Vegan Mac & Cheese by a Bitchy Vegan Homo

I’m not a vegan, but I’ve adopted a classification I call “vegan-adjacent.” After quitting meat in 2010, I’ve also made adjustments that bring me closer to a vegan without going full-tilt. Since then, I’ve drastically dialed down the dairy, only consuming it when I’m out at a restaurant or a party, and I still occasionally eat fish. Other than that, I’m much closer to vegan than carnivore.

When I moved back to Cleveland at the end of 2016, I was delighted to see far more vegetarian and vegan offerings than I’ve ever noticed before. But Cleveland is very much a meat eater’s town. Every other menu or advertisement for a restaurant is all about the beef, the bacon and the extra cheese.

If you add all that to the fact that I’ve detected little to no discernible gay presence in Downtown Cleveland (not even one gay bar), imagine my sheer delight when a friend forwarded me a brand new Cleveland-based vegan cooking video series by a guy named Dave Huffman, a.k.a. Bitchy Vegan Homo.

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Know Who You Are and Buy The Best You Can Afford

I get a lot of pressure from brands and readers alike that I have to try this suit maker, check out those shirts, review that company, take a look at this label, yada yada yada. But these days, almost every Tom, Dick and Watchmaker likes to play the ‘luxury’ card, framing their wares as premium goods for bros who want to look like they’re killing it.

My problem is that I’m neither a “luxury” person nor a person who needs or wants a lot of stuff. When it comes to solicitations that land in my inbox, I understand the confusion. Between the tailored suits, shirts, ties and shoes, I probably present like a luxury person, even though I’m not. But these are hyper-casual times where a shirt with a collar, pants that aren’t denim and shoes that aren’t sneakers are considered “dressing up.”

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Frugal Furnishing: A New Dining Table and Chairs

By the time I left New York, I had sold everything except my dogs, my computer, my clothes and my books. During my first year in the Cleveland area, I lived in a guest room at my mother’s fully furnished house. When I finally secured an apartment, all my possessions fit comfortably into the van I hired to move to my new home in Downtown Cleveland. I had no furniture.

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It’s About the Work

Over the past weekend, I had the privilege of attending the birthday celebration of an old family friend who has been part of my entire life and a big part of many lives for a lot longer than that. As Jack McGinty turns 90 this week, his children, with whom I grew up, threw him a fantastic surprise party at the venerable Cleveland Yachting Club. I had a great time catching up and reconnecting with old friends and acquaintances I hadn’t seen in decades.

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Downtown Now: A Valentine to My (New) Hometown of Cleveland

One of my side hustles here in Cleveland is working as a freelance editor and writer for Great Lakes Publishing, the Condé Nast of Ohio responsible for a roster of magazines that started with its flagship, Cleveland Magazine, in 1972.

My boss is Lute Harmon, Sr., the executive publisher and founder. One might think of him as the S.I. Newhouse of Ohio. After a mutual friend connected us last year, Lute immediately assigned me to write about notable Cleveland figures who were doing good and making a difference for his latest venture, a magazine called Community Leader, a quarterly supplement to Cleveland Magazine.

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