Showing posts with label Cincinnati OH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cincinnati OH. Show all posts

Friday, September 18, 2015

Day 261 - Brown Jasmine Rice

As mentioned previously in this blog, we eat A LOT of rice in our house.  We love rice.  Usually we buy Jasmine or Basmati (reviewed on days 198 http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/07/day-199-jasmine-rice.html and 191 http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/07/day-191-basmati-rice.html of this blog). 

This time we decided to SHAKE THINGS UP.  We saw this Brown Jasmine Rice at the Trader Joe’s in Cincinnati and decided to pick up a bag. 

Big bag, small price
I used to be in charge of cooking rice in our kitchen.  When it was my duty, I threw it in a rice cooker, turned it on, and called it a day.  J  Then David decided we should follow the instructions and RINSE it before cooking.  So he took over rice duty.  Then he came up with an elaborate method of frying the rice in olive oil BEFORE cooking it….  Let’s just say, rice cooking is now his assignment and not mine. 

He cooked this Brown Basmati Rice using his “fry in a bit of EVOO oil first” technique.  He then cooked it in water for 35 to 40 minutes (following the package).   So that is the first thing to point out – this rice takes longer than your average rice to cook, so make sure you prepare your meal accordingly. 

We normally don’t dig brown rice as much as white.  But we really trust Trader Joe’s so we gave this a shot.  Luckily for us, it is not as “brown rice-y” as other brown rices.  It is more like white rice but, as David noted, it has a “Little bit more of skin and texture to it.  Though I prefer white rice, I know that brown rice is healthier for me.  So if I have to eat brown rice, I would definitely suggest this.  In fact, now that I am eating the leftovers of it on the second day I am enjoying the taste of it with a little butter on it.”

Oh the sign tells us it is LUXURIOUS!
I thought this was a little crunchier than our regular rice but that wasn’t a bad thing.  I liked it.  The “kernels” were all very separate and there was not gloppiness.  It went well with chicken.  This is a good alternative to our normal rice when you want something a little bit different.  Like the other rices at TJ’s, it is a large bag for a remarkably good price.  This rice, from Thailand, was only $3.29 for a 3 lbs bag – that is only a little over a buck per pound! 

BONUS PHOTO!  I cannot for the life of me find the picture I took of this rice on a plate with a nice omelet we made,
so instead I present ARTWORK FROM THE CINCINNATI TRADER JOE'S!
Here is a piece that is in their foyer - it is the Tyler Davidson Fountain.  Nice, huh??
Price – $3.29

Rating - 4

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Day 253 - The Pass Sauvignon Blanc (2014)

This is a New Zealand wine.  The signage told us it was, “Bright and crisp with grassy and tropical fruit notes”.  Even before reading that I identified my first note as GRAPEFRUIT.  I really liked it.  It is not an overwhelming grapefruit, but just enough to make your mouth water and make you drink more wine.  Good on ya, winery, you have a product that will keep people chugging your wine!  J 

The Pass
It is a lovely wine and I think would pair well with everything! 

David agrees and says it is “Great.  Fruity.  Very crisp.  Very, ummm, puckery.  Acidic in a good way – not at all pejorative.”

Here are some adjectives we came up with to describe this wine:
·         Clean
·         Bright
·         Fresh
·         Light
·         Lovely
·         Bold

Then we realized “bold” probably wasn’t right but we were just trying to think of more adjectives…

See - they came up with some of the same adjectives we did!  :)  
I am going to include a photo of a sign in a Trader Joe’s I saw recently that I really like!  It was in the Cincinnati Ohio store.  That is NOT where we bought this wine (however we did buy two bottles of another kind of wine as thank you gifts for people in Cincy!).  Anyway, I am a sign language interpreter so really thought it was cool that they had a sign where the letters W I N E were spelled out in old time looking ASL!  Check it out!  Cool, eh?

Great signage in Cincinnati, OH
The TJ’s in Columbus, OH was sampling this wine when we went through on David’s birthday, so of course we grabbed a teeny tiny sample.  We already KNEW we liked it since we had drunk a bottle a week earlier, but a little sample never hurts! 

Price -$8.99

Rating - 4