Wir wollen eine Bring-Your-Own-Beer Trinkaktion im Hof des Museumsquartiers
veranstalten. Dazu müssen wir Leute und die Presse mobilisieren.

­ ORT/ZEIT: Samstag, 20. Juni 2009, 18.00-18.05 Uhr. Innenhof des
Museumsquartiers (Museumsplatz 1/5, 1070 Wien).

­ VORGEHENSWEISE: Ab 18 Uhr wird 5 Minuten lang während des Trinkens
regelmäßig laut zugeprostet!

­ ZIELGRUPPE: Alle, die ein Interesse daran haben, ihre mitgebrachten
Getränke weiterhin im MQ trinken zu dürfen.

­ GRUND: Das MQ ist ein öffentlicher Platz und wird mit unseren
Steuergeldern finanziert, im Jahr 2005 mit ca. 11 Mio. Euro. Wir sehen
nicht ein, wieso wir dazu gezwungen werden sollten, das Bier vor Ort zu
kaufen!

Es haben sich schon mindestens 2 facebook-gruppen gegründet und es gibt ein
geplantes protestereignis:

http://bringyourbeer.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=89218829570

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=96081236267

So here we go with a couple of spots that may fulfill your needs for vegan yumminess:

The Go Veg Diner, a place selling all vegan, healthy (they say) fast food – which totally reminds me of Yellow Sunshine in Berlin -, just opened its gates in 10th district, Favoritenstr. 156 (11am – 09pm, closed on Sundays).
Unfortunately, I haven’t made it there yet, but I believe it’s somewhat in the middle between Formosa, Rupps and Schillinger – and worth a visit for sure!

Now that we can finally have some summer feelings (can we? pleease? for more than three days in a row?), there IS a tremendous need for ice cream.
The Eissalon am Schwedenplatz, just a few steps ahead from U Schwedenplatz, has started a cooperation with VGT and now serves three different cups of vegan ice cream varieties, changing weekly.
Still, I’m possibly the biggest fan ever of Zanoni & Zanoni, Lugeck 7, who offer three kinds of delicious vegan ice cream (which they call lactose- and sugarfree, but in fact have been proven to be vegan by Charly Schillinger): jogurt – raspberry, vanilla jogurt – blueberry, and chocolate, if I recall right.

Also, WerkzeugH in 5th district, Schoenbrunnerstr. 61, is my new favorite place to hang out in the sun and have a delicious dirty soy chai latte – both way cheaper and way more luscious than Starbucks or the Coffeeshop Company, since they offer David Rio’s Chai selection there (unfortunately, the mouth-watering “Elephant Vanilla Chai” is not 100% vegan, but the still amazing “Tiger Spice Chai” is) -, and we therefore even moved our Sunday’s Team Dirty Chai over there! =)
Every Sunday, WerkzeugH offers a large breakfast buffet on a pay-as-you-wish basis, too (sort of like at Der Wiener Deewan – if you haven’t been there yet, go make sure to check out that place as well!); unfortunately, this is mostly non-vegan, but Manfred assured me they’re working on it.

And, last but not least: Mike showed me the most unbelievable and awesome thing ever: a pack of American Oreos he had just bought at the Coffeeshop Company at Thalia, Mariahilferstr. 99! I know they’ve been selling the european (as in: non-vegan…) Oreo cookies ever since, so seeing CC switching over to the vegan originals seems like heaven to me! Woohooo!

Above the self-service counter they have a giant chalkboard display with lots of recipies, poems, drawings and… oh. What’s that?

“Free Will Doesn’t Exist.”

How very honest.

And their self-promotional video is a truly heartwarming tale of gastro-homesickness…. *sigh!*

Link (to video)

Tupalo entry about Bok

The Marcus Omofuma memorial, which was created and paid for by the sculptor Ulrike Truger, reminds of the violence against Omofuma. The stone was put up next to the opera building in Vienna without official approval and was therefore supposed to be taken down. However, in collaboration with the Green Party, a place for it was found between Mariahilferstra§e and Museumsquartier.

Currently the Weinviertel (a part of Lower Austria) is presenting its products and touristic services between Mariahilferstra§e and Museumsquartier — around the Omofuma memorial. A kinda surreal situation. The Gemütlichkeit and Fortress Austria. It’s like Weinseligkeit.

They also have a representation of Lower Austrian “Amethystwelt Maissau” (”the largest opencast amethyst vein in the world”).
Children can stir in dirt to find amethysts.
What a sad setting.

Austrian tourist industry. You rule.

Though most of you may have already heard of a chai latte, a spiced tea concentrate infused with hot milk, or even a soy chai latte, using soy milk instead of the dairy version; or already tried it at one of the countless coffee shops that spread all over town within the last years, not so many (not to say hardly anyone) will have any idea what exactly the term ‘dirty’ could stand for in that connection.

Well, kindest readership!
I have the honor to introduce to you what was brought to my ears – and lips – all the way from Los Angeles, CA (by Sean Bonner, to be accurate) last winter, and what changed my life by the means of my weekly habits and social interactions in the most joyful and enriching way possible – for a beverage, that is.

The dirty (soy) chai consists of the classic chai syrup (as to be found at your well-assorted coffee shop of trust), infused with hot (soy) milk (rumor has it, the soy makes it even more ‘muddy’; to me, it simply makes it more delicious: vegan, that is) and added with two shots of espresso – which makes it ‘dirty’.
And besides, being an addict, I should not forget to mention the excess of caffeine the dirtyness brings along with its super-awesome taste!

Now back to all the gibberish about the movement thingy:

The Team Dirty Chai, also known as TDC, was founded back in calender week 07 in the year 2008 by Dave aka DaddyD (whom you will certainly know by the trail of his posts) and my most humble self, when twittering about running out of coffee in the still of the night. Although Dave – as so far everyone we’ve met – was rather bemused about the general idea of pouring coffee in one’s tea, after trying a dirty chai latte was proselytized immediately and finds himself now co-leading Team Dirty Chai, evangelizing our friends (from thereon to be called the TDC army) towards a better taste in caffeinated, muddy-liquid treats.

We do so every Sunday, meeting at around 10.30 am CET at the Starbucks Mariahilfer Strasse/Theobaldgasse, aiming to improve our social skillz (yes, we do have some) by getting down to the *socially* dirty.

Our core team members include the following – as lovely as famous as down-to-the-dirty – folks: Kewagi, Angelol, Oneup, and Enkido, all of them admittedly geeks and/or nerds and/or ‘artists’ in some or the other way; but since the dirty chai meme spread rapidly amongst the Viennese Twitter league, the TDC army is still unstoppably growing, aiming to become the most notably alliance of 2008 a.d.

So there you have it.
Now screw up your courage, take heart, and join the TDC movement for more deliciousness and sociality in life!

Team Dirty Chai is legion.
And soon it’ll be on Wikipedia, fo sho ;)

Photograph no. 1 taken by Angelo Laub (licensed under CC by-nc-sa)

High in calories. Smallish. Tasty. Crescent-shaped. Nutty.
Usually made with ground almonds or Austria’s favorite nuts. Flavored with vanilla. Heavy dusting of powdered sugar.

Vanillekipferl were first made in Vienna. They are said to have been created in the shape of the Turkish crescent to celebrate the victory of the Austrian army over the… I guess you can imagine.

You know, home cooking kills the restaurant industry. You can buy them pretty much everywhere this time of the year.

Location: Saigon, Vietnamese restaurant @ Getreidemarkt.
Pic source.