Day 154 - Mediterranean Hummus Snack Pack

Now THIS is a good snack!!! 

We popped into a new Trader Joe’s today – well, new to US and pretty new to the scene, too!  Turns out the Trader Joe’s in Palm Beach Gardens, FL has been open for less than a year.  It’s lovely!  It is nice and clean, fresh, and has sweet employees (especially the guy who was our cashier, whose name on the receipt says “C. Luke”). 

Me outside the Palm Beach Gardens, FL TRADER JOE'S!

We got two items to eat in the car for lunch (we were on a 4.5 hour drive and needed foooood).  We got a pesto chicken wrap (to be reviewed soon) and this Mediterranean Hummus Snack Pack.  Let’s just say – this snack pack was GOOD, the chicken wrap, not so much…

Here is the package - inside here are 2 individual snack packs!

 This pack contains two sealed little packages, each with pita chips and hummus.  The pita chips were crunchy and tasty and the hummus was great!  It is called MEDITERRANEAN HUMMUS, and I think (but am not 100% sure) it is the same as the larger container of Mediterranean Hummus reviewed on this blog on day 78.  Each snack pack contains 4 oz of hummus and some pita chips – just enough for a snack (for us, a shared snack for 2). 

It looks tiny here (photo taken on my lap while eating this in the car) but it didn't feel tiny in real life

 This would be a fantastic thing to pack in a work or school lunch, or to eat as an afternoon pick me up.  I normally think items packaged as “single servings” or tiny snacks are a waste of both money (being over-priced) and packaging materials, but in this case it does not seem too expensive for what you get and the packaging is quite minimal. This is a healthy snack, and a double pack was $1.99, meaning one snack is only a buck!  Well worth it! 

Good price (but not a great sign...  The other artwork on signs was much better in this store)

Price - $1.99

Rating – 4.75

Day 143 - Rene Barbier Mediterranean Red

Ok, how many times am I going to be swayed by a LABEL?  I mean, how many bottles of wine can I pick just because they are pretty???  Apparently, quite a few.  Because this one, exactly like the Rene Barbier White Wine reviewed on day 131, was chosen only because the label looked beach-like and we were heading to the beach…  And, just like the bottle of red, I planned to serve this at our “Beach Bash Party”, but did not…  People drank beer, white wine, and a red that a guest so lovingly brought. 

Cheap red wine with a pretty label

 So now, 3 nights after the party, here I sit, alone, drinking this bottle…  Pitiful, huh?

I exaggerate….  I am not sitting here chugging wine out of a bottle.  I have a tiny juice glass with some of this cheap wine in it.  I mean, a person has to TASTE THE PRODUCTS to write the reviews, right??

Mediterranean Red in action

This wine is “okay”.  When we opened it last night, neither David nor I liked it.  Maybe it was because of what we were pairing it with (which, if memory serves me correctly, was raw baby carrots, potato chips and buffalo wing flavored chip dip…  yeah, now that I write that, I see THAT could have been the problem…  But it was 2 am and we had just gotten in from a night at a theatre festival and were too tired to COOK…)

So tonight, with a fresh palate and mind, I tried this one again and it is not so bad.  It is a blend of grapes, no single note stands out.  It is super cheap - $4.99 – so the line on the label bragging that this is made of “Spain’s finest grapes” must be taken with a grain of salt.  How FINE can a grape be to end up in a bottle of wine costing less than a fiver?? 

But I can see this wine pairing well with pasta or pizza.  Just not buffalo wing flavored chip dip. 

Price - $4.99

Rating – 3.25

Day 131 - Rene Barbier Mediterranean White Wine

It is white. 

It is wine. 

It is cheap. 

It is fine.

 That is a little poem I just composed while drinking this Rene Barbier Mediterranean White wine.  As with most fine wines, we chose it because the label was pretty.  Actually, we chose it because we wanted to have a beach party, and the label has a nice beach scene on it, so it seemed like a good wine to serve at that party!  Sadly, I didn’t wait until said party to open it.  So there ya have it! 

Here it is at the low, low Trader Joe's price of $4.99

This wine is one penny under five bucks.  Serve it chilled.  It is fine.  It is crisp, fruity, and summery.  Is it something that will win awards in hoity toity wine competitions?  I doubt it.  But will it make your face wrinkle up in disgust when you drink it?  Nope. 

Well, now that I wrote that about winning awards, I feel as if I must do due diligence and Google to see if this wine HAS won awards!  One moment please…

Well, I see Total Wine agrees with my assessment that this wine is fruity (they are a bit more specific and call out pineapple and apple…).  And they also charge a full buck more for the same bottle of wine than Trader Joe’s does!

BUT WAIT – if you want to pay even MORE for the same bottle of wine, you could pick it up on Wine Log, who is charging $6.99 per bottle!  The reviews there by customers are for the most part good, including one reviewer named Jason who wrote, “ I imagine I would pair this with fish and poultry, but in reality I like it so much, I pair it with everything but water”.  That’s some high praise there, Jason. 

David, tasting the Rene Barbier Mediterranean White Wine after a day of volunteering at a No H8 photo shoot.

Then, if you want to read a really fancy review of this wine, check this out:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/wine/wine-reviews/lapostolle-cuvee-alexandre-apalta-vineyard-cabernet-sauvignon-2011-chile/article18951075/

For my money, the best (and funniest) line in the review is:  “It’s clean and lean, with an almost spritzy citrus character and nuances of chalk and flint” – cuz who DOESN’T want to drink lean chalk and flint, right??

Price - $4.99 (but feel free to buy it from a website and not Trader Joe's if you want to spend more)

Rating – 3.25

Day 129 - Tzatziki

My friend Heidi turned me on to this product.  She said they get it a lot at Trader Joe’s.  And if Heidi likes it, chances are I will like it!  And I do.

Tzatziki, if you have never had it before, is, as the lid says, a “Creamy Garlic Cucumber Dip”.  It is a Greek sauce and when you eat it, if you close your eyes, you can imagine you are on a small Greek Island enjoying the sea breeze!!! 

Hard to spell, but easy to eat

We had it with our falafel (reviewed yesterday) and I also had it with Pita Bite Crackers (reviewed on day 127).  It is really tasty – adds some zip to what you eat it with.  The chunks of cucumber are a nice size.  It says it is “low fat”, which would normally be a bit of a turn off for me, but it didn’t TASTE low fat, if  you know what I mean.  It IS runny, which means it can get messy, but licking it off your fingers is totally acceptable (at least at our house it is).

Reasonably priced

This is a good summer food.  Enjoy it in warm weather and dream of Greece.

Price – $3.49

Rating – 4.25