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sandwiches and gossip in New Paltz
Friday, January 23 2026
Last night at the animal rights film event in Rosendale, Gretchen had chatted with local vegan entrepreneur Lagusta, who runs a candy factory/bakery/café in New Paltz, though it's not to be confused with Little Loaf, the vegan bakery/café for which Gretchen has been an ardent cheerleader since it took its current brick & mortar form over a year ago. Reminded of Lagusta's café, Gretchen looked at their menu and saw they were offering (for the most limited time imaginable) a seitan-cabbage sandwich that looked amazing. She asked if I wanted to go with her to New Paltz to eat them and I said definitely. I've had Lagusta's sandwiches in the past, and even when they're made of ingredients I don't usually like (such as beets) they're amazing. So after Gretchen walked Charlotte, I drove us there via Route 32 (that is, not using the Thruway). While there, we also ordered cappuccino-like drinks and a mac & cheese caserole that I liked much more than Gretchen did. The sandwiches didn't disappoint, and, as messy as they looked like they were going to be, they didn't actually make that much of a mess.
While we were eating them, we discussed such matters as the turf battles fought between people of very similar world-view when they happen to find themselves in competition with each other. Like Little Loaf, Lagusta's business is leftie, vegan, and extremely queer-friendly. And yet the two places each have their partisans and employees for one never defect to work at the other. Another interesting thing about Lagusta's place (which is very different from Little Loaf) is that the employees there are always at least a little bit bitchy, with just enough condescension in everything they say or the expressions on their faces to make a customer feel slightly stupid. Lagusta's staff at every business she's ever run have been this way, so either she only hires staff who are this way or she trains them not to be particularly friendly.
[REDACTED]
Last weekend when we'd taken the bus to Port Authority, I'd noticed some large pieces of locust wood that someone had cut at the edge of the New Paltz park & ride parking lot. So on our way back to Hurley, I suggested we swing by there and pick up what we could of it. Only two pieces were small enough for me to carry to the car, so that was all we took.
Back home in Hurley, Gretchen eventually went off to pilates and I watched the first episode of a new series in the Game of Thrones cinematic universe, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. This show seems designed to let us see more of the life of the commoners in this medieval world, focusing on a "knight" who is clearly a pretender to his position. There's also more gross-out and body humor; this was, I think, the first time I've ever seen feces flying out of the ass of a major character on screen.
For some reason I'd decided I could drink booze today, so I did so during that and also later as Gretchen and I watched yet another mind-bending episode of the Rehearsal.
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