Popcorn in a Pickle is BACK AGAIN!

GUUUUYS (I mean that generically, as in "huuuumans", not "this one is for the fellas only....):

It is summer time, and you know what that means...

POPCORN IN A PICKLE IS BACK!

POPCORN IN A PICKLE IS BACK!  Can you tell I am excited???

Yes!!!  It is time for the Trader Joe's snack that sounds utterly disgusting (to me at least) but tastes ammmmazing - popcorn with pickle flavoring!  It sounds gross, but for some reason, it just works!

In the original review of this product, we gave it 4 stars (Original Popcorn in a Pickle Review ).

In the first "It's Baaaack!" reminder review, we also gave it 4 stars ( Last Year's Excited "Popcorn in a Pickle It's BAACK" Review ) .

This year it is the same great popcorn, the same low price, but the number of stars is INCREASING to 4.25!  It is like on "Naked and Afraid" when the people's PSRs go up, and you as a viewer are not quite sure why, but they did, so you just go with the flow...  (What??  You don't watch "Naked and Afraid" on the Discovery channel??  Fear not, it jumped the shark many seasons ago, but that doesn't stop me from tuning in every once in a while and watching people eat ants and make fish baskets that never catch annnnything!) 

Anyway, the point is, Popcorn in a Pickle is back, and you should try it.  It is definitely a LOVE IT or HATE IT kind of product.  I am on the LOVE IT end of the spectrum, but I totally respect you if you get it, try it, and take it back because you can't stand it.  But DO GET IT.  I mean, what have you got to lose?  Trader Joe's will happily give you your money back if you find it yucky.

We lugged our TJ's popcorn, along with a slew of other picnic snacks, through the 105 heat index afternoon to Wolf Trap Theatre in Virginia, where once the sun went down we rocked out to the Bare Naked Ladies.  The only problem was, we ate the other stuff and forgot to open the popcorn...

If I had a million dollars....

So, we hauled it AGAIN with more picnic supplies, on the 4th of July to the Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.  There we dined on delicious popcorn and watching the fireworks go off in Washington DC.  May I just say, thanks for paying your taxes everyone, the fireworks were beautiful this year! 

If you squint your eyes and look by one of the red squiggles, you will see the Washington
Monument, shrouded in darkness, heat, and fireworks smoke 

Price: still $1.99
Rating: 4.25

Incanto Chardonnay Pinot Grigio

First, let me lay this on the line:  I have coveted this big ass blue bottle of wine every year when Trader Joe’s brings it out around the holiday time.  TJ’s always have special, super huge wine bottles, and they are sooooo appealing to my eyes!  Seriously, every year I want to buy them.  David and I normally grocery shop together, and I know that he, being the more realistic (and once in a while the more responsible) of the two of us must think these big ol’ wine bottles are ridiculous.  And, in my heart, I have always known he was right.  So, year after year I have held back and not snuck one of these big wines into our cart.

But this year – oh, this year I WENT FOR IT!  I got brave enough to snag one of these bottles on a night I was shopping without David actually 😊 .  But look at it – it is gorgeous!  The shape of the bottle.  The size.  But mostly, the color! I mean, how bad would this Italian blend have to taste to undo all of those positives???

Here is David before the bottle was opened.  See - it is LARGE!

So, this holiday season, I got one and we hauled it down to Florida with us.  I thought we might drink it if we had friends over, but (as almost always happens in our lives), we were hermits and didn’t have a dinner party.  We were invited to a friend’s house for New Year’s Day dinner, and I guess it would have been nice to bring this bottle, but it just felt a little strange.  There were going to be 5 people at the meal, and in we would walk with a huge ass bottle of wine?  What if we were the only wine drinkers?

Close up of the label

Now January is ticking by and we still hadn’t opened this bottle...  One night our friend Sarah said she was going to stop by (and I know she likes wine).   Voila – there’s my chance!  I had David open the bottle and the 3 of us did a taste test.  Here is what we thought:

Well isn't this elegant??  Bottle is too big for the fridge

Susan:  Before I can discuss the taste of the wine, I must talk through the logistics of it.  This.  Wine bottle.  Is.  Ridonkulous!!  It is white wine and we wanted it chilled, but the big bottle most certainly could not stand up in our refrigerator.  It ended up lying on its side and taking up a big chunk of the fridge (though to be honest, for a day or so it served as a “shelf” as David rested his used paint brush (wrapped in Saranwrap) on top of the horizontal bottle…).  OK, now on to the taste:  The taste is sort of water-y to me – there is not much taste.  Because of that I wound up drinking it pretty fast.  So, if your goal is to down wine quickly (and therefore feel a bit tipsy quickly…), this might be a good pick.  Artistically it is beautiful.  Logistically it is stupid.  And to be honest, the actual wine seemed sort of incidental!  I will give the taste of this wine 3.75.  If I gave a score for the look of the bottle it would be a 5, but if I gave a score for the usability of the bottle (squishing it in your fridge) it would be a 2.  So, I will average those scores together and give the overall product a score of 3.5.

David gives Incanto a try

David: “I think this is good, it is nice and cold which is good for this wine.  It has a little bit of a fruity taste.  It has a hint of a chardonnay kind of oakiness – I don’t like chardonnay but this was not too much, so I thought it balanced it out kind of nice.  This is not a wine I would seek out, but I am delighted to drink it.  I guess I will give it a 4.  (David added that he should have docked his score because of the unwieldy size of the bottle.)”

Sarah refilling her glass
 (by the way, this bottle is hard to pour, too!  It comes out super fast.)

Sarah: “I did not like this wine at the first sip, because it tasted like chardonnay and I do not normally like chardonnay.  But I kept drinking, and (like most wines) then I enjoyed it more.   It ended up being more fruity than dry, which I liked.  This is a super easy wine to drink.  I will give it a solid 4.5.”

Overall, I suggest only buying this big bottle of wine if you have plans to drink it all in one sitting.  That way you can chill it, uncork it, and drink it all without having to worry about re-corking it to lay sideways in your fridge.

Price:  $12.99 (cheap when you consider it is the equivalent of 2 bottles of wine)

Rating (average of 3 raters):  4

Southwestern Chopped Salad

I was a new Trader Joe's product for us.  We do not normally buy “salad kits”, because, not to brag here, but salads are one of my specialties.  I can whip up a lovely salad (if I do say so myself)!  So, if we buy premade salad at TJ’s, it is usually an already made salad in a plastic container that I eat for lunch (like my favorite, Mega Crunchy Salad with a Bite, reviewed here: Mega Crunch Salad with a Bite review ), and not a kit in a bag like this one is.  But hey, I am all about trying new stuff, so I threw this in our cart.

A complete salad kit - ok, we will try it

Here are the ingredients listed on the FRONT of the bag, not in the teeny tiny mouse print on the back:  green cabbage, romaine, cotija cheese, roasted pepitas, tortilla strips, green onion, cilantro, and a spicy southwest avocado dressing.  There are more ingredients on the back, but these are the “big guns” listed on the front to get your attention.  The bag tells us, “Trader Joe’s Southwestern Chopped Salad is an homage to the bright, spicy, flavorful dishes of its namesake region.  Green cabbage, carrots, and radish have been chopped into small pieces and mixed with pepitas, tortilla stripped, green onions and cilantro.  Toss with the included cotija cheese and spicy avocado dressing for a fresh, complete salad.”

$3.29 for a bag

David put this salad together while I worked on other parts of dinner.  He reported there was the loose cabbage part in the bag, then a package that contained 3 smaller packets:  the dressing, the cheese cubes, and tortilla strips.  Here is what we thought of it:

And here is David’s take: “I think it is excellent!  I was a little concerned when I first dumped out the majority of the package - it looked like a lot of cabbage. But flavor-wise, with the added pepitas and the cheese and the dressing, it really is a very nicely balanced mix.  Also, little tiny bits of tortilla – all in very nice balance.  I gotta say – it is very nice.  It doesn’t have any of the nice tomato things that you might think of as more lush in a salad, but, that’s not what it’s trying to do.  So, I’m gonna give this a 4.5.”

Please wait until we sit down to dinner, David...

And here is what I thought:  I am surprised that one of the adjectives used on the bag is “spicy”.  To me this salad is not spicy at all.  I am also surprised that the bag said it contained green onion, because I cannot even taste them.  For my first few bites, I was like, “I don’t know what cotija cheese is, but it sure is tasteless…”.  Then I got a better chunk of it and it had some taste…  Normally in salad we go for feta (Trader Joe's has an excellent feta that is a staple at our house, reviewed here:  Greek Feta in Brine  ) or blue cheese, both of which are extremely flavorful.  This cotija is a much more mild cheese than I am used to in my salads.  We also do not normally put tortilla strips in our salads.  I know that is a hip thing to do, so color us unhip.  The texture of that is, to me, a bit strange, but the taste of the tortillas is good.

For me, the whole salad is a little bit bland.  Everything is chopped super tiny.  It is not quite a COLESLAW, but in my book it is also not a SALAD.  It is all chopped a little bit too tiny for me.  I like to eat my salad with a FORK, and this is a SPOON SALAD.  My favorite part is the pepitas – they are really nice. 

David, the in-store TJ's salad model

Overall – I do not taste spicy, I do not taste avocado, I do not taste green onion, and I really do not taste the cilantro.  I like it – I am not saying it is BAD – but it would not be my “go to salad”.  I give this a 3.75.

Price:  $3.29

Rating (average of 2 raters):  4

Cold Brew Latte Dessert Bars

This is a brand new product for us (and new to Trader Joe's, too).  It is the 2^nd of 2 “cold brew” Trader Joe’s products we have tried lately (in case you missed it, here is my review of - French Vanilla Cold Brew ).  

Cold Brew Latte Dessert Bars - how will they taste???

We tried this “dessert bar” on a lovely spring day (it was 75 degrees!) after we had spent the entire day outside doing things that needed to be done:  cleaning out the car port, trimming rose bushes, pulling weeds, repairing outdoor steps, and cleaning picture frames that I will use in an upcoming art project.  After all of that work, I thought we deserved a treat!  So, we plopped down on the back stoop, sat in the sunshine, listened to birds sing, and ate COLD BREW LATTE DESSERT BARS.  Here is what we thought:

One of the rose bushes I trimmed!  

Susan:  Honest truth:  we do not eat popsicles at our house much.  The only time we ever have them is if someone is sick with a fever (and that someone would have to be ME 'cuz I don’t think David would ever be lying in his sick bed and ask for a popsicle…) or if it is colonoscopy prep time (HEALTH NOTE:  IF YOU ARE AGE 50 OR OLDER OR HAVE A FAMILY HISTORY OF COLON CANCER, NOW WOULD BE A GREAT TIME TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT FOR A COLONOSCOPY!  This reminder brought to you by someone on the “every 5 year” plan.)  In those situations, we buy a box of popsicles.  The sick/colonoscopy person eats one, perhaps two popsicles, and the remaining frozen confections stay in the freezer until they have ice crystals all over them and are so gummy they stick to the paper, at which point I throw them out.  Sometimes I am smart enough to give them away to someone on my local “Buy Nothing” group, which I prefer to wasting them for sure.

But back to the Cold Brew Latte Dessert Bars…

Here is what they look like (with the green, green backdrop of our backyard!)

These are the same consistency as Dreamsicles.  I would think that would make me not like them, since I am not a Dreamsicle fan, but apparently it is not the texture but the taste of Dreamsicles that is yucky to me, cuz I like these TJ’s Cold Brew Latte Bars.  They taste good!  I personally would prefer a bit more coffee flavor in them, but even as is I like these.  They are good for a warm summer day.  They taste like an adult version of a popsicle. 

I am not sure if Trader Joe’s will keep these in stock, or if they were just a part of their recent coffee mania where every 3^rd product on the shelves was coffee flavored (including a body scrub…).  I hope they keep them in stock through the summer.  I give these dessert bars a 4.

This baby bunny lives in our yard and entertains us all the time.  He prefers grass to Cold Brew Latte Bars

David:  “I am not a big popsicle fan, but this is very nice.  It has enough milky, creamy stuff in it to make it quiescently frozen."  (Editor’s note:  The word “quiescently” made me giggle.  I mean, QUIESCENTLY??  Who USES a word like that??  Don’t worry, I look it up so you don’t have to:  “Quiescent:  adjective  1.  Being at rest; quiet; still; inactive or motionless.”   Yup, now that I know the meaning, I can confirm, these dessert bars were motionless!) 

Back to David’s review: "So, this is nice!  It is kind of like a coffee flavored, no, a CAPPUCCINO FLAVORED Dreamsicle.   I would give it a 4.”

Nice treat after a long day of working outdoors.

Not too expensive - try 'em!

Price: $1.99

Rating:  4

Bonus photo: Yikes!  Sean Spicer is in our bushes!!!!  

Charles Shaw Nouveau 2016

We went to Trader Joe’s a couple of days after “Beaujolais Night” last month (I FORGOT TO PUT IT ON MY CALENDAR THIS YEAR SO WE MISSED IT!).  We went in specifically looking for our favorite Beaujolais Nouveau – Georges Dubouef, but couldn’t find it.  I panicked a tiny bit, “Could we seriously have MISSED IT by just being a couple of days late?  Who hogged cases of it???”  I wondered.  Finally, I gave up and asked, but the employee said she hadn’t seen it and thought they hadn’t gotten any yet.  WHEW!  (Review of 2014 Georges Dubouef Beaujolais Nouveau here , review of 2015 Georges Dubouef Beaujolais Nouveau here )

However, the employee said, they DID have the Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw Beaujolais Nouveau, perhaps we would like to try THAT one?

Our TJ's keeps all the Charles Shaw popular wines on an end cap - easy to grab

Well, at $3.29, who is going to say no to that question?  I mean, sure, lots of people are going to say no – people who assume that any wine under $10 is crap.  And alright, so this one is under $5…  But you know what I mean!  WE were not going to say no, so we grabbed a bottle.  Or two.

And then I found the wine we came in looking for on an end cap, so we threw a bottle of Georges Dubouef in the cart, too!  And off we went.

Only, there were a couple of issues.  The biggest one was:  we were not feeling well.  We both had colds.  David has had his since before Halloween (and this was on November 20^th, folks!).  Plus, we were leaving town to go to Omaha for Thanksgiving…  So I didn’t really want to open a NICE bottle of wine (the Georges Dubouef), drink it with impaired taste buds due to colds, then leave a partially filled bottle when we were gone…

So we did the wise thing – we opened a bottle of the $2 Chuck (which is actually $3.29) instead!

Which lead to another problem:  although the woman at TJ’s had called it Beaujolais Nouveau, if you read the label carefully you will notice that the “Beaujolais” is missing and it is simply a “Nouveau”.  But hey, it is red and it was cheap and we had colds, that was FINE WITH US!  Upon furthering questioning (by calling the NYC Trader Joe’s Wine Store) we learned that it is “Nouveau” meaning it is a young wine and that one is a blend of reds. 

Sadly, we forgot to review it that night, so we opened another bottle this week and did our taste test.  By this time, I had developed bronchitis and a double ear infection.  Yeah, not feelin’ so great…  But I hadn’t started my serious meds yet (they were on the schedule for bedtime) so we popped a cork!

We served this Trader Joe’s Nouveau with a leftover salad that had been prepared and not eaten the night before (it had spent the night in the fridge covered in Saran Wrap), a pasta with TJ’s Bolognaise sauce, and a side of Gatorade (classy, no??  But remember – we were SICK).

Here is what we thought:

  

David: “It seems a bit unfair to review this…  I have a cold, too.  The wine seems quite adequate to the task of not getting in the way of the food, but providing a nice red wine thing to taste.  I think this is a good wine.  I would give it a 4.”

Looking and feeling my best!  I ate dinner while wearing a winter coat and covered in 2 blankets.
But I drank some wine, damn it!

Susan:  I mixed my wine with a bit of cough syrup (not literally), making me hopped up on both alcohol and meds…  Like David said, this wine is good.  It is fruity, bright, and fresh.  If we felt better I think we would like it even more.  But as it stands, I will also give this a 4.

Trader Joe’s only carries this variety during the holiday season, so if you want to try some now is the time to grab it.  We will get a couple more bottles to enjoy once we are healthy again. 

Price:  $3.29

Rating:  4

Fall Zucchette Pasta

Sometimes Trader Joe’s comes out with products that are PRETTY.  But pretty doesn’t always equate to YUMMY.  Well, this Autumnal Butternut Squash Pasta was pretty in the bag, so I decided to cook some up and see if it was also delicious.  

Here's the bag 

Here is what we thought:

David: “It’s not bad.  It has an interesting, playful shape.  The taste is pretty good.  There is a lot of pasta in each pasta “nodule”, so it could do with a lot of sauce on it.  Yeah.  Ummm.  It’s, ummm…  It won’t hurt you to mix up your pasta routine and give this one a shot.  I give it a 3.75”

Looks like David liked it better on the PLATE than he did in the BAG.  

Susan:  Confession time; to me, really, all shapes of pasta normally taste the same.  I mean, a shape is a shape, but pasta is pasta.  I guess it is the same concept as TACO BELL – everything on their menu is made out of the same ingredients and it all tastes that same, it is just in different SHAPES.  The Taco Bell prices vary a bit per item, but basically, all of their crap is the same, right?  That’s how I feel about pasta shapes. 

Anyway, this Trader Joe’s Autumnal Butternut Squash Pasta has an adorable little shape.  I personally think it looks more like PUMPKINs than squash.  If you have ever shopped at Marshall’s or TJ Maxx, this pasta looks like something they would have in their food sections.  And to be honest, their food sections always make me hesitant…  I check expiration dates there, because I get the feeling like their gourmet food items have been sitting on another store’s shelves and didn’t get sold, so they got shipped to Marshalls/TJ Maxx.  That is what this pasta LOOKS like – the gourmet section at Marshalls/TJ Maxx. 

As for TASTE – this pasta has a nice taste.  And it does not taste ultra SQUASH-Y, either, which is good.   

It has an interesting TEXTURE.  It has a good “bite” to it.  I think this is the largest size pasta I have ever had, except for rigatoni maybe.  We had to cook it longer than the package said because when the timer went off it was SUPER underdone.   While I was in line at Trader Joe’s one evening I had a conversation with a woman and noticed she was picking this pasta up.  She hadn’t had it before either and she guessed it was one you needed to be careful not to overcook.  Turns out you need to be careful of the opposite problem J .  One note:  draining this pasta is bizarre because each little butternut shape is essentially a tiny pumpkin shaped “bucket” holding water. 

Some of the lil pumpkins got a bit busted the first time we cooked this.
Sorry, not as pretty on the plate as the second time.

I was a tad concerned about sauce and worried which one to pair dish this with.  We ended up serving it with Trader Joe’s Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce and that was a good compliment.  I also served it with baby portabella mushrooms cooked in pumpkin seed oil, with a side of fresh broccoli and a lovely beet/blue cheese salad.  

After our experience with TJ’s Black Bean Rotini (which got a horrible review here:  Black Bean Rotini Review ), I was a little nervous to get back on the horse and try another bizarre pasta.  I worried this one might taste freaky, but it doesn’t. 

Overall, this is a cute pasta and is good to have once or twice during the crisp Autumn season.  It looks and tastes very fall-like. 

I give this product a rating of 4. 

Price:  $1.99 (cheap for a fancy shape pasta)

Rating:  4  

Tanzania Coffee (Small Lot)

I have reviewed a LOT of Trader Joe’s coffees on this blog.  That makes sense, because of the fact that I am forever searching for that “perfect” cup of java.  So when I saw this Tanzania Coffee in the pretty container on the end cap of NEW PRODUCTS at TJ’s, I picked up a bag.

Small Lot, big elephant
 (I mean, in the wild elephants are big, but the drawing of the elephant on this bag is actually quite small)

Yes, a BAG, which is unusual for Trader Joe’s coffees.  Most of them come in recyclable cans (not metal).  This coffee is also more expensive than other TJ’s varieties, most likely due to the “small lot”-ed-ness of it.  However, we didn’t notice until we got home that it is also LESS COFFEE than the TJ’s cans, which when you do the math makes it even MORE expensive.  The cans are 14 oz, and this bag is 12 oz. 

Hmmm, I wonder what that sign UNDER this sign says?
I am surprised the P.I. in me didn't push the top sign to the side to investigate.

Opening this bag, as another one that I reviewed here, is tricky.  One would think a bag would open on the TOP, but this opens on the FRONT.  This can be especially tough when the product you are trying to open is COFFEE, cuz, well, who can tackle a tricky thing like that before you have had your coffee, and, if you can’t get the bag open, you can’t have your coffee, so, ummm, well you get where I am coming from.  David opened it before I had to tackle it, so that made it very easy opening for me.  Thanks David!

The packaging tells us that this is “Dark roast, full bodied, with floral notes.  100% Arabica whole bean coffee”.  We ground the “hand-picked, exclusively selected for TJ’s beans” right before making the coffee and brewed it in what we call our “campfire” coffee maker (metal Italian maker that you use on the stove top).  The packaging has some pretty surprises if you peek on the sides (giraffe print) and the bottom (zebra!). 

This is a good coffee.  It has a bit more taste than some of the other TJ’s coffees.  It is not as “bland” as some of them are.  I like it. 

Coffee always smells good.

David says, “I like it also.  I don’t notice it all that much, which is good, because I expect coffee to be coffee.  This satisfies that completely.  Yeah.  I am happy.  I guess I give it a 4.”

I give this one a 4, too.  Not sure if it is a seasonal, special product or if Joe’s plans to keep it around (the sign says "Limited Edition" so if you are curious, you best get it now).

Some other coffee reviews from this blog:

Cafe Pajaro Blend

Five Country Espresso Blend

Organic Bolivian Blend

Ethiopian

Sumatra

Smooth and Mellow Blend

Columbia Supremo

Joe's Dark

Guatemalan

Pour Over

THAT'S A LOT OF COFFEE!

Ahhh coffeeeeeee

Price:  $7.99

Rating:  4

Black Beans - even CHEAPER than before!

I first reviewed Trader Joe's Black Beans (in a can) on July 21, 2015.  They got a good review, which you can see here:

Black Beans Review

At that time, one can of black beans was .89.  As you might suspect, most stores do not LOWER their prices.  I mean sure, they may run a special sale every now and then, but would you really expect a store to LOWER their price and keep it that way???

TRADER JOE'S DID!

They CUT the price!!!

The same can of black beans is now a dime cheaper!

Yup - black beans are now only .79!!!  Look, a dime might not be a ton of money to you, but every dime counts, man.  Dimes add UP!  If you eat one can of black beans per month, you would save (let me do the math here...) $1.20 a year!!!!

Good ol' Black Beans

Seriously, I think it rocks that Trader Joe's sees fit to lower their prices sometimes.  When the price of everything else in the world seems to be going UP, it is nice that the humble black bean gets a bit cheaper.

Keep it up, TJ's!!

P.S. - while we are on the subject of BLACK BEANS, do yourself a favor and do not buy the Black Bean Rotini at Trader Joe's, even if they lower the price...  0 star review here (and trust me, 0 stars is hard to get from me...):  Black Bean Rotini Review

Avoid this at all costs

Black Bean Rotini is barfable

Popcorn in a Pickle - IT'S BAAAACK!

Summer must be coming, because POPCORN IN A PICKLE is back on the shelves at Trader Joe's!  Yes siree, the snack that sounds disgusting but is actually very tasty is BACK!  Same weird taste, same price ($1.99).  Check out what we thought of it when we got it last year:

original review here

I saw it on the shelves recently in California, but didn't want to announce it in public here until I checked to see if it was "only a California thing" or if the rest of us were also lucky enough to snag some.  Turns out it is here in Virginia, too, so I am going to declare it POPCORN IN A  PICKLE SEASON!

Here is David last year, he was nervous about this snack...  But after we tried it, turns out, WE LIKE IT!!

If you tried it before, you know the first bite is odd but it gets yummy after that.  If you haven't tried it, go for it.  It is a strange taste sensation and fun to eat!

But get it soon.  Cuz you don't want to be like our friend Tony, and go to get a bag only to find it is G-O-N-E and won't come back for another year...

Sad Tony, no Popcorn in a Pickle to be found...

Extraordinary Eggs Marbled Chocolates

It is a new season, spring, and you know what that means:  SEASONAL PRODUCTS AT TRADER JOE’S!  Granted, springtime does not bring with it the plethora of products that autumn does (can you say PUMPKIN anyone??), but none-the-less, it is exciting to see different, limited time offerings on the shelves.

oops - a bit blurry - sorry.

And of course I need to try and review at least one seasonal product!  Which is why I invested in these Extraordinary Eggs Marbled Chocolates!  I say “invested” because at $4.99, these are more expensive than your average Easter candy J (think hollow waxy chocolate bunny or hard as a rock jelly beans…).

They are EXTRAORDINARY - it says so right in the product name!

I had seen these at our local Northern Virginia Trader Joe’s, so when I was perusing the shelves this week at the Omaha, Nebraska TJ’s I had them on my (mental) grocery  list.  Oddly though, I couldn’t find them.  They weren’t on the “new products” end cap, nor were they in the fancy ass chocolate section.  So I asked and was led to them – hidden in an unfortunate area by the cookies over the frozen foods.  I would say put those suckers out where people can see them and get excited about them, but maybe the Omaha store was trying to do the whole “hide the Easter egg” thing…

Anyway, I was in charge of making a nice dinner for some of my family members and a friend, so these fancy eggs were part of that event.  I gave every person one beautiful chocolate egg in a dainty little bright colored bowl at their place setting.  They were lovely!  In fact, they were SO LOVELY that at least two people at the dinner thought they were WOODEN EASTER DECORATIONS!!  J  No lie!

A small photo of a small egg in a small bowl

Here is how these pretty little eggs went down:

Me:  First off, they are gorgeous.  The “painting” on the outside coating is like artwork.  I like that they were SHINY, too.  The green ones looked BLUE to me - like robin eggs with little spots.  There are 16 eggs in a package, and the packaging itself is also very pretty – it almost looks like the treats are riding in a delicate little gold egg carton.  There are 4 different flavors of eggs – almond praline, caramel, raspberry, and crispy cookies.  By the time I finished dinner (which was all Trader Joe’s food, of course…) I really was not hungry for dessert, but the eggs are tiny and so I could “squeeze one in”.  It was quite yummy!  I thought they were rich and delicious.  They are from France and really taste like quality chocolate (not, as mentioned above, like the crappy Easter candy of my youth).  (Note:  not that my youth was bad!!  But these eggs are to the jelly beans of my youth as a 1972 Ford Pinto is to a 2016 Prius J ).  The package says a serving size is 3 eggs, which seems like tooooo many to me.  One was plenty, and I can see someone eating two.  But three would be overkill.  I think these would make a wonderful gift.   I would give these a 4.75, the high score representing their beauty as much as the taste.

These are real robin eggs in a nest at my house, but don't they look like the Extraordinary Eggs at Trader Joe's?

Jordan (my nephew): “ I enjoyed the fact that these Easter eggs looked like REAL EGGS, not candy.  I tried hard to separate mine into 4 bites so I could show everyone what was inside. When I bit it, it did not crumble apart.  These are very well made.  I savored each bite.  I don’t think that I could eat more than one, it was so rich, but delicious.  I would give these a 4.”

Jordan, carefully biting his egg into pieces to show us the inside of it

Sherry (my sister):  “These are very good.  They are PRETTY.  They are not your typical Easter candy looking egg.  I would give them a 4.5.”

Sherry, enjoying her Extraordinary Egg

Zach (Jordan’s partner):  “I thought the eggs were very good.  They were very rich and chocolately.  I like the way they look, too, they are very pretty.  I would give these a solid 3.”

Abhishek (new friend from India):  “I found these were DECEIVING!  I thought it was a showpiece, but it turned out to be CHOCOLATE!!!  I would give them a 3.25.”

Jim:  “I thought the same thing Abhishek did!  I thought they were wooden and I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t taste like WOOD!  I would give them a 4.”

Sherry and Jim:  "These are muuuuch better than a Cadbury egg.  And much better than a Brach’s egg!"

Everyone at the dinner party:  THESE ARE MUCH BETTER THAN A WOODEN EGG!

This is a classic photo of my sisters and I one Easter.  Sherry is rocking a hat. Annette is standing in a fashion model pose. And me?  Well, I look like I must have had to pee.

I am pleased to say that I have a few of these eggs to bring home to David when I return!  He will be very happy with them I am sure.  I recommend you buy a package before TJ's runs out of them.  They are a sweet way to celebrate the arrival of springtime. 

Price: $4.99 (which is more than a hollow chocolate Easter bunny from the drug store, but when you do the math each little beautiful egg is only .31 cents!)
Rating (average of 6 raters): 4

Note:  Trader Joe’s has similar looking chocolates in the shape of marbles.  I suspect they are the same, but have not tried those.  But if you buy these egg shaped ones and get addicted, I think you can get your fill with the marble shaped ones when the eggs are out of season J . 

Day 360 - Salted Caramel Bread Pudding AND Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Guys, it is DAY 360!!!  And the year only has 365 days!!!!  I will leave you to do the math, but suffice it to say that this year long daily project is closing in on the finish line!!!  So with that in mind, today I will review not ONE but TWO, count ‘em, TWO bread puddings!!  You’re welcome.  J

Let’s start out with Salted Caramel Bread Pudding – we bought his because our favorite Trader Joe’s employee Cecilia recommend it on the very first night we met her.  She told us how amazzzzing this bread pudding was, and that it, “Might be even better than her mom’s, but don’t tell her mom…”.

Let's try it!!

Neither David nor I grew up with bread pudding so we do not have a homemade recipe to compare this to.  I think the only time I have ever had bread pudding is at restaurants, so in my mind it was always something “fancy” because I associated it with dessert carts being pushed around in restaurants.  However, Cecilia explained that it is actually a mother’s way of using up EVERYTHING, including bread that is stale, hard and going off, so as not to waste anything.  I like that idea!! 

Cecilia told us that the BEST bread pudding at Trader Joe’s is the Pumpkin one, but when we were shopping to get this it was not yet pumpkin season so we settled on the Salted Caramel one (and went back later to get a Pumpkin one!). 

Find it in a box in the frozen section

The Salted Caramel Bread Pudding was really, really nice!  The preferred heating method listed was the microwave:  take the pudding out of the box, take the little paper wrap off, and let it thaw a bit on the counter, then nuke it.

The first night we had this I thought I followed the directions, but I forgot to take off the paper.  The result was super hard bread pudding.  We put the rest of it in a plastic container and stored it in the fridge.  Then we heat up slices for like 30 seconds (they were defrosted but refrigerated) and it was super good!  It was soft and yummy!  It tastes like “comfort food” even though it is not something that brings up childhood memories for me. 

The flavor is not at all overpowering, but there is enough flavor that it is not bland.  We didn’t even drizzle Dulce de Leche sauce over it as I suspected we would (reviewed here).  It didn’t even NEED sauce over it!  Not that it would HURT it, but it doesn’t beg for it.  We ate it for dessert AND for breakfast J. 

David said, “It is like the soft interior of French Toast.  The whole pudding thing is like a number of pieces of French Toast that have been mushed together and sort of mashed potato-fied themselves.  I would give it a 4.  I think I would like it better if we added a sauce, maybe even maple syrup!!”

I would agree that a 4 is a good score for this one.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding - arrives at TJ's in the autumn when everything magically changes to PUMPKIN flavor!

Now let’s examine the PUMPKIN BREAD PUDDING!  Two reviews in one day, whew!

David:  “This is very nice.  I typically think of bread pudding as something that will be tasteless and bready and dry, but this was nicely moist and tasty, perhaps because we plopped whipped cream and/or ice cream on top.  This is bad for your health, because over the course of last night and this morning I think I have probably stuffed about a pint of whipped cream into my face because of this stuff.”

I would add that eating this is also a good excuse to also drizzle Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce on top – reviewed here .

This is a BIG loaf for only two people to eat (it is the same size as other flavors of TJ’s bread pudding).  We served it at a birthday party, but sadly it turned out that not many guests like PUMPKIN so not a lot got eaten (oops, host and hostess failure on our part there…).  

The good news - we hosted an early birthday party for Joan.  The bad news - she doesn't really like pumpkin...  Lucky we had several other desserts for her, including the Montezuma's chocolate you see that used to have a birthday candle in it!

Like the other bread pudding reviewed, this one is also good for BREAKFAST!  It is very decadent.  I served it with an AFFOGATO, which sounds like avocado yet it is not green with a pit inside.  We had one recently in NYC and I thought, why not make one at home!  I just put ICE CREAM in a cappuccino cup and topped it with espresso.  It was tasty and a good compliment to the bread pudding.  Though with the ice cream it was one more thing to add to the “heart valve clogging ingredients” we consumed that weekend…  Here is a recipe for affogato that I just looked up.  :)

Chocolate gelato, David's choice :)

Affogato in NYC - tasty!!!

We both agreed that the Pumpkin Bread Pudding should get a 3.75.

Price (for either variety of bread pudding) – $3.99

Rating – Salted Caramel Bread Pudding – 4

               Pumpkin Bread Pudding - 3.75