Monday, July 30, 2012

Like a Kid in a Whole Foods Store

{Aisle upon aisle of organic packaged food. You get the oxymoron in that statement, right??}

Did you know that the Whole Foods in downtown Austin is the city's biggest tourist attraction? I know right, seems wrong to me too, but that's what the lady in "Candy Island" told me. Whether it's a lie or not doesn't really concern me, because I brought my camera and took pictures of everything to share with you. I'm pretty sure there's a segment of the Austin population that assumes I'd never seen a grocery store before. I swear, you've never seen one like this.
{Oodles and oodles of fresh, local, organic herbs}
{The produce section was vast and gorgeous}
{I saw these and had to have them! They reminded me of the cane sugar
sticks you get in your fruity cocktail on vacation. I've yet to use them.}
{And here, we have the spice aisle. Or as I like to call it "Spice Isle," for no good reason other than I think it sounds cool. They literally have giant jars of any spice you can imagine.}
{I know it looks like poo...I mean, I know it...but it's actually chocolate peanut butter.
Freshly ground!! Yeah, not so gross now, huh?}
{Okay, yeah, it still looks like poop.}
{Also part of Spice Isle, oodles of flavored cane sugars. The vanilla bean spoke volumes
to me, but unfortunately, I didn't think travelling with a pound of a powdery
white substance was the smartest thing I could do.}
{The bakery had an amazing selection of pastries. I'm still regretting not trying one of these white chocolate brioche rolls.}
{Candy Island is just one of many pods like this in the flagship Whole Foods. They also had a version for the seafood, meat, wine, and pasta sections where you could actually sit down and order food.}
{I've got a thing for vanilla. What can I say?}
{Fourth of July themed chocolate-covered apples}
{Gorgeous marbled chocolate bark.}
{Pretty marzipan fruit. So much prettier than it actually tastes.}
{Marshmallow cups that look like cupcakes!!! I can't even.}
{I mean, don't even get me started on the cookie bar. It was EVERYTHING!}
{Longhorn cookies}
{I mentioned earlier the different pods where you could actually sit down and eat. Well, Kyle and I stopped for lunch at the seafood pod. We had this amazing calamari appetizer...}
{...and I had these fantastic tilapia tacos. Possibly the best I've ever had. If they don't have what you want--not likely--you can pick something form the seafood case and they'll prepare it for you. The best part? Everything was around $10! I would eat here every day if I lived in Austin.}
{And then we got a Root Beer Float. Why? Because why not?!}
{Following our adventure around Whole Foods, we checked into our room at the W.
The room was the perfect combination of Austin eclecticism and W style.}
{Heavenly bed. Truly heavenly.}
{The W stocks Bliss toiletries for guests. I probably swiped 3 days worth of refills
to take home with me. FYI, we stayed one night.}
{Eventually my root beer float sugar high started to wear off, so I sought refuge in the vanilla jelly beans I found at Whole Foods. They're almost TOO cool for the W.}

Anyone else been to this Whole Foods? How great is it?? How many hours did you spend there? And what did you eat??

10 comments:

Annalilly said...

Make your own vanilla bean sugar! We keep vanilla beans in my baking sugar all the time. The flavor is subtle, but it smells amazing when you open the canister.

Jenna | The Eighty Twenty said...

I've never been happier that you are a blogger. Only a blogger would photograph the entirety of a Whole Foods - a whole foods I may never see in person, but can pretty much attest to it's greatness now. CANDY ISLAND

Unknown said...

Love the decorated apples! I'm hungry just by looking at the amazing pictures

Lauren
Fashionswirls.blogspot.com

Erin @ Currently Coveting said...

Wow that cookie bar looked out of this WORLDDDDDDD!

xx,
Erin

P.S. lets for realz pick a day this week to do lunch and pics. I can do any day but Wednesday :)

Gayla said...

Mmmmmm...my mouth is LITERALLY watering right now! Makes me want to hop in the car and drive three hours to Austin just to eat at Whole Foods, even though we have two in Houston. This is one of my all time favorite Cupcakes OMG posts. The photos are gorgeous, and all the food looks incredible. P.S. I will NEVER think of chocolate peanut butter without comparing it to poo. Thanks for that...

Katie said...

Foodgasm.

I'm moving to Austin at the end of September and I think I'm MOST excited to be near this little slice of heaven. I will go broke eating those tacos and washing them down with everything from the cookie bar.

Excuse me while I go wipe up the drool.

highfashion4less said...

i need some of that choc peanut butter in my life!

Sarah said...

I'll take one of everything from the cookie bar. Oh my gee food heaven

Anonymous said...

I felt the same way going into Fresh Market last week! I was like a kid in a paleo candy store!! They had my coconut flour, almond flour, enjoy life choc chips! It was amazing!!

Bow Tied Beauty said...

Wow that's just an awesome place to go shopping, wish we had that in England! x

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