Amancay Winery Reserve Torrontes La Rioja (2014)

This is an Argentinian white wine that David chose when we were on a Trader Joe’s wine binge (well, maybe not a binge, but stocking up before we escaped to Florida, which, while great to visit, does not have a Trader Joe’s anywhere near where we stay). 

We drank this Torrontes La Rioja chilled and paired it with LEFTOVERS J.  Cuz nuttin’ pairs better with leftovers than a cold Torrontes, right?

Very reasonably priced wine from Argentina

And speaking of cold, did you know that the United States is the only country that has refused to switch to metric??  When I was in school I remember that they tried to teach us about the metric system for a couple of years before they gave up - you know, these are centimeters, this is a meter, and hey, how about if we measure temperature in CELSIUS instead of Fahrenheit??  I mention this because this bottle of wine says it should be served at “10 degrees Celsius”.  Then, for the morons in America, they have to save space on the label to let us know that in our slow-to-adapt-something-that-everyone-else-uses, that means 50 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Other than the recommended serving temperature, this label also says that this wine is “An intense white wine, showing mandarin, rose petal, and tropical fruit flavors, along with a crisp, juicy finish that will leave you enchanted.”  Damn – enchanted??  That’s a pretty high bar you are settin’ for yourselves there, Amancay Winery! 

This wine has a fun to say name!

Let me spend just a second more on the LABEL – it looks a bit like a junior high school student drew it…  Maybe it is supposed to be a dock, a boardwalk perhaps, with some fencing around it and a mountain…  The mountain seems to have a bit of DEPTH to it, making me think that they spent extra money to get a fancy LABEL, but they didn’t spend extra money on the ARTIST…  I am gonna guess they held a contest in the local junior high school and the winner got his/her artwork on a bottle of wine. 

See how the mountains have a bit of RELIEF??  Extra money for that, I am sure!

Now – the WINE.  David says he chose it because we hadn’t had it before and it has a name that is fun to pronounce.  “I think this thing is doing all of the things that it wants to do, and doing them well, but they are not things that I really ENJOY.  I think this wine has a little bit too much PAINT THINNER notes to it for my taste…  It out-chardonnays chardonnay in terms of that strong flavor…  I like a LIGHTER white wine.  But if you like to drink turpentine, then  this is your wine!  I will say, it does pair well with leftovers…  I suggest serving it with leftovers (as opposed to wasting a good meal on it)…  I give it a 2.5.  I think it does what it wants to do, it is just not what I like.”

Here is my take:  one time we went to a winery in St. Augustine, Florida* (DO NOT LAUGH, we realize that in and of itself is a ridiculous concept…  Winery + Florida does not = a good experience…)  Anyway, we WENT TO A WINERY IN FLORIDA.  While there, we drank a wine that tasted, I kid you not, like CAT PEE.  It was incredible!!!  It had a cat pee SCENT and a cat pee TASTE!  Not that we had partaken of a glass of cat pee prior to that evening, but we all agreed that the wine being poured was CAT PEE FLAVORED!

David and my sister slamming back some cat pee flavored wine in Florida - ahhh those were the days...

This bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s (Amancay Winery Reserve Torrontes La Rioja) also tastes a bit like cat pee!!!  Not as much as the super pee-flavored one we had at the Florida winery, but this has more than a hint of “cat pee” in it. 

All in all, this is not as horrible as the FLORIDA CAT PEE wine, but it is still not being added to our “Hey, pick up a bottle of that next time you are at Trader Joe’s!” list.   We DID finish this bottle.  Heck, we have only thrown away 2 bottles of opened, unfinished wine ever (one being “Scary Clown Wine” reviewed here:  Scary Clown Wine

I agree with David on the score – I will give it a 2.5, too.  But maybe someone who reads this will like it better than we did.  J

While in St. Augustine, Florida we popped by the Fountain of Youth, but it was closed.
However, that didn't stop us from letting the magical powers of the fountain from erasing all of our wrinkles!

Price – $6.99

Rating – 2.5

*If you want to taste the cat pee wine, I can’t remember which one it was that we tasted, but you can go on the tour of St. Sebastian Winery and taste it for yourself!  The tour was sweet and it was very fun tasting their wines, even if one of them WAS cat pee flavored.  Here is their website:  San Sebastian Winery

Ghost Pepper Potato Chips (Lattice Cut Kettle Cooked)

The Ghost Pepper Potato Chip package says:

“If spicy flavors bring you joy,

More than any game or toy,

Then try these chips with loads of heat

find crunch that simply can’t be beat. 

We’ve used a chili called the ghost,

providing heat which we can boast

Is hotter ‘n jalapeno or habanero. 

And so we issue you a dare-o

To grab a bag and take a bite

Of chips packed full of ghostly fright.”

I mean - GET OUT…  Any product that has a great poem on the bag is off to a good start, no???  We tried this at the Fairfax, Virginia Trader Joe’s when they were sampling them and can I just say:  TRADER JOE’S FOR THE WIN!

After sampling, David is obviously happy to be snagging a bag of these chips!

This is an excellent new product.  I was a bit nervous about tasting them because the sample lady warned us that “These are the hottest peppers eveeeer.  They are hotter than JALAPENOS!”.  In my opinion, they are not super spicy.  I mean, they have a kick to them, they are hot, but they are not TOO spicy.  Normally when I eat spicy things I do not want to pair them with anything else because the spicy flavor “ruins” the taste of what you are pairing it with.  But for these chips we paired them with Trader Joe’s Onion Dip (to be reviewed at a later time) and the two worked really well together. 

These chips are GREAT to eat on their own and super to eat with a dip!  I have never eaten “lattice cut chips” (that I can recall) but they are a good invention!  They make grabbing and holding onto dip easy – you don’t get any of that “dip slide off” that you sometimes get with other chips.  These chips also do not bust when you plunge them in the dip, no chip bits plop off and mess up your dip.

These chips really "grip your dip" (that's a good thing)

Here is what David thought of this product: “I agree with a lot of what Susan said.  The taste is good.  These fill a niche for people who would like more taste with their potato chips – they are very nice!  The taste is light enough to not be overpowering, like some kinds of BBQ powder poured on chips.  They really go lovely with TJ’s Onion Dip.  The lattice cut thing is good, too.  They are great for dipping – they don’t SNAP OFF like regular potato chips."

Reasonably priced - not only do you get CHIPS, you get a POEM!

David continued, "The only thing is – I got ONE that was a “pile-on” of about 6 chips melded together.  That is a minor inconvenience, because they are so tasty, but it would be nice if their processing of making these allowed them all to dry separately so they were individual in the bag.  I would give these a 4.75.”

Susan here again with one more thing – these DO make your fingers a tiny bit dirty.  You might imagine they would make them RED (since they are “ghost pepper” and all) but they are not red.  And they do not coat you with a thick goo on your fingers like if you indulge in Cheetos.  Plus, the goo comes off if you LICK YOUR FINGERS.  J

David usually doesn’t like kettle chips, and he LIKES these!  So Trader Joe’s, I hope you don’t stop making these.  Don’t say these are just a summer product, ok?  These will taste yummy in the middle of winter, too.

Bonus photo - READ THE SIGNS David...

I agree with David – these chips are a 4.75.  GET SOME!

Price – $2.29 (well worth the price)

Rating – 4.75

COOKIE WHITE HOUSE UPDATE!

Update on our COOKIE WHITE HOUSE kit from Trader Joe's.

It.  Was.  Fabulous!

Tada!  Our completed cookie White House!  On the right is Lil Barack (he didn't come with the kit, he is my finger puppet).  On the left is the little Michelle Obama garden!  Isn't it swell??

We had some friends staying with us so they helped with the creation.

Getting ready to build

Making the cookie White House

And, if I can boast a bit, IT TURNED OUT FANTASTIC!!  Isn't it adorable??

And of course, if the ACTUAL White House is in the backyard of your COOKIE WHITE HOUSE, you have to carefully bring your version to the life size version for a photo opp...  Cuz, well, why not??

It is hard to distinguish the REAL White House from the COOKIE WHITE HOUSE, no?
Check out the security guard in the background...  They kept their eyes on us, but liked our lil White House!

The security guards all loved it.  I am not saying they UNDERSTOOD it, but they all loved it.  And the people visiting from other countries really dug it, though they were very confused about the "why" of it...  And really, how does one explain that??

No David, no!  Don't eat it YET!!

2 other people I know also made cookie White Houses!  Here is one from Facebook friend Kate (made with her darling kids I am guessing :) )

The Meehan family cookie White House - impressive, no???  

And here is one from my big sister in Omaha who adores the first ladies!

My sister's cookie White House.  She also has a lil Barack!  Plus even MORE added on politicians!  My favorite is, of course, the Eleanor Roosevelt...  At least I THINK that who has her arm around Abe...  Very fancy!

All in all, cookie White Houses rock.  Our TJ's only had a few and they seemed a bit hidden, but check out this huge display of them we saw at another local Trader Joe's!

Get 'em while they've got 'em!

The next time they have them (or cookie Taj Mahals, or cookie Sears Towers...) GET ONE!  They are fun.

This product, OF COURSE, keeps the 5 star rating. Here is the original review of the kit (before we built it):  Cookie White House Kit

Mango Coconut Flavored Caramel Corn

It looks like a good idea for a snack food, no??

We ate this Mango Coconut Flavored Caramel Corn while on a road trip.  We were on I-95 somewhere in Southern Virginia when I busted the bag out.  I had picked it up at TJ’s during a MANGO RUN one day when I was throwing a plethora of mango items into our cart.   I should have paid more attention to the quiet conversation between two TJ’s employees that I overheard that day…  One, pointing to a bag of this snack, said, “Have you tried this yet??” with a sort of glazed look on his face.  The other employee replied, “Ummm, yeah, I did…  It’s not great…  But it might be, like, a good PICNIC food or something…”.

WHY didn’t I heed the warning signs and take it out of my cart then?

Look - David thought it would be an IMPROVEMENT on your everyday, run of the mill caramel corn...

Here is what David, who was driving while taste testing this, said, “This is NOT an improvement on caramel corn.  In fact, it is a DE-provement.  It is like somebody squeezed a coconut and dripped the coconut pee all over your good caramel corn.  I didn’t even remember that there was supposed to be mango associated with it, but I can only presume that mango is what gives it that sort of “too-flavorful-like-somebody-has-rubbed-an-air-freshener-dangling-from-their-rear-view-mirror” onto the popcorn after the coconut pee has been on it.  I am gonna give this a 2.5, and hope that god rewards me in heaven for my charity.”

He wasn't as happy with it here, in the car, after he had actually TASTED it

Side note:  DAVID LOVES ROAD TRIP SNACKS.  He would eat snacks the entire 14 hour drive in the car if he could.  In fact, he has eaten so many “natural” (white cheddar) Cheetos on a road trip once that he got sick.  All of this is to say, David will basically eat ANYTHING on a road trip (except an Arby’s sandwich, he draws the line at Arby’s “meat”…).  Yet, I still had to practically force him to eat bites 3 and 4 of this popcorn so that he would have tasted enough to form a considered opinion for this review. 

As for me, I regret buying this.  At the time, it seemed like a good idea.  But even when I pulled this out of the bag of road trip snacks to open it, I was hesitant.  After we tasted the first bite I understood why I was nervous to try it. 

Misleading (but clever) signage.  I wouldn't say there was a "party" in this bag of popcorn.  I would say there was an
AIR FRESHENER in this bag of popcorn.

First off, when you open the bag, it SMELLS BAD.  It doesn’t smell like FOOD.  David hit the nail on the head when he called it an “air freshener”.  That’s what it smells like!  And the mango tastes fakey to me.  I don’t imagine it is – I mean, most stuff at TJ’s is pretty darn healthy, but it tastes fake in this product.

The coconut tastes like suntan lotion – ewww.  We love caramel corn!  So honestly, this product could have been a big winner!  Like, an improvement on caramel corn!  If they nailed the flavoring on this one I think we would have really liked it.  But I would rather have naked caramel corn any day of the week than this.

We adore Trader Joe’s Caramel and Cheddar Mix (formerly known as Chicago Style) – reviewed here.  You should buy THAT instead of this yucky seasonal caramel corn.  As for the Mango Coconut Flavored Caramel Corn, they need to nix the mango and coconut flavorings and just make it plain ol’ caramel corn – that would be yummy. 

We don't like to return stuff, but we just had to bring this bag back.
 Not to worry though, we filled our cart with our yummy stuff at Trader Joe's!

David says that even though he remembers eating so many Cheetos before on a road trip that he threw up, he prefers to eat the last 1/3 of the bag of Cheetos that remain in the car and risk getting sick again instead of eating more of this caramel corn.  (David also ate at least 8 store bought chocolate chip cookies on this road trip…  We are all about the healthy, apparently!!)

I am surprised at David’s high rating of this.  I can’t give it any higher than a 2.  I recommend you do not buy this one.   David (in a rather hesitant voice) says, “It is CRUNCHY, and this IS some caramel in there…  So if you are desperate, it’ll do….”

BONUS ROAD TRIP PHOTO!!!  No drive down I-95 would be complete without a stop at SOUTH OF THE BORDER!!!!  And I have a new photo series called "Dhavid's Dhoti" - where he wears his dhoti (men's attire from Southern India) in fun and interesting locations!  So here is Dhavid at South of the Border!!  Classy, no??

Dhavid's Dhoti at SOB

Price – $2.99

Rating (average of 2 raters) – 2.25