Going out for coffee/matcha? Not in this economy!
DIY cafe drinks will save you money & if you’re looking for a way to use some of your savings for good/feel a little less hopeless about the world, you can donate to critical aid for refugees in DRC, Gaza, Sudan & Ukraine. There are countless organizations doing impactful work, and the IRC is one of the ones I have always admired, for their dedication & transparency. These days, I hope you are holding your loved ones close & cherishing quality time with them, because it is such a privilege to be able to.
This year, my sister opted to slow down for her birthday and put together an intimate home cafe for a handful of her closest friends. My boyfriend and I drove up to DFW (with some ATX treats) for a chill weekend. We treated ourselves to fun drinks & bites, and did some crafting. It was refreshing and comforting, especially during these turbulent times. Check out my reel recap of the vibes & read more about the menu below!
I miss yapping with y’all about food I have been enjoying/making, so expect more to come—and please feel free to ask any questions about the spread!
Drinks:
We made a variety of iced drinks, with almond, oat & soy milk as the main milk choices. In the coming weeks, I plan to recreate the drinks & take photos to accompany more detailed recipes for them (I’ll update this post with links), but here is the gist of what we had:
- Strawberry Matcha Latte
- Featuring homemade strawberry puree & strawberry cold foam (vegan whipping cream frothed with strawberry puree). For the cold foam, any vegan whipping cream will froth up beautifully: Silk, Country Crock & Califia Farms.
- Yuzu Matcha Latte
- Featuring green tea yuzu jam from Trader Joe’s
- Classic Matcha
- Strawberry Coffee Latte
- Pretty similar to the strawberry matcha latte, but with coffee!
- Viet Salted Coffee
- The creamy, dreamy contrasting flavors of this drink work so well. Inspired by our trip to Vietnam last Christmas!
Food:
We kept it pretty low-key with a taco bar for our main savory bites, and did a mix of homemade treats & treats from local bakeries!
- Breakfast Taco Bar
- We piled our toasty tortillas high with nopales, refried beans, homemade tofu scramble, Cacique’s soy chorizo & Thrilling Foods‘ vegan bacon (we got it from Central Market). My friend brought homemade salsa to drizzle over everything.
- Mini Vegan Croissants
- We got ours from Unicorniverse Bakery in Round Rock (I’m so blessed to live so close to them). We re-toasted them shortly before our friends arrived, welcoming them with a golden, buttery aroma. Fat Cats in Austin also does vegan croissants! For my DFW friends, I would check with Reverie to see if they would be open to a custom order (they offer breakfast trays with kolaches & I have had croissants from them years ago, but it’s not on their regular menu).
- Strawberry Lemonade Cake (a fluffy, zesty, delicate treat, by me…recipe in development, delicious but I’m working on the structure)
- Donuts from Holey Rollers
- Hands down, our fave donut spot; thankful to our friends from OKC for picking these up! I love their classic vanilla bean donuts the best, but their seasonal flavors are also worth trying, as they put a lot of thought into the combinations. The standout this season was their key lime pie donut, topped with lime zest & graham cracker crumbs.
- Vietnamese Yogurt & Berries
- My sister used this recipe because it tastes the closest to the Viet yogurt we grew up eating, and upon serving, we each drizzled vegan condensed milk to our liking.
- Durian Birthday Cake
- Durian can totally divide a room (iykyk), but this is my sister’s favorite Southeast Asian fruit! I am personally not a huge fan of fresh durian, but can appreciate its notes in a dessert such as this. We ordered the cake from a Vietnamese home baker who made my sister’s wedding cake—a dear family friend. If you live in the DFW area and need an Asian cake (pandan’s my favorite from her), I am happy to connect you!
We added some florals at home, but important PSA: I recently learned that baby’s breath is not advisable near food, since it is toxic. This is very good information to know, as someone who has used baby’s breath countless times for cake decorating in the past, including my sister’s wedding cake…thankfully no indigestion/poisoning occurred.
Other Bites:
We obviously had to eat a lot to fuel all of our activities (and contrasting cravings from the group), so here are some other things we savored that weekend:
- Cafemandu: Late night momo’s & noodles were calling our names after we spent our evening at World Springs. This place has dedicated vegan options and we are obsessed with their spicy, tangy Chili C Momo’s and noodles!
- Southern Spice: Also open late, we got a crispy dosa filled with potatoes to share, with coconut chutney and savory sambar on the side for dipping.
- Taco Bell: Another late night run. Sometimes you just want some crunchy trash tacos! My go-to order in college (and now): crunchy tacos, sub beans for beef, hold the cheese/sour cream, add pico & guac & potatoes, bonus if they have the nacho fries they can add (hold the cheese sauce). More about ordering vegan at Taco Bell here.
- Pancakes: The next morning, we whipped up a batch using a mix from Birch Bender! Annie’s also has a vegan version, and some generic brands like Bisquick can also be veganized (just sub the eggs/milk).
Throughout the weekend, we (the girls) did some crafting while our guys played video games. The butcher paper backdrop from the home cafe was perfect to re-use as a crafting surface. I had been dying to do this Anthropologie dupe for a long time—if you know, you know…the Anthro version is sold out now, but the original price was over $40. We got these cheap cement busts from Michael’s (under $10 each) & aged them to add texture! There are a ton of online tutorials for this, and it made such a fun group activity. Def recommend, 10/10.
My goddess in her new home!
Let this post be a reminder to plan your next chill, cozy hang with your friends. I’d love to hear from you in the comments: which drink recipe are you most curious about trying?
In other news, I have launched a Substack newsletter entitled Digging In! Don’t worry, this site (with all the recipes) will remain as my main website/blog, but Substack is where I will be sharing more casual, frequent musings & more personal reflections, including a bite-sized weekly dig into things worth sharing. I am trying to get back in the habit of writing more regularly, especially as it was my main medium for so long. I usually end up treating IG captions like a journal, but ultimately I think long-form content is best suited to websites & newsletters. Here is my first Substack post, if you’d like to follow along!
plantcrush 