Fabulous Eats & Shopping

I’ve been having plenty of fun the last two days celebrating on my extended birthday weekend and it’s not over yet, one more day of fun tomorrow before heading back to the grind. I’ll be ready after so many days of rich eating and playing! Yesterday my mom and sisters took me to Mother Sacramento for a birthday brunch. Mother is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant and the brunch menu is a little weak on vegan options, but still satisfying. I got kombucha to try which was great, the tofu veggie scramble, and roasted potatoes.

And whew, it was a filling brunch! The texture on the scramble was nice, not dried or over charred and plenty of veggies mixed it. And the potatoes were very decadent if a little greasy.

I woke up to a surprise display of gifts from hubby this morning, so amazingly sweet!

Among the gifts was the TSM 5-liter Fermentation Crock Pot with starter packets and The Art of Fermentation.

I’m very excited to read up on it and start making my own fermented foods again!

Then we headed into Berkeley today to explore, try new eats, and do a little shopping. I adore Berkeley, the people watching and browsing is great! Used book stores with cats, lots of health food stores, and pretty tree-lined streets.

We stopped at Herbivore for lunch and I was blown away by the menu!

So many choices that I had a hard time narrowing it down, we must go back soon! Vegan lasagna, nachos, curry dishes, wraps, ramen soup … a little bit of everything! We started with green juice and the hummus plate which was awesome.

I got the Silver Noodle salad and hubby got the Shawarma wrap which was very hearty and filling.

The prices were awesome for so much quality food, each of our plates were under $10.

After exploring the area on foot visiting shops for awhile, we made it to Republic of V, a new all-vegan shop that I’ve been wanting to get to for awhile.

And I shopped loading a basket with new foods items to try from Earth Balance snacks, soy curls, chocolate, and Organic Soybean Spaghetti.

The spaghetti almost sounds too good to be true, 23 grams of protein per serving and low carb – I had to grab that to try. I also grabbed some cute Herbivore t-shirts.

It’s been an amazing birthday so far, so grateful for wonderful family and friends!