These dudes might look like a scary motorcycle gang, but they’re actually the men of RescueInk, a New York-based animal rescue organization. These guys use their looks to intimidate animal abusers! How awesome is this? Be sure to check out the site, where you can donate and adopt.

is the most frustrating invention ever. Y’know?

The always-interesting, style-inspiring raw chef Ani Phyo has a new uncookbook coming out in the spring! She promises lots of full-color photos and I can’t wait. In the meantime, look at how pretty and fashionable she is (not to mention that she is ethically cool too: a recycling vegan who lives in Portland!). I wanna be her when I grow up.

I really want to try a new fat-melting procedure called Velashape. Designed to help combat cellulite on the tummy, butt, thighs, and hips, it’s non-invasive and FDA-approved. I’d like to do it ASAP, but it works best on people who are within 10 pounds of their goal weight. Since I’d like to drop more than that, I might hold off for awhile and see how it goes. If you live in the Atlanta area, you can have it done at Trinity Massage and Aesthetics. If anyone has tried it, please let me know what you thought. In the meantime, check this out:

As a vegetarian, I know that it’s important to include lots of beans in my diet, to make sure I get appropriate levels of protein and fiber. As a picky eater, I pretty much avoid beans. Oh sure, I’ll eat green beans now and then, and I’ve had baked beans in the past, but I’m not much of a cook, so I don’t really explore new foods very often.

But I recently checked out The Daily Bean, by Suzanne Caciola White. Filled in 175 recipes for black, white, red, and garbanzo beans, plus lentils, this book is pretty interesting. The standard fare is there: burritos, salads, soups, pastas…but she also makes bean pancakes, pies, and puddings. Right now, I’m considering a fairly simple-looking black bean salad; we’ll see how it goes.

Once the weather turns colder, I might turn my attention to soup. (I’m also not much of a soup eater, to the consternation of pretty much everyone I know). I like pumpkin and Rachael Ray, and I found a recipe of hers that looks pretty tasty and easy: pumpkin black-bean soup. I actually have this particular recipe on a DVD, so I’ve seen it in action, and it looks very simple to make. I can’t find an online version of the video, but I did find someone else’s version of the soup on youtube, so I thought I’d share it:

If anyone tries either of these recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know how the soup turned out!