That’s right, pal, it’s Bike Week. Bust out your fixie and grind it up and downtown while you embrace your inner hipster. Wait, are fixed gear bikes over like Whole Foods is corporate?
Here in Austin, bicyclists are getting the royal treatment with freebies galore, and there are tons of events listed at Bike to Work Austin for those with pedals to spin.
This Friday, May 18 is “Ride Your Bike to Work Day,” which means all kinds of free food and drinks being given away! Click here to download a map of all the participating venues. Or, if you’re in a rush, here’s a quick run-down of the sponsors listed on the map.
BIKE SHOPS:
Freewheeling Cycles
Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop
The Peddler Bike Shop
Yellow Bike Project
Jack and Adam’s Bicycles
Tsunami Cycles
AJ’s Cyclery
Bicycle Sport Shop
Clown Dog Bikes
Ozone Bike Department
Bike Texas
Fast Folks Cyclery
FOOD & DRINK:
Thunderbird Coffee/Mi Madre’s
Dolce Vita
Blue Dahlia Bistro
Halcyon
Bouldin Creek Cafe
Wheatsville Co-op
It’s A Grind
Whole Foods
ASSORTED SERVICES:
Luke’s Locker
Recycled Reads
Bird’s Barbershop
City Hall
Austin Police Department
Faith United Methodist Church
Various metro stations
And don’t forget to follow @RideYourBike on Twitter for the latest and greatest tweets and deets.
Personally, I’m looking forward to Austin’s bike share program, which is reportedly making its way up from San Antonio within the next couple of years. If anyone’s got actual dates on this one, I’d love to hear about it. Hit me up in the comments with any news on that front!
In honor of Cinco de Mayo, Austin is rocking the taco at its first ever Austin Taco Festival, aka TACORAMA.
The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center is kicking off the week-long praise of tacos, Latin music and film with a free event from noon to 3 p.m. featuring plenty of tacos, refreshments, children’s activities, a taco piñata and live music by Southwest Key Ballet Folklorico, Tejano star AJ Castillo and “Cruisin’ Muzic King” Trampia Guzman. Since it’s a free event, the Capital Area Food Bank is encouraging attendees to bring non-perishable food items for donation, in lieu of entry fees.
Dude, I’m going just for the taco piñata. If there’s anything that classes up the joint, it’s beating the crap out of a papier-mâché likeness of your favorite food. Seriously, it gives you, me and the entire Lone Star State a reason to live, right Pedro?
In addition to all this taco-eating madness, don’t forget to check out “¡Ask A Mexican!” author Gustavo Arellano at BookPeople on Wednesday, May 9 from 7 to 8 p.m. He’ll be reading from his latest book, Taco USA, all about the mighty taco and how it conquered America as our nation’s favorite food.
There’s also the the Cine las Americas film screening on May 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. and the Pachanga Music Festival on May 11 and 12. Quite a week!
The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center is located at 600 River Street, and BookPeople is located at 603 N. Lamar. For full deets, check out Latinometro.
The food trailer phenomenon has taken Austin by storm, and it’s quickly spreading across the country. It’s even spawned local festivals like the Gypsy Picnic Trailer Food Festival, so it’s a strange thought that eating food from a trailer was once frowned upon. As if there weren’t already hundreds of great reasons to live in Austin, here are five more from our top picks for Austin food trailers.
Hey Cupcake – As a food trailer staple, Hey Cupcake now has four mobile locations and one brick-and-mortar shop here in town. Claiming to have gotten started with a desire to share their vanilla dreams, Hey Cupcake’s founders are dedicated to making the most delicious cupcakes in the world. Visit their South Congress location to sample their wares, along with an army of other food trailers, some of which are also on this list!
"hey cupcake!" (photo by Flickr user atmtx)
Izzoz Tacos – Get all the old favorites like crispy beef, or the new and inventive shrimp tempura tacos at Izzoz. Just a few blocks away from Hey Cupcake, on South 1st Street, nothing on the Izzoz Tacos menu is over six bucks and most of it hovers around three. Enjoy both the deliciousness and the price!
"Izzoz Taco Truck" (photo by Flickr users Kok Chih & Sarah Gan)
Coat and Thai – Vegan friendly, and just plain friendly, Coat and Thai is a stone’s throw from Hey Cupcake in the SoCo Food Court. They offer delicious Thai cuisine made to order, and to quote their website, they “only use the freshest ingredients. No MSG.”
Coat and Thai (image via C&T Facebook page)
Franklin Barbecue – Aaron Franklin is doing something very right. He’s a magician with meats; there’s no simpler way to put it. Located on East 11th Street, this little eatery was named Best BBQ in America by Bon Appetit Magazine. When you visit, get there early, because like most food trailers, he closes when he’s sold out, and he sells out fast.
The infamous Franklin BBQ sign (photo by Flickr user Boz Bros)
Sno Beach – This little trailer on Barton Springs Road will always have a place in Austin’s heart. Nothing goes with a day of swimming or kayaking (or anything, really!), like a Sno Beach sno cone. Touting crazy flavors like Tiger’s Blood and Fuzzy Navel, this writer’s favorite remains the Wedding Cake.
Sno Beach truck (photo by Flickr user alachia)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nicole Martinez is a marketing assistant at Realty Austin, your source for downtown Austin condos and luxury Lake Austin homes. Nicole loves exploring new ways to enjoy Austin on a budget, from self-guided food trailer tours to social cycling.
I’m normally a fan of Jimmy Dean and his tasty breakfast sausage, so when Celebrity Intern and I saw some of these Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls in the frozen food section at the grocery store, we decided to give ‘em a whirl. Hell, the sausage ones claim to have 21 grams of protein, and the bacon ones 28 grams.
Sadly, lots of protein—in this case—does not a tasty breakfast make.
While the Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls do only take 3 minutes to heat up, this failure pile in a sadness bowl (thank you, Patton Oswalt, for the appropriate lingo) is decidedly lacking in both the taste department and aesthetic appeal.
Here’s what I suggest instead of the weird frozen eggs, minimal sausage and cafeteria-style potatoes: EGG BOWL À LA SHOESTRING
Grab two eggs and your milk (or cream) from the fridge.
Crack the eggs into a decent sized bowl (i.e. small enough to fit into your microwave, big enough to hold 2 eggs with some extra room for them to expand).
Pour in a little bit of milk and whip those eggs with a fork until they’re frothy.
Stick this mixture in the microwave for one minute. Stir. Return to microwave and heat for another minute or so. You’ll know they’re done when you can see the eggs rising up the side of your bowl, threatening to climb over the sides like a blobby monster that wants to eat YOU for breakfast. (They should still be slightly moist at this point. DO NOT OVERHEAT!)
Grate some cheese on top and let ‘er melt/cool down for about a minute.
Transfer eggs to a plate or slap ‘em into a tortilla for a breakfast taco and enjoy.
3 minutes to deliciousness. No sadness bowls. No failure piles. Just good eatin’. You can also jazz this up into a microwavable fiesta by adding a spoonful or two of your favorite salsa on top of the eggs, and slicing up an avocado to put underneath. Go all out and put a little sour cream on top and you’re in heaven. Trust me, your stomach will thank you.
And stay away from the Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls! As this blogger backs me up, those things are lethal.
While most of the tastiest and cheapest eats in Austin are undoubtedly found right in my own kitchen, once in a while even the most dedicated of shoestring budgeteers has to venture forth in search of sustenance slung by a stranger. Whether you’re looking for tacos, treats or the truly bizarre, Austin has a variety of inexpensive restaurants and food trucks that cater to the budget lifestyle.
Here are just a few of my favorites from around town, along with links to our more detailed write-ups.
Ice cream at Amy’s Ice Cream – Celebrity Intern and I will argue about this one all day, because he loves his Häagen-Dazs (and I can’t lie, so do I), but Amy’s definitely gives our supermarket fave a run for its money, especially when someone says “Vanilla is vanilla, what’s so special about—MMMMMM!” after tasting their Mexican Vanilla; their seasonal specials and rotating daily offerings will keep you coming back for more
Beanitos chips and Texas-Texas salsa (available at H-E-B, Whole Foods and Central Market) – a tasty, healthy alternative to corn chips, all made locally!
Iced mocha atEpoch Coffee – the best iced mocha in Austin really hits the spot on a 105-degree day
Fresh Plus Grocery – this place is so mom-and-pop that they don’t yet have a website, but their prices on upscale food items like gourmet cheeses, wines and beer plus amazingly fresh and beautiful fruits and veggies make stopping at any of their three locations (Hyde Park, Clarksville and a brand-new Allandale store) a delicious adventure for the home chef on a budget
Hot chocolate at Caffé Medici – it’s on the pricy side, but it’s well worth it for the smoothest, creamiest hot chocolate in town (the secret is a homemade chocolate sauce, which the barista is on pain of death never to reveal to nosey food bloggers like me)
Salgadinhos atRio’s Brazilian – I still don’t know how to properly pronounce these dealios, but they’re savory stuffed pastries kind of like a Hot Pocket but about a billion times tastier
Pho atSaigon Kitchen – choose from fatty or lean meat, or get a crazy mixture of both and build your own soup sensation
Breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana – because they’re cheap, I love their green salsa, and you can get $1 off pretty much every time you go if you fill out the survey at the bottom of your reciept, plus they’re near my house and convenience is sometimes king
Tacos atLa Tapatia – the trip up north is worth it, as these tacos are always tender and delicious (and while you’re in the neighborhood, there’s a Half Price Books across the street worth hitting for some inexpensive reading materials)
Additional cheap eats to seek out, via Erin McReynolds, editor of Fearless Critic Austin:
“What the hell?!” you are probably saying, “Why are you doing that?!”
Because lentils are cheap (69 cents a bag), healthy and delicious!
Also, it’s fucking freezing today in Austin (it’s 49 degrees as I type this, and I’m bundled in layers like I’m back in Montreal), so any excuse to fire up the stove is a good one.
The lentils aren’t actually for this evening’s festivities (which actually include NOT watching the game, since we don’t own a TV and hate football), but for tomorrow’s breakfast of champions. Celebrity Intern and I discovered a tasty, cheap breakfast that we’ve been savoring for the past few weeks, which he claims is based on a French country-style tradition, and I thought I’d share the recipe.
So first, the lentils. Unlike beans, lentils are kick-ass because they don’t need to be pre-soaked. Brilliant! Grab a cup of ‘em, sort through to make sure there aren’t any weird rocks or gross shrivelled ones in your batch, and then give them a quick rinse. Once you’re done with that, chuck ‘em in a pot with a 2 to 1 ratio of water to lentils, basically the same way you’d cook rice. We make ours in broth (chicken, usually, although you could go veggie or beef, depending on your tastes) to bump up the flavor.
Then, all you have to do is bring the pot to a boil and simmer those babies for about 20-30 minutes.
Once your lentils are al dente, you can either eat ‘em straight off the stove or save them in a container for the following day (hence my pre-cooking them today).
The recipe for our French-style Lentil Bowls is as follows:
INGREDIENTS
cooked lentils (about 1/4 c. per bowl)
eggs (1 or 2 per person, depending on how hungry you are)
breakfast sausage (let’s say a medium-sized patty per person)
baby spinach (a few handfuls ought to do it)
MAKE IT
Put your pre-cooked lentils into individual bowls for each person. If you’ve got ‘em straight out of the refrigerator, nuke ‘em for about 30 seconds to warm them up.
Cook your breakfast sausage patties to perfection, i.e. browning ‘em on both sides. This should take maybe 15 minutes tops. Set ‘em aside to cool down while you make the eggs. While the eggs are cooking you can cut up your sausage into bite-sized pieces and distribute into the bowls.
Cook your eggs over easy (this is why I have Celebrity Intern in the kitchen; I am terrible at flipping my eggs without breaking the yolks!), and layer ‘em over your lentils and sausage.
Wilt that spinach in your skillet. This goes pretty quick, maybe 1 minute max. Add the results to your bowls.
Serve hot, with sriracha hot sauce if you’re feeling adventurous.
Sounds weird, looks a bit like dog food in a bowl (hence the lack of photos), but tastes delicious. And did I mention it’s good for you?
I am a sucker for free magazines. Even when they are terrible, I will still pick up a copy to peruse on the off-chance that something new and novel will hit me in the brainpan. Most of the time I’m disappointed, because you get what you pay for, right? But I keep picking them up, because I am an eternal optimist.
So today I was shocked and surprised to find some recipes in the latest installment of My H-E-B Texas Life that I might actually make.
I know, wtf?
Of course, H-E-B’s “recipes” usually involve a) purchasing lots of H-E-B branded products and b) very little actual cooking, so I wouldn’t make these recipes exactly as described, but I think they’ve got potential. For instance, their Spaghetti Squash with Sausage and Greens recipe is a variation on a dish I make fairly often, because microwaving spaghetti squash is dead simple, and replacing high-carb pasta with low-carb spaghetti squash is awesome. (FYI: 1/2 cup of cooked spaghetti squash equals approximately 4 grams of net carbohydrates, according to About.com.)
Another one I am tempted to try (replacing the pasta with spaghetti squash, methinks) is the Calico Pasta Dinner recipe. The ingredients call for sweet potato, sour cream and feta cheese crumbles, garlic, fresh basil, sun-dried tomato strips, roasted red and yellow peppers, pasta and salt and pepper. Since they’re microwaving the sweet potato and using prepared ingredients for most of the rest of the ingredients, this is a 15-minute recipe and sounds delicious. It’s also visually appealing with all those colorful ingredients.
Calico Pasta Dinner (image via My H-E-B Texas Life magazine)
Finally, I would also try the Mahi Mahi Dinner in a Bag, which is an easy version of a classic French cooking technique called en papillote. You throw all your fish and veggies into a parchment paper bag, cook it in a super-hot oven (400F) for 25 minutes, et voila! A tasty baked dinner that didn’t require much more effort than preheating the oven. Since you can replace the mahi mahi with any type of fish you prefer, you could make a variety of different meals, depending on whatever captures your fancy or fits your budget.
So yes, for once my free magazine trolling has paid off. Grab these recipes from My H-E-B Texas Life’s January 2012 issue at your local H-E-B or online and make ‘em your own.
Ok, I know I said I’d see you next year in my last post, but as this post concerns a holiday gift that I was late in picking up, I’ve got one more before 2012.
Witness: Homebrewed beer.
My lovely employers, Justine and David of WriteByNight, got all their employees a six-pack of homebrewed beer for Xmas (writers + alcohol = FTW, duh!), and since I just picked mine up this afternoon I decided to bust them out to celebrate a) the New Year a bit early and b) the crazy-warm winter weather we’re having today (it’s currently 73; no wonder people get sucked into moving to Austin).
My favorite, by far, was the Russian Imperial Stout. Described on the label as “dark and bold, flavored with cinnamon coffee and vanilla beans,” I would describe this beer as “alcoholic coffee.” I got some of the vanilla, not much of the cinnamon, and a definite taste of the coffee. As my sister’s t-shirt used to say, “Beer: It’s not just for breakfast.”
Also included in the assortment were:
Blueberry Cider – which, oddly, didn’t taste at all like cider to me (a shame, as I really dig a good hard cider)
Saison – described as “light, sweet and slightly spicy, brewed with orange peel and coriander” (much enjoyed by Celebrity Intern)
Oktoberfest – “sweet and malty, classic German style lager”
Blonde Ale – also enjoyed by Celebrity Intern for being “clean and light, easy to drink, pairs well with many foods”
Chai Amber – “dark amber beer, rich with chai spice” (it certainly smelled and tasted chai-like, but Celebrity Intern said it bothered his stomach)
Here are some snaps:
The source of these magical homebrews remains shrouded in mystery, so if you want to try a little homebrewing as your New Year’s resolution, check out Austin Homebrew Supply over at 9129 Metric Blvd. They’ve got everything you need to brew your own beer or cork your own wine, plus they offer classes on how to do it up right. Dare I say “It’s the gift that keeps on giving”?
While I was thinking of keeping this all to myself, because I love winning prizes (and especially FOOD prizes), I’m getting into the holiday spirit of giving and decided to share.
Rebecca Otis of The Rebeccammendations is running an awesome holiday contest on her blog. The winner gets a party catered by Dine Out In, a local delivery service that brings meals for Austin restaurants straight to your door.
That’s a sweet $250 deal, baby!
TO ENTER:
Hit up Rebecca with the details of a holiday party you’d like to throw between now and January 1, 2012. You’ve gotta invite at least 3 people, or it’s not a party (you know, “two’s company, three’s a crowd…”?). Include any theme, musical selections, decorations and whatnot that will make your event stand out, plus the types of people you’ll invite (friends, family, co-workers, etc.) and what food you’ll serve, along with the date of your party and the address where you’ll host it (unless, of course, it’s at your house, in which case you don’t need to reveal).
Send allllll of that to Rebecca at Rebeccammendations@gmail.com by this Friday, December 16 at 6 PM, along with:
Your First and Last Name, Phone #, City and Zip (+ Twitter handles, blog and website URLs if you have them) and up to 5 sentences explaining why you want to win.
You must also use the subject line “It’s Party Time with Eat Out In!”
(Yes, these directions are kind of long. Quit your bitching: That’s what you’ve gotta do to win free food, bro!)
The winner will be announced on Monday, December 19 via email and social media, and Rebecca will post pictures from your shindig on her blog.
BONUS POINTS:
As an extra, added bonus, if you retweet Rebecca’s blog post about the contest (or Like her Facebook post about it) she’s going to donate $100 to the Austin Children’s Shelter. Dude, that’s like FREE MONEY you can donate to a good cause and look like a hero in the process. No-brainer: just do it.
You’ve only got until Friday at 6 PM to knock my super-awesome New Year’s Eve party idea off its pedestal, so get crackin’!
The Austin Food Bloggers Alliance is doing an “Austin to Boston” swap, so I’ve been thinking about local products that are non-perishable and delicious to include in my box.
I want to keep my box’s contents a surprise for my buddy in Beantown, Lena (who is a social media intern for America’s Test Kitchen—how cool is that?!), but in the meantime, here’s a link to a pretty darn comprehensive list of local products from Edible Austin for you Buy Local types. They’ve got everything from fresh baked goods to prepared foods to wine, plus pretty much everything in between.
If I can snag a copy of the Winter issue of the magazine, I’m definitely going to include one in my package. I’m also thinking of including some of my favorite receipes, one of which Lena may already be familiar with, since it’s an ATK original: Beef Chili with Bacon and Black Beans. Just made a big pot of this the other day, yum!
