Bay Area adventures, part II

I already shared most of the photos I salvaged (see the last post to hear about my phone fiasco), but I'll try to share details and reviews of what we ate and did during our trip to Berkeley. Thanks to the lack of photo documentation, I can't *quite* remember exactly when we did everything, but I do remember the names and locations of where we ate, as well as the food and how it tasted! And most of it was pretty great (not sure if "hella" is a more appropriate descriptor here, given that it's CA? Does anyone say that anymore?)

Pie a la mode from Saturn Cafe (a year ago)

For lunch on Sunday, Dan and I went to Saturn Cafe in Berkeley. Saturn Cafe is a vegetarian cafe with plenty of vegan options and desserts. Dan had been here last year when he was in Berkeley, which is why we have a photo of the pie. I ordered the vegan breakfast burrito, and Dan had a slice of peach pie, which was vegan. Dan's pie came out looking a little flat, which the server said was uncharacteristic, and to make up for it, he gave us free soy ice cream! The pie above looks much better, so imagine that all their pies actually look like that. Despite the flat appearance, it was a tasty slice. My breakfast burrito was awesome, with potatoes and tofu and soyrizo and plenty of good seasoning. It came with a tofu spread, which was my favorite part, and salsa and guacamole. This is more of a breakfast/lunch/dessert place; I didn't see anything I would really want to eat for dinner, but everything we had was great.

We then walked down the street to pick something up from Cinnaholic, which I had looked up and drooled over before traveling. Cinnaholic has all-vegan gourmet cinnamon buns, and they look and taste excellent. We ordered the irish cream blackberry almond bun, which had amazing flavors. This is the first cinnamon bun I've liked better than my homemade vegan buns, though it was much more rich and probably more fatty (which is fine with me!) We saved it for later, but I ended eating it a few hours before dinner, which was a mistake...

For dinner, Dan was working, but I went with a friend to check out a vegetarian Thai place in Oakland, called Golden Lotus. This place was so-so -- I wasn't a fan of the spring rolls, but the Thai iced tea with soy milk was good. I also ordered a soup, but I felt way too full for some reason (probably due to the cinnamon bun) and could only eat a few bites! For me, this place was a struggle, but as long as you avoid the spring rolls, you could probably find something tasty here.

I feel like I've posted too many words, and too few visuals, so I might have to do our last 3 days all in one post at a later time. I do have some photos of my face covered in barbecue sauce and holding some awesome Google juice--thanks to friends who take photos and put them on Facebook instead of losing their phones! So, stay tuned for more, soon...