Our Trip to the V-Market

A fellow vegan mom from my daughter's Girl Scout troop invited me to her Facebook group called Texas Vegans. And on my very first day in the group I saw this poster. Talk about lucky! I honestly would not have known about this event otherwise. And I've been waiting for something like this forever. (Now if only we could get a sci-fi convention going in Fort Worth...) So, the whole family rode over to Shipping & Receiving, and while I was jumping up and down with excitement my daughter and husband were moaning and groaning. They did NOT want to go, they did NOT want to leave the house. I mean, it's really hot outside. But, by the end of the trip both of their tunes had changed, and we all ended up having a really good time. Although, between you and me, we spent way too much. But the goodies were just too hard to resist! Let me show you...

Our first stop was the Wayne's Popcorn booth. 

We sampled all five flavors and decided on a large bag of the peanut butter-chocolate flavor. It's all natural too - I think he said the only ingredients are coconut oil and whatever the flavor is, in this case some peanut butter, and a little agave and cocoa powder. Nice! And look how friendly! I can't say no to a smile like that.

Next we visited the Cykochik booth. She makes custom vegan handbags, and they are GORGEOUS! But insanely expensive, so all we bought was a $2 button to show our support. But someday I'm gonna get me one of those bags, dangit! Maybe I'll save up and be ready for the next V-Market...

Cute photo-op provided by CykoChik.

Our next stop was the lone food truck standing out back, Down to Earth.

Check out this menu! All vegan!

We chose the Quinoa Bowl, the Grilled Veggie Hummus Wrap, and the Summer Salad. Of the three, the wrap was our favorite. Next time I want to try the tacos. I saw people walking around with them and they looked really good! The Quinoa Bowl was just "meh," but the Summer Salad was light and refreshing. That wrap, though. So good!

The grown-ups got special drinks from the bar. One was whiskey and almond milk and something sweet - maybe caramel? The other was a spiced cider drink that was really tasty.

This is my hubs, Jason, enjoying the cider.

Then, of course, we needed dessert! My daughter is gluten-free, and we got really lucky. A vegan bakery called Reverie Bakeshop was there and they had a bunch of gluten-free goodies!

We were starting to get tired of carrying all of our new loot around, so we marched over to the HASOM Bags booth and picked out a super-cute bag donned with peace signs for only $8. 

Then we hit up the SEED FOR THE BODY booth and I purchased a $10 jar of the most wonderful-smelling, decadent, skin-softening body butter with a eucalyptus-mint fragrance (from essential oils, not fakey perfumes). It is fabulous! And I have rubbed it on my chronically-dry hands every night since with excellent results.

Our next stop was the Trust Printshop table. They were silk-screening t-shirts on demand, in a design that they created specifically for the event. How cool! And they were only $10, no matter what size you got. There were a few other t-shirt dealers at the V-Market, and their shirts were beautiful, but they ranged from $25-$40. I ask you - who, in their right mind, would pay $40 for a friggin' t-shirt?! I know I sound like an old lady, but c'mon guys. It's a t-shirt. $10 is the right price for a t-shirt. Maybe $15 if it's fancy. That's all I'm willing to pay for a slab of cotton with a logo on it. Thank you, Trust Printshop for getting this right!

It was so cool to see the silk-screening process up close. I've always wondered how that works. This is my t-shirt on the slab in this photo. 

My daughter changed into her t-shirt right away, she was so excited to sport it.

Our last stop was The Goat's Revolt cheese table. The line was really long to sample all of the nut-based cheeses, but it was worth it. I ended up purchasing the sun-dried tomato and basil cashew cheese. It tastes great on rice crackers! (But, I'm gonna be honest, there's a lot of garlic in it and it makes me fart like a soldier, so I think my family would appreciate my choosing a less offensive flavor next time.)

The very popular Goat's Revolt cheese lady.

There were at least a dozen booths we didn't get to - lots of candles and indoor plants and delicious-looking jams and nut butters. I wish we could have tried (and bought) something from every table! But there's always next time.