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Austin South Asian | February 2020
85ºc Bakery Café A Big Hit In Austin By Sumaiya Malik When I got back into town after a few weeks in Pakistan, my husband, who is quite a foodie, raved about a Taiwanese bakery he had tried.
vited and welcome! 85ºC Bakery Café is a pure white floor to ceiling happy experience where sparkling clear white cases of gourmet pastries, bread, caramel pudding make you wonder about the variety of new desserts you
Taking advantage of my jet lag (I was waking up really early) he invited me for breakfast to ‘the bakery café on Airport Blvd). I was quite intrigued because all I remembered in that area was Arpeggio Grill.
have never seen before. Here is a bakery that invited me to come in, choose my own favorite pastries and place them on a white tray on wax paper with tongs provided with the tray. Every customer gets her or his own as the bakery functions cafeteria style. Each dessert is in its own cubicle behind a clear Plexiglas door to maintain hygiene. As I moved my tray forward, the array of desserts and buns were so appealing that my tray filled up quickly.
Needless to say, the intersection of Lamar Blvd and Airport Blvd has transformed!
The bakery is especially known for its ‘soft brioche, along with sweet and savory bread ranging from Taiwanese to Japanese to European, cakes, and other such desserts.’ Tea, boba teas, smoothies, and coffee are all made
There are new shops and lots of parking space where the much talked about 85ºC Bakery Café has opened up at 6929 Airport Boulevard. One step into the free-standing 85ºC Bakery Café (in a strip mall) and I felt so in-
fresh. 85c is particularly known for its iced sea salt coffees and teas too. (Nadia Choudhry Eater Austin).
He realized that the prices were set too high for people to have those desserts on a whim.
I picked up a red bean curd bun, two caramel puddings, one mango bun, one eggtart, one cheese tart and one coconut tart and my bill was $16.
That is the moment he decided that there should be a café that provides cakes, coffee and bread at affordable prices.
They have a deal running where you get $3 off every $15 so my bill was even lower. There are chairs and tables for enjoying the cuisines in house. Many people were even enjoying the sofa setting. I tried the sea salt latte. The fact that the coffee holds its flavor best at a steady temperature of 85ºC or 185ºF is reflected in the name of the bakery café. The story goes that the founder of the bakery café, Mr. Cheng-Hsueh Wu visited a café in a five-star hotel.
The bakery celebrated one year on August, 2019. There are 1000 locations world wide and the first one opened in Taipei in 2003. In 2008, it opened in California. Dallas and Houston also have the chain. My husband and I sat on the sofas and chatted. The sea salt latte was delicious and really 85ºC. We tried what we could and took the rest home. We had actually devoured all by the evening. From that day onwards, we regularly pick up our favorite treats and now there is a second location at Lakeline. For more information visit: http:// www.85bakerycafe.com/
February Is Black History Month - This Year’s Theme Right To Vote (Continued From Page 01) Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States observe the month annually as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. Americans have officially celebrated Black History Month since February 10, 1976, when President Gerald R. Ford established it as a national observance in an address that lauded its founder, AfricanAmerican historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson.
perience in American life, he took on the challenge of writing a proud and true African-American history into America’s national consciousness.
2. Celebrating Helps Us to Be Better understand the privileges the American society has gained.
Why everyone should celebrate the Black History Month:
3. It helps break unfair stereotypes and assumptions and provides the chance to focus on different aspects of the African American narrative.
1.
4. It helps provide other groups the
Celebrating
Black
History
Disheartened to discover that history books excluded the black ex-
The year 2020 also marks the sesquicentennial of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) and the right of black men to the ballot after the Civil War. The theme speaks, therefore, to the ongoing struggle on the part of both black men and black women for the right to vote.
Month allows us to pause and remember the stories of African Americans so we can commemorate their achievements.
Talk Sunday, February 2, 2020, 2 – 4 PM. 2. Let Freedom Ring! Black History Month Community Sing Along — Saturday Feb 8 from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. George Washington Carver Genealogy Center. This community sing along features musical selections inspired by the Black History Month theme, “African Americans and the Vote.”
Things to do in Austin to honor the month:
The sing-along will feature vocalist and Song Leader Kristen Trotty and the Texas Preparatory School Choir.
1. Kris Graves: Testament Project – Jan 14 to Feb 29. Free. Central Library Main Gallery.
3. Black Fashion Extra — Saturday, Feb 22 at 7:00 p.m. George Washington Genealogy Center.
opportunity to learn about a past and of a people of which they may have little awareness.
The Testament Project is an exploration and re-conception of the contemporary black experience in America.
This year’s theme - Right to Vote
Opening Reception & Artist
Black Fashion Extra seeks to promote inclusiveness by breaking through boundaries between consumers and the forces of the fashion industry.
Dr. Carter Woodson, known as the father of black history, was the son of former slaves. He worked his way out of the Kentucky coalmines to become a Harvard-educated historian and journalist.
The year 2020 marks the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment and the culmination of the women’s suffrage movement.