Vegan Southern Feast: Sausage Okra Gumbo, Bacon Cornbread, Maple Bourbon Sweet Potatoes, Perfect Brussels Sproutsby Randi / August 14, 2015
As some of you may know, Husband and I recently celebrated our first anniversary! Yay! As some others of you may know, we are going to be featured as one of the couples in VegNews Magazine’s upcoming wedding issue! Yay! Now, I don’t know about you, but I am getting impatient waiting for the August issue to come out (end of the month!) so I decided to do my own little feature. And this time it’s just about us. Well, Husband doesn’t like his picture being on the internet, so really it’s just about me.
READ IT ALL!
READ IT ALL!
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P90X3 Review: Weeks 2 & 3
You may recall that a few weeks ago, during my first week of P90X3, I was pretty disappointed. The majority of the opening workouts are lackluster and, though certain moves are really hard, I felt that the workouts overall are not hard enough. My trusty PPKers told me that Beachbody considers X3 to be a precursor, and therefore easier, than P90X, which is in turn a precursor/easier than P90X2. If this is true, I’m quite peeved that this wasn’t made clear, because I would have been tempted to get X2. Does anyone have experience with it?
Nonetheless, I am determined to love X3, or at least parts of it, mostly because I missed the full return date while I was traveling. Fortunately, I am in really deep like with a few of them. For the past few weeks, to make up for the workouts that are less than thrilling, I decided to add a few Insanity workouts back in on days when I had extra time. There’s no better cardio in the world, and I think X3 is screaming for more cardio. Even if you add a bit of running or use the elliptical to loosen up first, that’s going to be beneficial. I was traveling for most of the past few weeks, and warming up with a few miles on hotel treadmills really made all the difference in my mind. So, I guess from now on I am doing kind of a hybrid. I am a bit reluctant to give up on pure X3, a decision which will definitely be clouding my results, but 90 days is too long to stop doing what I consider more well-rounded exercises that my body has gotten used to. The following descriptions contain my favorite combinations and order of exercises for Phase 1.
Day 1: Insanity Pure Cardio and X3 Total Synergistics
Even just with less than 2 weeks away from it, my Insanity workout killed me! I was huffing and puffing like I haven’t since more than a year ago. Damn. I felt good after though, and Total Synergistics is slow enough and strength-focused enough to act as a good wrap-up to the cardio workout. It’s really just a few pull-up moves, a few push-up moves, a few ab moves, and a few balance moves. That’s about it. Now, I am finding the final move, Warrior Moon, even more challenging than the first time. It’s pretty amazing. I am excited to improve my balance and quad strength with this move. It’s so hard! You go from a one-legged squat to Half Moon Pose to Warrior 3, and repeat like 8 times. Really hard, really good. While TS is one of the workouts that left me really disappointed, I really enjoy it as an add-on, especially with this final fantastic move.
Day 2: Insanity Cardio Circuit and Agility X
Mmm…maybe not the best two workouts to combine when I think back on it! However, given enough time to spare, I really enjoyed these together. This was quite a difficult combo and made me appreciate Agility X more. I enjoyed the running parts as a way to loosen up my tired legs, much more than I did when they were my only leg workout. But I’m still a little confused about what they are actually doing. Is the grapevine any different from the face-front weaving? Seriously, I can’t tell! Some moves seemed duplicative. I definitely enjoyed it more this week. Those one-legged hops from X-to-X are HARD! How are others doing with the plyometric pushups? Oh I almost forgot: The best thing about doing Agility X after the first time is knowing when to mute Tony’s “regular gym guy” mimicry session.
Day 3: Yoga X (P90X)
Not even a question – if I have time to do Yoga X, I’m going to do it. It’s my favorite yoga video of all time (OF ALL TIME!), but at 93 minutes or so, I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like. After the Day 2 combo, I definitely feel this, and I had to come out of a few (like the extended right angle pose) just to get feeling back into my legs. It was fun to watch this one after learning that Shawna is now Tony’s girlfriend! Was she back in the original X days? So cute! No wonder he always said she was so gorgeous in P90X. (And focused on her flexibility way too much.) Seriously, for people who don’t have the full P90X system, it’s worth buying this DVD as a single.
Day 4: Insanity Cardio Power & The Challenge
Now this combo I love! Cardio Power has arguably the most strength training of all the Insanity workouts – with tricep dips, tricep ball whatevers, shoulder dips, many rounds of pushups – and The Challenge is all upper-body strength. I really liked pairing these two. Soulmates. The Challenge is ridiculous. I’m pretty optimistic that I can’t come out of this program without being able to do an unassisted pull-up. Meanwhile, I’m using a stepstool. Do any of you still use assistance? How do you do it? And Cardio Power is my Insanity nemesis. I hate it – I hate how the warmup includes non-warm-uppy moves like power jacks and vertical jumps – but I love it – I love how perfectly belt kicks chill you out but still keep your heart up after power jumps, and that it builds up your ability to do mountain climbers in plank so well. This combo rocks.
Day 5: CVX
I think CVX is my favorite X3 workout. The moves are very doable but they raise your heart rate more than you expect. Adding a weight or medicine ball makes this video what it is. I think the definition and strength I’ve noticed is due to holding a weight during this workout. I freaking love it. This one suffices on its own. This is the 30-minute workout X3 promised. I do think it needs maybe 3-5 minutes of running in place and jumping jacks as added warm-up and cool-down, but that’s easily added.
Day 6: The Warrior
Again, this is one that I love on its own. In fact, this was my favorite workout to do while I was traveling. The Warrior is perfect to do in small spaces no matter if you are outside on grass, at home on a hardwood floor, or in a corner of a carpeted hotel room. That’s what it was designed for, as Tony tells us he brought it to many military bases. I love the people in this video too. They remind me of Pam the Blam: no nonsense, just kicking ass. Elevator push-ups will continue to pose a challenge, as will those crazy super burpees. I don’t understand how that man in the back gets his legs so freaking high during them. What is happening there? I love it!
Day 7: Dynamix or X Stretch
Dynamix, which I skipped the first week, is a pretty pleasant way to stretch your body out and get blood flowing to your tired muscles. I really dislike the moves (in this and in Cool Start) that have you kneeling on one knee. It doesn’t necessarily hurt my bottom knee, but it doesn’t feel good either, and I can’t help but worry about what that pressure must be doing to other, less healthy knees. Aside from this, Dynamix is nice. That’s seriously the best word for this cool-down style workout. Isn’t that odd? It’s like the exercise equivalent of picking flowers. When time permits, I love to swap X Stretch, from P90X, instead. I always feel wonderful after this hour-long stretch session.
When traveling, I substituted the above Insanity workouts with a half-hour on hotel treadmills. Not the same in the least, but adequate. Actually, I think using the treadmill is mentally more difficult than Insanity workouts. So boring! Time moves so slowly on them. The next few review weeks will be late again, because of traveling and because I was sidelined for a while with the flu. Ugh. I am excited to see what the new videos bring. I hope I love them!
Voting with Your Dollar in Every Domain: Fashion, Vegan Food, & Theatre
As vegans, we know how important the concept of voting with your dollar is. Spending money is a political act: what and who you decide to give that money to matters, because it gives the recipient power. The power to operate, the power to continue doing what they’re doing. Often, this is a happy decision. We support small ethical brands so that they can keep existing and providing products that don’t harm the earth. We support decent people so they know we’re behind them. And the flip side is equally important: We know not to give our hard-earned money to the big evil corporations who test on animals and contribute to serious global and environmental health problems. And, of course, we vote by buying vegan food and products, making the statement that we don’t support animal cruelty. Although being cognizant of what brands, products, and entities to support is a constant undertaking, it’s not really too difficult. My general rule of thumb is ‘don’t support assholes’. However, I see other people supporting assholes all the time (like allll the time), and I wanted to share my reasoning for not supporting a few things today.
The first one is a popular fashion brand, one of the most popular actually. It breaks my heart to see a constant stream of happy shoppers spending tons of money there at all times. And true I haven’t written about fashion in literally years but this seems like a good way to get back into that. The second is a restaurant chain that I actually loved, but when I learned about its behind-the-scenes drama, I had to stop. The third is a big bummer, because it’s an exciting new Broadway production that I won’t be buying a ticket to next season. I’m not telling anyone not to support these brands or events; I’m simply sharing why I don’t so you can make your own informed decisions. I know I have a lot of work to do myself regarding what companies, restaurants, &c I continue to support, so I wanted to share this in case others can learn from it.
ZARA
When I was studying abroad in 2005, I discovered Zara. I adored most of their pieces – it was like the affordability and availability of H&M and Gap but tailor-made for my style. I was obsessed. But then the following year, we saw that they were selling bags with swastikas on them. Seems like a really basic thing to know not to do, but there it was. The bags were pulled as soon as a customer complained about the offensive symbol, but considering how many steps there are from design to production to stocking and delivery in shops, it seems incredible that no one along the way noticed this aspect of the design until customers did. Indeed, the company’s apology stated that there were no swastikas in the approved design, and that they were just as surprised as we were when the Indian company who supplied the bags added this element. It would be a believable story if it were a one-off.
But then in 2014, they sold the infamous children’s shirt that resembled the striped uniforms that Holocaust victims were forced to wear: blue and white stripes with a yellow Jude star. This one wasn’t excused away by a supplier issue but by a difference in intention: In their apology, the company said that the star was intended to be a sheriff’s badge. And while it did indeed say ‘SHERIFF’ on the yellow badge, the combination with the blue and white stripes is at the very least ill-considered. Also, it reminds me of another controversial star image that was excused as being a sheriff’s badge as an attempt to excuse its blatant anti-Semitism.
Amid these problems with obviously anti-Semitic products, the fast fashion giant was investigated for horrific sweatshop conditions at a Sao Paolo factory. Then, there was the, let’s say underdeveloped “White is the New Black” tee shirt which was received rather poorly by people who are against racism, as you might expect. Since then, they’ve been sued by a former Jewish and gay employee for anti-Semitic and anti-gay treatment. And I’m sure you remember that Melania Trump’s famous “I Really Don’t Care Do U” jacket, which was received as pointedly referring to the tragedies at the border concentration camps but really could be about literally anything the White House is doing, was from Zara as well, to literally no one’s surprise.
The parent company, Inditex, also owns brands Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, and Uterque. Considering all of these issues they’ve faced over the years plus the allegations against those in positions of power in this company, I do not support these brands.
BY CHLOE
Some of you vegans or vegan-friendly eaters are probably aghast at seeing this popular NYC-based chain here. “What!” you might be saying. “I love Chloe! She’s the best!” Yeah, Chloe is the best, and that’s why I don’t support ‘by CHLOE’ anymore. After working her ass off for years and years to develop her own hugely successful brand, Chloe worked her ass off to build ‘by CHLOE’, a hugely successful vegan restaurant that now has more than half a dozen locations. But Chloe herself was forced out a few years ago, and the issues surrounding her ouster are complicated, to say the least.
There were rumors that her business partners – Samantha Wasser, enormous hospitality group ESquared, and Wasser’s father Jimmy Haber, who is the CEO of ESquared – wanted to start serving meat under the ‘by CHLOE’ name. They’ve denied that claim, but that part is the least of it. It seems at the very least understood that there were many differences of opinion in how the business should move forward, and considering that it would all come across as being under Chloe’s own name, she understandably had strong thoughts about these next steps. However, an arbitrator ruled against Chloe. I’d normally show respect for that decision, but given the David vs. Goliath set-up of this dispute, it’s clear there’s more to it. And there is: in a lawsuit Chloe filed last year, she states that the group ousted her after she rejected Haber’s sexual advances. I don’t know about you but I believe women, and there is nothing easier to believe than an all-powerful white male CEO taking advantage of a beautiful young woman he has power over, and then acting out when he doesn’t get what he wants.
To top that off, nothing riles me up more than people abusing intellectual property law. (Okay obviously apart from abusing women, children, animals, &c.) This year, ESquared sued Chloe over her new pop-up restaurant Supernatural, which she runs with celebrity chef Supernatural and which I visited last month in NYC. ESquared sued her for trademark infringement, stating that this pop-up – with a completely unrelated name – would be too confusing to fans of ‘by CHLOE’ and they would think it was related, simply because it’s Chloe doing something else. By their logic, or lack thereof, brand confusion would arise whenever anyone did more than one thing. This dick move seems too much like a petty attempt to stop Chloe from working in food in NYC at all and I will not stand by while jerks try to use my beloved trademark law to defend something so weak and so clearly not a violation.
ESquared Hospitality also owns several non-vegan restaurants which you can find listed here.
WEST SIDE STORY ON BROADWAY
I know, with this one you’re like ‘what in the world’, but there’s a reason. Next season on Broadway, mega-producer and well-known bully Scott Rudin is mounting a new production of West Side Story with director Ivo Van Hove (whose past directorial works in London have always smelled of misogyny). The cast of this much-anticipated revival was just announced this week, and in the prime role of Bernardo is New York City Ballet dancer Amar Ramasar, which decent people who love theatre are justifiably angry about.
If you don’t follow NYC culture news, Amar’s name has been discussed a lot in the past year for his involvement in a disgusting, disturbing case of sexual harassment and all-around despicable behavior at the ballet. He and friends of his (all men who should be in jail with him for their actions: Chase Finlay, Zachary Catazaro, and Jared Longhitano) from the ballet (all either dancers or donors) shared private (sexual) pictures and videos of female ballerinas in group texts and joked about all the crimes they would commit to them and other ‘sluts’. One of the victims – a young ballerina whose reputation and thus career was harmed – brought a lawsuit, and Finlay resigned from the ballet while Ramasar and Catazaro were suspended and then fired. Allegations in the lawsuit state that this sort of behavior was condoned from the top, as the NYCB and the School of American Ballet were well aware of the extensiveness of this type of behavior and did nothing to stop it, at one time asking the men to simply keep such actions in NYC, where it’s ‘easier to control.’ Obviously, the NYCB is on my shit list as well.
However, Ramasar and Catazaro were just reinstated at the ballet: the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) appealed their case to an independent arbitrator. So fuck the AGMA too. The arbitrator, whose identity I can’t find but I have a feeling it was someone with a penis, said their termination was inappropriate and suspension should have been enough. You know what else is inappropriate? Rape culture. While Catazaro declined to return at present because he is dancing with Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich (another ballet company I won’t be seeing anytime soon/ever, hi Munich), Ramasar is back and now with two unbelievably coveted jobs in New York, two jobs that are both the kind that most people only dream about obtaining: a prime position at the NYCB and a starring role in a huge Broadway musical. COOL GUYS. Also Bernardo shouldn’t be 37 YEARS OLD.
You know what, fuck this revival anyway for not using Jerome Robbins’s classic choreography.
Okay those are my thoughts on this topic for this week. Considering my proclivity for complaint, this’ll probably be a regular series. What similar things have you just learned about that you want to share with the class?
