Day 181 - Cruciferous Crunch Collection

When I first saw this bag of veggies at Trader Joe’s, I thought, “Hmm, I am surprised they did not go the cutesy route and spell that name with letter “K”s,”.  Then I thought about it again…  3 words.  Ohhh no – best to stick with the correct spelling for the alliteration in this one…  

  

This is quite a CRUNCHY COLLECTION man.

Anyway, this mix has kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, green cabbage, and red cabbage.  The bag lists these as possible cooking methods:  “This blend is delicious steamed, sautéed, roasted, creamed with some cheesy sauce, raw, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera,”.  I chose the sautéed route and cooked them with olive oil in our wok.

I was tempted to add some lemon juice, garlic, or soy sauce, but I decided that since this was our first time trying this mix, I should cook it “au naturel” so we would see exactly what it tastes like.

I liked it.  It was, as the name suggests, crunchy.  The Brussels sprouts were cut very thin to allow them to cook in the same amount of time as the other things in the blend.  I didn’t taste much broccoli.  The main taste (to me) was green cabbage.  It did taste “healthy” – in a good way. 

Here is what it looks like on a plate

I liked this better than David did.  We served it with steak (to be reviewed soon) and a baked potato (also to be reviewed) but I noticed that at the end of our (admittedly rushed) dinner the thing left on his plate was Cruciferous Crunch Collection.  He normally eats every bite of everything on his plate, so that is not a good sign.  Oh my, I just asked him what number HE would give that veggie mix and he said, “A 2.  In fact, a 1.5.  I didn’t eat it…”.  OH my!  He normally likes eveeeeerything.

Ok, so if I get this one again it’ll have to be for a meal that he is not sharing. 

P.S. – I just used the power of Google to see if any other folks were having this stuff for dinner.  It turns out that eating it raw as a salad is something loads of people dig…  Ok.  Now I think I will try it THAT way next time and see how it goes.  I shall post a comment on this entry when I do. 

Speaking of comments – post yours here and let me know what you think of this stuff.

Price - $2.29

Rating (my rating, you saw David’s dismal one above…) - 3

Day 180 - Smooth & Mellow Blend (Whole Bean Coffee)

Continuing the ever elusive search for the perfect coffee…

I believe this is the NINTH review for coffee in this blog.  I am trying HARD to find the very best one!!! 

I recently picked up a very fancy (non Trader Joe’s) tin of coffee (yes, TIN…  Even fancier than a CAN, no???)  It was the night before my birthday and I thought I deserved something uber delightful, so I tossed some Lavazza Caffe Espresso (see, even the NAME is fancy!!) coffee in the cart.

That stuff is BITTER as all get out!!!!  Man sakes alive it is bitter… So I have been “cutting it” with Trader Joe’s coffee and making a blend.  Well, we ran out of TJ’s so last night got a can of Smooth and Mellow Blend (whole bean).  It has a funny drawing on the front – two hipsters sitting in hip chairs, one wearing hip glasses.  The lady says, “I feel so relaxed” and the dude says, “…and yet so alert”.  So I am guessing Trader Joe’s is implying that drinking this coffee will make me 3 things:  relaxed, alert, and hip.  Fingers crossed!  J

See the hipsters sipping java??

I thought it was a great coffee to buy considering the circumstances, especially when I mentioned to David that we needed coffee to mix with the Lavazza Coffee and he replied, “Yes, to smooth it out!”.  Did he say SMOOTH?  Why, SMOOTH is in the NAME of this coffee, it has to be the perfect one, no???

The can claims “The acidity is light, the flavor is well rounded and fully developed.  Never bitter…”.  I would agree.  It was not bitter.  Not acidic.  But I guess I would add that it was a tiny bit dull…  Well, I mean, if I were the copy writer for Trader Joe’s marketing I would not ad that, of course, but here in this blog I feel free to tell you that this coffee didn’t knock my socks off.  Since I was reviewing it I brewed it alone (not as a blend with the Lavazza coffee) and it was okay but not magnificent.   

Here's MY hipster drinking a cup of Smooth and Mellow Blend

And do you know what?  I drank a whole cup of it and I do not feel the least bit more hip.  Damn.  I am not sure it worked.  Sigh.

Medium roast, medium price, medium taste

So overall, this is ok for a basic coffee but nothing special to write home about.

Price – $6.49

Rating – 3.5

Day 179 - Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

Let me start by saying this is one big ass tub of chocolate covered espresso beans.  I mean, it seems like too many espresso beans!  At 14 oz, it sort of seems like the sort of tub that should be holding JELLY BEANS as opposed to espresso beans.  Let’s just say, if you are assigned to bring in a cool snack for the break room at work, these would be good to share.

Here is what the big ass tub looks like!  :)

That being said, they are good beans!  The espresso beans themselves have a bit of a burnt, bitter, strong coffee taste, enrobed by a yummy dark chocolate.  It really is a terrific and simple combination. 

David says, “There is more chocolate than you might expect, and that is a good thing.  The balance of bean to chocolate means that instead of just eating them to stay awake or study for a test, you could easily consider popping them like M and M s in an afternoon.”

Cheap for so many beans!!

This big ol’ tub is not priced at the usual high price tag that you find most chocolate covered espresso beans.  No, you get this whole tub for only $4.49.  When I look at the actual beans, I think maybe these are like, the BULK chocolate covered espresso beans, and that is why they come at a cheaper price.  They are, much like humans, varied shapes and sizes.  There are the teeny tiny ones, the larger ones, and there are some conjoined beans.  They are not all pristine and homogenous.  But hey, that’s how I like stuff!! 

See - they are not perfectly shaped - but then again, neither am I...  

I wish these came in a smaller container.  I mean, it might take us two years to get through this many chocolate covered espresso beans!  Trader Joe’s DOES sell a smaller container of chocolate covered espresso beans – a very sweet little metal tin of them.  I bought that too (the things I don’t do for this blog!) and will open it and taste those soon to compare them.  From the looks of the beans through the little window on the tin, it appears that THOSE are the “Nordstrom” of chocolate covered espresso beans and the ones in this plastic tub are, say, the “Kohl’s”.  Know what I mean?? 

Price – $4.49

Rating – 4.25

Day 178 - Spaghetti

I guess, in the grand scheme of things, pasta is pasta.  I mean, if we are talking about just a bag (or box) of dried pasta that you are gonna throw in a pot of boiling water, drain, then throw sauce over.  Oh sure, you might find some FANCIER fresh pastas, but in the dried pasta department all the brands seem pretty much the same to me.  (Maybe it is because I have a cold today and am a little bit cranky…)

Anyway, we recently served this Trader Joe’s Spaghetti at a dinner with guests.  It was fine.  It is spaghetti.  It was no better or worse than the other brands of dried pasta that we cook.  (I will say that the sauce, homemade pesto made with basil from our garden, was tasty J ).

Product of Italy, so it can't be a bad pasta, right?  :)

Here are the reviews of some of the guests who ate it (not all guests wrote reviews, I assume their take is like mine, pasta is pretty much pasta):

-          3 - “Pasta noodles could be a bit larger and less stail (I believe this means stale) but overall pretty good”(written by a kid whose parents probably usually serve fatter pasta J )

-          4 - “A basic spaghetti that goes with everything” (also written by a cute kid)

So if you want to eat pasta and you are at TJ’s, just pick up some of theirs.  It will do just fine.  My rating if I did it on my own would be a 3, but I will average that with the 2 guests who rated it to come out with a final number. 

Front porch dinner party (one of the reviewers took this photo of the adults)

P.S. – sorry this review is not that great…  I promise more inspired ones to come.  I just do not feel well.  L

Price - .99

Rating – 3.25

Day 177 - French Baguette (bread)

I like baguettes.  We lived in Paris for a while, and there is NOTHING like a Parisian baguette.  I used to pick one up at the bakery and I NEVER got a whole baguette home – always had to break off some bits and chomp them on the walk back.

But GOOD baguettes are hard to find in America.  And reasonably priced ones are difficult to come by, too.  Baguettes are not BIG but they are expensive. 

French Baquette in a bag!

David and I have some Guests staying with us (I capitalize the word Guest because it is a proper noun, their last name is GUEST!  So technically we have some Guest guests!).  Last night we made dinner for them and all ate out on our front porch.  One thing we served was baguette with butter (of course the tastiest butter, which got a glorious review on day 49 of this blog) and cheese (cheddar (not from TJ’s), brie (reviewed previously I think), and Creamy Toscano) (to be reviewed soon). 

This review will focus on the BAGUETTE.  Unlike Parisian baguettes, which normally come in paper sleeves with the tops sticking out, making them so tempting to pick at, this one came in a plastic bag.  I have had baguettes from other American stores in plastic bags that taste like they have been in said bags for weeks. 

But this one was pretty good!  It was not the world’s BEST baguette, but it was not the world’s worst, either.  It was easy to cut into pretty little slices.  It was not too hard, and not too soft.  The crust did not threaten to chip your teeth when you bit into it.  Overall, I will say PRETTY GOOD BAGUETTE.  And at a very good (for a baguette anyway) price - $1.59.  Some American stores charge an arm and a leg for them!

Day 2 of the bagquette - this time served with brie and olives. 

We gave everyone a piece of paper and the chance to review a few items, this bread being one of them.  I will include those reviews here:

-          4 – “It is very tasty and soft in the middle but the crust is too hard.”  (Andrew, I think age10)

-          4.1 – “Dry, but good with butter or cheese.” (Lucas, I think age 12)

-          5 – “Love it.”  (Bella, I think age 8)

-          3.75 “I didn’t notice it that much.  I didn’t have any at the evening dinner (he ate some the next day as a sandwich).  I would say it seems okay, not fabulous.  It doesn’t get as hard as a regular baguette.”  (David, age 62 J )

If I gave it a review number myself, it would be 3.5.  But since this was a team one, I will average all the numbers above to come up with the final score.

Price - $1.59

Rating - 4

Day 176 - Mushroom Mochi

Followers of this blog will know that a couple of months ago we hosted what we called a Trader Joe’s Dinner Party.  Everything we served was from TJ’s, and we had forms for the guests to fill out and rate each product.  Those scores were then averaged and used in the blog. 

 

TJ's dinner party ingredients - the Mushroom Mochi are on the far left of the photo near the kumatos and cheese...

Well, one problem was that we had purchased SO MANY items to use for the party (each review sheet had 26 products listed) that we FORGOT to cook and serve one!  Yes, the Mushroom Mochi stayed in the freezer until the middle of the dinner, when one guest saw it listed on the review sheet and said something like, “Can you pass the Mushroom Mochi?” to which I had to reply, “Ummmm….”, because I could NOT pass them, they were still frozen.

Oops - forgot to take the box out of the freezer...

And they remained frozen until last night.  We got home late from a rehearsal, I was exhausted, plus I have a bad cold.  So we needed something EASY and quick.  We ended up busting out the mochi and serving it with rice, fresh green beans, and peas. 

Here they are on a plate!

The box calls the little mochi “potsticker dumplings”.  I do not think that is a great description though, because they do not taste like any potstickers I have ever had.  There are 3 cooking instructions – microwave, steam, or stove top.  I did the stove top method and it was very easy and took a total of around 8 minutes. 

Cooking - heat in a pan (sprayed with Pam), then add water, cover, and steam

One word the box uses to describe these is “toothsome”.  Wow, that’s an adjective you do not see often!  In fact, let’s look it up.  Here is what dictionary.com has to say: 

1.        pleasing to the taste; palatable:   a toothsome dish.

2.        pleasing or desirable, as fame or power.    

3.       voluptuous; sexually alluring:   a toothsome blonde.

I am going to go with definition number one – pleasing to the taste.  These were pleasing to the taste! They were ODD, that’s for sure.  The first bite you definitely notice the TEXTURE more than the taste.  The mochi part is very gooey, but gooey in a good way.  It is hard to explain.  And the mushroom filling is really tasty. 

The box also tells us that in Japan they make mochi dumplings to celebrate New Year and guarantee good health in the upcoming year.  I will have to ask my friend Yanomi if this is true.  In any event, I think I will add these to our New Years Eve celebration traditions, right along with eating 12 green grapes in one minute at the stroke of midnight!

So even though we did not EAT the Mushroom Mochi at the dinner party, one clever guest still reviewed it.  Here is what she had to say:

-          “Probably would have been awesome but unfortunately we never got that chance.”

I say – get these.  Try them out.  My only other experience with mochi that I remember has been on top of frozen yogurt and I love it, but that is COLD.  This is a totally different taste and sensation eating it warm.

Quite cheap for such a taste experiment - go for it!

P.S.  – I dare you to try and casually throw the word “toothsome” into a conversation sometime this week!

Price - $2.99 (for 12 pieces)

Rating – 4.5

Day 175 - Floral Bouquets

There are some things in life you cannot understand until you experience them.  One of those things is laying flowers on your mother’s grave.

My mom died in 2002.  She is buried in Omaha, NE (where I grew up).  Every time I go to Omaha I try and go to the cemetery and bring flowers.  But visiting your mother in a cemetery is hard enough, getting flowers should not be.  But every visit before this one it was. 

If you go to a florist, they are crazy expensive.  If you go to a grocery store, they are often ugly (and also pricey, especially if you go to the grocery store near the cemetery who, I am sure, knows many grieving family members come in to get flowers for graves, so they can pretty much charge what they want since they are the only local place to pick some up…).

But this time I went to Trader Joe’s at One Pacific Place.  The floral selection, as it is in every TJ’s, was beautiful.  The prices, again consistent among TJ’s stores, were outstanding.  It was easy to pick a bouquet – but aren't they all pretty??

Flowers in Omaha TJ's - see the Lauritzen Gardens painting?

Our home TJ's in Falls Church, VA - look at all of the pretty bouquets

Can you believe they are only $5.99 a bunch for this many flowers???  

 But when you are not a local, you do not have all of the “supplies” on hand to make bringing flowers to a grave easy.  For example, we were in a borrowed car, but we didn’t have SCISSORS to trim the stems or a cup to put some water in to keep the flowers fresh in the heat until we got to the cemetery.  

When we checked out, I asked the cashier if there were scissors I could borrow at customer service.  He told me to go back to the demonstration area and the lady working there could cut them for me.  (We had already met her, twice, when we tasted her delicious samples of cheese and a salad of some sort.)  So we headed back to the demo booth to ask her to cut the flowers for us.

These are the ones we chose - gorgeous

And she was SO NICE.  She didn’t even know the sadness behind the flowers (at least I do not think I blurted out “These are for my dead mother!” as I have done in the past…).  She just smiled, asked how long we would like the stems, asked if we wanted water (which I hadn’t even thought to ASK for) and took them in the back room.  A minute later out she came with the cut flowers (the right length) and some water in the flower bag that was just perfect! 

We went up to the Customer Service Desk to make sure the manager (I hope he was a manager) knew what a great employee he had.  He told us her name and I am embarrassed to say I have forgotten it so I cannot give her the proper shout out that she deserves here.  But let me just say THANK YOU, you made my visit to my mother’s grave beautiful.  My great niece helped me put the “yellow flowers” (roses) in the vase and when we were done they looked gorgeous.  We are sure Mom would have loved them.

Tallis and I putting the flowers in

So whether you are buying flowers to take to a dinner party, for a grave, or to treat YOURSELF, get them at Trader Joe’s.  They are fresh, they are very reasonably priced, and they are beautiful.

See - perfect bouquet

Price – varies by bouquet but this lovely one was only $5.99

Rating – 5 (5 for the beauty and quality of the flowers and 5 for the terrific customer service, too)

Day 174 - Kono Sauvignon Blanc

OK, this is an odd review.  Because this was an ODD SITUATION!

We went to Omaha, NE for a quick 4 day visit.  I grew up there and all of my family still lives there.  There were lots of events happening over the weekend – my twin nephews’ birthdays (happy birthday Trevor and Jordan!), getting to meet my just born great niece, Father’s Day, and a dinner at a Mexican restaurant to celebrate my birthday, which was a week ago.  So it worked out great to go at this particular time.

I, of couuurse, planned to pop by Trader Joe’s while there since I had not visited that location since I began this blog.  Omaha was the 12^th Trader Joe’s in the 7^th state (well, one is a District) that I have checked out this year!  My family was planning a weenie roast and s’mores making evening on our last night in town, so I picked up some supplies for that – graham crackers (to be reviewed soon), Triple Ginger Snaps (aye carumba I just checked and those haven’t been reviewed yet???  That sure surprises me!!!  They will be soon.) which I thought would go well with the roasted marshmallows, beer brewed in Nebraska, and wine.  I had asked my nephew and his partner if they would help me write a review and they said it sounded fun and would do it, so I thought using those products we could do a tasting during the s’mores night and write something up.

Omaha Nebraska Trader Joe's (at 1 Pacific Place) - very nice store

Boy was I wrong…

It turns out it was not an intimate family night around a campfire – it was a SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY for me with around 40 people.  And there was not a campfire to be found!  It was sure fun and a big surprise.  And it turned out I showed up at my own party with a Trader Joe’s bag full of groceries!! 

Some of the friends and family waiting to SURPRISE me with a big sign!

But my sisters had planned all the food out, and I was having too much fun seeing people I hadn’t seen in years and chatting to think about a review, so we didn’t get to tasting until after the guests had gone.  Then we sat down and had some of this wine (and a Nebraska beer which will be reviewed later).  Contributing to the review is me, my partner David, and my sister Sherry.  I invited my other sister Annette to contribute, too, but she didn’t feel qualified J. 

My sisters and I - me, Annette, and Sherry - at the party

So here is what we thought:

This Kono Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand) is very citrus tasting.  Sherry identified the citrus as GRAPEFRUIT.  The label mentions gooseberries and passion fruit, but we will just call it CITRUS, ok?  The signage in the store says it serves up “lemon-lime and green apple flavor”, so heck, maybe it is a mix of a whole bunch of fruit flavors.  I think it needs to be well chilled to be enjoyed.  David described it as crisp, light, and mentioned that “it has flavor”.  Umm, doesn’t all wine have flavor?  I do believe this particular comment was a bit vague…

Kono Sauvignon Blanc (Omaha Trader Joe's signage)

I realized after a few sips that it would pair well with Triple Ginger Snaps, so I busted them out and I was right!  It seems sort of an odd pairing in that the wine tastes distinctly SUMMERY and the cookies have a bit of a WINTER taste, but together they complement one another.

The label tells us it is a New Zealand wine – Maori.  It seems to me that those Kiwis often make a nice wine.

So, it could have been the post party glow, but we all enjoyed this wine.  Each of us rated it a 4, so it was easy to average the ratings out.  I did the math, no calculator required.  J

Price - $8.99

Rating – 4

(Rating of the surprise birthday party – a solid 5)

Day 173 - Sweet and Spicy Pecans

The first note you get when you pop one of these pecans in your mouth is SWEET.  So you think, “Spicy?  The label says SPICY.  These things are not spi… Hey…  Wait a gosh darn second…”.  Cuz, see, that is when the SPICY hits ya!  And the spicy is what stays with ya!

I like these better than David does.  He would prefer more SWEET less lingering SPICY I think.  They are not my ultimate Trader Joe’s nut favorite, and I can’t eat more than a handful (of nuts…), but they are pretty good. 

Looks like lots of people were buying these the day we were there!

The package mentions putting them on a salad.  That is something I really should try.  I never think about putting NUTS on salads, even though I make and eat a lot of salads.  When I buy a salad at TJ’s or order one in a restaurant that includes nuts, I am usually quite happy.  So why I never remember to put them on homemade salads is beyond me.  Anyway, I shall try that with a few of these and see how it goes.

I think these would be good to put out in a pretty little bowl if you were throwing a cocktail party.  Especially if you had a lot of beer you wanted to get rid of, cuz peoples’ mouths would be hot from the spicy nuts and they would be slamming back brewskies. 

These pecans look GIGANTIC in this photo.  It is because this is a little Barbie sized bowl :) .

I think these are a bit overpriced for the amount you get (5 oz).

Price – $3.99

Rating – 3

Day 172 - Popcorn with Herbs and Spices

Sometimes I fear Trader Joe’s is trying too hard with popcorn blends – they have the Chicago Style (aka Caramel and Cheddar) Mix (glowing 5 star review on day 100), plain caramel popcorn (sucky review on day 162), Partially Popped Popcorn (another favorite of mine that you can find reviewed on day 74), and there is a popcorn with olive oil that I haven’t reviewed yet.  OH!  There is also a bizarre BACON popcorn that we bought, ate, and I forgot to review.  (Ewww, now I have to buy it again and eat more, don’t I?)

The seriously colored dark green bag hints at the serious flavor to be found inside

Anyway, I fear they are taking the popcorn thing too far.  But I shouldn’t have been scared to buy this one.  Popcorn with Herbs and Spices is actually pretty good.  The tagline on the bag is “A Savory Popcorn for Your Snack Cravings!”.  I just have to say that my only cravings are cheese and/or olives, so this snack doesn’t fit the craving bill for me personally.  But it does fit the “tasty treat” bill.

Close up - see the little herb and spice specks?

The spices listed are dill, celery seed, and onion.  Those do “savory” this popcorn up!  It is good with red wine and I am guessing would also compliment a beer well.  I don’t think it is the kind of snack where I would open up a bag and just snarf my way through the whole thing in one sitting, but that is not a bad thing (portion control), is it??

Look for it in the snack section

If you want a snack that isn’t sweet and has more than just salt, give this a try.

Price – $1.99

Rating – 4

Day 171 - Scallion Pancakes (Pa jeon)

These are some tasty little pancakes!  They are not “pancakes” in the I-Hop sense of the word – they are savory.  Wikipedia tells me that Pa jeon is a Korean green onion (scallion) pancake.  Strangely, the packaging from the Trader Joe’s product does not give me that information. Normally the packaging is good about giving a bit of background of what you are about to eat.  Maybe it is assumed that pa jeon are familiar to most households, but they were not to mine.

Here is the bag - find in the frozen food section

We cooked them using the sauté method on the package – just put a bit of vegetable oil in a skillet, heat to medium heat, and cook pancakes about 3 – 4 minutes, turning half way and pressing with the spatula to make them gold and crispy.  The package has 4 pancakes total and we ate them in two sittings – one a piece each time.  We liked the sauté method so well the first time that we didn’t bother trying the “conventional oven method” listed the second time, we kept with sautéing.

Because of the chunky pancake-ness of the appearance, they reminded us of latke (a potato pancake popular in Jewish households).  And because we thought of them as latke, each time we made them we inadvertently brought latke topping (sour cream) to the table with us, which was never used.  J  The pancakes are perfectly good with no added toppings or dipping. 

Dinner is served!  Pa Jeon and veggies

Verdict – filling, fast, and tasty dinner.  Added a vegetable and starch and you are good to go.  They are chock full of yummy stuff – leek, carrots, mushroom, scallion…   Plus you get the crispy bits, yum!! 

Price – $3.99 (I THINK, I am sorry, this price needs to be verified…)

Rating – 4

Day 170 - Crispy Rice Milk Chocolate

Yes, please!  I have had a long, hard day working and I need some CHOCOLATE!!!!  These 40 g bars (1.4 oz) always do the trick.  I like them because they are NICE CHOCOLATE, nice as in, like, the bars that are normally BIG and crazy expensive.  Only, they are not BIG, and they are not EXPENSIVE!  See – nice!!

If you are gonna eat a candy bar, make it this one

You can often find these near the check-out stand at Trader Joe’s (can we say “impulse buy”??).  if you have never been tempted enough to throw some in your cart, do it next time.  The crunchy rice bits are really good, but the chocolate is the star of the show.  They are in a way like Nestles Crunch bars, only the chocolate in these is much, much better.  I guess these are to Nestles Crunch like a fresh pineapple is to a tin can of Dole pineapple chunks – same basic premise but one is much preferred J.

Here is David enjoying a Crispy Rice Chocolate Bar :)

And do you want to hear more good news about these?  They come in a little pack of THREE bars!  So you can open one, enjoy it, and not worry about:  a.  eating too much, or b.  leaving a big candy bar open and it getting stale!

"IMPORTED FROM BELGIUM" - ooh-la-la!

They are cheap, too.  At $1.79 per pack, that works out to .60 cents per candy bar.  WORTH IT.

Price - $1.79 (for 3)

Rating – 4.5

Day 169 - Chicken Balti Pies

Chicken WHAT?

That was our first response, and maybe yours too, to see the name of this frozen product.  Being a resident of the Washington DC area, what I thought of was BALTI-MORE, however, it turns that is not what these are named after J.  The box tells us that BALTI is a traditional curry.  Because it is a CURRY, I mistakenly thought INDIAN.  But if you read the fine (pretty font) print on the side of the box you will learn that this was actually inspired by the “savory pies of the United Kingdom”.

Frozen food section - don't they look yummy?  Looks are not deceiving in this case!

Whew, glad I didn’t read that BEFORE we bought these!  Not sure I would have put them in our cart!  David lived in London for a long time and when we go back and visit I am amazed that a region can have such blaaaaaaaaand food. 

Not these Chicken Balti Pies, ain’t nuttin’ bland about ‘em!  They are really good! 

First off, they are not like Chicken POT Pies.  They are much thicker and sturdier than a chicken pot pie.  They do not need a little tin to hold them – they are hefty enough to stand on their own.  The crust is really nice!  Inside is curry, carrots, gold potatoes, and chicken.  We were afraid they might be very dry inside but they are not, the curry was just right.  Yum! 

We heated both up (mostly via the microwave because we didn’t even start prepping dinner until after 11 pm and we were not patient enough to wait an hour for the oven method).  The nutrition facts on the box say 1 pie per person, but I only ate half of mine (and the baby bok choy we served with it (reviewed on day 38 of this blog). 

All descriptions on this sign are correct.  These are, as the sign says, a delight!

These are a new product at Trader Joe’s and I hope they continue to carry them.  Get some and try them!  And if you want to learn more about BALTI, here is a link (though Wikipedia is hesitant about the validity of some of the info):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balti_(food)

Price - $5.99 (so 3 bucks per pie)

Rating – 4.25

Day 168 - Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries

I do not like chocolate covered cherries.  I hate the goo that is inside of them.  They always taste FAKE to me, and the goo/gish is not something I am interested in.  David, however, likes them, and we found this package of them in a special CHERRY BLOSSOM display at the U St (Washington DC) Trader Joe’s during cherry blossom season, so we HAD to buy them.  J

Isn't this a PRETTY display??  See the cherry blossom branches?  Great job U St TJ's

I wasn’t going to eat them.  I figured it was unfair for a chocolate covered cherry hater to review them, so I would just ask David to be my guest reviewer for this one.  Then I caved and tried one.  And you know?  THEY ARE GOOD!

They are more about the dark chocolate than they are the cherry.  And the CHERRY in question is a REAL cherry, none of that candied, fake red, gushy crap.  In fact, the label says this product contains no artificial colors or flavors and has no preservatives. How many chocolate covered “cherries” can you say THAT about??

And PERFECT art work on the signage, too

The dark chocolate is definitely what you taste most with these treats, but the dried cherry center is a nice compliment.  They are quite “rich” so are not a snack you would sit down and eat the whole container of (which is a good thing, right?). 

Thanks, Trader Joe’s, for helping me stop being scared of chocolate covered cherries! 

Price – $4.99

Rating - 4