Oakland & Berkeley - Yet Again

On Friday we hit up Oakland and Berkeley for food and fun! We tried some new things out this time around.

After hearing so many good things about Timeless Coffee Roasters we had to go grab a snack and a drink. I did not know everything was vegan, mainly because only some things said vegan and there was no menu. I did know what to get since viewing pictures people have posted around various sources.

We had to get the spicy hot chocolate with almond milk - it was national hot chocolate day and again after seeing it posted I wanted that! We shared that and a piece of carrot cake. I bought coffee and cherry pistachio biscotti to take home.Yummy all around!

Oakland Whole Foods had us searching for eczema cream (did not find) and vegan jelly doughnuts (which we found and were not to impressed with). I bought all of the hickory flavored Primal Strips for Matt's lunch because we hardly find that one here and it is his fave flavor. Oakland Whole Foods has got to be our fave Whole Foods location.

Off to Berkeley - which took us 30 minutes to get to, but we saw some cool houses and such. Why to Berkeley? Natures Express and GiGi of course! I got to have a kale and avocado wrap (which she ordered too) and a side of vegan chat. Our significant other chatted as well and oddly ordered the same meal!

We were in Oakland for a concert, the concert turned out to be not so great - house party and freezing cold. However, we had a great time! We will be back soon!

[Vegan MOFO Day 13] Trying Out New Products

When we went to Whole Foods last Saturday we got to sample some yummy vegan products! I was happy because when I go to Costco I rarely get to sample anything!  Actually everytime we have been to the Oakland Whole Foods in the day time they have vegan demos! Yes!!! 

 

I saw Genuto in VegNews magazine and when the demo was setting up I got really excited. We tried the Double Espresso flavor and the Simply Pistachio flavor. We both think the Double Espresso won the taste off! It had a nice coffee flavor balanced out with a chocolate richness that was nice and smooth. Both flavors had a nice texture and were really creamy.  I wanted to get back in line to try Chocolate Cardadmom...the line was to long - bummer! Right now you can find Genuto in N.CA stores but I am sure it will be expanding soon!

I am a fan of chocolate energy/snack/meal replacement bars. However, I find some taste chalky or powdery - yuck!  I liked Square Bar after sampling a bite - no chalky taste here. They are gluten free, contain stevia, are a sweet and satisfying chocolate fix without making you feel all groggy. I brought home a bar in the Cocoa Crunch flavor and it was a good after gym pick me up!

Yay for sampling some new products and buying some to take home! I wish more stores did vegan demos! There have been times when I bought something that looked good only to hate it! Sampling fixes that and saves money! I know Trader Joe's often demos vegan products - but they often mix vegan products with non vegan products to create the little sample dish - oh no! Little cups of coffee do not count!
The downside of samples are that people are slobs. Walk around a store that gives samples and you will see sampling cups, plates forks just tossed all over the place. Honestly find a trash can - throw it out!

[Vegan MOFO Day 11] Weekend Round Up: Busy In 2 Cities

OK, so 2 cities is a lie...it was more like 4 but whatever!

Friday night Matt and I just chilled at home, after shopping for a bit. Matt updated his PS3, I read and we went to bed early...but with our porch light being repaired, a meow-y Mar and the PS3 needing attention my sleep was not all that great.

Saturday we got up early - for a weekend, but decided to be lazy in bed. So our plans kept changing. We decided to go up to Oakland and grab a light lunch-snack since we were having an early dinner.

 

Once in Oakland we headed to Whole Foods, we grabbed vegan taquitos from the hot case and a Blue Print Juice. Normally I would not spend $8 on one bottle of juice but I was curious about all the hype. I picked out the lemon cayenne agave - since I like sweet and hot. It was not really sweet but it had a kick. Would I spend $8 on it again? Most likely not! I will just get some lemonade and add a pinch of cayenne! 

We scored vegan samples of some yummy food demos that day. Some rad products that I will blog about later this week! 

We tried to do some shopping and it did not really work out. So we headed to Berkeley along the ocean route to meet up with GiGi  from Veganville and her husband at Nature's Express for dinner. We were on a tight sceduale because we had to drive back to Emeryville for Matt's film night...

GiGi interviewed me for her blog - she will post it later for MOFO and made us sinfully rich cake in jars - well, that is what I called them! Yummy chocolate parfaits with light airy coconut cream...I was so happy meeting her and her husband! Super nice people who made my night right!

So we love Nature's Express. The food is awesome, the service is fast and I like everything I have tried! 

Stellar burrito - spicy, sweet and comforting!

I ate it with a side of chili.

Matt got busy with a chik-un melt and fries!

We headed back to Emeryville and watched movies, including Matt's...Hung out and then decided to head back over to Whole Foods to get some perishables before going home. We found Beyond Meat in the hot case - in the form of a green chile sauce base, so good, Matt and I wished we got more. We saw a few people go for it while we were packing our box up - it is popular and I hope to see it out on the market full force!

What is rad about WF Oakland is they have vegan pizza by the slice...When you are going close to closing and the slices are getting small - you might get lucky and get a free slice like we did! Score! We had food in the parking lot, went across the street to 7-11 and got coffee to take on the road and headed home.

Fun times! We will be back in the East Bay soon enough! We love it there!!!