More Eat Local Week Goodness

Eat Local Week has been a great time so far - there are so many great events, and I'm really impressed with the number of people who have been turning out.

Last night, I went to City Hall for the Better Bites of Austin Edible Local Holiday Gift Fair. Better Bites of Austin, a trade organization that links small natural food businesses in Austin, had representatives from many of its vendors.

The highlight of the night for me was the Mary Louise Butters Brownies booth. I've been a fan of the sweets since moving to Austin, and I love giving them to out-of-town guests and sending them out in gift packages to my family and friends in Chicago.

Mary Louise Butters and her brownies

Last night, I tried the Fara, a swirled blend of a brownie and blondie, and I've got to say, that even with half of it being a non-brownie, it quickly became my favorite. I think I even took a couple steps back after tasting it - it was rich with chocolate and molasses, moist and chewy. I bought one for myself, and a couple more for gifts (we'll see if they make it into the packages).

The brownies (the Fara variety are in the tan and black packaging)

Zhi Tea also had samples of their Sweet Desert Delight, a caffeine-free sweet tea. We bought a few teas for gifts, as well.

Tasty teas

Also at the fair were:

• Rio's Brazilian, where we got a package of Pao de Quiejo with basil.
• Jake's Granola, where I tried a cranberry-pistachio biscotti and the man bought a package of the gingerbread biscotti.
• Bona Dea Bread, who had a deliciously rich challah, and whose chocolate challah rolls are high on my list of things to try
• World Wise Grains, who gave out little cookies made with Arzu, their multi-grain blend
• SASS Fresh Dressings, with plenty of dressings to try with fresh bread
• Pie Fixes Everything, who had fruit pies and quiches (and who delivers them!)

And a whole lot more that I didn't get to try. I hope they do this again during Eat Local Week next winter. It's just in time for the holidays.

Tonight? I'm heading to the Wally Workman Gallery for their Fine Art Food Night to taste bites from Les Dames d'Escoffier, Hosteria Verde, Portabla and Fete Accompli while checking out Feast, the exhibit featuring images of food and cooking.

Eat Local Week

Edible Austin's Eat Local Week kicked off last weekend with some great events that I was lucky enough to attend. (In the interest of disclosure, I work with Edible Austin on their editorial team.)

All of this week's events benefit Urban Roots, an amazing program that teaches local teens sustainable farming, and all it encompasses including planting and harvesting, selling, marketing and how local food benefits the community. Urban Roots donates a portion of their harvest to local hunger relief efforts and is working hard to bring fresh, local food to East Austin. So go out and give them some money!

Friday night, Book People had a multi-media night, hosting authors Pamela Walker, author of Growing Good Things to Eat in Texas, and Chef Alain Braux of People's Pharmacy, along with Ana-Sofia Joanes, director and producer of the documentary FRESH. Food tastings were provided by Thai Fresh and FoodSmarty, and drinks by St. Arnold Brewing.

Saturday, I attended the Tea Festival at Zhi Tea and got to try lots of delicious teas from several local tea purveyors, and attended a screening of FRESH at the Paramount downtown.

Sunday, I checked out the Drink Local Coffee Festival and Drink Local Night.

There are still lots of great events going on all week, from the Julie & Julia Feast tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse, the Gulf Coast Sampler tomorrow at AMOA, a Meet Your Local Brewers Happy Hour at the Whip In, and lots more. I'm going to try to pack as much in as I can.

Check out Edible Austin's Eat Local Week events page to find an event (or events!) that appeal to you.

Flip Happy

It took me two years to get to Flip Happy. I've lived near the crepe trailer for that long before I finally stopped by one Saturday morning.

The long line snaked back in between the parked cars, and I considered going back another time, but I decided to stick it out.

Decisions, decisions

The friendly Flip Happy cash register informs you of what's to come.

I had the Tarragon Mushroom crepe, stuffed with fresh mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes and chevre. The slightly eggy crepe was tender and held up well against the fillings. I was really amused that almost everyone eating crepes on the picnic benches picked them up and ate them like burritos. Thinking when in Rome (h/t Ron Burgundy), I followed suit.

Tarragon Mushroom and Spinach Feta crepes

The man had the Spinach and Feta crepe, and reported it to be delicious.

Probably against our better judgment after eating filling savory crepes, we decided to split a dessert crepe. The Lemon Curd crepe was sweet and tart and dressed with freshly cooked blueberries. Very tasty.

Lemony blueberry-y goodness

I've since been back 3 or so more times. They keep funny hours, so check their website before heading over.

Flip Happy Crepes
400 Josephine Street
Austin, TX 78704

Sushi-A-Go-Go

I love a food trailer. Give me good food, served on the street, and I'm happy. I'd heard rumblings about Sushi-A-Go-Go, a sushi trailer in the parking lot of a gas station. Looking at their online menu, I saw there were a lot of veggie choices. Sounded promising.

After a little wait, I had 4 rolls and an order of inari to share with the man. We got (clockwise from top left) a natto roll, a kanpyo roll, 3 pieces of inari, an avocado mango roll, and a vegetable roll.

Sushi, with extra packaging

The food was all OK. Not bad, but nothing special. The inari, which is always a favorite, had a tasty skin, but the rice was a less sticky than I'm used to in sushi. It didn't hold together well. I was excited to have the kanpyo, though, as it seems to be rare in Austin. The sweet gourd shavings are slightly crunchy, a little sweet, and totally delicious.

The veggie roll was beautiful in its bright green soy paper, but pretty mildly flavored. The mango avocado roll had nice avocado, but the mango was less than ripe.

The natto, well . . . it was my first time having natto. We'll just leave it at that.

One major turn-off was all the packaging. All the soy sauce, pickled ginger, even the wasabi, was individually packaged in little packets. And all the packets were packed into a little 2-ounce sauce cup. Kind of a waste of materials for condiments of lesser quality than you'd get smooshed up against your sushi at other places.

Would I go back? Maybe, but they've moved since I was there last, and they're awfully close to Banzai. While not fancy food, Banzai has some excellent veggie sushi, for similar prices to Sushi-A-Go-Go, and the food is a little better.

Green Corn Project Fundraiser

Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of attending the Green Corn Project fundraiser at Boggy Creek Farm.

The man's brother was in town, and we thought it was a great way to let him try some of Austin's food and check out the urban farm. We arrived just after the event began, right around noon. The crowd was trickling in, and it filled out over the course of the afternoon.

At $35, it was a bargain. Some of Austin's best restaurants were represented, bringing samples of their delicious food for tasting, while a silent auction raised even more money.

For me, some of the standouts were:

Parkside's pumpkin soup with coriander. So good, I went back for seconds.

Aquarelle's corainder-carrot salad: really spicy, crunchy and sweet.

Olivia's spicy deviled egg and spicy maple sweet potato. The sweet potato was just OK, kind of mildly flavored, but the egg was perfect - spicy, creamy and perfectly tender.

After gorging ourselves on more veggies and chocolate, and buying some sweet potatoes and green beans at the farm stand, we headed to the back of the house to catch a cooking demo.

Jam of Thai Fresh showed us how to make a Thai egg custard inside a kabocha squash. I've been buying kabocha the last few weeks, and just roasting them, so I'm glad to have an interesting new recipe to try. (If you want to try it, check out the recipe on Jam's blog.)

Jam, scooping a squash

The custard was delicious - delicately sweet and flavored with pandan leaves. The squash was tender, but not mushy. It was light, and really nice after all the food we'd just shoved into our faces.

Thai egg custard made with coconut milk, cooked into a kabocha.

A visit to Boggy Creek wouldn't be complete without visiting the chickens, so we popped over to check them out. They have the most gorgeous chickens, with lots of variety in size, color and seriousness of strut. Check out this character:

A beauty of a chicken

New Trailer: Austin Gourmet Pudding

I've noticed that at the lot on South Congress and Monroe has been adding more food trailers recently. It seems to be a little different every couple of weeks. Over the weekend, I took a walk over there to see what was going on.

There, I found three-week-old Austin Gourmet Pudding. I've seen plenty of food trailers, but never one that sells only pudding. Run by Randy James, the trailer serves homemade puddings with flavors like chocolate, tapioca and pumpkin, and toppings like crushed cookies and candies in edible waffle bowls.

The bright, yellow truck, filled with creamy, puddingy goodness

Not being particularly hungry, and after Randy generously let us sample a few puddings before deciding, my dining partner and I settled on a half-and-half mix of butterscotch and Pop's banana topped with graham crackers.

Made with whole milk, the puddings were really thick and rich. Both were really good, but the banana was excellent. Surprising, because butterscotch is usually my favorite.


While eating the pudding, I chatted with Randy, who, as it turns out is from Central Illinois. I'm from Chicago, and went to school in Central Illinois, pretty close to the town he's from. Lucky guy that he is, he told me his mom sends him some Illinois super-sweet corn every year when it's in season. (Sure, the corn here is tasty, but it's just not the same!) I've got to see if I can make a similar arrangement.

Quick aside: the corn I got at the farmers market in Central Illinois, and even the stuff I've gotten recently at the Green City Market is so sweet and juicy that it doesn't really need to be cooked. During corn season, I got a few to cook, along with one for the road that I ripped open and ate raw on my way home.

Project: Stuffed Poblanos

I've always loved stuffed peppers. My grandma's version used green bells stuffed with rice and rich tomato sauce. They were pretty tasty, but I prefer a spicier Latin-inspired poblano relleno to a standard stuffed bell pepper.

I've made chiles rellenos before, stuffing charred and peeled poblanos with cheese, then breading and frying them. They're always delicious, but after having an un-fried version at La Fonda in San Antonio, I wanted to try making them myself.

I found some gorgeous poblanos, which I charred, peeled and seeded.

Charring poblano and naked peppers

I used one to make a poblano cream sauce, and stuffed the remaining two with a mixture of quinoa, raisins, pine nuts and a veggie mixture of sweet potato, corn onion and purple cabbage.

Veggie filling with quinoa steaming away in the background

I put a little bit of the poblano cream into the bottom of a pan, and placed the stuffed poblanos in it, then covered them with more sauce and some nutty-sharp Cheddar cheese and baked them until everything was hot and melty.

Stuffed poblanos, before and after baking

We ate them with quinoa with raisins and pine nuts and black beans.

I am really happy with how well the poblanos turned out. The texture was fantastic, still a little firm, and I think I prefer this non-fried version to the battered one. It's much lighter, and the flavor of the poblano comes through a lot better. Plus, it's not fried, so you get to save a little on fat and calories.

I think that, with fall coming, I'm going to make these again and experiment with fillings. Maybe butternut squash and black beans?

The poblano cream sauce was delicious, and really easy, too. It's kind of based on a Rick Bayless recipe from Mexican Kitchen, but it's a lot lighter. I had a funny kitchen moment when making it, though. I used all low-fat milk and no cream, but when I blended the milk in the food processor, it aerated and puffed up like whipped cream! It deflated once I added it to the hot pan, but just over cup of milk filled the bowl of the food processor.

Poblano Cream
1 large poblano, charred, peeled and seeded
1 1/4 cup milk
1 Tablespoon flour
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (you could use crema, but this is what I had)
salt and pepper

Blend the poblano and 1 cup of milk in a blender or food processor.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add flour. Cook over medium heat until it begins to take on a little color. Whisk in the milk mixture, along with the remaining milk. Bring to a simmer. Add Greek yogurt, salt and pepper. Heat through.