Cherry Pie

Today was Cherry Pie day and boy was I less than thrilled as with my Clifbar experience. Of course it is my own preference to blame as you may already know that tart dried cherries do not sit well on my taste buds.
The bar itself looks similar to the Apple Pie, but much more of the cherry redness. I know there are many Cherry Pie lovers out there, but I can't count myself one. But to my credit, I tried this one for the sake of this review despite my aversion to dried cherries. I was happy this one ended...
But on a more positive note, look what finally came from Japan!My Jiji pencil case! Kiki's Delivery Service is one of my all time favorite animations. I always wanted to wear a comfy black dress like her and have a little animal friend (now I do, Bambi!). Now Jiji can carry my pens and pencils to class!

First Taste of Larabar

I tried my first Larabar today and I have to say I am converted. The Apple Pie flavor is soo indescribably good!
All the flavors of real apple pie are packed into a little bar of smooth, chewy goodness. It tastes so indulgent and I guess it is, but with wholesome raw nutrients only! It is made with only dates, almonds, unsweetened apples, walnuts, and cinnamon.
Last bites of Lara richness...
This has to be the best little food bar ever, no doubt.
I can't wait to try the others!

Whole Foods Shopping

Today after work I headed down to my Berkeley Whole Foods where I was awed by amazing looking food in the chef's case. Too bad I just ate lunch. :(
In particular: Sesame kale, Spinach & brown rice cakes, Roasted vegetables, Roasted brussels sprouts, and Roasted beets.
After a drawn out hour of much moseying and poseying up and down the isles, knocking boxes off shelves, and chatting with a cool grey-bearded hippie guy, I paid for my goods and trekked all the way home (because the unreliable 1 bus wouldn't come, as usual).
The goodies I brought home!Almond Dream, Smartbran, Original Puffins, Apple Butter, Sunflower Seed Bread, Cacao Crunch Bar, Figtastic Bar, Cinnamon Roll & Cashew Cookie Larabars, and a Chocolate Dream Organic Fiber Bar.

Sweet Potato

Today I tried a Clif Nectar in the Cherry Pomegranate flavor. I had a hunch that I wouldn't like this one because I don't really like tart flavors.Sure enough, this bar was pretty tart thanks to the unsweetened cherries. The texture was like dates mashed together with a smattering of the tart cherries and some nut bits. I'm sure some people would like this, but I'm not likely to buy this bar again.
On a yummier note, for lunch the other day I baked some Satsuma sweet potatoes, to me they're Korean sweet potatoes. Everyone in my family likes these and they're always available in Korean markets.
I had them with red cabbage shreds to balance the intense sweetness and creaminess. I think this is one of my favorite meals! Soo good.

Coconut Bar

This morning I tried the Tropical Mango Bar from Lydia's Organics. The label says to rehydrate the bar before eating, but I didn't know how so I visited their website and found out that I dip the bar into water and let it sit for a couple minutes. This worked perfectly to make a moist but slightly crunchy granola-like bar.
I slowly broke off small pieces and nibbled about half of the bar and decided it needed a little extra sweetness. So I spread a layer of blackberry jam on the second half of the bar. The jam helped a little with the sweetness and made the bar taste like a fruit and cereal bar.
Taste-wise, this all fruit bar was slightly sweet and very coconut-ty. If you like coconut, you will like this bar. Texture was very dry and hard before rehydrating, but moist and crunchy like a granola bar after soaking. While its not superb on its own, this bar would be good for crumbling over sliced strawberries and banana along with some soy milk. Three Stars? (out of 5)

World of Food Bars

I don't really know why, but last week I bought a whole bunch of different food bars, including Larabar, Clif Nectar, Go Raw, and Lydia's Organics. I think maybe I was getting bored with my natural whole foods diet and was hankering for something processed that comes in a package.I wanted the novelty of tearing open a wrapper to reveal something yummy. I'm going to try and review all of them in the next few weeks. I think I'm going to spread the tasting out a bit so I don't get sick of them eating them day after day.

Fellini

Last weekend Appa and M drove me back to Berkeley after a deliciously carefree winter break. After a leisurely drive up the Berkeley hills we headed over to Fellini for brunch. This was our first time here and we were pleasantly charmed by the entire experience. They even served fresh OJ squeezed by this machine near the front of the dining room:

Fellini is a restaurant for both vegans and non-vegans alike, so we were all happy (very rare!). I ordered the Fruit and Granola without the yogurt and our sweet waitress asked if I would like a mini pitcher of soy milk, and I said, "yes please!"


M got the Challah French Toast with pure maple syrup in what looked like a shot glass. When his french toast came out it looked so amazing I wished I'd ordered the vegan french toast. Maybe next time!


Appa's plate was not vegan at all, but I decided it only fair to include his meal here, too. Of course the two eggs, sausage links, potatoes, and four toast slices with blackberry jam were much more than he could eat, so M, with his growing boy appetite helped Appa polish most of it off. One thing though, the potatoes were orange inside! I asked Appa if they were sweet potatoes and he said no. Then what kind of potatoes were they?


Everything about Fellini was so cool, even the check was brought to our table in a glass tumbler!