Maria Jola Sangria (Red AND White)

This is an unusual review, in that I am going to actually review TWO products in ONE review.  But I feel I must put them together, to save you the sadness that befell us.  Therefore, this review will cover:

RED Sangria

and

WHITE Sangria

Consider this a Public Service Announcement…  In my mind, SUMMER SANGRIA SEASON IS NOT OVER YET.  I refuse to believe that autumn is right around the corner.  So read these reviews, then rush to TJ’s and stock up on (red only) sangria.

BUY THIS BOTTLE!!
(Well, not THIS bottle, we already drank this one, but a bottle that looks just like this one!)

Let me say this right off the bat – we loved the red Maria Jola sangria (which I shall review first!).  We loved it so much, that after we drank it, the next time we were at Trader Joe’s and saw the WHITE version, we thought, “Hey!  The red was soooo tasty, the WHITE kind has to be delicious too, right?”.  Oh man, were we suckers.

First review – RED Maria Jola Sangria

We lugged a bottle of red sangria with us from Virginia down to Florida (land of “no Trader Joe’s near where we stay…”).  One lovely Florida day we swam in the ocean, rehearsed David’s show on the back patio (which makes a great “stage”), then I capped off the day by making a pitcher of SANGRIA!  I put the bottle of red sangria in a pitcher and added fresh orange slices, fresh blueberries, fresh strawberries, and a little bit of Meyers lemon from our very own fruit cocktail tree (whose name is Trixie!).*  I refrigerated the whole shebang for a while to let it chill.  My opinion is that the longer the fruit is in the sangria the better the whole thing gets (though our opinions might have been skewed by the increasing amount of sangria we put into our systems as the night wore on…).

Us on the BEACH!  (This was pre-sangria, we were not day drinkin'...)

And speaking of the fruit, it tastes super delicious to munch on after it has stewed a while!  When you pour this make sure everyone gets fruit in their cups!  It is like a healthy (??) little serving of fruit with your drink.    

Anyway, this red sangria is really good, especially if it is very cold.  It is a great summer time drink. 

Trixie the Fruit Cocktail Tree loaded down with Meyer Lemons

It may LOOK like a lime but it is a Meyer Lemon

David’s take on it: “I agree with what Susan said completely.  This is much better than I expected.  I have had a lot of sangrias that just take like not very good wine with fruit thrown in them, but this is (maybe because of how Susan prepared it!) very, very nice and fruity.  It is the way I think a NICE sangria you might get somewhere in Spain or Europe somewhere would taste, or at a nice restaurant.  It tastes very summery – the strawberries and lemons taste fantastic, too!   I like that it isn’t too strong – it lets you drink more of it!!  (Editor’s note:  the label says the alcohol content is 7%.)  I give this red sangria a 4.25.”

Susan:  I agree with that score – a 4.25.  It is not too sweet, it is not chemically tasting…  It tastes a bit PUNCHY (and, we both agree, if you drink enough of it, YOU GET A BIT PUNCHY!).

Price – $6.99

Rating – 4.25

* If you do not a fruit cocktail tree to pick your own Meyer Lemon off of, you can find them in season at Trader Joe's!  Excellent review of them from day 3 of this blog here: Meyer Sweet Lemons 

Second review – WHITE Maria Jola Sangria

I added raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and orange slices in this sangria.  As you just read above, we really dug the red sangria, so I was excited to have this white one!   I like white sangria when we order it at restaurants!  We thought this bottled version of white would be juuuust as tasty as the red one.

(I hate to keep bringing up the RED SANGRIA, but geez Louise,
it is yummy!  We brought it to a dinner the other night...)

We were wrong.

When David first tasted it he said it was “perfume-y”, and I think that is the right term.  There is too much “perfume”-like scent to it.  When you raise your glass to take a drink, it smells too much like PERFUME, and then you TASTE the perfume…  And somehow, to my “sophisticated palate”, that “perfume-y” taste makes it takes like BATHROOM CLEANER.

To be perfectly transparent here, I have never drunk bathroom cleaner.  And I am not saying this product tastes TOXIC or anything…  It just tastes too much like it smells…   Do you know what I mean?  It is hard to describe.  I would say you need to taste it to understand what I am trying to explain, but that would mean you have to actually taste it, and I don’t want you to have to do that!

I give this a 2.25 rating.  I MUCH PREFER the red version.

Obviously I get excited over the red version....

David’s opinion: “This white sangria is too sweet and too perfume-y so it overpowers the fruit.  I can’t even really taste the fruit as much as I would like.  I think would be a better sangria if it were made with a more “transparent” white like a vino verde or something.  It is WINE, and it is not UNPLEASANT, but if I went shopping for sangria again I would get the RED instead of this one. I would give this white sangria a 3.5.” 

Price – $5.99 (a dollar cheaper than the red, but spend the extra buck, trust me!)

Rating - 3

Day 353 - Refresh Citrus Body Wash (with Vitamin C)

Remember when I tried Trader Joe’s “Nourish” shampoo back in November??  shampoo review here  It was amazing and such a pleasant surprise!  I loved it.

So I was really looking forward to using this “Refresh” Body Wash.  The label extolled so many virtues that I could barely contain myself! 

·         “With our unique aroma-therapeutic blend of orange blossoms and grapefruit”

o   Ahhhh, that must mean it is gonna smell INCREDIBLE! 

·         “More than just a body wash, this cleansing formula was developed to nourish and moisturize, leaving your skin tingly clean and silky smooth.”

o   TINGLY CLEAN???  I am in!

·         “This citrus blend is sure to energize you on even your most tired of days.”

o   Helllll-o, who doesn’t need energizing every now and then??

Trader Joe's Refresh Body Wash

So I tried it.  And took the most carefully staged photos of this year long project.  J  I wanted you to see the product in action, mind you, but I didn’t want you to see the USER, if you know what I mean…

Body wash on pouf - here we go!

We are in Florida for the holidays and our house here has an outdoor shower in the backyard.  It is nothing fancy, but it is a greeeeeat place to shower.  Look, here is my view while I wash!!

View from the outdoor shower.  Note:  shower was not ON when I took this photo.  :)  Didn't want to break my camera!

I always beg David not to trim the trees in the backyard too much, cuz I want it to stay private and “enclosed” and greeeeen.  This panorama photo of my shower view also shows 2 of our pride and joys – TRIXIE, the magical fruit cocktail tree we planted this summer who surprised us when we got here this week by having not only BLOSSOMS but A REAL LIVE PIECE OF FRUIT (which I think is a Meyer lemon, my favorite kind of lemon that you can get at TJ’s if you do not have one in your backyard and was reviewed in this blog here ), and you can also see AVA, the avocado tree (not yet giving avocados, she may be barren…) that we grew from a pit and is now taller than me!!

Ava - grown from an AVOCADO PIT - it is working - she is turning into a real tree!!

David and TRIXIE, the Magical Fruit Cocktail Tree.  She is going to actually produce real live citrus fruit!

Trixie blooms

A bee pollinating some of Trixie's blooms.  Lovely!  Nature in action.

FIRST EVER CITRUS FRUIT GROWN BY US!

Teeny tiny fruit-to-be s.

You can see photos of Trixie when we first got here and she apeared in this blog here.  My has she grown!!!

Anyway, let’s look at the product:  I didn’t fall in love with this body wash.  From all the hype on the label, I thought it would smell FABULOUUUUUUS.  In truth, it doesn’t “smell” nearly enough (for me anyway).  It is just sorta slightly citrus, but no “bam” scent.  The NAMES of the scents sound incredible, the label lists:  sweet orange blossoms, succulent pink grapefruit, herbal extracts of chamomile, ginseng, ginger, Echinacea, pure jojoba oil, vitamin b 5.  I mean, all of those scents sound like they if they were poured upon my shower pouf and rubbed into my skin I would float away on a olfactory voyage.  But, alas, it just sorta smells vaguely citrusy.  I don't like my body wash to make me SMELL after I use it, I might want to put on perfume and I don't want my soap scent to compete with that.  But I like it to have some scent as I lather up.  

Not too smelly (as in, not quite enough smelly)

And it didn’t bubble up as much as I would like, either.  It just sort of bubbles instead of BUBBLING!!!  Do you get my drift? 

And not many bubbles, either...

The good stuff about it is it cleans my skin.  It is not tested on animals.  It is quite cheap.  And I presume it is good for my skin, too.  oh, and it’s not expensive.

As for scents, I will continue to go out every day and sniff the citrus blooms on Trixie (the magical fruit cocktail tree) and keep wishing there was a way to bottle that glorious scent and bring it home with me. 

As far as this body wash, I don’t love it like I did TJ’s shampoo.  But I don’t hate it.  I guess I just expected more.  But, like they say in the movie “Babe”, “It’ll do, pig.”

If it made more bubbles and had more scent, I wonder if they would up the price?

Price – $2.99

Rating - 3

Day 352 - Soycutash AND Artistan Everything Bagels (TWO REVIEWS ON ONE DAY!)

Soycatash is another of Ttrockwood’s recommendations.  You see, when I go shopping with someone, I listen up to what they suggest!!!

Only, this suggestion didn’t go over quite as well as some of her others…  Not that it BOMBED, but it didn’t “wow” either.

Here we have exhibit A:  Soycutash 

Soycatash is a bagged vegetable blend that you find in the TJ’s frozen food section.  It is a mix of soy beans (edamame), red pepper, and corn.  I microwaved it. 

To me, the edamame was the strongest taste in the blend, which was a plus since I really like edamame.  What was also cool is that this edamame, unlike the other kind we eat, was already out of the shell so there was no work involved to consume it.  J 

I like that this is an alternative veggie to our “normal choices” for dinner.  It is simple to prepare.  I think it would be better to use to make a SOUP instead of just to heat and eat like we did.  I prefer the taste of just plain edamame to this blend, truth be told.

The soycutash adds pretty colors to your plate, that's for sure

David says he thinks it would be nicer with a sauce of some kind.  He says that the problem is, when you microwave it as long as the package says to, or even less (like we did), the corn gets “deflated”.  And can’t we all agree – deflated corn is sorta sad.  We served it with several other items on the plate and David said he couldn’t get a real “isolated taste” of this dish.  He gives it a 3.

Blurry photo of pricing sign, sorry.

 We only cooked a bit of the bag.  We will try again and use it to put in a recipe instead of just as a side dish.  I think it would be less boring that way. I really thought if we didn't like this product I would get to do the juvenille thing and call it SUCKatash in this review, but it doesn't suck so I can't.

Price – $2.29

Rating – 3

But  look, since there are only a few more days left in the “365” that are the scope of this project, I am going to give you a GIFT WITH PURCHASE today!!!  Yes, it is TWO FOR ONE today, folks!  Buy one, get one freeeee!  (I refuse to use the currently popular retail acronym “BOGO” cuz I hate it, so you will not be betting a “BOGO” here…)

Here’s the deal:  with so few reviews left to write, I feel guilty writing about products that the majority of readers won’t be able to get because they are LOCAL things.  But I really wanna tell you about the BAGELS we got in New York City, cuz I loved ‘em.  Plus, I want you to see the funny photo of David with them.  So I will do a bonus review today (first time ever I think) and tell you about them!

Artisan Bagels (with Everything)

THESE

The package states that these bagels are baked fresh daily, hand shaped, and kettle boiled.  Ttrockwood told us about how the regular TJ’s bagels, the ones we all find in our stores, don’t sell much in New York City.  That’s because there are these amazzzzing “Artisan” local bagels on the shelves.  So I grabbed a bag (they contain 3 large bagels).  I chose “everything” bagels because those are normally David’s favorites. 

I LOVED THEM!  I recorded my comments about them and when I listen to the recording now, my voice sounds different – huskier, sexier, it is as if I not only LOVED those bagels, but I was also IN LOVE with them. 

Ready to be devoured

Before cutting

Oh man – thank you for pointing those out to us Ttrockwood!  Thank you for steering us to the outside lane of the Chelsea store so we could pick up bread products!  They are the best store bought bagels I have eaten in my entire life.   They do not taste ‘store bought” at all.  Rather, they taste like you are in a noisy deli or café on a Sunday morning and people are talking and laughing around you.  Then the waitress brings you a fresh squeezed OJ and a bagel just like this on a plate.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh….

Atttractive, eh??  Morning bagel.  Ahhh.  Notes about this photo:  see MY new glasses?  The wine glasses on the table were NOT from breakfast - they were from dinner the night before and had been washed and cleaned but not put away yet. 

I do not typically choose “everything” bagels for myself.  They are too outta control for me.  I like my bagels ORGANIZED, thank you very much.  But the thing is: these bagels ARE organized!  They are not “over the top” everyhing like other store bought bagels are.  They are just the right amount of “bits” on them.

Now here is the weird part:  David, who I specifically bought these for, didn’t like them as much as I did!  What a loser!!!!  Here is what he said:  “These bagels have a great texture.  A nice taste.  But they are a little bit dense for my taste.  They have a LOT of bread, so you need to put something sharp on the topping rather than just bland cream cheese.  I went with olives and onion, yet I still wished I had some smoked salmon to throw on top as well.  These are probably better than other bagels at TJ’s but I do not remember the other ones.  I give these a 4.25.”

David and the infamous NYC bagels - this is one of my favorite photos of him for this project.  

So David calls these bagels DENSE??  Well, my friend, I call you dense (I call you that with love in my voice) for not giving these a 5.

If you live in NYC and you are buying the regular bagels at TJ and not THESE BAGELS, please re-examine your shopping list. 

Cheaper than a deli but just as delicious

David’s score is rejected in this review and these bagels get a 5.  J

Price – $1.99

Rating – 5 (so there!)

Day 345 - Farfalle with 4 Cheeses and Spinach

Here’s the thing: I am stressed.

This time of year is STRESSFUL.  There are so many gifts to buy and wrap.  And we always make our own Christmas cards and that takes a ton of time and creativity (we haven’t even STARTED yet…).  We are heading out of town soon and I need pack for that…

Last week, which somehow wasn't as stressful of a time....  This is a big ass Christmas ornament, isn't it pretty?

But on top of all of that “normal” stuff, a good friend who we help care for has been injured and so we have jumped into “care taking” mode.  We are her only friends really, and have the responsibility to make sure she is okay.    So the past couple of days that has meant bringing her home from the hospital, advocating for her to get in-home health care people who speak Spanish and can communicate with her, and trying to help clear out her apartment to make it safe for her to navigate with a walker.  (She is a hoarder…  Two and a half years ago she was on the verge of being evicted and we had to do a major clean-out of her apartment – it was very hard.  Now, with health care workers going into the space, we are worried they might report it as being “unsafe” for her since she has begun to re-accumulate stuff.  Sigh.  It’s an ongoing battle.)

Again, from a less stressful time just a few days ago, David "plugging in" a huge ass string of Christmas lights in NYC.

SO, with all of THAT going on, I am stressed and haven’t written a review yet today!  It is 4:30 PM my time and I try to have my reviews posted much earlier than this every day, but I am sure that you are super busy, too, so I hope you will forgive my tardiness.

Onto today’s REVIEW. 

This Farfalle with 4 Cheeses and Spinach is a typical frozen meal.  I used to eat this type of thing allllll the time for lunch.  You know the drill:  small box of frozen something-or-other than you grab out of the freezer and bung in the microwave.  I used to buy whatever varieties were on sale at the grocery store and just keep a freezer full of them.

Here's the box - it looks prettier on the front of the box than it does when you open it and cook it.

But after a while, they all sorta tasted the same and felt, well, kinda crappy.  So I stopped eating them.  But I picked this one up at Trader Joe’s to eat and review for the blog.  J

This one is pretty bland.  That surprised me, considering the fact that the title boasts of not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 cheeses (they are listed as:  hard cheese (what the hell is that?  “Hard cheese” sounds like a rubric of cheese…), emmental, mozzarella, and gorgonzola !  Somehow, even with all four cheeses, this dish doesn’t taste all that CHEESEY.  The spinach in it is nice and the bow tie pastas are cute. The meal definitely requires the addition of salt and pepper. 

This was my view as I ate this lunch - I was eating with my CNN friends.

This box is one serving.  It is quick and easy to make.  It fills you up if you eat it for lunch.  Basically this is not amazing, but it gets the job done.  If you just “need some lunch” this is fine.  I wouldn’t write home about it and I wouldn’t put it as a “must buy” on your shopping list.  But if one somehow jumps in your shopping cart you don’t need to throw it out. 

See, it doesn't look nearly as pretty as the box made it out to...  And it kind of tastes as bland as it looks here.

Ok, it’s time to continue with the holiday “do do do” s and go watch the little neighbor girl in “The Nutcracker”.  J

Price – $1.99 (I think)

Rating - 3

Day 288 - Danish Pancakes (aka aebleskiver)

I almost bought these little Danish pancakes one other time at Trader Joe’s – they are in a bag in the frozen breakfast food section.  I decided against them that time, but they caught my eye again and I thought, “What the heck, let’s give ‘em a go!”.  Their proper Danish name is aebleskiver, isn't that fun to try to say??  We ate them as a leisurely Sunday breakfast while reading the Washington Post.  

This is the bag - it contains quite a lot of pancake balls

Here is what we thought:

David – Taste - very good.  Texture - lovely.  Convenience of eating them - not so great.  You have to tear ‘em apart and hold ‘em in your hand, unless you are gonna eat one whole ball at a time, which is more of a mouthful than I care for.  I used my hands to eat them, not a fork. 

David dipping his Danish Pancake!

Susan – They are a little bit bland.  They are sort of an excuse to carry whatever topping you want to put on the ball to your mouth, as opposed to actually being  flavorful themselves.  I put out several toppings to choose from:  TJ’s Fig Butter, apple butter from Union Nebraska that a Nebraska friend gave us, powdered sugar, and TJ’s Boysenberry Preserves review here.  To us the best one was apple butter – these balls worked good as a system to cart apple butter by the mouthful from the bowl to our mouths. 

The texture, to me, was a little weird.  The taste is good but sort of boring.  If the tasty toppings weren’t in the picture I do not think we would want to shovel these naked pancake balls in our mouths. 

They sure look cute all laid out on the table with toppings and espresso

We heard a really good story on NPR about the Danish concept of hygge.  It was a great piece and I recommend a listen, but I cannot FIND it online.  Let me just that that listening to it made us both long for more “hygge” in our lives.  I can’t seem to find the original piece we listened to but I do not want to leave you high and dry, so here is some hygge information for you:

Here is a short “Driveway Moment” piece that references hygee at 2:00 - Driveway Moment

And here is an article on the subject:  BBC news hygge article

Oh I WISH i could find a link to the piece we listened to on NPR because it was so perfect.  Anyway, the concept is the “hygge” is a word not meant to be translatable, but to be felt/experienced. 

 

Our hygge...

I bring all of this up because the term hygge is Danish, as are these pancake balls.  And in fact EATING these pancake balls while sitting in front of a roaring fire wearing your handknit sweater and heavy socks while playing Dominoes with friends could likely BE hygge!

Not expensive.  But not my favorite breakfast food in the world.  I will probably wait until I go to Denmark to eat them next :)

Back to the review:  to me these pancake balls taste like something they would serve at the Ikea restaurant, only they would be yuckier cuz the topping they served would be lingonberry… 

Price – $3.49

Rating -3

Day 274 - Peanut Butter and Jelly with Nonfat Greek Yogurt

Look, I thought this product sounded disgusting.  I wasn’t gonna try it.  I like yogurt.  I like peanut butter.  (OK, I dislike jelly…)  But the thought of those flavors TOGETHER sounds inedible to me!

You have to admit this sounds gross...

I don’t want to purposely buy anything to eat and review during this year long blog that I know I will hate.  That’s not fair.  And I only have 365 reviews in total to do, ya know.  So this was one new Trader Joe’s item I was prepared to leave on the shelf.

Until…

Until one of my Facebook friends, Peter Marino said something like THIS WAS HIS NEWEST FAVORITE FOOD EVER.  I had to ask if he was being sarcastic or serious (cuz with him it is hard to tell sometimes).  He said he was being HONEST, that he adores this stuff.

Not a bad price, but is it a BAD TASTE???

Welllllllllllllllllllll……  If LANCE likes it, I wanna try it!  Lance is Peter’s character in his solo show “Late with Lance”.  We saw it this summer at the Orlando Fringe Festival and it was great.  Cracked.  Us.  Up.  You should really check out his site and watch the preview clip here:  Lance Show Preview   So if Lance is in, I am in baby!  Throw some of that crap, errr, yogurt in my cart!

When I opened the container I was really surprised.  It didn’t look at all like I expected.  Because the name is PEANUT BUTTER and JELLY WITH Greek Yogurt I thought it would be actual real live swirls or chunks of peanut butter and jelly in or on top of the yogurt.  Nope.  It is just a mixed up yogurt that smells like peanut butter. 

Does this look appetizing to you?

When I TASTED it I was disgusted.  Bleck-a-rama!  Lance HOW can that be your favorite food???  Yogurt is good, but this stuff….  Ewwwwww.  The flavors do NOT go together.  I disliked it so much that I realized I needed to do the FIRST EVER Trader Joe’s 365 VIDEO REVIEW and record David tasting it the first time.  Honestly, I thought he would despise it and maybe even spit it out all over the table (which I would find hilarious).  So I grabbed the camera and forced him to eat some.  Here is how it went:

WHAT THE HELL?  HE LIKES IT????  David!!!!  You are on LANCE’S side here???

This is one freaky, gross product.  I can only imagine 7 year old boys liking it.  Well, 7 year old boys and Lance and David.

David gave it a 3.75, I give it a 2.5.  It is not for me – so Lance and David have at it! 

Price – .99

Rating – 3 (average of David’s way over the top rating and my very generous rating, If Lance rated it it would probably have a 5….)

Day 263 - Milk Chocolate Truffle Bar

What a bizarre shopping experience tonight!  Just as we were pulling into our parking spot in the TJ’s Bailey’s Crossroads parking lot I got a text from our sister-in-law Joan saying, “We are at Trader Joe’s, what should we get?”.  I texted back asking “WHICH TJ’S ARE YOU AT??  We are going into one right now!”.  But before she could read the text and reply I had found her down an aisle of the same store we were going to!  Yippee – shopping buddies!  Joan doesn’t like to grocery shop.  Greg (her husband, my brother-in-law) normally does their shopping.  They were both there tonight.  And David was with me.  It was a little family reunion by the meat section of Trader Joe’s!

Joan and Greg attended our Trader Joe’s Dinner Party back in April, where every item served, from appetizers to wine to bubbly water to dessert, was from Trader Joe’s.  It was a fun evening!  And now that we were shopping with them tonight we realize that we need to have ANOTHER Trader Joe’s dinner party!  Who’s in???

This is the table full of ingredients before the Trader JOe's dinner Party in April

Anyway, I walked around the store with Joan pointing out stuff that we like (and a few things I recommended she avoid…) while David and Greg chatted.  The items in Joan’s cart piled up pretty quickly!  J  I am glad she took our advice and is trying the bacon we love (reviewed on day 242 http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-242-uncured-black-forest-bacon.html ).  Actually, while we were raving about the bacon to Greg and Joan a woman was listening and put some in her cart, too!  I hope everyone likes it as much as we do.

When they checked out with their food they must have gotten to talking to the nice cashier (Courtney) and SOMEHOW gotten hooked up with a free chocolate bar!  Joan came rushing back to find us, saying we could all taste test a candy bar!  Well you didn’t have to ask us twice – we followed her to the front.

David loves chocolate

David picked out a bar we had not tried before – an organic Milk Chocolate Truffle bar.  The turquoise packaging is really pretty, don’t you think?  They said we could take it home to do the taste test, but we were having so much fun, plus we had met a really sweet, cool lady (Wendy) in the frozen food aisle and we wanted to share it with her, so we busted it open right in the store!  Here is what we thought:

Pretty packaging

Wendy:  (She ate hers as the cashier was ringing up her purchases) – “It is smooth and very chocolate-y.  I give it a 3. See you here at the same store next Saturday night so we can have fun shopping again, right?”

 (Wendy showed me the chocolate bars in a box that are her particular favorite, and also recommended we try Inner Peas (which I have been scared to try since I gagged on a product I think is similar, Embrace Your Inner Bean, on day 62…  Review here:  http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/03/day-62-embrace-your-inner-bean.html ).  But hey, if our new friend Wendy recommends Inner Peas, I am gonna try Inner Peas!

Here we are in the store before trying the chocolate bar (Wendy is not pictured - cuz she TOOK the picture!)

Greg:  Ah – it has a dark chocolate truffle layer inside!  That is what makes it truffle - a ribbon in the middle.  It has a slight bitterness.  It is not my favorite chocolate.  I gave it a 2.

Joan:  I give it a 2.

David:  it is pleasant.  It has a nice filling.  It is sweet, not as creamy as some, but chocolate-y.  The squares are nice and attractive.  It has a good, firm crispness in the bite.  I give it a 4.5

Susan:  It is kind of hard…  I like the little “Trader Joe’s” written on the squares.  It is good, but I don’t want to marry it or anything.  I would eat it again though.  I would give it a 3.25.

Here is the shelf David chose from

So to get the final rating here I will average all of our scores.  And to reiterate – this bar was eaten, reviewed, and scored while still standing in Trader Joe’s.  J  Ahhh what a fun Saturday night.

Price – $1.99

Rating (average of 5 tasters) – 3

Day 259 - Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

If you have read any reviews on this blog previously, you know DAVID LIKES TO EAT.  Specifically, he likes DESSERTS.  He loves him some sweets – cakes, pies, ice cream…  And that includes COOKIES!  Poor guy, I do not bake cookies for him nearrrly often enough.  But every once in a while I grab a pack of these refrigerated cookie dough cookies that you plop in the oven, bake, and pretend like you made them from scratch.  I usually buy the “big name” brands – Pillsbury, Tollhouse, etc.  I have seen this one at Trader Joe’s before but have never gotten it.  Recently, I went for it!

Here is the package - find it in the dairy section by the butter

And I was disappointed…  After baking and tasting these I can easily say that I prefer the name brand versions. 

See - the dough is BROWN instead of the normal off-white

Right from the get go these were different – they are much more BROWN than the other kinds.  David thinks maybe the dough itself has some chocolate/cocoa in it, not just the chips.  We baked these for longer than the package told us for crunchy cookies to but they were still doughy in the middle.  They taste BLAND…  There is no “crunch factor” at all.  They are not exciting at all.  Not even satisfying as a cookie really. 

David munching a cookie - the man loves desserts

David says – they are tasty, but perhaps a little over sweet.  It is disappointing that they are still a little doughy in the middle even though we added an extra 5 or 6 minutes in the oven.  I think if we cooked them a littttle bit longer they might be crunchy on the outside and still chewy in the middle.  I still prefer the non-chocolatized standard Tollhouse cookie.  I would give this a 4. 

(I QUESTIONED HIS SCORE – A 4???  He was not happy with this cookie and he still gave it a 4 (which to me is a high score!)??  He said, “Well, still it’s a COOKIE!  How bad can it be???”.  Hahahaha!  Oh David!)

$3.49 for 16 cookies

For me, my normal order of preference for chocolate chip cookies is:

1.        A freshly baked homemade (or nice bakery made) cookie

2.       A freshly baked store bought dough cookie

3.       Premade, prepackaged store bought cookies

HOWEVER, in this instance, I would prefer even premade, prepackaged store bought cookies over the Trader Joe’s Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough.  I would much rather eat TJ’s Crispy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (which got a great review on day 213of this blog    http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-214-crispy-oatmeal-chocolate-chip.html ) than these. 

It has been 2 days since we made them and there are 8 left...  I ate 1.  That means David has eaten 7 cookies in two days.  That may sound like a lot to you, but trust me, if he liked them there would be fewer left.

And if you need further proof that these are not great, we made them 2 nights ago and there are still a lot left….  If David TRULY liked them, there would only be 2 remaining at this point…  He agreed to lower his rating to a 3.5 (though he scoffed and insisted that, basically, all cookies are good…).  I would give these a 2.25.  The rating below averages our 2 scores.

Price – $3.49

Rating - 3