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At Rio’s Brazilian Cafe, a little piece of Brasil in East Austin
For Elias Martins and Ben Googins, Rio’s Brazilian started in 2006 as a side project after the couple moved to Austin from Rio de Janeiro, where they met.
Martins continued to work in local restaurant kitchens, while Googins chipped away at building up the company, which sold malagueta sauces, pastries and cheese breads at area farmers markets. Eventually, the sauces — sold in original, mango and pineapple coconut flavors — took on a life of their own and were picked up by local Whole Foods and Specs as well as smaller stores like Whip-In and Royal Blue and the online food retailer Foodzie.com.
But it wasn’t until last year that they were able to start the wheels on their newest expansion: Rio’s Brazilian Cafe, a small but bright and energy-filled restaurant at 408 N. Pleasant Valley Road in East Austin that opened earlier this month. (The patio in the front of the building easily doubles the restaurant’s seating capacity.)
The cafe sells Rio’s signature savory pastries (or salgadinhos), including risolis, empadãos, pasteles and breakfast pockets made with egg and cheese, as well as sandwiches, salads, soups (caldo verde and sweet potato bisque) and, of course, their gluten-free cheese breads. Yuca root is a key ingredient in the cheese breads, and Martins and Googins also fry the root to create something similar to a French fry.
To lure morning commuters, they are selling breakfast and coffee through a drive-thru on the side of the building. (The coffee is from Casa Brasil, a local company that works directly with coffee growers in Brazil and even offers after-school programs and scholarships to kids in needs in Brazil.) If you’re not in the mood for the savory breakfast-taco like pockets, try the banana pastel, a banana and cinnamon-stuffed pastry.
Googins says that the restaurant is BYOB until their liquor license is in place, and for Valentine’s Day this weekend, they are offering free champagne with a purchase and a special trio of desserts. Stay tuned to their Twitter and Facebook streams for more specials, especially for Carnaval, which starts this weekend.
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Walmart holds own against Whole Foods in Atlantic Monthly taste test at Fino
For Atlantic Monthly’s March issue, food writer Corby Kummer devised a brilliant taste test: Using similar ingredients purchased from Walmart and Whole Foods, create two identical meals and see if tasters could determine which was from the world’s largest company and which was from the pioneering Austin-based natural grocer.
What better restaurant for this task than Fino, whose chef Jason Donoho sources many of his ingredients from local farms. Kummer gathered more than a dozen food-connected folks, most of them Austinites, for the test. The results will shaken anyone’s preconceived notions of the quality of food found on the shelves of both stores.
The majority of Kummer’s article is dedicated to exploring Walmart’s attempts to “go local” by encouraging farms within a day’s drive of its warehouses to grow crops that currently are hauled across the country from states like California and Florida.
At a press conference late last year, I heard from Walmart officials, as well as a farmer or two, about this new initiative, which Kummer points out is a clear attempt to tap into the quickly growing “locavore” market.
At the Austin press event, I found a handful of products — including potatoes, corn, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, oranges — with a “locally grown” sign and the Department of Agriculture’s Go Texan logo, but no mention of exactly where in this gigantic agriculture state the produce came from.
The bright lights and cookie-cutter produce were a far cry from in-season, heirloom varieties found at any of the area farmers’ markets. Patrons of these markets, as well as those who prefer Whole Foods, won’t be making the switch to shopping at Walmart anytime soon, but the company’s efforts can’t be ignored.
It’s ironic, of course, that Walmart is attempting to forge relationships with the small farmers whose livelihood they squashed in previous years in the quest for low prices.
But when you’re a company that’s making more money in a day than every single farmers’ market in the country had made in the past decade, a move like this has the potential to change the game, especially when your produce beats Whole Foods’ in a blind taste test.
The complicated network of farmers and distributors required to keep Walmart shelves stocked, combined with the icky history Walmart has of doing whatever it takes to keep prices as low as possible, in no way fits the traditional locavore ethic, but I’m hoping their massive buying power can have a positive effect — for farmers and consumers — in the long run.
I’m probably wearing rose-colored glasses, but I long ago learned that no matter how long you pretend Walmart doesn’t exist, it always will, and the majority of Americans will continue shop there.
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A new ketchup packet design for the new decade
I always feel a little bit guilty when I grab a fistful of ketchup packets at a fast food restaurant. I shift my eyes around quickly to make sure that no one is observing my packet gluttony—and if they are, I toss a packet or two back into the bin. Here’s the thing, those ketchup packets were made for unrealistic portions. I need at least three packets squirted onto my hamburger wrapper to achieve a good fry dunk.
Heinz recently announced that they are releasing a new ketchup packet design, Heinz Dip and Squeeze. It’s bigger and offers the option to dunk or squirt. Two options in one packet? It’s made possible by the very smart addition of a perforated end on the packet so the user can squeeze it like a tiny plastic ketchup bottle, and a removable lid so the user may also submerge their food into a small pool of ketchup.
This is the first ketchup packet makeover Heinz has done in 42 years. It’s got to be big news. I was a bit apprehensive about the new design at first, but that first dip into the deep reservoir of ketchup made all of my worries go away. It’s nice to have the ketchup confined to a pack for easier cleanup, and its great for maximum fry to ketchup coverage. Also, one packet equals three of the old guys, so for me it means grabbing less packets. The new ketchup also features reduced sodium. The flavor isn’t noticeably different. Overall, I think the new packets are more user friendly, and I look forward to seeing them at fast food restaurants soon.
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Trailer tour brings together hundreds of Austin’s food-obsessed
Eat, tweet, trailer, repeat.
It was the same scene at trailer after trailer on a sunny Saturday afternoon: foodies — some 300 of them in total, plus at least a handful of four-legged friends, on a trailer tour organized by blogger Jodi Bart and me — devouring some of Austin’s best food while mingling with familiar and not-so-familiar faces and capturing it all to share on mobile devices. (Check out the #tastyup hashtag on Twitter for a tweet-by-tweet account of the day.)
We started the day at two trailers — La Boite and Trailer Perk — to hand out nametags and grab breakfast and coffee, but after that, it was a choose-your-own-adventure of 16 mobile food vendors that sell everything from sushi to samosas.
(Bikes were the favored transportation method for dozens of East Austinites on the tour.)
I stayed mainly in East Austin, hitting up Old School BBQ and Grill, Franklin BBQ and Lucky J’s with both old and new friends, before a jaunt south for a pepperoni and black olive pie at Spartan Pizza.
Between bites, Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon shot the video at the top of the post, which really captures the energy both in front of and behind the sliding glass window.
(Here’s another video from Sara and Cassiday from the JB and Sandy Morning Show.)
It didn’t take long for folks, including the hard-at-work bloggers Natanya Anderson of Fête and Feast, Kristi Willis of Austin Farm to Table and Jenna Noel of Edible Austin, to figure out that trailers are the quintessential place to BYOB.
Six hours, countless calories and at least one nap later, the true gluttons for punishment reconvened at East Side King, an Asian trailer located inside the Liberty Bar, for one last round of incredible bites.
By the end of the day, everyone was swapping stories, but it all came down to the food: “What was your favorite dish on the tour?”
The crispy and freshly fried fries at Old School definitely stood out, as did the overall carnivore-friendly ambiance of Franklin BBQ.
One of my favorite parts of the day of chumming it up with trailer owners like Aaron Franklin, who was cutting into the last brisket of the day when we showed up around 2 p.m.
I was bummed that I ran out of time (and room in my stomach) to hit the South Lamar favorites Odd Duck and Gourdough’s, as well as G’Raj Mahal. Austin is lucky to have so many wonderful trailers to chose from every day of the week.
But this won’t be the last trailer tour. By the end of the day, lots of people were asking about a Tasty Up Trailer Tour 2.0. I’m thinking it might be time to pay homage to the originals: the trailers who broke ground in Austin for this new wave we enjoyed Saturday.
Stay tuned to the Facebook pages for Jodi’s Tasty Touring and my Eat-Ups for details.
Thanks to all the wonderful people who came out on Saturday and the trailers who participated! Your enthusiasm for Austin and its awesome food is what makes hosting these events truly worthwhile.
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IHOP, Denny’s bring back free breakfast days
There were hundreds of more interesting moments during last night’s Super Bowl than the silly chicken ads from Denny’s announcing free Grand Slam breakfasts on Tuesday, but a free meal is a free meal, and come Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of folks across the U.S. will be lining up for theirs.
A year ago, both Denny’s and IHOP scored major press by giving away food during two days in February. This year, IHOP’s National Pancake Day celebration is also a fundraising venture for Children’s Miracle Network. From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23, IHOP will be giving away one short stack of pancakes per customer, and in return, it is asking customers to make a voluntary donation to support local children’s hospitals.
Rather than go the charity route, Denny’s splurged on several ads during the Super Bowl promoting Tuesday’s deal: one free Grand Slam breakfast per customer from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The commercials also reminded folks that they can get a free Grand Slam on their birthday, which unless it is Feb. 9, will be a whole lot less crowded than Tuesday.
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Tasty Touring blogger Jodi Bart: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
Jodi Bart is the food blogger, but her boyfriend, Adam, is the resident chef in their Northeast Austin home.
Bart’s blog, Tasty Touring, tracks the best of what’s happening in Austin’s food scene, and in the past year and a half since she started blogging, she’s become a leader in the food community, organizing Tasty Tours for her readers and, up until December of last year, hosting a weekly radio segment about food on KGSR.
The pictures above show their fridge before and after a trip to the grocery store. “It doesn’t look like much but it kept us fed for the week,” she says. Adam might be in charge of dinner most nights that they aren’t out at some of Austin’s most buzzworthy eateries, but Bart has been expanding her cooking repertoire recently with dishes like this Thai stir fry.
This month, we’ve created a Tasty Tours/Addie’s Eat-Up mashup event at more than 10 trailers tomorrow. The Tasty Up Trailer Tour will start at coffee/breakfast trailers from noon to 1 p.m., and then it’s a choose-your-own-trailer-adventure at some of the newest and most talked-about mobile food vendors in Austin.
You can find all the details at the Facebook event page, and stay tuned to the Tasty Touring and Addie’s Eat-Up pages for more events like these in the future.
What three things are always in your fridge? Mootopia Skim Milk, breakfast fruit (blackberries in the winter, blueberries and raspberries in the summer) for our cereal, random jars and bottles of exotic jams and sauces that Adam promises we’ll use some day.
What’s your favorite condiment? Adam’s homemade chipotle aioli
What’s your go-to late night snack? Cereal or graham crackers topped with crunchy peanut butter and drizzled with honey.
Photos by Jodi Bart.
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Bona Dea delivers fresh bread, rolls, scones
Lauren Hubele moved to Austin in 2008 with the goal of enrolling in a doctoral program, but before she’d completed a single class, she started another venture: a bread delivery company called Bona Dea.
Hubele, who spent the last 15 years teaching high school in Germany, has always been a baker. “My mom was a horrible cook,” she says. “So I was cooking for my whole family by the time I was 8.” She quickly found a spiritual connection to baking bread but didn’t take the plunge to make it a full-time job until after a career in education.
As a cancer survivor, she’s always trying to find ways to work in as many whole grains and antioxidant-rich ingredients into her fragrant and tender breads, including Lauren’s loaf ($5.50), a sourdough whole wheat baton made with flaxseed and oats, and scones ($7 for 4). Challah ($5.50 for a loaf or $6 for six rolls) is made with local organic eggs.
Through the Web site, you can order by the loaf or sign up for a monthly subscription for challah, scones or sourdough. Place orders by Wednesday for Friday delivery to a pick-up location of your choice. There are pick-up locations in several Central and South Austin neighborhoods, but Hubele says she’ll be expanding as orders come in.
Photo by Alberto Martínez.
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Streep, ‘Food, Inc.’ earn Oscar nominations
2009 was a great year for food in film.
Most people who give two salt shakes about food saw “Julie & Julia,” based on former Austinite Julie Powell’s book about her quest to cook and blog about every recipe in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”
“Food, Inc.,” as well as the lesser-known and well-distributed “Fresh,” exposed the food industry’s dirty secrets to millions of moviegoers.
It’s no surprise, then, that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has nominated Meryl Streep for best actress for her portrayal of “Julia Child” in “J&J” and “Food, Inc.” got a nod in the best documentary category.
I loved Streep as Child, and riots probably would have erupted in America’s top restaurant if she hadn’t been nominated for her most excellent performance as one of the most famous chefs of all times, but I’m most excited about “Food, Inc.” getting such high-profile time in front of American audiences. The movie conveys much of the same horrific information as “Fast Food Nation” and Michael Pollan’s books, but the news bears repeating: The agricultural system in this country is broken, and we’re all in trouble if we don’t fix it soon.
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Groundhog sees his shadow; I see more soup, slow-cookers
With our relatively mild winters, Austin isn’t the worst place to spend the months of November through March. I feel kinda bad complaining about six more weeks of “winter” in Austin, but after last summer’s crazy heat wave, I think like we’ve paid our dues and deserve a few more 70-degree days in January and February.
But the groundhog in Pennsylvania says we probably won’t get so lucky. (If you’ve got a source for groundhog, here’s a recipe for cooking one.)
So like the rest of you, I’m succumbing to more soup and slow-cooker recipes in the coming weeks. But how do we get out of the rut we’ve been in since the first cold snap in November?
Have you made a pot of chili or Frito pie yet? What about some spicy enchiladas?
Grilled sandwiches will make even the most bland soup interesting. (But because you’re following these tips from the Soup Peddler, you’re soups aren’t bland any more, right?)
Baking will give your heater a break. I’ve already professed my love for these bread recipes, but what about graham crackers or applesauce muffins? (If you’re tired of your go-to breads, check out this great blog by the authors of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes.)
Or maybe it’s time to forget all these winter food traditions and break out the margaritas and head outside to grill. After all, it’s not going to be snowing any time soon, and a grilled steak and vegetable kebabs might be just what you need to cure the wintertime blues.
Groundhog photo by Jason Cohn for Reuters.
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Can $5 buy lunch for two at Whole Foods?
It had been a cold and dreary Monday. On the way to my internship at the Statesman, I snagged a couple cookies from the box — this couldn’t be all I was eating until heated up leftover this evening, could it?
When I arrived at the office, Addie was kind enough to show me the test kitchen. I’m still trying to find my way around here, and, let’s be honest, I get lost a lot. We took a peek in the fridge in hopes of finding something to munch on. We were disappointed, but Addie had an idea: It was the perfect kind of day for soup from Whole Foods. She presented me with a challenge: Could we possibly get lunch for two for less than $5?
You’re thinking, “Oh no, crazy women have been sitting under the fluorescent lights too long, and they think can get lunch from ‘Whole Paycheck’ for next to nothing!” I was skeptical, too. With a $5 dollar bill in hand, we headed out into the mist.
After quickly realizing that ready-to-eat soup would burst our budget faster than we could say “seafood bisque,” we headed to the soup aisle in the grocery department, where we were inundated with options. Big cans, small cans, boxes and bowls. The boxes of soup — which cost $2.99 to $4 for four servings — were the biggest bang for our buck, but most importantly, we’d have money left over for bread and cheese. Tomato basil soup in hand, we grabbed a 79 cent baguette to to split. On the way out, we stopped by the cheese counter and asked the cheese monger if we could get a small sliver of luxurious brie cheese, which ended up costing us 90 cents.
Still within our budget, we headed to the checkout line, but were inundated by dark organic chocolates and lovely Valentine’s Day sweet treats. Were we able to stay on budget? Did we blow the mission and buy a candy bar? How would we got from soup in a box to hot soup in our bellies before heading back to the office? Watch the video to find out!
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Hot Links: Bacon explosion for sale, homemade cough drops
A year ago, our collective bacon fever hit its peak with bacon explosion, a bacon-wrapped bacon and sausage wrap that had bloggers in a frenzy. The Kansas City-based creators of the original have now gotten their act together to sell pre-made bacon explosions, just in time for the Super Bowl. Explosions starts at $17.99, shipping and doctor’s visits not included.
If that’s not enough meat for you, check out Meatloaf Creations, a newish blog that shows the craziest things you can shape out of meatloaf.
Austin’s Woman with a Whisk swears she will never buy pre-cured lox again after learning an easy way to make her own.
The downtown farmers market has moved into Republic Square Park with nary a hitch. Except all this unseasonably cold weather we’ve been having lately.
If the weather (or cedar) has you feeling under the weather, Instructables shows you how to make your own cough drops using just tea and sugar.
For those of you like me suffering from a case of the small kitchens, Epicurious offers the 10 commandments of effectively organizing your kitchen, no matter how much space you have. (Looks like momma needs to go shopping for some hooks and racks and ditch that hybrid espresso-coffee maker, which we only use to make coffee, for good.)
Sundance Film Festival just wrapped up, but you can still catch a bunch of shorts over on its YouTube channel, including this one about Mr. Okra, a man who sells produce out of his truck in New Orleans. My favorite line: “I love women like I love my food. And I love my food. See, as long as I got that wagon out there, I don’t have no trouble gettin’ no women. I keep ‘em full and fat and feed they children when they hungry.”
Austin’s A Pizza Girl, whose blog I featured a while back, made her debut as a guest blogger on Serious Eats’ pizza blog, Slice. Look for more insights on what it takes to be a pizza delivery driver in coming weeks.
Michael Pollan is killing it in Austin. BookPeople’s Top 10 lists run in the Statesman every Sunday, and this week, he has three books (“Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “In Defense of Food,” “Food Rules”) in the bestselling non-fiction list. Also in the top 10: “My Life in France” by Julia Child and “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer.
Liquid Austin blogger and beer columnist Pat Beach has succumbed. He’s attempting to make bacon-infused vodka this week, but the big question is, what will he make with his concoction and will it involve beer?
Photos by BBQ Addicts, Instructables.
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Frank owner Geoff Peveto: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
Too bad butter isn’t a popular condiment for hot dogs.
Geoff Peveto, co-owner of Frank, the hot dog eatery in the Warehouse District, is a butter freak (just look in the top right corner of that fridge), but he’s just as obsessed of the encyclopedia of condiments he and wife Yancy keep in their fridge.
Peveto, who is also one of the sharp-eyed design geeks behind Decoder Ring Design Concern, opened Frank last summer with Daniel Northcutt, and the restaurant has already won over people who doubted that haute dogs, paired with creative cocktails served in Mason jars, could fly in a town like Austin.
What three things are always in your fridge? The Holy Trinity — Butter, Bacon, Beer. Everything goes better with them.
What is your favorite condiment? I guess mayonesa or any kind of aioli, but our fridge is pretty much half full of condiments and jams so picking one is tough. We may have a condiment problem.
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? I rarely eat breakfast so I bet the only consistent thing for me is ice for water. My wife, Yancy, grabs a Naked Juice.
Photo by Geoff Peveto.
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Sip, snack and shop at Aviary
There aren’t many places in Austin where you can sit with friends, sip on a glass of wine and then buy the chair on which you sat and the glass from which you drank.
Three months ago, Aviary Home Decor owners Marco Fiorilo and Shanna Eldridge started selling wine and beer as well as charcuterie and cheese plates in their South Austin furnishings store. Fiorilo says he was inspired by hybrid stores in New York and Buenos Aires that sell food and drinks in addition to clothes or other goods.
“We always wanted to be a wine bar,” he says. Fiorilo now sells more than 20 old-world wines by the glass and by the bottle, as well as 10 beers. (Bottles of wine start at $20.) “If you’re drinking from the glass and you like it, you can buy it,” he says. Same with the tables, chairs, plates and napkins.
Daniel Hunt of A Noble Beast Charcuterie makes the duck liver mousse, terrine, duck prosciutto, rabbit confit and sausages that appear on the meat-and-cheese menu. Hunt says he’ll soon be expanding his business to include sales directly to customers. (E-mail him at anoblebeast@gmail.com for more information.)
Aviary is open 11 a.m. to midnight Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 10 p.m. Sundays. On Saturdays and Sundays, Fiorilo offers flights of three wines for $10. Bottles of wine are half-price on Wednesdays and $10 off on Fridays.
Photos by Rodolfo Gonzalez for the Austin American-Statesman.
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5 tips from the Soup Peddler to improve your soup
David Ansel, aka The Soup Peddler, knows that, in Austin, the soup days ahead are limited. Within weeks, the days will be long and the weather warm, which triggers something deep within our bellies to crave food that isn’t made of hot liquid. But before we jump ahead to spring salad days, we’ll certainly have a few more spells of cold and rain that we’ll only get through with a bowl of steaming soup.
Just days ahead of the next cold front, the owner of the Austin soup delivery company offered up 5 tips on how to be a better soup-maker.
“Making soup is like painting,” he says. “When you start a painting, you start with big brushes and broad strokes.” This is the stock, a background color that sets the mood for the whole soup. “As you go along, you do less and use smaller brushes,” and by the end, you’re painting the smallest details, which for a soup is the finishing notes of fresh herbs, sherry or acids like citrus or vinegar.
In this list, Ansel takes the painting metaphor even further and explains why you should always keep a package of turkey necks in your freezer:
1. Be like Bob Ross. “The Bob Ross School of Soup Making is not paint by numbers. It’s encouraging people to develop a feel for soup and not feel like you have to stick to a recipe,” he says. “Soup is ill-suited for recipes.” For instance, “1 medium potato” and “1 medium carrot” are not exactly precise measurements and every stock — just like the palate of the person who made it — is unique.
“Relying on any recipe will generally leave you in a pinch,” he says. Look up at least three different recipes for the soup you want to make to learn the traditional steps and the shortcuts. Combine the recipes according to the amount of time and ingredients you have.
2. Make your own stock. “Don’t cut corners on the stock,” he says. “Even the best stock that you can buy sucks. It’s just smoke and mirrors so that it tastes like chicken stock. It’s cheap and easy to make it yourself.”
This is where the turkey necks come in. To make a pot of versatile and rich turkey stock, bring a pot of water and turkey necks to a boil and simmer for as many hours as you have to spare. (The longer both stock and soup are on the stove, the better, he says.) Strain the stock and spread out the leftover meat and bones, which allows it to cool faster so you can pick out the meat to add back to the stock.
What about onion, carrot and celery, the holy mirepoix that many chefs refuse to leave out of any dish? “I find that (it) just gets in the way. It takes up space where you could have more chicken backs.” Add aromatics along with noodles or rice after you’ve already made the stock, and you’re in for a spectacular soup. “I’ve eaten soup all over the world, but that turkey rice soup is super wow.”
For chicken stock, rotisserie carcasses are fine, but thighs or wings, the cheapest and most flavorful parts of the bird, are even better. You can leave the skins on, but you’ll have to skim the fat, so Ansel recommends removing the skin before boiling. For fish stock, freeze the shrimp shells that you peel at home and ask the staff at your grocery store seafood counter if they have fish bones for sale.
3. Plant your own herbs. Rosemary, oregano, thyme, mint and cilantro are easy to grow in the ground or in pots, Ansel says. Having fresh herbs handy will automatically improve your soups.
4. Use what you have. “Soup has always been a food of necessity, of emptying the fridge,” he says. “Designing a soup around what you have is more in the tradition than going out and buying ingredients.” If a recipe calls for parsley, for instance, and you only have cilantro or mint, go with what you’ve got. Don’t have shallots and leeks? Use garlic and onions instead.
Look at seafood soups such as bouillabaisse: “The best ones were developed in poor cultures by fishermen who were left with unsellable stuff.” If you shop for ingredients, you’re also more likely to use too many ingredients. Less is more: “You should be able to taste what you’re putting in or else you shouldn’t bother putting it in.”
5. Add salt and herbs or acids toward the end. Lemon juice, parsley, cilantro or scallion will brighten any soup, and adding salt too early in the process can interfere with cooking legumes and potatoes. Salt should be added after the vegetables and starches are cooked, but not well-cooked. “You want the chunks to be able to absorb salt.”
If you are going to make a pureed soup, like this Armenian Apricot Soup from Ansel’s book “Slow and Difficult Soups” that 101 Cookbooks blogger Heidi Swanson wrote about in 2005, process it in small batches in a regular blender instead of an immersion blender for a finer texture.
Photos by SonicWalker and Alexik on Flickr.
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Whole Foods to offer bigger discount to healthier employees
Earlier this week, Jezebel posted about a new program for Whole Foods employees that allows them a greater in-store discount if they don’t smoke and have low blood pressure, cholesterol and BMI, or Body Mass Index.
Part of an initiative from CEO John Mackey to reduce the company’s health care costs, the program will allow employees who have a BMI of less than 24, blood pressure of 110/70 and a cholesterol of 150 to get a discount of 30 percent on purchases from Whole Foods. The sliding scale leaves employees with BMIs above 30, as well as those who choose not to participate, with the standard 20 percent discount.
This program comes less than six months after Mackey’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that argued for less government control over health care. “Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health,” Mackey wrote. “This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health.”
What do you think? I’m the first to admit that I’d love a discount on, say, the cost of my own health insurance if I can prove a low BMI and blood pressure, but this Jezebel writer has an important point — and please note the sarcasm: “Because if public health research has taught us anything, it’s that reducing people’s buying power totally makes them healthier. Stay classy, Whole Foods.”
Organizations like the Sustainable Food Center work hard to make the public aware that access to affordable healthy food isn’t a reality for many people, most of whom don’t have the luxury of getting a discount at stores like Whole Foods. Everyone knows a burger at McDonald’s costs less than a pound of apples, so how do we make sure that people who are most in need good-for-you-food can afford to buy it?
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Bloggery Love: Grapefruit Marmalade from the Cosmic Cowgirl
Stephanie McClenny’s food blog, the Cosmic Cowgirl, has only been around for a year, but she says it’s not only revived her passion for photography, it gives her an excuse to spend even more time cooking. Whether she’s cooking tamales with friends or making marmalade from Texas citrus that’s in season, she loves being in the kitchen - camera in hand - creating something delicious for her husband, Houston, who has learned that he can’t eat anything until it has been photographed.
McClenny is a school nurse by day, but when she’s not at school, she’s trying new recipes from her favorite food magazines or other food blogs. The blog also challenges her to take on projects like canning that she hadn’t attempted before. “I’ve never taken a cooking class,” she says. “I like to figure things out myself … and the blog helps me remember how I did it for the next time.”
Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit Marmalade
Honey version:
5 medium-sized Texas `Rio Star’ grapefruit, cut in half horizontally
Juice of 4 lemons
6 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup local honey
Vanilla version:
5 medium-sized Texas `Rio Star’ grapefruit, cut in half horizontally
Juice of 4 lemons
8 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean, split open lengthwise, seeds removed, pod reserved to add to pot
Put grapefruit halves in a large soup pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered until very soft, about 2 hours, adding more water from a simmering kettle if needed. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle. Place a cutting board inside a roasting pan and cut grapefruit into large chunks, removing seeds as you go.
Place chunks (rind, pith, flesh and all) in a food processor fitted with the metal blade, and whirl, in batches, until pieces are finely chopped. Add back to large pot with remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Set pot to simmer and stir frequently until mixture reaches jell point, tasting as you go to see if it needs more sugar. Allow mixture to sit off heat for about 5 minutes, and then stir before filling jars. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. Makes about 11-12 half-pint jars.
— Adapted by Stephanie McClenny from a recipe by Nigella Lawson
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Events: Happy hour for HOPE market, Austin Tea Geeks
From Valentine’s Day cookies to tea, there are several events coming up quickly that you’ll want to know about:
Tonight, Austin Tea Geeks, a group organized by Sumina Bhatti (aka @sumina) earlier this month to explore all the best of Austin tea, will meet tonight at 6 p.m. at Jade Tea Leaves. Join the group to find out where the next tea tasting will be held.
The HOPE Farmer’s Market, which takes place every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 414 Waller St. in East Austin, is hosting a happy hour on Feb. 18 to benefit the market. From 6 to 9 p.m. at the studio/market/gallery just east of Progress Coffee on East Fifth Street, enjoy food from Eddie V’s, La Condesa and East Side Showroom, cocktails made with Dripping Springs Vodka and Treaty Oak Rum, wine from Pedernales Cellars, music and art. A suggestion donation of $10 will be collected at the door.
Learn how to make sugar cookies for your Valentine at a class from 7 to 9 p.m. on Feb. 7, at Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop, 1905 S. First St. This will be the store’s first class, and it will surely sell out, so get your tickets ($55) early by calling 448-3727 or e-mailing Olivia@SugarMamasBakeshop.com.
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Hot Links: El Bulli to close for 2 years, Burger King pops a top, Helvetica cookies
El Bulli, chef Ferran Adria’s infamously hard-to-get-into restaurant in Northeastern Spain, will be closed for at least two years, the New York Times reports. Adria apparently needs a sabbatical to come up with new things to wow the food world with.
Former Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl’s book “Garlic and Sapphires” is headed for the big screen, reports the LA Times. Catherine Keener is the early favorite among fans to play Reichl as a NY Dining critic, er “chef [who] tries to balance her career with writing a book, motherhood and divorce.” Anyone who knows Reichl’s story or has read the book will note that there are many things wrong with that synopsis from IMDB, but hopefully Hollywood won’t screw this one up.
Not like you could walk down the aisle in it, but an Icelandic artist created this wedding dress out of cake. The gown is impressive, but I can’t believe the detail it took to create that intricate cake.
A Houston-area woman plans out her meals a year in advance, leaving just two days a month for leftovers and stocking up on bulk ingredients like meat. A noble effort, indeed, but it takes a certain person to stick to a schedule like that. That person is not me.
Design geeks fell for Helvetica, a movie about the world’s most popular font, and now a graphic designer for America’ Test Kitchen has created these cute Helvetica cookie cutters. (I have a feeling her bosses are too square to turn these products into the massive-selling kitchenware they could become.)
Mark Bittman tells us about a 17th century clock that used spices to help people tell time in the dark.
A New York restaurant now offers a baby food menu of made-to-order purees. At $8.95 a serving, I can’t believe the kitchen can afford to spend 45 minutes steaming and pureeing food for a small child who will, no doubt, eat two bites and then start crying for Cheerios. Only in New York…
A Burger King in South Beach will be the first to sell beer next month. USA Today reports that the chain plans to open a Whopper Bar that will sell Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors beers. “You can have America’s favorite beers with America’s favorite burger,” Burger King’s president says. Um, something like that.
Target has become one of the first big retailers to pledge to stop selling farmed salmon.
Photos from the CBC and Beverly Hsu.
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Bake sale to raise money for Haiti relief efforts
UPDATE: Stephanie reports on her blog that the bake sale raised enough money to provide 2880 vegan meals to Haitians in need.
Impromptu fundraising projects for the earthquake-devastated Haiti have popped up all over town in the past 10 days, and on Saturday, vegan bakers are going to be selling baked goods from noon to 4 p.m. at Ten Thousand Villages,
1317 S. Congress Ave., to raise money for the relief efforts.
Austin blogger Stephanie Bogdanich, who write the blog, Lazy Smurf’s Guide to Life, has rounded up fellow vegan bakers to bake and sell treats. The Austin event is just one of many inspired by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who sent out a call on Post Punk Kitchen for vegan bakers to do what they could to help people in Haiti. The money raised will to go Food for Life.
Here’s a link to the Facebook event page for details about the fundraiser.
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Helping kids in need celebrate their birthdays
(This is the first post on Relish Austin by Emily Macrander, a junior at UT who is interning in the features department this spring. Welcome her by leaving a comment! She’ll be blogging about food, including her favorite campus eats, in the months to come.)
Do you remember your first birthday cake?
For my fifth birthday my mom made me an Easter-themed bunny rabbit cake. She spent all day baking it. The white fur was made of crispy coconut shavings, and sugar candies became its mouth and eyes. It was a beautiful cake and from what I remember a rocking party (thanks mom) but to be honest, I took it for granted. Five-year-old me thought every kid got a birthday cake.
Statesman writer Miguel Liscano, wrote a story today about Free Cakes for Kids Austin, an organization that aims to provide as many kids as possible with their own birthday cake. Free Cakes for Kids was founded on the idea that every kid regardless of his or her circumstances deserves to be happy on his or her birthday. The organization rallies people from within the community to bake cakes for kids in need.
The recently launched Austin branch serves at least five local agencies and shelters, including SafePlace and Angelheart Children’s Shelter. The organization has already baked over 100 cakes, including these cute princess cupcakes.
If you’re interested in helping out, visit the organization’s Web site to apply. No baking experience is required. Local cake requests are periodically sent out to volunteers, who then choose how many cakes they have time to contribute at a given time.
Though you may never meet the kid you bake a cake for, know the kid will never forget the cake you made.
Photo by Deborah Cannon for the Austin American-Statesman.
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Photographer Jody Horton: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
Horton is a photographer and writer whose work also appears in Texas Co-op Power magazine and on Farmhouse Delivery’s Web site. He started getting into food photography when living in New Mexico, where he earned a master’s degreee in cultural anthropology. His interest in the connection between people and the they eat food is clear from the gorgeous, yet moving photographs that appear throughout (and on many covers of) Edible Austin.
The South Carolina native has lived in Austin for eight years with wife Regan, and they have two young sons, Fields and Hyder.
What three things are always in your fridge? Beer (Real Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale are staples), sparkling water (straight or added to cranberry juice to make “cranberry fizzies”) and grated parmesan cheese (we put it on everything).
What’s your favorite condiment? Sriracha - a.k.a. rooster sauce
What’s the one eating habit you’d like to change this year? Rarely sitting for a meal (too busy wrangling kids)
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Latest comments
I had so much fun on the tour! Thanks for putting it together. My only regret is that I only made it to 3 places before being stuffed. But it’s great to know about these others so that I can visit next weekend! (especially the bbq places.. those look
... read the full comment by Aimee | Comment on Trailer tour brings together hundreds of Austin's food-obsessed Read Trailer tour brings together hundreds of Austin's food-obsessed
Whataburger has been doing this for years! Not all the new. If you havent had a Whataburger what are you waiting on?
... read the full comment by Jeff | Comment on A new ketchup packet design for the new decade Read A new ketchup packet design for the new decade
NEAT!
... read the full comment by SL | Comment on A new ketchup packet design for the new decade Read A new ketchup packet design for the new decade
These two events are really quite different. This is the fifth year that IHOP’s celebration of National Pancake Day has benefitted charity. This year they hope to raise $1.75 million to make the five year total $5 million!
... read the full comment by Patrick | Comment on IHOP, Denny's bring back free breakfast days Read IHOP, Denny's bring back free breakfast days
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