Rabbit Food Grocery - Austin, TX

Every time I go to Austin, I try to place an order with Rabbit Food Grocery. They're the only place I know of that carries the new vegan Earth Balance chips in sour cream and onion flavor and cheddar flavor. I also picked up No Whey candies by Premium Chocolatiers, an Amy E's cashew and caramel bar, salted caramel sauce from Sweet Ritual (Austin's vegan ice cream parlor), soy curls, and Match Meats' vegan ground beef sub. I've never had Match vegan meats before, but they got a great review on Vegan Crunk (here). I met up with the Rabbit Food folks at their scheduled pick-up at Counter Culture, but we chose not to order anything from CC since we had just finished brunch at Kerbey Lane. Hopefully they'll have a store soon! After the Rabbit Food pick-up, we zipped over to Wheatsville for Go Max Go candies, Cocomels, and Treeline nut cheese. NOM.

Kerbey Lane Cafe - Austin, TX

I recently saw a brunch plate on Twitter that looked incredible. I follow several Austin vegan bloggers on Twitter. One posted a pumpkin cinnamon roll pancake from Kerbey Lane Cafe. Um yes. The vegan special pancake this past weekend was vanilla, which was a simple choice that was a perfect pairing with the vegan brunch platter. The platter has tofu scramble, homemade soy sausage, and pancakes. I ordered a side of home fries for extra calories. I really enjoyed this brunch, but I felt so stuffed afterwards. I probably could have done without the potatoes, but what is brunch without potatoes? The dude ordered a vegetarian breakfast quesadilla. He eats vegetarian at home and with me (mostly vegan with me actually), but he has ordered meat/fish recently with his friends. He's trying to find the perfect balance for himself, so I'm still holding out a tiny bit of hope that he'll one day go vegan. I guess he's just not quite ready to be the "odd" one with some of his friends in certain social settings. This was a topic we both had avoided discussing, but a guest at the wedding we attended in Austin straight up asked him if he's veg *because of me.* I used that as a way to discuss that I want him to make this choice for himself and for his own health, not think that I demand this from him. He's just trying to find his way and he said he has no problem eating vegetarian at home and with me, but he wants the flexibility to order meat when going out (clearly with friends, not in front of me!). We ended that discussion with me saying that I appreciate his efforts and his openness to go to vegan/vegan-friendly places with me and that I like many, many things about him so we can work through differences in diet. I really like him and I think we can find a balance that works for us. All of my previous boyfriends have been omnis, so this is my first vegetarian relationship. It's a touchy topic to discuss because I don't want to be demanding or preachy. I want to be inspirational. He inspires me to work out and be more active. I want to inspire him to eat as many plants as possible. We went out for this tasty brunch after such a serious conversation. It was a bit of relief to finally discuss something we'd both been thinking about, but weren't sure how to start such a conversation.

BBQ Revolution & Red Rabbit Donuts - Austin, TX

The new Northloop trailer park is home to Red Rabbit Co-op Bakery, BBQ Revolution, Unity Vegan Kitchen, and Taco 'Bout It. The taco place is not all vegan, but there are vegan options. The other three businesses are all vegan. I really wanted to try the BBQ Revolution food and get donuts from Red Rabbit. I love donuts and there are no vegan donuts in Houston. I ordered the raspberry jam filled and the jam and chocolate filled heart shaped donut. The concept of BBQ Revolution intrigued me. They were out of seitan brisket, but it has peanut butter so I would not have been able to order it this weekend anyway (the dude can't have peanuts). The dude and I both ordered the smoky soy curl sandwiches. The dude got potato salad on his sandwich as suggested by the employee, but I chose to put my mac and cheese on the side. The mac needs a little more nooch. It's just not very rich, but it is soy-free if that's important to you. Overall, NOM.

Valentine's Gifts

I ordered the dude some vegan shaving supplies from Jack Black. The shaving products are highly reviewed in Men's Health. I hope he likes it, since he can't use an electric razor on his skin. He bought me some jewelry, had an ornate vase from Iraq filled with artificial flowers out to decorate his apartment (since we were going out of town and the cats eat flowers, he didn't want to buy real ones), and paid for dinner and most of our Austin expenses. He spoils me! This is the first time in my life that I've received jewelry from a boyfriend. I feel so adult. It's also not too large and flashy, a perfect starter set for someone like me that doesn't wear jewelry often. :)

Birthday/Valentine's Weekend

I left work early on my birthday, but the dude couldn't get out of work early. We had planned to head up to Austin that evening, but we decided to stay in Houston. We went to Radical Eats for a vegan Valentine's dinner. The appetizers were beet borscht soup, a jalapeno popper, and a little beet salad. We picked different entrees so we could try both choices on the special menu. I got the veggie/tofu tart with roasted veggies. He ordered the veggie charcuterie pizza. My entree was better than his pizza. The pizza needed more flavor under the veggies, like a strong garlic and herb olive oil sauce. The dessert was a chocolate mousse or some truffles. We split the mousse, it was insanely rich. We each had a glass of red wine, but I'm not sure if my wine was vegan. The service was very good again, so the dude and I would like to try going on a non-holiday to see if that level of service is consistent. We exchanged gifts after dinner and watched the first few episodes of House of Cards.

Brunch at Green Vegetarian - Houston, TX

Another Sunday brunch at Green. I got the chorizo and tofu scramble tacos with Daiya vegan cheese, plus an order of pancakes. The chef offered us free desserts because he liked my "wings are for flying not frying" shirt (from Herbivore, sold here). Sweet! The pancakes were incredible, the tacos were delicious, and the Twinkie knock-off was quite good. I loved the meal and it was great to have brunch with the dude and some friends. We had a smaller crowd than the last time I went to brunch because the organizers were on a dog rescue mission.

Fusion Taco - Downtown, Houston, TX

A kickball friend recently had a birthday, so a bunch of us met downtown for tacos and a few drinks. We went to Fusion Taco and I ordered the tofu taco, subbing guac for the peanut sauce. I would have ordered the peanut sauce, but the dude can't have peanuts. They had a kale and tofu quesadilla, but they don't have vegan cheese. The tofu tacos were impressive though, definitely not stingy on the portions. This place is near Okra, the charity bar, so we walked over there for a drink after dinner.