Day 351 - New England Clam Chowder (fresh)

So hey, if you have not noticed, it is THE HOLIDAY SEASON.  To some, this means glowing lights, beautiful candles, and oodles of gifts.  To others, it can mean stress, sadness, and loneliness.

Wherever you fall in that spectrum, it is probably safe to say that sometimes during the holidays we ALL need to TAKE A BREAK from everything.  So the other day I did just that!  It was super nice weather so I set up an “Ugly Sweater Cookie Decorating Contest” outside our house!  I had bought a kit of ugly sweater cookies at Wal-Mart (hey, I would have bought it at TJ’s if they sold them!) and I supplemented that with more gels/frostings and sprinkles, then opened up my contest!  I “advertised” on my neighborhood Facebook page and a page dedicated to people giving things to one another instead of buying them (it’s a great concept). 

There was cookie decorating!  There were 2 varities of cider!  There were candy canes!
Sadly, there were not a lot of people.  :)

Sadly, this little event didn’t attract as many people as my Pumpkin Pannetone tasting did (read about that here).  Still though, David and I got to sit outside in the sunshine, drink my favorite TJ’s cider, and make ugly sweater cookies, which was fun.  And eventually 3 other people joined us and expressed their artistic side via cookies!  I then posted the photos online and the CLEAR winner was this one:

The winning UGLY SWEATER COOKIE!  Lots of frosting, gel, and BLING.

It was made my our little neighbor Nola, who is both very smart and a talented ballerina.  I guess ugly sweater cookie decorating is a skill maybe even she didn’t realize she had until this event!

Nola's mother Karin made this one.  Quite fancy!

My entry.  One voter said if this were a real sweater
she'd wear it!

This was made by a neighbor we didn't know
named Willy.   Cute, eh?

David's ugly sweater.  He put a lot of thought into his.

So my point here is (and I do have a point…) – make sure you TAKE A BREAK this holiday season.  Don’t shop so long that you drop.  Don’t listen to carols until your ears bleed.  And for heaven’s sake, if you need to exit the room for a moment or two of deep breaths when surrounded by loud talking relatives, DO IT!  (Note:  I am not in any way implying my relatives are loud talkers here, I’m just sayin’…  J )

And if you happen upon a table on a sidewalk with a lady holding a sign asking you to decorate a cookie, by all means take a seat and decorate why don’t ya???

Now, for today’s review.  I call this product FANCY ASS CLAM CHOWDER.  I was unaware that TJ’s sold anything other than CANNED clam chowder ( reviewed way back in month one of this blog here) until a reader commented on my review.  Then another reader commented about the kind in a plastic tub.  Then another reader.  Well, apparently 3 is the magic number that gets my attention, cuz after 3 people said the refrigerated tub version was better than the old fashioned can, I had to see for myself.

Here is what the fancy ass clam chowder looks like.  

Yup, those 3 people were right.  The Fancy Ass Clam Chowder beats the Regular Ol’ Clam Chowder hands down.  If you served a blindfolded people bites of each of these 2 chowders (you would have to feed them, cuz it would get messy letting blindfolded people eat soup by themselves…) – anyway I digress – if you did a blind taste test of these 2 chowders every single person would pick Fancy Ass.

This refrigerated version costs oodles more than the canned version ($4.49 compared to $1.49).  And the canned version has the advantage of being to just to thrown in the cupboard and stored until you get a hankering for chowder.

Ok, it isn't cheap.  But it's good!

The refrigerated tub was 2 servings for us and it was chock full of potatoes and clams.  All I did was heat it in the microwave so it was easy peasy.  It was really, really, really yummy; much better than the can.

David says, “I agree that it is better.  I am not a big fan of clam chowder but I certainly prefer this to the canned stuff.  The clams are tender and the soup is soupy but still has a creaminess without that sort of farinose.” (editor’s note:  I asked him what the heck “farinose” means and he said, “Gloppiness, kind of pastiness that comes from putting in too much flour or something”.  Well excuuuuuuse me!  Guess I learned a new word today.)

Mr. Dictionary himself eating some chowder.

I served this soup with edamame, radishes, and David dipped crackers in his chowder.  All in all it was a good and extremely simple meal.  We both agree that the expensive version is worth getting over the canned one.

We both gave this a 4.25 rating, so my math work for this review was super easy.  J

Price – $4.49

Rating – 4.25