more about Expo West in the days, posts, and magazines to come, including which companies were awarded the coveted Best of Show Awards™ on Sunday.

Sharing a pizza with Rory Freedman, Libra Max, and Heather Mills at the Expo

2. Hoa Sen Vegetarian Restaurant—You'd think after being surrounded by ample samples for eight hours no one would be hungry. You don't know Joe (or his staff). This adorable, local, vegan Vietnamese restaurant over-delivered with delicious real food, which isn't easy to find at the Expo. We ate well.

1. Tofoo Com Chay—The staff had all flown their separate ways, leaving me to drive the rental back to San Francisco. Lonely and hungry, I made a quick stop to this favorite spot from back in the day when VegNews was located in the South Bay. This tiny restaurant/deli is still large on taste, so I took home several meals worth of soups and sandwiches. The detox starts now.

Yes, that comes to seven delicious veg restaurants in eight days, each unique and each excellent, from raw foods and pizza to ethnic eateries and desserts. It's so easy being vegan.

San Francisco Green Festival: Robbins, Newsom, Harrelson

Who: VN Publishers Joseph Connelly and Colleen Holland plus the rest of the VegNews staff
What: Three days of the world's largest green marketplace
Where: Concourse Exhibition Center, San Francisco, Calif.
When: November 13–15, 2009
Why: Because eating veg is the greenest thing you can do

The Scoop: Yes, it was our last trade show of the year. Yes, is was in our hometown of San Francisco. Yes, it was the eighth annual Green Festival, the joint venture of Global Exchange and Green America (formerly Co-op America), which VegNews Magazine has proudly sponsored since the very first event, held in the very same venue since 2002.

Following the Green Business Conference, attended by VN's Colleen Holland, the GF kicked off Friday at noon. If you have never been to a Green Festival (events this year were held in Seattle, Denver, Chicago, DC, and SF), what you are missing is the "nation's longest running green living event," consisting of vendors, speakers, veg food, cooking demos, a green film festival, children's activities, and did we mention vendors? Here you can find solar panels for your home, kits to convert your hybrid to a plug-in, lots of hemp (clothing, food, recreation), and a festival that actually gets the connection between diet and global warming and which has been vegetarian since day one, thanks to producer Greg Roberts.

After the Friday after-party the party really got going on Saturday morning when best-selling author and longtime friend of VegNews John Robbins was presented with the Green America Award for his "lifetime of leadership" in the vegetarian, environmental, and social justice movements. After brief, poignant introductions by Robbins' son Ocean (founder of the nonprofit Yes!) and Eco-Chef Bryant Terry (more on him in a bit), Green America's Executive Director Alisa Gravitz presented Robbins with the stylish award made, of course, of entirely recycled materials.

John Robbins accepting the Green America Award

Robbins gave a stirring four-minute acceptance speech that ended with this thought: "The purpose of life is infinite gratitude to all things past, infinite service to all things present, and infinite responsibility to all things future." Click here to watch a video of Robbins' moving words.

A new touch added to this year's festival was Soul Kitchen, a day of cooking classes coordinated by Bryant Terry, author of the excellent 2009 cookbook Vegan Soul Kitchen. Back-to-back-to-back demos by Ani Phyo, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, and Terry filled the afternoon with yummy treats and vegucation. The all-star chefs even found time to pose for this historic time-capsule photo:

Mangia-a-trois: Chefs Colleen Patrick Goudreau, Bryant Terry, and Ani Phyo

As the evening wound to a close, who else but San Francisco Mayor (and long-time aspiring vegetarian) Gavin Newsom stopped by the VN booth. The mayor and the magazine go way back; Newsom accepted the Veggie Award for "favorite veg city" on behalf of San Francisco at an awards banquet we threw in 2004 at Millennium Restaurant that just happened to be hosted by Green Goddess Julia Butterfly Hill.

VN Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria, VN Volunteer Extraordinaire Peter Ryan, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom, and VN Publishers Colleen Holland and Joseph Connelly

Sunday was more of the same, and while the crowds were maybe a slight bit thinner this year, the weekend was a resounding success nonetheless. After packing up it was off to MaggieMudd and Café Gratitude (yes, we ate dessert first) with Noelle Callahan and Rebecca Frye of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, who were at the Green Fest to promote PCRM's Humane Charity Seal of Approval campaign, which allows donors to identify which charities provide service and care without using animals. Oh, and could that be the star of current hit movies Zombieland, 2012, The Messenger, and Defendor, Woody Harrelson, sitting at the end of the table? Oh yes it is. I shared a few words with Woody about a possible follow-up interview to VN's November 2005 interview and cover, and he flashed a smile and wink.

Ani Phyo Sweetens San Francisco

Who: The Entire VN Staff + Cookbook Author/Veg Entrepreneur Ani Phyo
What: An Urban Dessert Soirée
Where: CandyBar Dessert Lounge, San Francisco
When: May 21, 2009
Why: Book-release party for Ani's Raw Food Desserts

The Scoop: Fact: VN's first-ever Urban Dessert Soirée had been sold out for weeks. Fact: The sugary-anticipation was thicker than amaretto-chocolate mousse. Fiction: Tickets were being scalped on StubHub! OK, but they should have been—those on the guestlist were cherishing their highly prized invite, having scored tix to the latest of VegNews Magazine's ultra-hip, über-chic par-tays. If you missed it, well ...

The evening consisted of a five-course vegan (of course) dessert sampling; free-flowing sparkling vino, plus red and white; eye-catching Italian sodas, topped with vanilla soymilk; and a complimentary copy of Ms. Phyo's latest, Ani's Raw Food Desserts, which just about everyone had personally autographed by the authoress herself. Oh, and three lucky attendees each won a beautiful bag filled with a dozen raw Mayan Crunch Truffles (the recipe lifted from Ani's Raw Food Desserts), rumored to have been hand-rolled by VN's publisher himself, Joseph Connelly.

Eye Candy: Joseph Connelly, Ani Phyo, Sunhi Kim

After indulging in three of the five courses, the revelers heard an impassioned "how-to" by the fabulously decked-out Ani on living a green lifestyle, complete with audience Q&A. The three-hour shindig actually lasted four, but no one was complaining as the trio of Chris, the bartender, Kyle, the pastry chef, and Tan, CandyBar's owner and host, kept the throng indulged and happy all evening long.

Sweet: Aimee Kilmer, Allison Rivers Samson, Colleen Holland, Alison Kilmer

The desserts were so fabulous we forgot to take pictures of them, though they included mini carrot-cakes with cream-cheese icing, pistachios, and currants; chocolate-chip macadamia-nut ice-cream sandwiches with coconut sorbet; vanilla custard on hemp-seed shortbread; coffee-cherry crumble over chocolate-amaretto mousse; and the grand finale: trifle with chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, and dark-chocolate drizzle. All were gobbled up toot-sweet—or, if you actually speak French, tout de suite—and we've been assured that CandyBar will offer more vegan delectables on its regular menu henceforth. For photos galore from the smashing evening, check out our gallery!

Gala-vanting

Who: VN Publisher/Editor in Chief Joseph Connelly, VN Associate Publisher Colleen Holland, VN Editorial Director Aurelia d'Andrea, VN Senior Editor Elizabeth Castoria, and VN West Coast Advertising Representative Lara Bradley

What: A fancy-pants gala, and the morning-after party

Where: Sunny SoCal

Why: Because we do what we must for the animals—yes, even if it means hanging out with celebs and eating great food

When: September 6–7, 2008

The Scoop: After stuffing ourselves silly at The Veggie Grill, we stuffed ourselves into our fancy duds, and headed out to Acton, Calif., to the amazing Animal Acres Gala. You could say that there are more fun ways to spend your time than hanging out with amazing activists and adorable animals while soaking in the summery Southern California sun. You could say that, but it would be a lie.

Since the gala is actually held right at the sanctuary, we got to literally rub noses with some of the cutest darned rescued animals around. Aurelia took a shine to Mr. Ed, the Brahma bull, while I got to pal around a little with Thelma and Louise, two of the most adorable kids I've ever seen. After getting our fill of snuzzling, we headed to the rotunda to check out the silent auction. Um, hello. Bidders battled over fabulously fancy footwear from Beyond Skin, oodles of cheeky candles from A Scent of Scandal, a selection of high-end artwork, and a mish-mash of other alluring prizes. After bidding and mingling with the likes of Jorja Fox, Persia White, and John Schneider to our hearts' content, we took to the rose garden, which had been set up with dinner tables and the presentation stage. Our table was chock-full of fab friends, including VN columnist Rory Freedman, VN contributor Denise Herrick Borchert and her husband Walter, the ever-radiant Ani Phyo, and Gretchen and Peter Ryan, who—as you may remember from last year's wedding feature—celebrated their wedding at Animal Acres. During the Madeleine Bistro-catered dinner, emcee Carol Leifer got to work cracking us up with her tales of searching for vegan shoes. Of the evening's many highlights, we were particularly proud to watch as Emily Deschanel presented our very own Rory Freedman with the Vegetarian Vision Award. (See the cutie-boots awardee above with the VN ladies.) It seems like there might be some sort of trend here—Joseph Connelly was last year's recipient! After dinner it was straight to the ice-cream-sundae bar, sponsored by Maggie Mudd, and then a few of us—aka Colleen, Aurelia, and Karen Dawn—enjoyed a little impromptu boogeying. It was sad to see the evening come to an end, but we were able to take heart knowing that Animal Acres raised $150,000 for their rescue fund!

The next morning, we continued the Madeleine Bistro trend with a leisurely brunch in Tarzana. Yes, "leisurely brunch" means that we sat and ate amazing food for hours on end. Really, if every meal came complete with Chef Dave Anderson's signature fluffy, sugar-coated doughnuts and beignets (see below!), we'd be a very happy bunch. Oh, and maybe it's totally the case that the tofu benedict, omelet, Bigger Maque, and tofu scramble were incredibly delicious as well. Did I mention the potatoes? Get thee the potatoes. Of course, the only thing better than enjoying exquisite food is sharing it with quality company, of which we were in no short supply. Ani and Denise graced us again, as did Sun Flour Baking Company's Rey Ortega, Jill Hahn, Billy Hulting, Michelle Sass, Stephen Beidner, Lawrence Carter-Long, and Susan Weingartner (though the last two aren't pictured—that's what you get for sleeping in!).


It would be difficult to say whether we spent more time enjoying the company and food or trying to talk Dave and Molly into opening up a San Francisco location, though either way it was time well spent. After this incredible weekend, it was with full bellies and goodie-bag laden suitcases that we returned to San Francisco. Speaking of goodie bags, it just so happens that we have one extra, which, of course, we're giving to you. That's right, it's time for our second-ever Press Pass Giveaway! To win the packed-to-the-gills goodie bag, answer this little question:

What's your favorite method of activism? Do you volunteer at an animal sanctuary or donate to a multitude of worthy non-profits? Do you serve up vegan fare at your local Food Not Bombs chapter or are you on the street with pro-veg pamphlets every weekend? Whatever your preferred method of helping animals is, tell us in the comments by this Friday, Sept. 26, and we'll pick a winner. Good luck!

Sun-drenched Venice Beach Brunch

Who: The VN gang, superstar chef/writer Moira Nordholt, and SoCal friends of VegNews
What: Our annual post-Genesis Awards brunch
Where: Moira and Ron's Venice Beach bungalow
When: March 30, 2008
Why: To socialize and make merry over a lovingly prepared vegan feast

The Scoop: There's nothing quite as fabulous as a gathering of friends on a lazy Sunday, taking in the sunshine on a verdant backyard patio while chatting away over coffee and mimosas, fresh-baked scones, warm spanakopita, and cool salads. What could be better? Throw in some homemade chocolate truffles and a gentle sea breeze, and you've got a pretty good idea of the cozy camaraderie we all experienced at the annual Sunday brunch at Ron and Moira's seaside abode.

Between bites of pancakes topped with warm cherry compote and forkfulls of spicy tofu stirfry, the VN staff learned about raw food chef/entrepreneur Ani Phyo's recent trip to Baja, listened in awe as Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's pioneering leader Paul Watson shared his tale of bullet dodging on the high seas, talked farmed animal rescue with Animal Acres founder Lorri Bauston, and swapped travel tales with the beautiful-inside-and-out Ashley Lou Smith and her funnier-than-heck hubby Dan Piraro (who we were all amazed to see up and walking after his death-defying dance-floor moves the night before). And then we helped ourselves to thirds and fourths.

It's a tough job being a VN editor, but somebody's got to do it.