Aster’s Ethiopian – Austin

Posted on April 8, 2009 by Stella

Vegetarian combination plate.

I met fellow Austin blogger Alin at Aster’s Friday night for what was, shockingly, my first visit to the cozy Ethiopian restaurant just off I-35 at 26th Street (that’s Dean Keeton to you young’uns).

For newcomers like me, there’s a combination plate (above) for $13.95, which features a sample-size portion of each of the eight vegetarian (actually vegan) dishes on the menu, plus a cold salad. They serve wine and beer, and the waitstaff are friendly and helpful. The food comes out fast, but, nevertheless, this is a great casual spot for a long dinner and conversation. If you like warm potatoes, collards, and lentils, you’ll probably like Ethiopian food. The crepe-like flat bread (called injera) doubles as both cutlery, allowing you to scoop the delectable bites up between your fingers, and as a slightly sour background for the alternately mild and spicy flavors of the rib-sticking mains.

The leftovers, which the boy and I ate on Sunday before heading out to Pedernales Falls (stay tuned), were almost better, as Alin predicted.

Cross posted from The Vegan Tree House.

VRA meetup: Daily Juice Cafe (Austin)

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Stella

Monday, March 9th 7:30pm.

Daily Juice Cafe:

“The Daily Juice has opened a new location in Hyde Park, at 45th and Duval. Along with its regular menu of wonderful juices, smoothies and shots, the new location has a raw foods menu. I’m pretty sure the only things they serve that are not vegan are yogurt in a few smoothies and bee pollen as an add-on. Their menu includes items such as mole enchiladas, avocado sandwiches, a nacho platter, ceasar salad, sushi rolls, tacos, raw spaghetti and more! And let’s not forget the raw desserts like cinnamon rolls, orange cheese cake, and many chocolaty confections. The atmosphere of the cafe is very pleasant and cheerful.”

Please RSVP before March 8th on the VRA web site.

Austin Vegan Guide needs your help!

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Stella

Austin vegan Kristen is compiling “a master list of pretty much every vegan option in Austin” and could use your help. She says:

Here’s where I need help. I need help finding the vegan options in Austin. There are tons of places I don’t even know about yet, because I am so new to the area. Please, email me* with names of places to check out, or list them in the restaurants section for me.

I’m going to break the restaurant listings down into sections according to location:

South Austin (Lamar, South Congress, etc.)
East (East of I-35)
West (west of Mo-Pac)
Downtown/UT area
Central Austin
Hyde Park
North Austin
Round Rock

I might do a seperate section/page for farmers markets, community gardens, potlucks/meetups, groceries, and bakeries.

I also have small icons to place next to listings that show whether the place is 100% vegan, 100% vegetarian, local, and possibly even an icon for raw food options.

Anyone want to help me? I want this to kind of be a VRA publication, asI think this will be a good way to promote VRA, and veganism, by making it even easier than it already is to be vegan in Austin. It’d be cool to have someone come into town on vacation, pick up a vegan guide and know exactly where they can eat without having to worry about it.

Keep up with the status of this great idea by checking the VRA discussion. Hopefully, there will soon be a hard copy of this guide available!

* email Kristen with your ideas at sayhello at sugar-skull dot com

Vegans Rock Austin! Smoothie Party

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Stella

7:00pm
Saturday, Feburary 28th
Smoothie Party
Crazy Jake’s place: 1810 W. 37th St. #A

We’ll have multiple blenders set up, and have various fruit/veggies/nuts/etc to be blended, mixed, liquefied, and pulverized. Bring your own fruit/veggies/nuts and we’ll blend it for you live! Know a great smoothie recipe? Time to show it off!

We’ll be throwing down the Vita-Mix vs the Blendtec vs the Osterizer. You’ll be the judge of which is the best blender.

Vegans Rock Austin! Asian Food Potluck

Posted on February 2, 2009 by Stella

Vegan danishes, cupcakes, and brownies now available at Bouldin Creek in Austin

Posted on January 23, 2009 by Stella

Okay, okay – so I haven’t been there yet. But Crystal and I are going! We are!

I am thrilled to announce that South Austin veg*n hotspot Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse is now offering a range of fresh items from Lone Star Plate contributor Crystal and Chris’s bakery, Always Baked! Be sure to check out her fantastic homecooking blog, too – it just won ApartmentTherapy.com’s Homie award for Best Home Cooking Blog of 2008!

There’s a vegan in Beaumont!

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Stella

Texas, y’all!

It’s tofurkey roasting on an open fire
By Humberto Martinez
December, 16, 2008

Turkey, cheese logs, eggnog and ham – these are the foods of the season.

But they’re foods that Tim Sebile, who is a vegan, can’t eat. Not in the traditional sense, anyway.

Sebile, who works at the Basic Foods store, hasn’t eaten meat or any other animal product for six years. It’s a way of living he said he’s proud to be a part of, even though there aren’t many vegetarians or vegans in the area.

Coming up with an alternative recipe isn’t hard, Sebile said, and if you’re a vegan or vegetarian for animal rights reasons, there shouldn’t be any temptation to cheat.

“You can have the same things other people eat, just made with different things,” he said. “Most people think if you’re a vegetarian, it doesn’t taste good, but that’s not true.”

Keep reading. Kudos to the Beaumont Enterprise for publishing this story.

Cross posted from The Vegan Tree House.