Snag your print copy of Lehigh Valley Style magazine for my latest column with some unique gift ideas and back stories on three of the most creative locals I know:
Wendy Landiak of Shankara Vegan Restaurant, patron saint of LV vegan food since as long as I can remember! Learn about how she got started in cooking (she catered for Deepak Chopra!), the many incarnations of her eateries, and how to get hands-down the best brunch on earth right here in South Bethlehem;
Andy V. of Andy Vasquez Furniture, local skater/nice guy who makes the most jaw-dropping gorgeous handcrafted furniture and home accessories from wood. If you like midcentury modern, rustic chic, or kitchen cutting boards shaped like the state of Pennsylvania, he’s your guy;
Marissa Wetzel of Everlasting Image, miracle worker who uses photoshop to create beautiful portraits of babies who passed away before photos of them without medical tubes and wires were ever taken. I was in awe the first time I saw her work
PLUS! A vegan recipe created just for LV Style readers.
My column “Fresh Perspectives with Jaime K” is a bi-monthly column where I get to personally choose to shine the spotlight on creatives, small business owners, unique shops, community builders, and the best vegan eats in the Lehigh Valley, PA. If you know someone who would make a great fit, I’d love to hear about them.
I am honored to share my new bi-monthly column for Lehigh Valley Style magazine, Fresh Perspectives with Jaime K.
So much to say about the emotions of seeing this in print, but for now I’ll tell you: It’s the March issue and it’s on news stands now! Learn about my journey to become vegan and years later, to embrace the Lehigh Valley as my home for creative communities, young entrepreneurship, and vegan food (we keep getting luckier!). Going forward, the column will highlight people and businesses doing work I admire, be it art & design, mindful cooking, or making positive community and societal impacts.
“Fresh Perspectives is meant to chronicle my love of the Lehigh Valley, seeking beauty in everything, living with true mindfulness to be kind in a world that makes it easy to post an Internet meme about kindness while forgetting to show it in our actions.
It’s about simple and unintimidating recipes, and inclusiveness, and honoring where we come from while striving to be better.” (pg. 100)
I hope you’ll love it, and if you have suggestions for future columns I’d love to connect and learn about them. Reach me at SavetheKales@gmail.com.
xo Jaime K
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
In a place that bursts with artistic creativity, small boutique retail shops and is literally, hello!, “The Christmas City” (check out the locally-viral Buzzfeed post) with seasonal holiday pop-up markets, I can’t begin to write a comprehensive gift guide. There’s too much. A good problem, no?
But if you’re looking for last-minute gift ideas that are special and unique to Bethlehem/The Lehigh Valley area while supporting small businesses, these are the gifts and shops that immediately come to my mind.
Share some of your favorites in the comments!
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Best Budget-friendly Holiday and Local:Moravian Star Ornament and/or Pickle Ornament from Moravian Book Shop
A Moravian star is classic Bethlehem tradition in a small, affordable package. You can learn about the significance of the Moravian Star and then choose a beauty from a variety of sizes, materials, and price points. From this site,
The stars were used as craft projects to help demonstrate geometry lessons to young boys attending Moravian school. The stars were quickly adopted by the Moravian Church as a symbol of the birth of Jesus and represented the star of Bethlehem.
A small elegant, handmade glass ornament will set you back about $20 (give or take), but you may also find them in paper, plastic, and sizes that could fit in your palm to elegant lighting fixtures priced in the hundreds.
As for the pickle ornament(!), this is a little more kitsch but just as traditional. The German tradition says that parents hung a pickle in the Christmas tree after all the other ornaments were in place. In the morning, the first child to see the pickle on the tree would get an extra gift from St. Nicholas. This is one of my favorite go-to gifts when you want to give a little something to someone who lives out of the area, as a cute reminder that someone in Bethlehem loves them.
Best Shop for Unique Gifts (Upscale): Artfully Elegant
If you’re not quite sure what to get someone but want a very special gift and you have a little more wiggle-room in your budget, this is the store to browse. They specialize in jewelry that is unique, interesting and handmade, and one-of-a-kind artwork from photography to ceramics. Always classy but with a chic, bohemian twist, you can’t go wrong with anything from this shop. Take a peek at their Pinterest page.
Best Shop For Unique Gifts (Budget-Friendly): Mercantile Home
Nearly everything in MercHaus in handmade in-haus. *wink* This is where you can find my absolute favorite scented candles, neon-colored ceramic animals, fabric products like scarves, bags, aprons, and about a trillion other things you never knew you loved until you walked in. This store is a treasure of the Lehigh Valley (located about 10 minutes outside Bethlehem in beloved Easton), and it’s all the better that owners Ken and Ron are the sweetest peas and you’ll leave with hugs and perfect gifts in tow. Is it weird to want to live in a store?
Best for Someone Who Loves His/Her iPhone: Homebase Skateshop Bethlehem iPhone Cases
Listen, put a picture of the steel mills on anything and you’ve found a way to my heart. But Homebase does it again by turning their popular 610 Division design into cases for iPhones 4 and 5. Brilliant. BRILLIANT.
In case you haven’t seen it, Homebase Skateshop sells t-shirts with one of the greatest outcomes of graphic design history: a mash-up of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasuresalbum cover art, and the Bethlehem Steel mills. They’ve turned that genius design into a portable and practical phone cover, and if you love Bethlehem as much as I do, you’ll get one immediately. Quantities limited.
Best Non-Wine Gifts: Seasons Olive Oil and Vinegar Taproom
If you’re looking for the sophistication (and, um, practicality) of a bottle of wine but want something a little more out-of-the-box, consider a bottle of one of the many flavored oils or vinegars from Seasons. If oil and vinegar don’t sound special, get yourself to this shop, start at one end, and sample everything in the place. They really let you do this!
For more details, take a peek at this article I wrote about Seasons a few years ago. A full bottle will set you back an average of $12-15, but can go higher as you look to truffle oils and such.
My favorite local coffee shop, and longest running indie coffee shop in Bethlehem’s Northside, has unique ceramic gift coins that function like gift cards – but they’re cuter! They come in a tiny mesh bag, perfect for gifting, and while you’re at it pick up a pound or two of one of the Bean’s excellent coffees to brew at home.
Best Gifts for Babies, Kids, New Parents: Ju-ju Monkey
What began as a handmade cloth diaper company is now a full brick-and-mortar retail space in Allentown. Here you can find anything a baby or toddler would need or want, and best of all, products are eco-friendly! Clothes, toys, personal care products, and more can be found at the store. And if you want to give an experience, check out the classes offered by Ju-ju Monkey, from Baby Sign Language to Mommy and Baby Yoga.
Best “Little Something”: Jolene’s Jar Pickled Foods
Made in small batches in Easton, PA and sold at locations around the Valley (including The Wise Bean, see above), these jars of pickled goodies would be perfect when you want to give a little token of appreciation to someone and that candy cane taped to a card just won’t do. Who doesn’t like pickles!? With flavors like Pickled Za’atar Cauliflower and Spicy Bloody Mary Garnish, stock up on a few for yourself, too. Bonus: toss your own veggies in the leftover brine after you’ve devoured the jar. The gift that keeps giving! Buy them at these locations.
And if you’re looking for a vegan + organic Christmas dinner but want someone else to do all the work, call on Chef Wendy! She’s taking orders for Christmas dinner through this Saturday, Dec. 21st.
Chef Wendy of Balasia/The Honey Underground: facebook
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Note: I debated writing this list because, as mentioned at the top, there are so many wonderful businesses in the Lehigh Valley and I’d never want anyone to feel snubbed! A huge part of my work is advocating community involvement and small business support.
I started to feel like I was four years old again, in bed and anxious to say goodnight to my stuffed platypus, because then I’d have to get out of bed and kiss + say goodnight to every other stuffed animal (there were a LOT) so none would feel left out. Then you grow up and become an adult with mild OCD!
Lists can sometimes feel like that.
My column in Lehigh Valley Style (coming in 2014!) will include not only recipes, but a deeper exploration of the people and places that create the vibrancy + community of the Valley. Love and respect to small businesses and their owners, working hard every day to make me proud to call this place my home. xo
If the only real-mail you receive are bills and those annoying packets of coupons for fast food chains, sign up for monthly Snack Boxes from Vegan Cuts and make mail fun again!
Vegan Cuts, an animal-friendly coupon site (excellent in it’s own right), has put together the very best in Surprises You Already Know About. That is, you’ll know you’ll have a box of goodies coming, but you won’t know what they are until you open it.
Oh, the suspense! The anticipation!
Great stuff. Making things difficult for indecisive people.
Every month has a different variety of snack samples and products. The March box has ten (TEN!) different items to eat up or slather on, or I suppose, if you’re feeling frisky – both?
The best part of this snack box (I mean, aside from a BOX OF SNACKS ARRIVING ON YOUR DOORSTEP) is that it costs less than $20.
Boxes are only $19.95!
Go go go… get a subscription!Then get one for a friend. It’s the gift that keeps on giving if you sign up for a multi-month subscription.
Head over to Vegan Cuts to get the latest updates on the BEST offers on always, all-vegan products, like gorgeous handbags and scented candles to jewelry and DVDs. I’d take one of everything.
We visited the wonderful folks at Brad’s Raw Foods Chip Factory, located just a short drive outside of the Lehigh Valley, PA. Some of the sweetheart ladies on his staff made this little behind-the-scenes video on our filming day:
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Save the Kales! relies on co-producers, camera crew and interns to make each show (a team that has grown over the year and they are my little TV show family!), and now you get to see what some of these guys look like. The Brad’s Raw Foods episode will be on television and online in March. Check it out!
From A to Veganis a well-designed online resource with a little of everything: recipes, videos, news stories, animal rights, health issues, and any other category you can come up with.
It’s run by a passionate group of folks from Bucks County, PA who I had the pleasure to meet for the first time at Bethlehem Vegfest, 2011. Since then, we’ve been able to see each other at various events and potlucks and I love the collaborative effort of this very informative group.
From A to Vegan blog interviews Save the Kales!
I was thrilled to be video-interviewed for their website! Make sure you take a peek — they have quite a roster of interviews with many dedicated, thriving vegans all over the country, many of whom I’m certain you’re familiar with. It can be so nice to watch a casual video interview of someone you may only know from the pages of a book or still computer screen.
(Isn’t it weird to think some of your biggest heroes are just talking, breathing people?)
(EXTRA SPECIAL warm, fluffy hugs to my friends at Connexions Gallery in Easton, PA for kindly offering the use of their outdoor courtyard space to hold the interview. Anthony and Alice, co-owners, are wonderful forces within the local art world, and there’s a good chance you’ll see more collaborations with them and their gallery in the future.)
Yes, it’s a real cookbook. And while the inspiration makes me groan a little (loudly), I certainly can’t complain when someone decides to proclaim veggies are sexy while they help to give you a healthy-hot bod.
Plus, food puns are always worth a looksie: “Complete with scientifically founded nutritional facts, romance novel clichés, and recipes like Thai’d Up Roughage…” I’m not sure if they mean this tongue-in-cheek or are 100% serious, but some part of me is a little happier knowing this exists. (Quote from this article.)
Learn more about the bookON THE WEBSITE. Available as an ebook, it will be free October 6-11, and cost $2.99 thereafter.
Only a few weeks after reading about a SPROUTskincareproduct in a magazine, and being immediately struck by their graphic design and all-natural skincare claims, I got this little goodie bag of products to slather all over myself. And listen up: they are maaaaaarvelous.
The first thing you’ll notice about all of their items is that the ingredient lists are very small and many are sourced from small, conscious companies in the United States. They are very easy to pronounce and likely contain ingredients you are familiar with. Examples: almonds, sea salt, rose water, apple cider vinegar.
(If you’re thinking “Yum!” at this point, I will admit to tasting some of the Exfoliant. Just because I could. Yup.)
Next, you’ll notice the products look very clean. Nothing is dyed, full of chemicals to change the texture, rolled in glitter, etc. These are truly the epitome of “all-natural”, and they look and smell (and taste!) like they are supposed to.
But the third, and most important thing? THE PRODUCTS WORK. They work very well.
I’m a lady who still has occasional breakouts and skin problems, and some Big Skincare Companies I’ve tried in the past literally made my skin bleed. It’s obvious that natural products are better for those of us with problem skin, are concerned about what we put on our bodies, and want to stay vegan/animal-friendly… but with “greenwashing” abound, it’s hard to know who to trust.
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I happily report that SPROUT is trustworthy and effective (and vegan!), like that friend you meet a summer camp who comes into your life to show you how to do your makeup just when you need it most. In fact, a week and a half into using the products without mentioning them, I received an email from someone saying, “Your skin looks great! What products do you use?” No joke.
Exfoliant – This looks like cookie crumbs. After splashing some water on my face, I pour a little of the powder into my hand, then use my fingers to dab it on my face. I make small circles all over my cheeks, chin and forehead. After a few moments, rinse with clean water. It leaves skin super-soft, without harsh dryness, or like you rubbed course sandpaper all over your face.
Cleanser – Smells light and fresh with a hint of rose. Despite wearing a lot of makeup, I’d squirt some on a cotton ball and go over my whole face. (Sometimes twice if it was a LOT of makeup.) My skin felt clean, not dry or greasy, and redness and occasional acne spots actually improved.
Toner – Nice to use after all that cleaning. It feels like it helps tighten my pores, and never feels chemical-ish like so many other toners.
Lip Balm – YUM! I got cinnamon, which was perfect for the fall. Made with cinnamon oil and coconut oil (and just a couple of other things), it felt so good on my lips, made them soft, and this flavor is perfect for September/October! In case you were wondering, it made kissing extra-delicious. Significant Other approved.
Cream – It’s a lotion/moisturizer/body oil/body butter hybrid, and It. Is. Fantastic. Rub it on your face, put some on your body, and it’s also excellent on your lips. Pretty much just get some and start at the top of your head and put it on everything, all the way down. A tiny dab on your finger goes a long way. If you have 25 different lotions in your bathroom, listen to me: throw them away, and get this one. It will save you money, time, counter space, and be better for your skin.
Save the Kales! readers can shop at a DISCOUNTED PRICE!
I’ve teamed up with Vegan Cuts to offer you 10% off all orders by using the discount code BLOGFRIEND. So start that holiday shopping early, folks. *Discount doesn’t apply to shipping. Expires October 31st.
You can get all the items I mentioned in the Full Mini-Kit, priced at just $58. With that 10% savings… hey now, that’s a deal! Thank you SPROUT and VeganCuts. My clean, refreshed face is smiling very big for you.
I’m so excited to announce a fall giveaway for one of my favorite cookbooks of all time (not joking), Blissful Bites by Christy Morgan.
Blissful Bites is a full-color, healthy recipe masterpiece. All vegan, many allergy-free, and inspired by a macrobiotic culinary background, this book has you covered no matter how particular your diet is! The pages are spilling with colorful photography, and are crammed to the edges with cooking tips for the beginner or experienced cook. Trust me, you want this one.
Pick up your free copy of The Mix this week for the special Bethlehem Vegfest feature!
Save the Kales! promotes veganism as an ethical, compassionate lifestyle and any and all suggestions made by me to be part of Vegfest as speakers or vendors are committed to this, too.
THIS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH
11am-6pm, Southside Bethlehem Greenway
(the linear park between 3rd and 4th Streets)
I was going to make a “Must See” list, but I think you guys can handle it. There will be plenty to see, listen to, watch and eat. Bring your family, bring your dogs. You can find the lineup of speakers and cooking demos HERE, and a list of every vendor HERE.
IN THE MEANTIME… Don’t miss the last few days of Vegfest Restaurant Week!
Cafe Santosha vegan meal
This gorgeous meal comes from Cafe Santosha, one of the most veg-friendly eateries in the ENTIRE Valley. The food always looks like art, and tastes like it too. Healthful and creative dishes are always on the menu. Check out their facebook pagefor photos and updates.
Description of dish (above): Mediterranean Quinoa and Lentil Salad with Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Red Onion, Capers, Lemon, and Parsley served over greens…. Chic Pea and Brown Rice Croquettes served over Sautéed Local Greens with Roasted Garlic and Lemon topped with a Roasted Red Pepper Tahini Sauce and a Basil Walnut Pesto…
Vegan Chocolate Cake served over Triple Berry Coulis. Also available gluten free! ($15)
and
other special vegan items in the LV this week at Jumbar’s, Tapas on Main, Yianni’s Taverna, Molly’s Irish Grille, and Sotto Santi Pizza is making vegan pizza all week!
You can find the WHOLE list of participating restaurants and their menus HERE, 13 in total. Happily, many of these places offer some/all of the selections year-round.
Save the Kales! 