' “I like my vegan food to be sexy, dirty fun,” Ms. Silverstone chirped, her voice rising with the girlish lilt so memorable from her best-known role, the matchmaking high school princess Cher Horowitz in the 1995 movie “Clueless.” '

So says Alicia Silverstone in a recent New York Times article, "Vegan in Word and Deed."

Reporter Patrick Healy joined Alicia and her friends at her--and my--New York favorite, Candle 79. She's blogged about it a few times, I've blogged about it a few times...overall, it's just a favorite.

Alicia is really taking on the vegan world by storm with her book The Kind Life (recently no. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list for hardcover advice, how-to and miscellaneous books) and her blog of the same title. She's been vegan now for over 10 years.

Given the success of her book, could we begin to fathom the possibility that our diet is becoming more mainstream? That more people care about their health and are beginning to realize the impact of diet on their health, energy and overall well-being? Let's hope so.

My NYC Vegan-Eatin' Adventure!

Candle 79, Upper East Side, NYC

Whoops, sorry, nothing left...it was ravioli

Avocado and quinoa salad topped with toasted pumpkin seeds

Chile-glazed seitan

Onto dessert! Two scoops of vanilla fudge marble ice cream and one scoop kahlua

And finally, dessert #2, Mexican chocolate brownie with a roasted banana and coconut ice cream

Take that Alicia!

Alicia Silverstone: A Weekend of Eating in NYC

I will be following Alicia's footsteps next time I'm in New York. Check out her latest blog update here.

She hit up Counter, one of my favorites, but also Souen, a macrobiotic restaurant, and Hangawi, plus also ate some desserts from Candle 79. My next trip to New York will definitely be gluttonous. Start eating!

Mission: Vegan Dessert

How annoying is it to go out with your friends for ice cream, gelato, etc. etc.? Well, I for one am sick of it! Never a non-dairy dessert to be found from your average seller of sweets. For as long as I have been vegan I have wondered why ice cream parlours don't offer at least one non-dairy option beyond your boring, flavorless sorbet. What about the rich desserts? Why can't we eat them, too?

My favorite dessert after dark chocolate covered pretzels and maybe my mom's tofu pumpkin pie is vegan ice cream. I like it all: soy-based, rice-based, coconut-milk based. As long as it is not a fruit flavor, I'm all about it. Well, now our vegan dreams (or potentially just mine) have been answered! A purely vegan ice cream store. In my vegan eats reading I came across a review of Stogo, a non-dairy organic ice cream shop in the East Village. (Of course New York City has everything a vegan could want to eat--on the East Coast at least--and that includes ice cream.) Flavors include chocolate, chocolate chip cookie, toasted almond joy, oatmeal raisin cookie, and of course some fruit flavors for those of you who are not all about decadent, sweet 'n savory tastes like me. I envision a delicious bowl of chocolate, chocolate chip cookie and peanut butter fudge with some kind of vegan chocolate topping to polish it off. So delish!

When not in NYC and without any soy-based ice cream outside of the pint variety to be found (except I have heard Gianna's down near South Street has vegan soft serve, though I've yet to try it), I'm a pretty big fan of Turtle Mountain's Purely Decadent Peanut Butter Zig Zag.

If you are as big a fan as I am of the choco-peanut butter combo, then you might want to try out this recipe for chocolate peanut butter pie.

In my laziness, though, I usually just head over to Last Drop Cafe at 13th and Pine and pick up a peanut butter cup brownie made by Vegan Treats. The actual bakery is in Bethlehem, PA but thank goodness they sell their decadent cakes, doughnuts, brownies and cookies throughout Philly.

Stogo, here I come. But please, when will you come to Philly?