Last week I had a cherry tart from the market and it was delicious, so this past Saturday I bought…read moretwo more. Fortunately, I didn't break a tooth as my first tart had three cherry pits in it and the other one had one pit. So do not buy anything with cherries from the market. This is a shame as I like their jams and other products.

During my visit to Berkeley on a Saturday morning, I stopped by the Downtown Farmers Market. This…read moremarket also showcases on Tuesdays and Thursdays too, albeit at other locations in Berkeley. Walking through this out door market, the best booth, in my opinion, is found at the end. It is the Frog Hollow Farm Kitchen stand. I may be biased. But then, I am a big fan of baked goods. My pictures show the wide selection of products. Which one do you choose? We grabbed a few to go. Blueberry pocket pie, apple pocket pie and Hungarian shortbread. All these items were delicious. Blueberry pie had real fresh blueberries. There are several more items I wanted to try. But how much can you eat in one sitting? Oh well, luckily there is always a next time. Service was excellent.

Yasai is conveniently located close to Philz, Safeway, La Farine, Wisteria, and other dining…read morelocations. It's very organized and offers many options for fruits, vegetables, fresh noodles, Asian snacks, Asian sauces, drinks, and dried goods. While small, many options are available. When there was a shortage of Sriracha, Yasai was the one spot I could find large bottles of it. They offer fresh, in-season produce and keep it maintained well-- while I was there, one of the employees refreshed vegetables as they needed re-filling.

Yasai is a wonderful corner market that fills the gap for an Asian grocery store in the south…read moreBerkeley area. I come here regularly to stock up on Japanese snacks, green tea, kimchi, napa cabbage, and mushrooms that I can't find at Safeway or Trader Joes. Thank you Yasai for your reliability and community feel!

In recent years, I've jumped on the granola bandwagon. Sure I've eaten my fair share of peanut…read morebutter/choco dipped chewy granola bars as a kid, but granola has evolved since those days, and for the better! Always on the hunt for good granola, I recently found Tom's Best-Ever. One word: dee-lish! Tom has spent the past 15+ years making granola for family and friends as a hobby. Apparently it was such a hit, people encouraged him to sell it to the public. Years later and *voila*, I'm enjoying Tom's Best from my home! It's different from other granolas (in my opinion), because in addition to the oats, it has loads of yummy dried fruit and nuts like peaches, raisins, cherries, pepitas, pecans, almonds, just to name a few! The taste is definitely homemade as well vs. mass produced. He uses honey, molasses and maple syrup to flavor/sweeten the oats/granola. The result, a rich, dark and naturally sweetened granola. You can tell that a lot of time and effort was put into everything from the product to the packaging. I especially enjoy mine on ice cream, and yogurt, but it's a great snack on it's own as well! I've got mine, now go say "hi" to Tom and get yours! You can find him at Berkeley's Monterey Market, Kensington's Farmers' Market (and Marin FM's) or you can pick some up at Star Groceries, Sam's Log Cabin in Albany or The Artisan Kitchen in Richmond. P.S. Some interesting info: 1) The super cute art work on the label was drawn up by one of Tom's daughters (can you say talented!) 2) The bags are compostable (an added bonus!) 3) He uses all the organic products he can get his hands on (in case you were wondering, and I knew you were - this is SF/Berkeley after all) P.P.S. Store it in your fridge to keep longer. Though mine never lasts past a couple of days. =)

Tom sells homemade granola, not sure if the dried fruits are homemade or not…read more locale: kensington farmers market sampling: Tom" Best Ever Granola" 1/2 # (6.50) -contained homemade oats, pecans, sunflower seeds, almonds, pepitas, 3 kinds raisins, peaches, apricots, cherries, honey, molases, canola oil & maple syrup -ate as snack. granola never made it to a cereal bowl. foodnotes: -samples freely given -pricey cuz it's loaded with dried fruit. -fruits tasted slightly better than the granola.

Grand Opening is a dream!…read more 1. I've followed Melissa and Grand Opening for a while now and finally made it out to a bake sale. I got there before opening and as expected, there was already a line. There's an option to pre-order as well if you want to avoid the waiting. 2. I ordered a bunch of different items but my favorites were the peanut + apricot twice baked croissant (their regular croissants weren't ready yet so opted for this and it blew me away), passionfruit macadamia cookie (the textures are so good - it's got crunch and chew), black sesame apricot cheese tart (each layer is perfection), and blackberry yuzu sponge cake (best sponge cake texture I've ever tried, seriously). 3. How is everything so good!? The textures and flavors are incredible and are definitely created by someone with a lot of experience, knowledge, and creativity. And everything also has the right amount of sweetness. I love Melissa's brain!! 4. I am absolutely coming back for another bake sale and am also dreaming of ordering a whole cake. 5. FYI they also share the space with Studio Estepan who also has bakes sales!

Been a big fan of Melissa for years now! Always admired her creativity…read more Most recent favorite was the blackberry jasmine sponge slice and the strawberry mochi almond wife cookie. Perfect amount of sweetness and the sponge cake texture just brings me back to childhood birthdays. Just got the strawberry coffee crunch cake for fiancé's birthday and he loved it. She also has bake sales every Saturday! Go grab yourself a sweet treat!

I enjoyed the semi monthly tour of the factory in Oakland:…read more *Bubbly tour guide *Generous tastings of all their goods *A short informative video *Unlimited Q&A *Viewing of the making of my favorite Hodo product, YUBA!!! Super cool stuff, I hope their factory is not moving to NYC, there was a mention in the video, what they don't want to stay in West Oak?!??! Yeah it's a little scary out there. Drive your beater.

If anyone remembers literally the worlds best veggie burger, wildwood...well....these hodo veggie…read moreburgers are AT Least as good...if not better....plus, you can buy these and wildwood burgers went the way of the acquisition.

The chocolate is divine. It's high quality and each piece has rich flavors that taste fresh. Some…read morepeople might balk at $3 for a truffle but it tastes like it's worth $3. The taste is luxurious. They change up the flavors every few months. I tend to not like chocolate that is too dark but here it isn't too strong. My favorites: Champagne-pretty heart shape and tastes very champagney Banana Fosters- Colorful and very flavorful Peanut Butter and Jelly-essential for peanut butter lovers Lavendar-it's like aromatherapy for your mouth The truffles remind me of Christopher Elbow in the city for quality but in a must less fancy setting and more obscure location. I wish they were open longer the store is closed Sunday-Tuesday and open Wed-Sat from 12pm-6pm.

Always good to support your local chocolate shop over the mass produced candy bars and chocolate…read moreyou can get at the grocery store. They have unique flavors and there's a sense of giving yourself a treat after a long days work. I'm a mango and coffee fan so that's what I tried in these chocolates. They wrapped it up nicely even though I ate it straight away! My coworker did the same for her spicy chocolates. Cool Berkeley shop!

Decent almond milk. I guess you're paying for it being at the farmer's market because there's…read moredefinitely cheaper almond milk out there. That said, this almond cold brew is very watery. It's different than other almond milks because it really does taste like water with some cold brew added to it. 4 stars for the novelty and for supporting a local business, but I know the high price point and the taste will keep most away. I can honestly say that this is a one and done for me. This is like rich people heath water.

I came here first time at this booth because of the rare TooGoodToGo app led me here. So I waited…read morepatiently and went on line to read up on the company history. Today they had a nice special buy one and get one 50% off. That a great deal if you like Almond Milk. For me I really haven't tried Almond Milk before, so I am not sure if I would take a chance to buy more on sale. So I waiting and when my pick up time came, I approached the two ladies there. They explained to me how the TooGoodToGo app works and what it includes. So I decided on two small pint bottles the Chocolate and the Honey Vanilla. I jus tried both of them and they are both good. I liked the chocolate more because it felt it had more substance. Both are filtered water and natural organic ingredients. I wouldn't mind visiting back here and buy from them in person. It's a tasty product.

I don't really like toffee, unless its heavenly taste toffee! Made with love and So deliciousread more

I like to enjoy some good toffee when I come across it, like Heavenly Taste! I have been enjoying…read morethis toffee for years and I am so happy to see it in Whole Foods now. My favorite flavors are the pumpkin pie toffee and the coconut macadamia nut. OMG, if you have not tried these, please do! I also love their backstory and how it's a recipe and family business run by a mother and then passed on to her son. I mean, how many young men do you know who are making confections? Very cool!