Tag Archives: vegan drinks

Vegan Weekend Plans

One thing that I do to make myself feel really terrible is make a ton of plans for the weekend and then cancel them all. This is going to be one of those weekends because there is so much vegan action that sounds like a blast. But, if you read yesterday’s post and saw what my deepest desires are then you know that I won’t make it to all of these events. Hopefully there are more energetic people out there than me and so this post is for you!

First up, is the return of Vegan Drinks tonight at Cheer up Charlies. It’s super exciting that Arlo’s reopened at the Red River location and they are even giving away free french fries if you tell them the secret password: VEGAN DRINKS FRIES! . The drink specials will include The Vegan Yeti (White Russian), The Banana Hammock (pineapple, banana juice, coconut milk & rum), and Whiskey Root Beer Floats made with ice cream provided by Sweet Ritual! It’s tonight Friday at September 5th at 7pm.

On Saturday morning, I will spend the morning at the Beagle Brigade at Norwood Estate Dog Park. Then, at 5pm Unity Vegan Kitchen is going to be throwing a birthday party at their new location in South Austin! And they are going to be making their chicken and waffles with an even better recipe! Hard to imagine cause they were pretty amazing at the 4th of July Party. 

If you don’t stalk Austin vegan business you might not know that there have been a lot of changes in the past few weeks. The Northloop trailer park had to close down completely and Red Rabbit moved into Monkeywrench Books, Taco ‘Bout It closed down, Unity moved to the South Austin Social lot, and BBQ Revolution moved next to Brass Ovaries at 3111 Manor Rd. The Vegan Nom moved back to it’s original location on North Loop. The Dojo closed down and it looks like the Health Box shut down too.

On Sunday Mr. Natural is serving up their monthly vegan brunch buffer at the Ceaser Chavez location.  They will be serving a Boston creme cake as a special treat. Counter Culture will also have brunch, as they do every weekend, this time they will be continuing the special of Blueberry Blue Corn Pancakes with Organic Maple Syrup which are amazing! And as usual Counter Culture will also be hosting the Rabbit Food Pop-Up shop so get your orders in. And if you haven’t read about it, please check out their awesome kickstarter ’cause it’s going to be the best thing ever.

On the horizon for next week Counter Culture will be hosting a Wine and Cheese night on September 10th. If you haven’t tried their cheese, it’s so good! I promise you will love it. They have also gotten together another screening of Cowspiricy because the last one sold out and it’s getting rave reviews. Finally, next weekend there is going to be a AVVA+VRA End of Summer Cookout .

So that’s the weekend haps that I know about. I can at least guarantee you one thing, I will spend the weekend eating vegan food.

Happy Veganmofo!

It’s Texas Vegfest Weekend

TxVegFestAustin- This is the weekend to go to Fiesta Gardens for Texas Vegfest and try all the best of what the vegan world has to offer. There are going to be people speaking about health, activism, professional fighting, and cooking plant based food including allergen free & even an instructor from the professional culinary arts program at The Natural Epicurean Academy.

There will be food vendors from all the different facets of the Austin vegan scene including, Indian, Ethiopian, Barbecue, Japanese, Tacos, Doughnuts, and cupcakes. Pretty much everything you could ever want to eat.

They will also have craft beer, live music, kids activities, and all sort of other stuff to do and see. And by the way, it’s free! (although there is a suggested donation.) Plus since it’s right on town lake you can ride your bike or even kayak there. And you can win stuff! And buy cool shit! And then eat more.

If you can’t wait, Friday night there is going to be a huge Austin Vegan Drinks pre-party at the Buzzmill complete with Vegan Nom Tacos, a hooping contest, ice cream, and vegan croissants!

So get your act together, find your best straw hat, and get ready to get ready to make this the best fest ever. If you want to read about last year’s event here’s my wrap up.

Rabbit Food Grocery – a new vegan grocery store in Austin

The vegan community in Austin is so inspiring lately. I think we will remember 2012 as the year the scene just POPPED (pop pop) and along with all sorts of businesses opening or moving to brick and mortar locations, local products being put on the market, and ice cream being served everywhere we now also have our own vegan grocery pop-up shop. That’s it rest of the world, we don’t even need you anymore! Austin can just sustain itself on local vegan businesses. I am so excited that Jessica and Gabe finally opened their vegan shop Rabbit Food Grocery because, really, I can’t think of two better people in the world to take on such a task. First, they are complete experts on vegan ingredients. I like to think of them as walking talking versions of the book Animal Ingredients A to Z. Plus they know all about vitamins and staying healthy but aren’t anti- junk food and restaurants too. Plus Jessica has a veganic gardening blog and knows everything about that too. Plus it’s their dream and they have been working towards this for as long as I can remember. Plus they helped me with a bunny emergency. That’s a lot of math right there and from my limited math knowledge even I can tell you that it all equals complete awesomeness.

I have been to the shop quite a bit and I have tried a lot of the products and this couple knows their vegan food. They have so many items that I have heard about for years and always wanted to try like The Vegg, Blue Sheese and May Wah Vegan Fried “Chicken” Steak. They have items that I never knew about and wonder how I lived without like Leahey Gardens Macaroni and Cheese and my newest amazing “discovery” Parmela Grated Vegan Parmesan Cheese. They have things that were discontinued or hard to find in Austin like chocolate covered twinkies, Chicago Soydairy Teese and Biscoff Spread, and of course vegan staples like Butler Soy Curls and Food For Lovers Vegan Queso.

That’s right I called queso a staple.

They don’t leave the critters out either with dog and cat food and they have the most trustworthy supplements in town. I will never get my supplements from anyone else and happily never research any of it ever again. Instead I can trust that Gabe and Jessica have done the research for me and I can just pick up whatever they have and spend my time researching new taco spots and new taco options.

Right now the shop is moving around to different vegan friendly locations. If you aren’t in Austin you can just order whatever you want and they will ship it to you. Actually, if you are in Austin and are just too lazy to leave the house they will ship it to you. If, however, you do live in town and occasionally go out into the so-called “real world” you can order ahead of time and just check off where you will pick it up. Every time I’ve gone they have everything ready in a nice package and I can just go along my merry way. At the pop up shops they also have a limited amont of popular items so if you just want to browse you can do that too. The times change so befriend them on Facebook or follow them on twitter or take a look at their website before you drag yourself across the river in a sudden cookie dough inspired panic.

But if you really want to check out Rabbit Food Grocery the best way to do it is to attend Vegan Drinks this Friday at Cheer Up Charlie’s. They are having a huge sale on vegan cheese and you can pick up your food while you meet up with other vegans or try any of the many trailers right over there. Just DON’T do what I did last time and try and eat an Arlo’s Bacon Cheeseburger, a fried avocado ball from Fire and Soul, and a cupcake from Capital City Bakery. It turns out that I am not a 15 year old boy and I can not eat like that. It was bad news.

So check it out and make an effort to support this wonderful vegan business so that they will be able to bring us even more products and eventually open a permanent spot. Hopefully next door to me.

Everybody’s Working for the Weekend

I have so much to do this weekend! Tonight is Vegan Drinks at Cheer Up Charlies. I am excited to eat at Iggi’s Texitarian while I am there because somehow I still haven’t tried it.

It is supposed to be a great vegan food trailer and they have fried zucchini and buffalo wings on special!

Then I have to figure out what to make for Thanksgiving which will be a lot of fun because I love going through recipes. I will definitely be making the Miso Glazed Brussels Sprouts, because that is now a Thanksgiving tradition, along with mashed potatoes, cranberries, apple strudel, and stuffing. I also want to try one of Tofu & Sprouz’s Gravies but I might just go with my standard roux based gravy depending on the main dish. And that is the part I am having a hard time with. Last year I made seitan dumpling that we all loved.

but the year before that we had this fabulous seitan roulade that was beautiful and amazing.

I asked Mr. Smurf what he would prefer and he said “ooo those dumpings….or the roulade that was so good…or you could make something else” so that wasn’t very much help at all! Do you guys have any favorites?

I bet after all the Thanksgiving planning I am going to have to go back to Counter Culture Saturday (and maybe Sunday) for the Thanksgiving sandwich, it only happens once a year!

I am so excited because this is one of the best weeks of the year, plus it is getting cold enough that the dogs are demanding to wear their sweaters and next week is a three day work week! Do you all have exciting weekend plans?