Tag Archives: east bay

Guide to East Bay: Pepple’s Donut Farm

i love a good donut. i love apple fritters, sprinkles, old fashioned and glaze oh my. i love soft dough and extra sweet frosting. i will never turn down a chance to try a donut so when b and i decided to head up to oakland on saturday i knew i had to try the famous pepple’s donut farm.
pepple’s is located in emeryville which is just above oakland and fairly close to the bay bridge. a big draw to pepple’s is their donuts are vegan along with their entire brunch + lunch menu.
b was of course skeptical by this but is always a good sport and agreed to try since i had been wanting to check out pepple’s donut farm for some time now.

we walked into a run down / hipster looking cafe. it wasn’t too busy so we grabbed a table and decided to savor the moment. b and i decided to try blueberry, apple fritter and salted carmel. can i just say all three were above average donuts? like a good couple notches above average? of the three, the apple fritter was actually my favorite. i had never had dough that tasted that moist and delicious. do note their donuts on the cart (which included glaze, apple fritters, bear claws, etc.) are only sold on the weekend so i suggest stopping by pepple’s then so you can try it all.

we went with some friends and one of our friends got a cinnamon sugar donut. he said it tasted just like cinnamon toast crunch. yummmm. our other friend is gluten free so opted for the granola with hemp milk. guys it was my first time trying hemp milk and i completely loved it. i think i am going to sub it in for almond milk if i can find it as easily. it had a great taste. i also hear it is very good for your skin + hair.

overall it was a great donut filled saturday morning with good friends. oh and one more tip, the donut prices will go up in march because minnimum wage is being raised so check out pepple’s donut farm before then! it is already a little pricier than your average donut shop (we are talking about $2/donut) so act fast and try it out.

how was your weekend?

planning a getaway to the east bay? check out my other top eateries and things to do in the area here!

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Guide to East Bay: Golden Gate Fields

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on saturday, b and i decided to venture up north to spend the day exploring berkley and attend the golden gate fields horse races. b and i had never been to any sort of horse race before so we were quite excited and intrigued to see how we would fare.

golden gate fields is located fairly close to the downtown area of berkley. it is right on the water with some gorgeous views of the bay. the first race began at 1:45pm and we arrived just in time to catch a glimpse of the horses and make our bets. my strategy was based purely on the name and attractiveness of the horse. with names like majestic moment and over achiever why wouldn’t you pick them?
let me tell you a secret… never base it on those two attributes alone.. you will not win. sadly.

b decided to focus on probabilities and how rambunctious the horse was. if the horse was going against their trainers’ orders he knew it would be a good pick. this strategy helped him win three races in a row. i couldn’t believe it.
one time his horse was clearly in third place but at the last second snuck ahead of the other two competitors and took the title by a nose. a nose! my horse’s nose!

can you believe that? we did come out on top with no help of me of course.

it was a lovely afternoon and a great learning experience. i would love to go again with a big group and dress in our southern best. b on the other hand has vowed we can never go again because he needs to keep his perfect score. we will see…

golden gate fields is expansive and not that many people were there for it being the second racing weekend of the season. but not to worry that only meant better seats for us.
sadly, i did not see extravagant hats. guess that means we need to head to kentucky for the real horse racing experience! b is sure to keep his winning streak there.

admission is $5/person with $5 for parking.
or you can go on a sunday and pay $1/person with $1/parking. sounds like a pretty great deal to me!

linked to: local adventurer

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Blaze

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b loves pizza. like if calories weren’t an issue eat it 3 times a week love it. along with french fries.
i am a fan as well but i prefer homemade styled pizzas with fresh and diverse toppings. something a little edgier than your typical pepperoni pizza.

one of the problems with pizza is it always seems to take a little longer to cook. sure you can pick up a slice at costco for a couple dollars with relatively no wait time, but most other pizzerias (including chains like domino’s or papa johns) seem to take 15+ minutes. which is usually okay but when i am hungry, i get HANGRY. and b wants me fed as soon as possible.

we were driving back from an afternoon in oakland and i was getting HANGRY. b decided we needed to get off the freeway and find something quick! side note.. i am a picky eater so that combined with HANGRY is no bueno. we ended up exiting the freeway in fremont where we stumbled upon blaze fast fire’d pizza.
hearing “fast” in the name and it not looking like fast food instantly drew us in.

blaze fast fire’d pizza is a chipotle style assemble line but with pizza. you can either customize your pizza completely or pick from their menu and add additional toppings at no charge! b and i decided to try their bbq chicken pizza and art lover. both were created by the staff right in front of our eyes and fire’d up in their wood burning oven as we paid. the pizza was ready to eat 5 min later.

i loved everything about each pizza. their crust is perfectly thin and flavorful. the cheeses were creamy and fresh. sauce to cheese ratio was ideal. all vegetables were crisp and ripened.

and guess what the best part is? blaze fire’d up pizza has locations all across the united states. so whether you live in florida, new york, ohio, california or kentucky there may be a blaze near you!

what are your favorite pizza toppings?

linked to: Treat Yo Self

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