Monday, May 12, 2008

Go Vegan Art Car

Saturday was the 21st annual Houston Art Car Parade, and this year there was a vegan-themed entry by Society of PEACE! We spent the last five weeks painting this car. I'll let the pictures speak mostly for themselves...
The view of the trunk, which says "Peace begins on your plate" and "We are not food, clothing, test subjects, or entertainment". Isn't the monkey cute with his little banana? And the mouse? And check out our vegan license plate!
A view of the front and top of the car. The car design was inspired by vegan artist Peter Max. We were so lucky to have an artist in our group to do the drawing, Michelle did an amazing job!
During the tailgate party, we took the opportunity to do some outreach and set up a vegan literature table.
A vegan close-up.... I love the strawberries!
And just so you know we didn't starve, here's some of our snacks.... chips, carrots, hummus, grapes, pasta salad ....
Tings, empanadas, and peanut butter cracker sandwiches.
Here we are driving in the parade! We heard so many positive comments, lots of "go vegan" shouts, and plenty of smiles, waves, and peace signs.
We handed out vegan postcards with fruit along the parade route. They went fast! Notice our Vegan fake tattoos (brought back from Seattle by by mom)? We also got shirts for the occasion with the art car design on front and our Society of PEACE logo on the back (view and purchase one here).
And more food, muffins! Almond quinoa and low fat banana muffins both from Vcon.
I promised you more cake, and here it is. This is my first fondant covered cake! I swirled green and blue fondant to match our Society of PEACE logo. We all returned to our place after the parade and got to enjoy this treat, as well as some air conditioning (no ac in the car and it was in the 90's!).
Inside shot! The cake was red velvet with a vanilla buttercream frosting. More about fondant in a later post...
John snapped this photo of me waving from the car during the parade. By the end of the day we all felt like we'd been in the vegan Miss America pageant!
Although our car didn't win any prizes (there's always next year...), we were happy knowing that we got out the "Go Vegan" message to over 200,000 Houstonians!

53 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness Amanda! That car is absolutely amazing! I have chills! For real! Awesome. Thanks for sharing all the photos. And Tings? Don't get me started, because I can eat a whole bag. And, great job on the cake! I am going to break my exclamation point key on my keyboard!!!!!!!!

My boyfriend is in Houston this week, and he has a printout of all the restaurant choices you sent me, hopefully he will be happily fed!

Anonymous said...

Amanda, this is the best! The car looks fabulous, and what a great outreach-mobile! Incred-eble!
Your cake...is it real? I mean, it just looks so perfect! How did you do the fondant? I hope you post about it soon...I need this knowledge...you are the master, I am but a grasshopper!

Tamara said...

WOW!!! That car is amazing! I totally want to do that to my car and drive around in it all the time spreading the vegan love.

And yes, the cake is absolutely fabulous! You are so talented.

:-)

Animal-Friendly said...

Great job on that car! Not only is it super cute (I love the cow on the side!), but it is wonderful that you were able to spread the word of veganism to so many people. I want a VEGAN license plate now!

All the food sounds great as well. I plan on making the almond quinoa muffins soon! And your cakes just keep getting more and more impressive. Fondant- wow! It always seems so tricky but you did such a fantastic job!

Bianca said...

Holy crap, that is beautiful!!!! I wish that was my car...except that I probably would be able to manuver such a long car without hitting something!

But wow, that is amazing!!!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

an art car parade??? too fun!!! love it!!! glad to see that you came prepared with delicious snacks, too ;0)

that cake! I'm speechless! those cake-decorating classes are really paying off, girl!

Anonymous said...

That is the coolest car I have ever seen! I wish I could've rented it when I graduated from High School!!

Theresa said...

What a great form of activism! The car (and all the food) is beautiful and colourful and just fantastic! Brava, vegan_noodle!!!

Anonymous said...

What a great way to get the word out!!! The car looks fantastic, and I loved the fact that you had the message about peace on the trunk (but that may be because we've been watching too many mob movies lately).

I'm looking forward to reading about your cake.

Jane of VeganBits.com

Leigh said...

Awesome!!! Well done.

Ruthie said...

Amanda ~

Oh my! I want to ride around in an Art Car for Veganism!!!

Ruthie

Anonymous said...

aw you won the miss vegan pageant! hehe seriously, the painting on the car is soo well done!

did you like the quinoa muffins?

your cake decorating is beautiful as always.

Vegan Girl (Roni Seabury) said...

I love the monkey best! And then I love that cake! How do you make your buttercream frosting? MMMM it looks good.

Anonymous said...

Incredibly creative--gorgeous! The fondant cake is beautiful, too--and that buttercream!!

Pink Theory said...

oh wow! what fun. The car is genius and it's great to hear that it was well received.

Amey said...

OH MY GOSH!
That looks so totally fun! Wow. How fun to have a nice group of fellow vegans. I LOVE the super cute car you all made...

And... I am eagerly awaiting more information on fondant. It's something I have been very curious about - asking around without finding many useful answers. I can't wait! That cake is stunning.

:) Amey

the little one said...

You, my dear, should receive some incredible award for Vegan of the Year! Your activism, baking, cooking, and ambassador work is truly inspiring. Keep up the good work Vegan Noodle!

The Voracious Vegan said...

Wooo hooo! You ARE totally inspiring! That smile on your face in the last photo speaks volumes. You, my dear, are awesome.

Can you send me a slice of cake? Please!

I love the car, it's gorgeous!

Sheree' said...

I love it! How fun! You all did an amazing job. By the way I love your cake. I can just taste it!

J said...

Wow! I love the car! It looks really beautiful, you have a bunch of talented artists in your group! Hopefully Houston got the message about how fun vegans are.

And talking about artists...your cake is perfect! I'm thinking there may be a vegan bakery in your future?

jessy said...

yay! this whole post has me smiling! thank you! :D the car is super stellar. i love it!

SallyT said...

I saw the car at the parade. It was great--good work!

Unknown said...

What a perfectly delicious lookin' cake!!

I love the artwork on the car, very rad. What a super fun idea and a great way to promote veganism!

aTxVegn said...

Did you love working with fondant? It sure makes a pretty cake.

The car is amazing and you look perfect waving from it!

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

@!%^#%~~$ that car is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. wow. WOW. I am speechless - I really hope you win!

On another note, i want that cake! its so beautiful! i like the colors and swirls... <3 marzapan

Jen said...

Oh, my gosh! That car is incredible—nice work!

Cakespy said...

I am so in love with that car. I LOVE the seal!!!!!!!!

And that red velvet cake looks amazing--you're getting so good at cake decorating! The fondant looks perfect!

Anonymous said...

Wish my car looked like that! So awesome.

MeloMeals said...

Wow! that is seriously awesome. I love that car.

Your cake looks GREAT too!

What fun.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Oh my GOODNESS—you helped paint that?! It’s beautiful! Wow—that is the most awesome limo EVER!!! If I saw that on the road, I think I would faint! And kudos to you for taking on the challenge of making a fondant-covered cake. Is it difficult to do? I haven’t gotten the courage to try it yet.
So what are they going to do with the car now that the parade’s over? (Please don’t say they’re going to paint over it!) I am in the market to buy a new car… ;o)

Anonymous said...

MOST EXCELLENT...I specialize in vegan cakes and love your fondant cake...Did you make the fondant from scratch - it's super cool!!!
Can't wait to see more!!!

affectioknit2 said...

The car is awesome! What fun!

Carrie™ said...

You & your friends should have won! That car is so colourful, happy & upbeat and is just so POSITIVE! I love it!
The cake you made looks fab. You could join the Ace of Cakes crew. :o)

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

That is INCREDIBLE! I love that it's on a limo; I've always wanted to do a cross country road trip in a limo. Can I borrow yours?! hehe.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Yes I put the brownies in the fridge after I drizzled the chocolate on top. But, as I learned from the last time I made these, it's best to leave them out on the counter for a couple minutes before cutting. Otherwise the layers kinda seperate. Still yummy, but ugly. :)

Haven't gotten any pics developed from the trip yet, but it was amazingly beautiful. Breathtaking.

I don't think someone who didn't like hotdogs would like the corndogs. The brand I got tasted EXACTLY like a "normal" one. (Yves) I liked them, and I'm kind of neutral on fake meaty things. Maybe you could use the batter to bread something else, like a chk'n strip or a cut up veggie burger. Or a pepper! Mmm

bazu said...

I love these pictures! You guys did such an awesome job on the car. And your cakes, as usual, are amazing.

jd said...

That car is super-cool!

You look like a vegan goddess! Thanks for sharing those awesome pics.

Oh, & your snacks look yummy, too!

PS You should lend that car out to all of your vegan blogger friends, we could all drive it around the country, spreading the word :) LOL!

Hungry Hungry Dancer said...

that car is beautiful!!!!! what a great way to spread the word about veganism!!!

on a different note your cake is BEAUTIFUL.. i would be sad to eat it since its so pretty! (although im sure it tasted delish!)

DJ said...

That car looks superb!! Plus I love your fondant-covered cake - I always look forward to seeing your latest decorating endevours!

Anonymous said...

You guys ROCKED!! This is so incredibly awesome, I barely have words. So very cool, that's all I can say - the car is gorgeous. I have a tear :)

Anonymous said...

...oh, and that cake, wow - bet it tasted as great as it looks...can't wait to read more about it, the fondant too, beautiful! :)

Unknown said...

A vegan limo! How cool! Please send cake!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Oh yes PLEASE send me the recipe! It sounds delicious—I love swiss chard (in fact, I had some today). Thanks so much for the offer!

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, that car is amazing - I can't even begin to imagine the work that went into that!

Isn't cake decorating fun? To be honest, I'm jealous of your fondant. That's something I just can't seem to get right... at least not to my standards! Yours looks really smooth.

Ruby Red said...

that car is just so happy-looking! i love it! and yay for you parading down the street. your cake is incredibly impressive, too.

i've had both of those v-con muffins, yum yum yum! the low-fat banana bread does make quite an awesome muffin.

and my final destination was texas - san antonio to be exact. i don't get over to houston all too often, but i am making a trip to austin tomorrow. i'm going to try to convince my family to take me to dhaba joy, the vegan coffee shop. and about my picky sister -- she doesn't know about my blog. she's one of those people who doesn't care about food too much. as long as her food has lots of trans-fat and grease, she'll eat it up. :) hahahaha. it doesn't have to be fresh or of high quality. she'd think foodie-ism is weird or obsessive. sigh.

Anonymous said...

I just came back to stare at that cake some more.

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Cool car Amanda and lovely artwork on it! The cake doesn't look too bad either (understatement of the year!) :)

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Cool car Amanda and lovely artwork on it! The cake doesn't look too bad either (understatement of the year!) :)

Anonymous said...

Awesome!!!!! I love the car. You guys did a fabulous job painting it. What a fun day.

Kiandra said...

that car rocks! you guys did an amazing job on the painting!

seems like such a wonderful day...how can you go wrong with vegan snacks like tings and that wonderful cake.

the cake is beautiful, the fondant looks great...i love the colors. i'd love to know the recipe you used for that cake.

Kiandra said...

that car rocks! you guys did an amazing job on the painting!

seems like such a wonderful day...how can you go wrong with vegan snacks like tings and that wonderful cake.

the cake is beautiful, the fondant looks great...i love the colors. i'd love to know the recipe you used for that cake.

Anonymous said...

W O W !! great post!