Day 356 - Quartet of Greek Olives

FIRST, AN ANNOUNCEMENT – the blog hit 70,000 views (year to date) this morning!!!!!!!!!!  I was quietly hoping that might happen before the big finish (I say “quietly” but on the home front I was not quiet about it, “David, if I had 526 views today, do you think I will have enough to get 70,000 by year end???” etc., etc., etc.  Just ask David.  Wait, don’t ask him, please.  I have asked him enough times.

HOLY KAMOLY!!!!!!

But all of my asking WORKED!  Thank you so much for reading along this year.  Seriously, I thought I was writing these for myself really, maybe a couple friends or family members.  Never did I imagine this little project would escalate to 70,000 hits (before Christmas even!!).

I was (ok, am...) a little excited.

This morning we got up at 5:30 AM and drove an hour to Washington Oaks Garden State Park and watched the sunrise for a Winter Solstice Celebration.  Not being morning people, getting up that early was quite the accomplishment (especially considering we could have slept 1.5 hours longer and walked a block and a half in our jammies to the beach at our house and had our own private sunrise solstice event, then crawled back in bed J ).  But it was a lovely way to start the day, and when we got back to the car (and to my phone) I checked stats and that’s when I got the good news.  So my winter started off great – sunrise and 70,000. 

Sunrise Solstice - happy winter everyone!

Today’s review is of a holiday product that we found on the shelves – Quartet of Greek Olives.  I purchased it because, of course, we are olive lovers.  Also, because TJ’s seemed to have a thing with “quartets” this holiday season – we also have the Quartet of Nuts (yet to be reviewed) and the names of the two products made me think of Christmas carols (sung by quartets, of course…).

This is the box

 The Quartet of Greek Olives contains 4 varieties (hence the “quartet-ness”) of olives with pits:

·         Amfissa

·         Kalamon

·         Sundried Kalamon

·         Marinated Chalkidiki

Each variety of olive comes in its own vacuum packed 180 gram bag.  The fours bags are then put into a quaint little box.  The box says the olives are prepared exclusively for Trader Joe’s and that these were the most delicious varieties and preparations that they could find across Greece.

He looks sort of "stunned" but he was actually excited...  I think this is in the Omaha, Nebraska Trader Joe's

Here is David’s review:  “I celebrate any opportunity to broaden the palate of the olive consumer, so I think this is a nice idea.  Actually, some of them I am not so fond of, and some of them I do like very much.  I think that much like going to see theatre at a Fringe Festival*, you have to be willing to go see some things that you end up not liking in order to be able to catch the whole breadth of the art form. 

I had to include a photo of this adorable olive dish - it says "Take Olive Me".  Too cute, eh?

So, I would say my least favorite is the sundried kalamon. – although if I WERE going to enjoy it, I can picture enjoying it in some sort of a creamy cheese sort of environment, like perhaps a spanakopita cheesy pastry thing, or maybe with a chevre.  Because the sundried kalamon olive itself tends to be kind of dry and dries out your mouth.  I have not tried the regular kalamon yet.  The marinated chalkidiki is freaky deaky!!!  It has a nice hotness to it,yet it is a green olive so it is lush and meaty.  I like it, although I prefer the AMFISSA.  It is a green olive that is meaty, fleshy, and comes away from the stone nicely.  It is just your standard easy eatin’ olive.

I give the Quartet of Greek Olives a 4.25.”

And here is my review:  I agree with David on the dryness of the sundried kalamon.  I did NOT like that olive.  When you first put it in your mouth you notice the texture is a little bit weird.  But after it has been in your mouth for, like, half a second, you realize it has somehow magically sucked all the spit out of your mouth!  It is really quite bizarre.  I have never really experience anything like that before…  It is hard to describe!  It didn’t seem to suck the spit out of my TONGUE, it sucked the spit out of the inside of my GUMS (the part that is under your tongue).  The dryness made it difficult to even CHEW the olives.  I tried 3 or 4 of them, hoping the first one was just a dud or something, but they were all the same.  I have no idea why this came to mind, but it is almost like there is ALUM in these…  But how do I even know what ALUM tastes like???  I dunno…  It is bizarre.  Even just writing about it now is making my mouth dry out just thinking about it! 

However, I am in LOVE with the marinated chalkidiki olives!  I think if someone filled up a big bowl of those and placed it in front of me with a tag that said “dinner” I could just eat those and be happy.  They are really, really, really good!  And come to think of it, Trader Joe's served this olive up in a DUET this summer!!!!  I reviewed it here .  I think they need to keep these marinated chalkidikis year round.  

I also like the amfissa olives in this quartet, the ones David loves so much.  We have not tried the regular kalamon yet.

I like the packaging of these – that each is in its own little bag.  When we buy olives at the “olive bar” at a grocery store near our house, I like to keep the varieties separate, so I appreciate that TJ’s kept them like that.  One disadvantage of the packaging is that if you do not plan to eat them all in one sitting you need to find a way to STORE them.  I have put them in plastic containers, but if you had little glass jars those would be good, too. 

Here are the little individually sealed bags.  Cool!

We bought one box and I opened and ate the marinated chalkidikis.  Then I worried because we were out of the really delicious ones!  So I bought a second box.  Remember that these are a holiday item and once they are gone from the shelves this month they will be gone until next year (and not everything comes back every year, but I hope these do, are you listening TJ’s corporate??). 

David would like to add, “If you are the kind of person who thinks of olives as the  marinated green things in the jars, or black olives, or those shriveled black ones, you need to recognize that you are basically one of those people that thinks is an apple is a Red Delicious.  There is a WORLD out there of apples/olives:  like the Russet, and the Gala, and the Cox’s Orange Pippin…  These are some of the olives that are available to you!  So I would recommend branching out just to have the experience so that you can see what you might like more or less.”

This is an olive.

So, even though I would prefer this box to be a TRIO than a QUARTET since neither of us like one of the varieties included, I am not at all disappointed that we sprung for these and invested in two boxes.  We recommend we go grab a box before your TJ’s runs out of them.

Five bucks for this many tasty olives is a bargain.

I agree with David on the score – 4.25.

Price – $4.99

Rating – 4.25

 *Fringe Festivals:  David mentioned “Fringe Festivals” above.  They are festivals of plays, often unjuried, where artists can perform their work in a supportive environment.  We travel to Fringe Festivals with 2 solo shows that David performs (“7 ( x 1 ) Samurai” and “A Little Business at the Big Top”) and we really like the fringe atmosphere.  You can learn more about Fringe Festivals in general here and see a clip of David’s “Samurai” piece here    .  Let me know what you think of it!!  J

Bonus sunrise photo for anyone still reading.  :)

Day 346 - Giant Greek Green Olives

So MO, a Trader Joe’s Bailey’s Crossroads employee, has really caused a problem in our house.

Mo was working at the sample station the other night when we were in the store.  He was serving something, I can’t even remember what, but in talking to him he asked if we had tried the new olives yet.  Nope, we hadn’t.  We had looked at them, but the jar is SO LARGE that it just seemed like too big of a commitment to get one. 

So Mo opens a jar.  And David eats an olive.

 

At our store these are on an end cap - a section of "new products".  Looks like they are also a Flyer Item this month.

Thanks Mo, we now have FOUR BIG JARS of these huge ass green olives at our house J. 

This is David after Mo gave him a taste of these olives.  Yeah, he was excited.
And look - he has new glasses!

We bought one jar that night.  We stopped and talked to another employee after the olives were in our cart already and he saw them and said something about having bought MULTIPLE jars to save them (they are seasonal and TJ’s won’t have them for long).  Well, that got David to thinking…  So when we were shopping tonight, 3 more jars were purchased.

I mean heck, they are OLIVES.  They are SEALED.  It is not like they are gonna go off!  We will store the unopened ones in the basement where it stays pretty cool.  And David will be a happy man while he has these “in stock” at home. 

Here is David when we went back and he purchased THREE MORE JARS...

The label says “Gigantic, meaty, fresh tasting olives (with pits)”.  That is a good summary. 

Here is my review – these olives are HUGE.  The jar itself is big (1 lb 5 oz), but really the jar has to be big because the olives inside are so large.  The first thing you notice (after you get over the size of these suckers) is the color.  They almost seem an unnatural shade of green.  They have sea salt, but they are some of the least salty olives I have ever had.  The least salty, but the most meaty.  These are seriously meaty, folks. 

They are soft but not at all mushy.  They are very good, but not my favorite olives in the entire world.  I like them, but would I stock up on 4 jars if it was just me I was feeding?  Probably not.  I would get one jar, maybe 2.  I would rate them a 4.25.

I served them (in my fancy olive dishes) the other night at a birthday party dinner.

Now here is what David, who is in love with these olives and might just marry them if he were not already hooked up with me, says about them:  “Soft.  Fleshy.  Ample.  Delicious.  Only slightly salty, and yet still very flavorful.  This was advertised by the guy at TJ’s (editor’s note:  see above, it was Mo) as the best olive he had ever tasted, and I would have to concur. 

Each olive is, of course, different and delightful in its own way, like children.  But when eating this olive one is filled only with the impression that one is eating the best olive ever made.  And, that can’t be true, because there is a whole jar full of olives just like it!!!   I GIVE THESE A 5.”

See??  I told you he loves these.  He actually tricked me into bringing him the open jars of olives before he would give me his reviewing, saying he “needed” to eat another one to be able to tell me his opinion.  Yeah, right, you just wanted another olive, dude.

Price - $6.99 (which at first seemed pricey to us, but when you consider how many olives you get and compare the price to other olives it is actually cheap)

Rating – oh hell…  I was going to average the two ratings together, but David loves these so much I think I should just use HIS rating – THEY GET A 5 J

P.S. – Thanks Mo!!!  You are a super employee.  Your smile, chat with us, and willingness to give us a taste let us discover something we wouldn’t have otherwise bought.  And David is certainly thankful to have found these olives.

Day 240 - Marinated Olive Duo with Lemon and Herbs

I have some fun news to share!!!

This project (reviewing one Trader Joe’s product per day every single day of 2015) began (obviously) on January 1, 2015.  Since that date, we have shopped in Trader Joe’s stores in 10 states and one district – in a total of 16 cities.  I have sent each and every one of the stores (except Dublin, Ohio, I have not written them yet but I will soon!!) a letter and a few of the business cards for this blog.  I also sent a letter to corporate.  Only the corporate office had written me back.  Of course, I was thrilled about the letter from corporate (I wrote about it and showed the letter on day 121).

Well guess what?  Another store wrote back!  Our closest Trader Joe’s is in Clarendon, VA and Rebekah from that store wrote me!  Look, she loves the blog!  J

   

WOW!  The Clarendon, VA TJ's wrote me back! 

She wrote on a Trader Joe’s greeting card – how appropriate (reviewed on day 10 http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/01/day-10-greeting-cards.html  ).  She mentions that her store has some beers not available at Bailey’s (which is our usual go-to store, even though Clarendon is closer…  We were customers at Bailey’s before they built the Clarendon store, plus parking is usually easier at Bailey’s.  But we really like the Clarendon store, too!)  We will go in and introduce ourselves and pick up some of the beer soon.

And guess what else?  REBEKAH INCLUDED A TJ’S GIFT CARD!  Wow!  So cool.  I am not sure how much it is worth because I have not taken it into a store yet.  But I shall. 

So that was very exciting for me.  The card came while I was out of town (at a stressful event) and my partner David opened it for me and read it to me over the phone.  What a treat!  Thanks Rebekah.

ALSO very exciting is this big news:  we finally found GREAT OLIVES at Trader Joe’s!  I was beginning to think it could not be done.  Oh but it can (and was) done.  With much success!

New product - Marinated Olive Duo...  Ahhh, music to my ears.

Here are the olives we tried from TJ’s before finding these gems:

Picholine Olives (day 32) 

http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/02/day-32-picholine-olives.html

Jumbo Pitted Greek Kalamata Olives (day 192)

http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/07/day-192-greek-kalamata-olives-jumbo.html

Lucques Olives (day 76) 

http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/03/day-76-lucques-olives.html

The only olives we tried before and were happy with (not thrilled with, but happy enough) were the Jumbo Pitted Greek Kalamatas. 

But THESE NEW OLIVES beat those hands down.  These are on par with the olives we buy at the “olive bar” at another store!  These olives are the bomb!!!

Having been bitten before, I was nervous to invest in more Trader Joe’s olives.  But the $1.79 we spent on these puppies was money WELL SPENT, trust me.  Here is what we thought of them:

Marinated Olive Duo with Lemon and Herbs- Kalamata and Chalkidika (we hadn’t heard of this one) Olives from Greece

Me:  The packaging is a fail for me.  You have to cut open the vacuum sealed plastic bag and have a Tupperware-like container ready to decant the olives into.  I wish they came in some sort of re-sealable packaging.  And the current packaging is not even recyclable – boo. 

David decanting from the odd packing into fake Tupperware

But the taste of the olives is a-frickin’-mazing.  The green ones are for sure the best ones I have ever had from Trader Joe’s.  The purple/black ones are also very, very good.  They have a lemony and herb flavor.  Delicious!  They have pits, so be careful of your teeth when you bite into them, but I personally prefer olives with pits. 

David tries out a green one

The price, $1.79, is also super reasonable.  These olives are a WIN!  I just wish the packaging was better.  If it was, they would get a perfect 5 star rating from me.

David:  the green olives are meaty and delightful. The black ones are soft but flavorful.  In both cases they are so tasty that you want to keep sucking on the pit (Susan adds – that’s what she said…). 

This is the package you are looking for - go get some!

I would not ding them for the packaging as it is perhaps energy efficient and good for mother earth.  Perhaps the point is that you need to not put these in a Tupperware container, but instead put them in a BOWL and eat them all that night with some wine.  (Susan adds here – that would be like the time David ate a whole bag of Cheetos and vomited…  I think eating the whole package of these olives would be tooooo much in one night.)  David counters that he meant having FRIENDS over to share the olives and wine.   These are the perfect olives to set out in a bowl and eat before dinner while sipping wine. 

Price – $1.79

Rating – 4.75

Day 192 - Greek Kalamata Olives (Jumbo Pitted)

As clearly explained earlier in this blog, WE LOVE OLIVES.  Love them in an unnatural, unhealthy way perhaps.  Love them so much so that we have several special dishes to display olives at parties, even though we rarely have parties…  Olives.  Ahhhhh olives…  We eat them on their own – naked little olives devoured piece by piece.  We eat them over pasta – ahhhh pasta with olives.  We eat them in salads.

The point is – WE LIKE OLIVES, ok?

And, if you have read the previous Trader Joe’s olive reviews here (days 32 and 76), we have not found an olive we are happy with at TJ’s yet.  But did we give up??  No we did not.  We got BACK ON THE HORSE and invested in yet another jar of TJ’s olives – this time Greek Jumbo Pitted Kalamatas.

This is the jar - attempt number 3 to find a palatable Trader Joe's olive....

We had them in a salad.  Four olives for me, four for David.  It was a delicate little salad – mixed greens, tiny baby carrots, the kalamatas, balsamic vinegar, EVOO, and freshly ground salt.  Seems like a fair way to judge this olive, no?

Here are the olives presented in a salad.

And the verdict is in.

This is the best Trader Joe’s olive we have had.  Not the best OLIVE we have had, mind you, but the best one from TJ’s.  Although we both said something like, “It is a KALAMATA, how badly can it be screwed up???”, we had to give it a thumbs up.

First impressions – too mushy.  But then again, it is PITTED.  We normally eat olives with PITS.  I feel like if TJ’s just left these pits in, this would be a better olive.  I know, I know, it is probably some liability thing and a lawyer in California told them it is too dangerous to have pits – someone might break a tooth or choke.  I say ADD A DISCLAIMER TO THE PACKAGE, leaves those pits in, and serve up better olives!

But despite the mush factor, the taste is pretty good.  It is meaty, it is salty, it is kalamata.

So overall – will this be our olive of choice???  No. But is it worth keeping a jar in the fridge in case we run out of olives from the olive bar (of another grocery store)??  YES.

Price- I believe these were $2.99

Rating - 4