Consume ... Consumer ... Consumed.

Capitalism is built on selfishness, but not every whim that pops into your head is in your self-interest. If you do not examine your philosophical premises, you can commit to grave habits without thinking. That lack of thinking - not any particular error in logic - is the root of all evil. 

I know from numismatics that it takes all kinds of people to make markets, and to make them work. In numismatics, we buy and sell money for fun. For many, it is a livelihood, a profession, a calling. Crooks are easy to find, people who knowingly sell counterfeit collectibles on the theory of caveat emptor. Their success comes "one customer at a time" because they never get repeat business.  Also common are true egoists who build and maintain their enterprises with good relations and healthy social ties.

At my neighborhood Whole Foods

The American Numismatic Association has a strong Young Numismatists program that brings the rich array of opportunities for learning to youngsters. Of all the ANA member clubs, the Michigan State Numismatic Society has the strongest YN program I have seen. They teach kids to be pages, running food orders for dealers at conventions  and getting paid in tips. They learn how to earn money before they learn how to spend it.

So, I have to wonder how many of these children - already flagged as habitual customers - are being raised by liberals, progressives, and socialists who think that reinforcing consumer behavior is the way to save the planet -- or perhaps they do not think about it.

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

Numismatics: History as Market 
The Influence of Ayn Rand's Objectivism  
Hail Merry Desserts  
The Genius of Design  

Nutrients and Beer Hallmark Austin Food Culture

Fitppl is a local firm that makes plant-based “superfood” supplements.  Each measured serving of both their cocoa and blueberry and their vanilla and goji flavor powders provides 16 grams of raw, organic plant protein, at 90 calories with 2 grams of fiber and less than 1 gram of sugar. Their powders have no artificial sweeteners, so-called “natural” flavors, or stevia.  The protein superfood blends are made from oat grass, barley grass, and spirulina. They are gluten-free, of course. Seeeking always to reduce the plastic footprint, they provide a wooden scoop for measuring servings. 

They also formulate a supplement from fresh-water and salt-water algae as well as cereal grasses. It specifically delivers a mix of chlorophyll, enzymes, vitamins, and anti-oxidants.

You can find them online at fitppl.com., but they also market through some retailers. They were the January Product of the Month at Wheatsville Co-Op here in Austin.

  

I met Eric from the Alltech Kentucky Brewing and Distilling Company at my neighborhood Whole Foods.  

They age their beer in whiskey barrels. The flavor experience was rich and rewarding, and the alcohol level was only 8%, not much more than an over-hopped IPA.  And it tasted a lot better.  

Find them online at www.kentuckyale.com or in person at your neighborhood Whole Foods. They sell in 4-packs and singles because it is a bit pricey. Nonetheless, when you deserve a treat, it can’t be beat.

Previously on Necessary Facts

Awesome Austin Foods

BrainJuice for Austin and the World

Awesome Austin Foods at the Wheatsville Co-op

Salsa Showdown: Jaime's versus Royito's

Salsa Showdown: Jaime's versus Royito's

In the movies, when those two guys are standing there, the streets are already cleared, so I am not going to say which one is better.  It depends … on you, the day, the time, the food, the stove, the grill, the guests…  They are different enough that you could serve them both. 

Royito's Sharon demoing at Whole Foods 

Don't do mild.  “Royito’s is dedicated to and inspired by Roy’s dad, Big Roy, who taught him three things: be kind to everyone you meet, keep it simple, and never do mild. “Don’t Do Mild” is therefore not just a clever hot sauce tagline, it is a way of life. The purpose of Royito’s is to inspire people to not “do mild” in life by following their own passion and purpose. At the heart of this movement is loving what you do and doing what you love, and never giving up on your dreams.” -- http://www.royitoshotsauce.com

84 Years in Austin “In 1931 a little Tex-Mex restaurant opened in Austin just steps from the University of Texas and the State Capitol. 40 years later, Jaime Tames, and ex bull-fighter from San Luis Potosi, Mexico took over the establishment, bringing with him his famous Jaime’s Margarita’s and charismatic

At Wheatsville Co-Op

personality. Jaime was behind the bar every night, telling stories, serving drinks, and making sure everyone was having a good time. The walls of the restaurant were covered with decades of photos of patrons doing just that. It quickly became an Austin institution, with politicians from the Capitol having lunch, University of Texas Students having dinner with their families, and Longhorn fans piling in before and after the sporting events. At the time that the restaurant closed in July 2010, it was the longest operating restaurant in Austin. The tradition lives on through our original Jaime’s salsa and queso.”--http://jaimessalsa.com/

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

If you put "food" in the Search box, you will find about 20 posts, among them these:

Awesome Austin Foods

Awesome Austin Foods at Wheatsville Co-op

Kale, Oats, and Mai Tais

Mayan Mojo
Hot Dang Vegie Burger Mix
Drippin' Sauce

Hat Creek Pickle Company
Casa Brasil Coffee
Sunday at the Co-Op
Great Bean Chocolate
Hail Merry Desserts

Hail Merry Desserts

Hail Merry desserts give you satisfying, flavorful experiences because they begin with the purest ingredients; and then they are dehydrated at low heat, rather than being baked to death. They also deliver their sweetness with herbs and spices rather than relying on bulk sugars.  

Hail Merry's marketer, Colleen,
at Whole Foods Arbor Trails, in Austin.

This avoids the key problem with low-this and non-that foods, especially desserts: those make up for it with other stuff that is not so good for you, like guar gum, xantham gum (from broccoli rot), carrageenan, canola (oil from Canada), and more pure organic cane sugar than you could suck out of a sugar cane.

Texas native Susan O’Brien majored in design and went to work planning clinical laboratories. At mid-life, after studying with Hollywood's raw foods chef, Juliano Brotman, Susan O’Brien established her company in Dallas. (She grew up in Grand Saline and has family in McAllen.)  O’Brien took on two partners, Susan Palisi Chapin and Alison Brushaber, who brought their big company experience to the start-up.

 

The company logo is based on the chess queen,
rendered in the style of wooden dolls
created by architect Alexander Girard.  

 The Hail Merry desserts - Miracle Tarts (Meyer Lemon, Chocolate Mint, Chocolate, Persian Lime,  Almond, and Coconut), Macaroons, Grawnolas, Nuts & Seeds, and more – are available at Whole Foods and other grocers.  The company also sells direct to anyone in consumer-sized wholesale lots of a dozen. 

ALSO ON NECESSARY FACTS

Hot Dang Vegie Burger Mix

EPIC Meat Bars

Mayan Mojo

Austin's Chinatown

Painted Papers Artisan Wraps

"Painted Papers" Offers Artisan Wraps

We met Debra Flanagan at our neighborhood Whole Foods when she gave us an origami turkey that she made from one of her handcrafted wrapping papers.  

DEBRA FLANAGAN (right)
talks to a customer at Whole Foods.

Her coatings adhere non-destructively to standard clear ("scotch") tapes. So, the tape does not tear the finish and the paper can be reused.  Many other creative projects can integrate these unique papers. Debra Flanagan paints her specially-made papers by hand. The paper is sold by the roll (26 inches by 72 inches, more or less) at local Austin craft stores, artisan events, and Whole Foods markets.  She has an email address, PaintedPapers@Yahoo.com, but no blog or website.

You can read more about her at the Clarksville Pottery website here. 

Clarksville is a neighborhood just outside of downtown Austin. Founded by freedman Charles Clark in 1871, Clarksville is the oldest surviving post-Civil War freedomtown west of the Mississippi River.  Wikipedia here.)

ALSO ON NECESSARY FACTS

The Genius of Design

Around Austin (2014)

Pi in the Sky Over Austin

Neal Adams at Dragon's Lair

Mayan Mojo

Mayan Mojo is roasted breadnut, ground into a powder for making drinks.  The dark roast is coffee-like; the light roast is like tea.  The dark roast is easily the best-tasting coffee substitute I have experienced, far better than the chicory mixes. Moreover, it is high in protein, vitamin C, and other nutrients.  We saw Tommy Linton of Buchanan Dam, Texas, a few times at our neighborhood Whole Foods before stopping to sip a sample.  We bought a bag of the dark roast.  

http://www.mayancafedemojo.com/

ALSO ON NECESSARY FACTS

Epic Meat Bars

High Brew Cold Coffee

Jaime's Salsa

Drippin' Sauce

Awesome Austin Foods

Drippin' Sauce

Bill Hallett and I attended
rival high schools,
validating the small universe.

Dripping Springs is about 20 miles west of Austin. This is where Bill Hallett makes his four flavors of gourmet Drippin' Sauce ketchup.  He was demoing his products at Whole Foods on William Cannon (Arbor Trails) when we stopped in to buy dinner on our way home from work.  We started with the sweet onion and then had the special reserve. We bought a bottle of that.  

http://www.drippinsauce.com/
Sweet Onion, Mild Chipotle,
Hot Chipotle, and Special Reserve

Bill said that he starts with yellow onions. They are sauteed in just enough oil to turn them white and remove the moisture.  Then he adds the herbs and spices. For the ketchup, he uses only canned whole peeled tomatoes.  "You can get them year around," he said. "And they are cooked, not salted, so there's only 1% of the RDA of sodium in our ketchup."  Whole ground dried peppers, apple cider vinegar, some molasses, and a bit of brown sugar complete the ingredients.  The proportions are secret, of course.  Typically, his batches are ten gallons.  "Then you cook it for a l-o-n-g time, " said.  This is obviously a labor of love.  Bill spent some time in information systems after completing a degree in mathematics.  

ALSO ON NECESSARY FACTS
Awesome Austin Foods
Jaime's Salsa
Central Texas Bee Rescue
Around Austin
Austin at Night
High Brew Cold Coffee

Jaime's Salsa of Austin

About a thousand years ago, when we were living in Las Cruces, I learned that it is easy to make salsa that no one can eat.  The co-worker who gave me the instructions told me that her husband and his friends just burn out their mouths and wash it away with cold beer.  "You can do better than that," she said.  

I got pretty good at it, but opening a screw top jar is easier.    

While New Mexico's jalapeños are always the best first ingredient, I hesitate to start a range war over the claim. When you make it one-up each time, it comes out different; and that can be all right.  But if you want consistent, predictable salsa, you need a reliable commercial provider.  

Jaime's is local to Austin.  Their Spanish Village Restaurant was a favorite for 80 years. Their current products are at Whole Foods in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  Locally, they are on the shelf at our member-owned Wheatsville Co-op.

Also on Necessary Facts
Awesome Austin Foods
High Brew Cold Brew Coffee
Around Austin 
Longhorn Fire and Safety

Around Austin

Texas has no income tax. Sales tax is 8.5% here in Austin because 1% goes for CapMetro, the bus and rail lines.  Dell, Motorola, and a dozen more are here, hundreds of small high tech firms and design studios dot the economic landscape which is dominated by the University of Texas and the state government.  Then, there are cinema, music, and fine arts. KMFA-FM plays no NPR or other news; and Composer's Datebook reminds us that "once all music was new." (The NPR affiliate is KUT-FM, which also launched an alternative format KUTX-FM.) I live in a Mexican neighborhood (no surprise), but a mile up the road, two banks have signs in Chinese.


5th floor near 6th and Lamar looking north
(Whole Foods HQ not visible at far left).
Note all the trees.

You don't see a lot of people getting speeding tickets here. In fact, as a Michigander, I find it downright frustrating to be behind two enormous SUVs each doing 25 in a 40 MPH zone, along the main drag, Lamar Boulevard.  (The street honors Mirabeau Lamar, second president of the Texas Republic.  Houston Street is a small lane, easy to miss.  Sam Houston wanted the capital someplace else.)  Freeway ramps are longer than the roads between towns back East.

The Bar Crawler caught in broad daylight.

But business is booming and bursting and reforming and reformulating.  You will find real estate, minerals, computer chips, computer games.  The culture - music, cinema, fine art, theater - is an economic sector, of course. NPR-affliate KUT-FM provides a deep playlist of local and contemporary music. In addition to Whole Foods, Schlotzsky's home office is here.

The McCombs College of Business at UT is one of several
to have received an antique stock exchange station.

Michael Dell began building personal computers in his dormitory room at UT.  The town as seen busts: people turn nostalgic about the good old days of the 1980s.  An Austin American-Statesman article last year offered hand-wringing because recovery from the Dot Com Meltdown still might not yet have reached the gaming coders.

The Goodwill stores have a computer museum,
funded in part by Dell.
A Cray stands among the vintage machines.

The land is diverse, more like Ohio than it is like New Mexico.  We went through a drought last year with record highs for record days, but that, too, is one of the environmental textures.  When it rains, it pours.  We just passed the apex of cricket season.  You get so many in one place, you can smell them.  Same with grackles.


At the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Austin offers much.  Nearly two million people agree.  Housing is disproportionaltely expensive as a result.  The city owns the electric power company and rates rise as their operating costs fall.  Taxicabs are regulated and all charge the same rates.  Pedicabs are regulated differently.  In a lot of ways, Texas is very much like Massachusetts.... but don't tell them that.  The Texas flag flies at the same height as the American flag; and the Texas flag is larger than the American flag. You don't get that in Massachusetts.

Also on Necessary Facts
Austin at Night
Stadtluft Macht Frei
South by Southwest 2013
Images from SXSW 2013
South by Southwest 2012