We’re told by people who are supposedly in the know with such things that warm weather is coming soon. I myself am convinced I’m trapped in some Inception-esque dream within a dream within a dream where there’s a perpetual winter and that all “memories” of warm weather and skipping happily and shoeless through fields of thigh-high grass are artificial insertions of said dream within a dream within a dream…but I’m hoping I’m wrong.

Assuming I am, that means that, along with warm weather, invites to lovely outdoor get-togethers and parties are also just around the corner. And yes, reader, you should take that as a not-so-subtle hint.

But what to bring as a gift to your host that says, “No, in fact, I did not just get this from the wine store down the block from you and just peel off the price tag”? How about stocking up now on some classy-ass infused liquors? Katie and I made some over the winter weather months and still have a few sitting around for just such an occasion.

Too much work, you say? You are totally wrong, I say. No, actually, it’s super-easy. Basically, figure out some fun options, buy your ingredients, and then let ‘em sit for a week to a month to however long, depending essentially on the permeability and/or potency of the infusing ingredient. This last time, we infused a number of different concoctions and then transferred to some smaller bottles we came across and made up some fancy-dancey labels. We had:
• Cinnamon Vodka • letting three or so tall sticks of cinnamon sit in a small bottle for at least a week, which turns the whole ting into this really amazing burnt orange color;
• Habanero Tequila • which we’ve written about before and is a big favorite of ours (plus it infuses crazy quickly—you can do it in a day or two);
• Lemongrass Vodka • using a fresh stalk from the farmer’s market and allowing it to sit a little longer, two weeks to a month or more;
• Meyer Lemon Vodka • using two to three meyer lemons, being sure to peel them as much as possible to reduce the bitterness and then letting the whole thing sit for three weeks or more;
• Jalepeño Vodka • another one that’s got a quick infusion time because of the potency of the peppers, of which we used three cut in half with seeds—this one makes some MEAN vegan Bloody Marys;
• Ginger Vodka • just peel the ginger and cut into three- or four-inch strips and steep for a month or so—great with soda water or some citrus syrups.
And we’re hoping to try some new ones in the coming months.

So get yourself infusing. And somehow tip me over so I can wake up from this freaky, chilly world.

Another band we kept hearing about during last month’s South by Southwest festival was Chicago’s Gypsyblood. The bandformed in 2009 and just released their debut full-length, Cold in the Guestway, which spans a range of sounds—all raw, all rough, and all undeniably appealing. One of our favorite tracks from the album, “In Our Blood,” is this week’s Song of the Week. Gypsyblood’s Adam James took a few minutes recently to sit down and talk with us about their sound, why Chi-town’s awesome, and getting crapped on at shows.

Kindness of Ravens: So, alright, first thing’s first: Really awesome record. Original sound too—very raw and rough but still surprisingly melodic and catchy. Though there are seemingly some definite nods to a few bands I adored in my high school years, Jesus and Mary Chain prime among them. Were you two looking for a particular sound or is it just something that was born organically?

Adam James: It’s organic in terms of content for sure. We’ve never set out to sound like any particular kind of music. We just knew what we liked and went from there. We’ve played music together for so long that basically we don’t have any expectations anymore. Before we could drive, Kyle (Victor) would get dropped off at my house and we would write music together. Ever since we’ve learned each others strengths, weaknesses, and breaking points. We agree on whether something sounds good or whether it sounds like shit and then move on.
It’s funny to us because we had never really heard much of Jesus and Mary Chain until after we did the record and then those comparisons started coming up. But since being exposed to them, we’ve really embraced the comparisons. We were more influenced by bands like the Clean and the Fall going into it, where the catalogues were just all over the place with regards to the musical spectrum. We’ve personally always loved albums where all the songs uniquely lived together without sounding the same. So I guess you could say that that was the only thing we had hoped to accomplish.

KoR: A lofty enough goal. So is it just the two of you in the band?

AJ: It started out as the two of us recording, mixing, freezing, pissing each other off, and once the album was done we realized we needed more people to pull it off live. Luckily for us, Chris Alverez and Kyle’s Brother, Ryan, stepped up to be a part of everything as musicians, friends, and brothers. Initially we knew it would be easy to pre-record instruments and be confined to measure rather then impulse, but there is a spontaneity to live performance that we’ve always loved and identified with. We’ve grown up on punk rock and these are aspects that have always been important to us—not the look of music, which is what the media’s focused on most these days, but the aggression that comes with living in a society with one hand tied behind your back.

KoR: The recorded sound is really, really full for being pulled off by just two of you. I imagine the live show’s great. Being brand/designer types, we have to ask—the name. Does it have a story at all or is it just one of those things where two words sound cool together? Like REO and Speedwagon.

AJ: To us, Gypsyblood was a flag lying on the ground that time and circumstance had brought us to. It has always existed, being carried and dropped over and over again by those who are stimulated by something that can’t be bought or seen. It screams to wondering hearts throughout time in joy and celebration. We’ve all held it before, and after, as old souls, romantics, and vagabonds.

KoR: Damn. That’s deep. So bandnamemaker.com, right? What about Cold in the Guestway, the album title? That’s odd enough to warrant some inquiry.

AJ: I’ve always loved the idea of words that don’t exist in our current language and Guestway is something that certainly sounds welcoming. It’s an awkward contradiction of sorts. And I think that’s an essential part of what life has been about for our society—striving to exit our humanity when ultimately, that is all we are.

It’s the decision to get on an elevator when you know it’s going to plummet into the basement. You can see something isn’t right as the crowd stares and the beautiful woman donning pearls and bicycle red lipstick beckons you forward. So are you going to risk looking like a buffoon because of intuition or are you going to agree with social morays and step in? When reality has been proven to be the variable within society, we are here to tell you that your being is true and Cold in the Guestway.

KoR: That’s why I take the stairs, man. Okay, but, dudes, we have to say, your press shots—the mirror ones (above)—kinda spook us out. You look sort of appalachian-murder-spree-ish. But in a cool way, you know. Is that what you were going for?

AJ: Hahahaha! Now I understand why no one comes up to me after shows.

Like the music, we just throw ourselves into things. We hate photos and the cliché band pic thing, so we just go with the flow and alcohol in those situations. We know that the expectation for musicians these days is to be slick cute boy-toy types and we are just fine with looking like part of the cast from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Personally, I think beautiful people should stick to what they do best—fucking on the Internet. Not writing pop music.

KoR: Damn. What you got to say to THAT, pretty boys? Alright, enough etymology and porn talk—you guys just finished up some SXSW shows last month. How was that?

AJ: Overall it was a blast, as far as getting from point A to B to C to D to E to F and G for Gypsyblood. Next time around, a show a day to keep the doctor away.

KoR: Any crazy stories? Preferably ones that end in limb-loss, inter-dimensional travel, or panda bears?

AJ: Well we won’t say who in the band, but one of us got shit on…. Literally.

KoR: See, this is just the kind of thing that does NOT make me miss the touring lifestyle. My thanks. Had you been down there for the fest before?

AJ: No, This was our first time. Our guitar player, Chris Alverez, hit it up last year while working merch for good friends/tight musicians, Maps and Atlases. So he became our Indian Guide throughout our journey.

KoR: Those guys are great. Plus they’ve got a lovely site. Did you guys see any bands that you didn’t know before that got you jazzed, as they say?

AJ: Yes, I really dug the Mini Mansions set when they played with Queens of the Stone Age. We also played a few shows with Texas natives, Foe Destroyer and they put on a really great show as well.

KoR: Nice. You all are still based in Chicago, right? Are you both from there originally?

AJ: Yes, we are coming to you from our most beautiful, beloved Chic-a-go-go. For the most part, everyone is from here. Adam is a Catholic boy from Joliet though. We won’t hold it against him.

KoR: Favorite thing about the windy city?

AJ: It’s an old soul’s paradise! It is always welcoming with out being over- or underwhelming. Food. Drink. Music. Good times. Year-round.

KoR: Psssssh. We’ve got that stuff. Though we’re lacking in the Ferris Bueller parade realm. But okay, there’s something in your bio about how the band formed after Kyle stormed off stage and hitchhiked home from a show ANOTHER band you all were in together was playing. What’s that about? Should we expect similar on-stage antics at your Bowery show? I love a good on-stage band fight.

AJ: Anything worth a damn has been born out of that love/hate dynamic. It’s a contradiction where all great art and science has been born. For us, it all comes out in the music completely. When you wear your emotions on your sleeve, you don’t owe anyone anything. We weren’t doing ourselves any favors playing music together when it took us over a year to get in the same room and disregard the past. So it’s obvious that that comes out when we play. I suppose it’s more reminiscent of Alan Vega and Suicide. When you have to do something to feel whole as a person, it’s not always gonna be pretty.

KoR: I like that idea.
So that’s a definite ‘yes’ to on-stage fist-fight?

Find out when Gypsyblood opens for Delicate Steve and pals, Maps and Atlases tomorrow night at the Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are still available as of this post. And you can hear the rest of Gypsyblood’s record and order it on their site. 

By way of example, we’ve got this gigantic green wall in our studio that we’ve been meaning to hang art on since we moved in. We talked out all kinds of options—stenciled birds flying up the wall, a cut out avian mobile of some sort, in-house climbing wall—and eventually settled on a poster project. Each of us would design anything we wanted whenever we wanted and we’d frame them and put ’em up on said giant wall. We decided that a while back….

Alas, one day Katie started printing up our first set—three designs themed in the realms of royalty and all things corvid. Check it out!

The basic premise is that you’re deconstructing the dish to its most basic, succulent elements—the ‘cheese,’ the sauce, the protein, and the pasta —and then just building it up as much as you can, until you’ve got a towering construction of Italian mastery that would be sure to tick off at least one of Garfield’s nine lives upon mere sight. That cat….

On this first attempt, and given that taste was more a focus than attention-grabbing pasta-related statistics, I stopped at 23 alternating layers of sauce/filling and pasta (note that Del Posto’s original is 50 layers of sauce/filling and 50 layers of pasta, not 100 layers of EVERYTHING). But it was. So. Good.

This is less of a straight recipe, more of a cooking road map.

Frist, the pasta. Fresh pasta is kind of a must with this as you need it to be really thin to get a lot of layers in there. Fret not, though! We’ve been making World Foodie Guide’s fresh eggless pasta recipe for years now, and it’s honestly hard for me to buy boxed dried pasta now. It’s seriously so so good. And she’s got a great write up of the whole process for the uninitiated. Go by her recipe and then set the resulting ball of dough aside, covered in a bowl.

On to the protein! We’ve been loving making our own seitan lately, using Terry Hope Romero’s recipe in her cookbook, Viva Vegan!, but Post Punk Kitchen has a great recipe for it too. You can also buy about 16 ounces of the pre-packaged stuff at your local grocer’s. Once we had the seitan made, we simply chopped it to a fine, ground-beef-like texture, and browned it with a little olive oil in a skillet. Then set aside.

To the sauce! This is important. You can use store-bought sauce, but it’s highly recommended that you make your own. Especially if you’re talking to any of my very Italian in-laws. We actually ADORE the marinara my father-in-law, Joe, makes. Luck would have it, he passed the recipe on to me. It is as follows:

Joe’s Marinara
• 1 Large Sweet Onion, peeled and diced
• 4 Large Carrots, un-peeled and diced
• 3 Stalks Celery, leaves removed and diced
• 9 Cloves of Garlic, peeled, smashed, and diced
• 1 Large Green Bell Pepper, cored and diced
• 28 oz. can Crushed Tomatoes
• 2 6 oz. cans of Tomato Paste
• 2 tsp. of Crushed Pepper
• 2 tbsp. Dried Basil
• 1.5 tbsp. Dried Oregano
• 1 tbsp. Dried Parsley
• .5 tbsp. Dried Thyme
• .5 tbsp. Dried Sage
• pinch of Ground Cinnamon
• pinch of Ground or Shaved Nutmeg
• 3 Bay Leaves
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt, to taste
• Red Wine (optional)

So, basically, add all of your vegetables to a large pot with 2 tablespoons or so of warmed olive oil, tossing to coat. Throw in your crushed pepper and about a half-teaspoon of salt and simmer covered for about five minutes. Now add your crushed tomatoes and your tomato paste. Fill the tomato paste cans with water or broth, adding a total of 6 of those cans worth of liquid to the pot. Bring the heat up to medium, add all of the spices, and stir. If you like, you can add a cup or half-cup of red wine to mix at this point. Cook everything covered on medium-low heat, stirring and checking the taste after an hour, at which point you can add more spices if needed. Cook for another three or so hours covered, stirring from time to time. Store whatever you don’t use frozen forevs.

Now, the ‘cheese’! For this, we lean on the mozzarella-style Daiya, but, rather than layer it in straight, we simmered some almond milk stovetop, adding in a generous portion (nearly the whole bag) along with some ground white pepper, nutritional yeats, salt, and some smoked paprika, tasting as we went until we had a nice-tasting ‘cheese’ and letting it reduce down it’s not too liquidy.

Once you’ve got all that ready to go, you just start rolling out sheets of pasta as thin as you can get them, laying your first sheet on a baking dish with a spoonful of sauce underneath it. Rolling sheets out as you go, just start stacking it all up, alternating with pasta, meat, sauce, ‘cheese,’ and repeat. Until you feel you can go on no longer, friend. Carefully bake at 350ºF covered for 45 minutes or so, then uncovered to crisp the top for 15 minutes or so.

Now Garfield out, man!

The Spinanes • Hawaiian Baby

One of my hands-down, all-time favorite bands ever in the world is the Spinanes. I still remember staying up late one Sunday night in 1993, watching 120 Minutes and totally falling in love with this song—“Noel, Jonah and Me”—outta nowhere. Next day, after school, I high-tailed it to our local indie record store, the Record Exchange (RIP) and picked up a copy of the album, Manos. Years later, their songs—crafted by singer-songwriter, Rebecca Gates, and punctuated artfully by the hard-hitting drummer, Scott Plouf—remained some of my favorite, and the band took a significant role in my mind of sculpting what, to me, was artful, beautiful independent pop music.

Plouf and Gates eventually parted ways, each continuing to make music on their own, though we haven’t heard much from Rebecca in the past couple years. So, suffice it to say, I was overjoyed when I heard that she would be releasing new music and supporting it with live shows this year—one tomorrow in our area at Maxwell’s and then another Thursday at Brooklyn’s Rock Shop. More exciting still—she agreed to take some time to talk with us about her music, what she’s been doing over the years, and the best song ever.

Kindness of Ravens: First off, let me speak for the masses and say that it’s astoundingly awesomely exciting to see you playing live shows again. It’s been far too long. Last time I think we saw you play was in support of Ruby Series back in 2001. I think some of us were afraid you’d left the song-write-y/play-y scene altogether. What have you been up to for the past…er…ten years?

Rebecca Gates: Thank you for the encouragement. I’ve been involved in a lot of different endeavors over the years, most of them related to the contemporary arts world. I’ve curated art exhibitions, made art and been in shows, worked in the production side of art, worked as a photo stylist, wrote music for film and spent a lot of time thinking about sound and listening.

KoR: Right, and I know you’ve done a LOT of guest vocals on people’s albums over the years—the late, great Elliot Smith, the Decemberists, Willie Nelson(?!). Was there a desire to sort of step out of the spotlight, so to speak or is it just totally fun to do guest spots?

RG: I love singing. I love playing guitar, writing songs and performing, but singing is my top love. All of the guest appearances were at the invitation of the artists. It wasn’t anything I was actively pursuing, but would do at the drop of a hat. There’s something really relaxing about showing up, executing what someone needs to the best of your ability, maybe offering something they wouldn’t have thought of and then leaving, job done.

KoR: Like a choral gun for hire. Can you tell us about Sonoset Magazine?

RG: Sonoset is an audiomagazine—a serial release, a celebration of voice, whether it’s the voice of a single person, or the voice of a community. It features a variety of content and isn’t themed, though there will be a sub-issue called Sonoset Cycling.

KoR: And that’s launching this year, right?

RG: Indeed, Sonoset will finally make its appearance this year. Along with two albums. Hope the world can take it!

KoR: Bring it! So, with the work you’ve been doing in the fine arts world, are you focusing primarily on sound installations?

RG: Mostly sound, but also photography. I’ve a couple proposals I’m putting together that are more installations inclusive of sound. The list of possible projects is long!

KoR: Very cool. How are the albums of new material coming along? How does the new stuff compare to your other solo work or that of the Spinanes?

RG: I think the new work sounds like a nice mix of all my albums. I spent a long time after the last Spinanes record thinking about how little noise I could make while still working in a pop context. That stillness is on the new record, as is a song that, to me, is as rocking as anything on Manos, if not more so.

KoR: We do like the rock. Okay, so, I don’t know if this is poor form or not, but one of my favorite songs ever is “Hawaiian Baby” (above) and it has been ever since I played it on that ‘lil 7″ in 1990-whatever. Can I ask what led to writing that? Or what it’s about? Or why it speaks to my soul and says, “Hey man, everything’s gonna to be alright, and even if it isn’t, at least this song exists?…unless it’s about, like, ordering breadsticks at Little Caesar’s and not getting the dipping sauces you wanted…which would kind of ruin it for me.

RG: I’m not sure why that song has so much resonance for so many people, just thankful it does. I’ll not say what spurred the writing; there is no one right answer.

KoR: Fair enough. So you’re playing these coming shows as Rebecca Gates + the Consortium. Is that just out of a desire to have people to play off of on-stage? Is there any collaborative writing with the new songs as well?

RG: I like the tradition of sometimes solo, sometimes band. The Consortium is the umbrella term for all the folks I’m lucky enough to play with regardless of who’s able to join in at what time. Given how many bands people are in these days, it’s a way to play with a consistent group of people who know the songs already and play well together.

To find out more about what Rebecca’s up to and sign up for updates and such, check her out over at Parcematone.

Rebecca has yet to release any of her new material, but we were lucky enough to get in touch with Bird of Youth, the exceptional Brooklyn-based band opening for Rebecca on Thursday at Rock Shop, and they sent us a song for this week’s Song of the Week. “Bombs Away, She is Here to Stay”—is a specimen of excellent song-writing and is driven by catchy, driving guitar and strong, smooth vocals that pull you in. Check it out. The band’s debut full-length—Defender—is due out May 24. You can hear more on the MySpace page. And get last-minute tickets to Thursday’s show here!

Bird of Youth photo by Nick Bischoff.

I’ve found that many of the homemade nut-based vegan cheese recipes I’ve come across in the past have been kinda “meh” and I realized it wasn’t so much the flavor of the cheese as it was the texture.

Often simple ingredients, including, but not limited to, various nuts, lemon juice, tahini, agar and spices, are blended together and then refrigerated for several hours until it forms a solid jelly-esque blob o’ cheeeeze. That’s exactly the kind of cheese you want to slice and serve on a cracker! Or… not.

So when I came across this recipe on Healthy. Happy. Life. for a Baked Vegan Cashew Cheese, I knew I had to make it. Everything is better baked, just ask Charlie Sheen. (high five!)

Armed with a jar of raw cashews, I quickly realized I had a problem. Two, actually. (1) I didn’t have a cheese cloth and (2) I didn’t have the appropriate sized baking dish. It seems our kitchen’s glassware to bakeware ratio is way off balance. Do you and your 12 friends need to double-fist martinis RIGHT NOW? We’ve got you covered. Need to borrow a small oven-safe serving dish? Who do you think we are, the royal family?

Too cheap to buy a small baking dish and too lazy to venture out in search of cheese cloth, I decided to use the recipe as a guide. Using a cupcake/muffin pan, I was able to make mini wheels of cashew cheese and experiment with flavors. Win-win! There’s a lot of down time with this recipe, which is great, but, since you need to soak the cashews for at least 8 hours, it does require you to plan ahead.

The following is a list of ingredients you need to make Baked Cashew Cheese (makes approximately 5 wheels):
• 2 cups of Raw, Unsalted Cashews
• Approximately 1- 1.5 cups of Vegetable Broth (preferred) or Lightly Salted Water
• 1 tsp Salt (or less, if you prefer)
• Cupcake Pan
• Olive Oil (for lightly greasing the pan)

The classic cashew cheese is great, but because I used a muffin pan to make 5 small wheels, I decided to add ingredients to create different flavors. This experimentation has been an ongoing process, but so far I’ve made the following cheeses:
Smoked Guava Sea Salt (I highly recommend checking out the West Village salt shop, The Meadow, for all your salty needs)
Black Truffle + Sea Salt (using a few dashes of black truffle oil)
Black Salt + Black Pepper (goth/not goth: black salt? answer: totally goth)
Double Smoke (using a pinch of smoked paprika + a dash of liquid smoke)
Crushed Red Pepper (I prefer some heat, so I put in approximately 1 tablespoon. It was awesome and, as the french say, trés spicy)
Roasted Garlic (2-3 cloves)

Directions:
1. Soak the raw cashews in the vegetable broth (or water) for at least 8 hours.
2. Drain the cashews, but reserve about 1/2 cup of broth, maybe more.
3. Combine cashews, salt, and 1/2 cup of broth in a blender or food processor. Blend until very, very smooth. You can add a little more broth if necessary but avoid adding too much. The final mixture should be thick and creamy, not watery or thin.
4. Place the mixture in a bowl and refrigerate for 2-4 hours. This allows the cashew cream to firm up.
5. Lightly oil a muffin pan and preheat the oven to 220ºF.
6. If you are making the classic version, go ahead and spoon the cashew cream into the muffin pan. I usually make 5 wheels per recipe. If you want to play with flavors, then spoon some of the cream into a separate bowl, add your specialty ingredients to taste and then scoop into the muffin pan. Bake for 2 hours at 220ºF. You should be able to gently loosen each wheel from the pan. If they are sticking or tearing, then you can continue baking for 20 minute increments. Just keep your eye on them.
7. Allow the wheels to cool slightly before serving or refrigerate them for several hours and serve cold.

The cheeses pair well with assorted crackers and toasted bread. Hello, cheese board!

Please note: If you do have cheese cloth and a small baking dish (such a fancy, glamorous life you lead!), then I encourage you to make the recipe on Healthy. Happy. Life. I skipped the draining part of her recipe, so I’m guessing that the consistency of the cashew cheese I made is a bit different than hers. She was the smarty-pants who decided to bake the cheese in the first place, so I’d trust her culinary skills over mine, especially considering that, until recently, the only thing I knew how to prepare in the kitchen was cereal.

First, I know what you’re thinking—“A green doughnut? Whaaaaaaa?” The doughnut in question (and in picture, above, along with a Rocky Road doughnut) was topped with green tea icing and candied ginger. And it was good. CRAZY good. Hand-made by Brooklyn’s newly crowned doughnut kings, Dun-Well Doughnuts, this is just one example of the many exciting, zany flavors the duo have been creating since their launch earlier this year (this week they’ve got Red Pepper and Mexican Chocolate!). Reader, you may well known of my self-professed obsession with donuts and how I very much miss having ones I can eat easily at hand. SO, needless to say, I was psyched when I head about Dun-Well. One of the esteemed two doughnut-makers, Christopher, took the time talk to us about do- vs. dough-, cakey vs. airy, and the mysterious, forbidden world of savory doughnuts.

Kindness of Ravens: Sooooooooooooooo, first thing’s first: Why doughnuts? Why vegan? WHY NOW?!

Dun-Well: Well, Dan and I have both worked for vegetarian restaurants in the past, and It was about 2 years ago that I became fed up with it. It wasn’t the food that bothered me, it was the fact that I was working for a lot of people who were not vegetarian or vegan and, in my opinion, were in some ways exploiting my community rather than celebrating it. This sent me on a mission to own and operate my own vegan establishment. Dan and I both threw around ideas for a while—pizza shop, full-scale restaurant, ice-cream and waffle shop—and it wasn’t until I was watching the 20th anniversary Simpsons special and a craving for doughnuts hit me that I realized that that was it. Dan always says that Doughnuts are the new cup cake and we each spent almost a year developing our recipe. Right now, I Think we are riding that wave and we are hoping to be surfing on top of it in the coming months when we finally open our own storefront.

KoR: Wait, I thought pie was the new cupcake…. Regardless, I’m vegan, I love doughnuts, and I loved you’s guys’ doughnuts, so thanks for that. What are your all’s pre- Dun-Well backgrounds? Did you all come form the world of gastronomy and culinary arts at all?

D-W: In a word: No. Dan and I are artists. I am an actor by trade and Dan is a sculpture. After we both became vegan, at different times—Dan for nine or so years now and me for six—we both started to love cooking. We both are total foodies…in the sense that we love to cook what we find interesting. Our doughnut recipe is over 8 months of trial and error….but OH, was it worth the wait.

KoR: As a fellow food-, and more specifically, doughnut-lover, I must agree. Were you both big doughnut fans in your pre-vegan lives?

D-W: I think we were both big anything sweet fans.

KoR: Fair enough. We noticed you’ve chosen to stand by the traditional spelling of ‘doughnut’ rather than ‘donut.’ The overall aesthetic of your company, with the site and branding, seems to be a little old-timey artisanal too. Was there a concerted effort to try and tie in to a sort of yesteryear craftsman feel and tradition or do you all just dig that look?

D-W: Well, we both love that look. I wear Bow-ties all the time…even when baking. We were actually inspired a lot by a business whose owners are great friends and mentors of ours—Lula’s Sweet Apothecary. We wanted to keep the idea of tradition and craftsmanship in our product because we don’t ever want there to be a mass produced feel. Our product is anything but that. Don’t get me wrong, Oreos are tasty and they are technically vegan, but we didn’t want to follow that template. We strive to use local, organic, natural, and kosher ingredients whenever possible and we like making something where you can name all of the ingredients without a dictionary. I think that is something that was very evident of that time period and is often lost today.

KoR: Well-said. And yeah, we ADORE Lula’s. So, I’m not sure if I’ve got the terminology down at all, but it seems to us that there are two basic types of doughnuts—cakey and then more…airy…I don’t know, what would you call it? And your all’s seem to fall in the latter category—any plans to go cakey with any of them?

D-W: Well, right now we make a traditional yeast-risen doughnut, or what we in the business refer to as the “Golden Standard” for doughnuts. They take a great amount of care and time to get correct but are worth every bite. Cake doughnuts are much easier to produce, but most people prefer yeast-risen, which is why Dan and I have worked so hard to develop a great yeast-risen recipe. We’re working on a great cake doughnut recipe, but don’t sell them now because our capacity is fairly limited. Once our shop opens though, you can count on there being every variety you can think of. Cake, yeast, turnovers, pull-aparts…you name it we’ll make it.

KoR: Sorry. I had to switch out keyboards because my previous one shorted out from all the drooling. How ’bout future flavors? You all certainly seem to be experimenting with some exciting options. Can you give us a heads up as to what you’ve got in the works?

D-W: I think what we are most excited about bringing out is a selection of savory doughnuts. Have you ever had a curry flavored doughnut covered I in a mango chutney glaze?

KoR: You crazy. You mentioned turnovers…any plans to do more not-quite-doughnut items? I would DIG on a Dun-Well eclair. Bearclaw?

D-W: Oh yes. There will always be something new from us.

KoR: Any interesting doughnut flavors that didn’t make the cut in the past due to resulting CRAZY taste? Like orange-tequila-bubblegum-cottoncandy?

D-W: Well, Dan has more than once shot down my idea for a Pepto-bismol doughnut…but I have a feeling I am wearing him down.

KoR: And another shorted keyboard for a totally different reason. Finally, and most importantly for me…WHEN ARE YOU COMING TO SOUTH BROOKLYN?! I know we’re not the vegan Meccas that some call Williamsburg and Greenpoint, but we’ve got some representin’ vegans, man. And, seriously. I love doughnuts.

D-W: Don’t worry. It is in the works. If nothing else we will be getting them to a coffee shop near you soon.

In the meantime, you can find Dun-Well at Boneshakers and Champs in the Williamsburg area and Lulu’s in the city, along with a hopefully ever-expanding list of locations. Check out the full roster here.

Trouble’s a-brewin’ with April’s Pin-Up Pandas.

I predict a Jerry-Springer-style knife-fight in May.

One of the bands we kept hearing about during South by Southwest, which you’ll recall, we totally missed, was LA’s Foster the People.

Turns out, there’s good reason for that. They good. While they were described to us as “a little Disney,” we totally dig on their feel-good party sound, which taps into the ever-so-popular sing up high, party down low, MGMT-Passion Pit-Naked and Famous vein. It’s a well-mined vein, but the more the merrier, we say.

Check out one of our favorites, “Helena Beat”, this week’s Song of the Week and if you like it, head on over to their site to listen to a few more and purchase up an EP. I mean, it’s spring, right? We need some warm-weather party music already. Oh. And some warm weather, while we’re making demands.

While we were fairly unsuccessful at finding any awesome indie Indian bands (I know, how can they resist the terminology?!), we did hear about Brooklyn-based, Red Baraat, who sounds very much like an awesome Indian marching band. And we subsequently found out about an Indian band named Indus Creed from our friend, Ravi. And no, they don’t sound like Indian Creed…more like Indian Dave Matthews, really…

Then we spoke with our good friend Shehzad on his new book that discusses the effects of outsourcing work to India. Later, during his book release party at DUMBO’s powerHouse Arena, Shehzad did his best to contribute to my growing collection of angry author autographs (above). That dude can’t even be mean when he tries.

Then we posted our somewhat crazy recipe for vegan malai kofta and handed the reins over to our friend Justin so he could talk about his love of India. If you’re learning for further travel writing on the subject, check out our friend Brian’s “outsourcing travel diary,” which, in his own words, is “poorly-formatted, and also combines the worst aspects of Shehzad’s insights and Justin’s understanding.” 

Also this week and totally unrelated to our blog…as far as we know…India beat Pakistan in their cricket match to proceed to tomorrow’s cricket world cup against Sri Lanka and Gandhi’s home state banned a new book about the memorable political leader because it was accused of claiming Gandhi may have liked dudes.

Next week, I don’t know what we’re doing, man. Probably catching up on all the work we didn’t do this week. But soon we’ll have some exciting content from the likes of Rebecca Gates and Mirah! I know!

Namaste, dear readers.