Day 357 - Chestnuts AND the Jacksonville Beach, FL Trader Joe's

Color me frustrated today.  My laptop is dying, it will not stay ON, keeps going to a completely black screen.  Even in "safe mode" it won't work.  I have a new laptop (not "new" technically since I got it this summer) but I have not migrated any data to it.  I planned to do that "soon".  Yeah, not soon enough, apparently.  Sigh.  And to top it all off, the NEW LAPTOP won't let me log in!  It won't even help me reset the dumb password.  A trip to Geek Squad is in order, yes, on Christmas Eve Eve. 

Wait - this is FESTIVUS isn't it???  Oh my, I just remembered!  See how flustered I am???  I love Festivus.  One year we made our own Festivus pole and stood outside handing out Marshmallow Peeps to people stopped at the red light!

Anyway, I am frustrated.  My bajillions of photos are on my old computer, including all of my Trader Joe's shots.  Sigh.  Please, please, PLEASE let this be fixable (and not cost tons of money).

In the meantime, I have photos on my camera that I took yesterday at a BRAND NEW (to us) Trader Joe's - Jacksonville Beach, FL!  So I will sync those to David's computer (which I do not enjoy using...) and write from it.  Here goes.

TADA - JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FLORIDA TRADER JOE'S!  Isn't the curved building cool?

First off, the actual store:  it is lovely!  It is super clean (a bit over a year old), bright, and very roomy. And guess what - they do wine tastings every single day.  Do you hear that, Bailey's Crossroads Trader Joe's??  I know it helps sell a lot of wine!  Heck, I would even volunteer to sit in the store and make little tick marks if you would like a "scientific" study done on how effective wine tasting is (I would, of course, need to taste wine while conducting my study...).  

We were surprised to find that the Jacksonville store has almost no 2015 holiday products left.  All of the other Trader Joe's we  have gone to have tons of lotions and potions and most importantly, CHOCOLATES for the holidays, but the Jacksonville Beach store was about stripped clean of any of that.  Those Jacksonville people know their seasonal products when they see 'em and scoop them up apparently!

They aren't kidding, folks.  Grab the seasonal stuff if you want it!

Now, the EMPLOYEES.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Seriously folks, they have some NICE PEOPLE working at this store!!!  I am going to give a shout out to one for now (more in the coming days entries):  PAUL.  Paul, you are the man!!  He was polite, friendly, and so warm and welcoming!  I told him about my reviews and this blog and he was so interested.  

Here is PAUL, he is just as nice in person as he looks in this photo.  Plus helpful!

Paul introduced me to some special people (more about that in an upcoming entry) and then, get this, GAVE ME A GIFT.  Wait, not even A gift, but GIFTS!!!  He gave me pink roses (beautiful) and a Florida Trader Joe's bag full of goodies!!!!  Is that fabulous or is that fabulous???  Paul, thank you so much for making me feel so welcome in your store.  The flowers are all spread out around the house and it looks beautiful in here now!  I have already used the TJ's bag twice!  And the snacks, well you KNOW the snacks will get put to good use!!!  

LOOK at all of these great gifts Paul bestowed upon me!  

OK, I guess I need to review something.  I have to get this in before midnight so as not to mess up this whole project just cuz of technology giving me a headache.  So let's look at CHESTNUTS, shall we?

David likes to eat chestnuts during the winter holiday season.  He remembers his dad making them when he was a kid.  (I didn't grow up with chestnuts and they are still a bit weird to me.)  David also remembers eating them from street vendors in Paris, and we get them when we go to New York City, too (case in point - had some in NYC just a couple weeks ago!).  

Last year we bought a bag at Trader Joe's and then let them sit around for so long without making them that by the time we got around to them, they were not good anymore.  This year we did things differently!

Picked up another bag of chestnuts yesterday at the Jacksonville Beach store.  

David, the chestnut liker in the family, is also the chestnut MAKER.  Here is how he does it:  he cuts a cross in the top of the nut to prevent it from exploding, then cooks them in a hot oven (around 400) for about 15 - 20 minutes.  One year he soaked them in water about 20 minutes before cutting and cooking them, on the theory that might make them moister when cooked.  But once he was done with them he decided the soaking had no effect, so don't bother.

He liked the Trader Joe's chestnuts when we made them in November.  In fact, I liked them, too. Then, like I mentioned, we went to NYC and bought some from a street vendor and they were like triple the size of the TJ's nuts.  I think that made David envious or something...  So now he is not quite as enamored of the TJ's chestnuts, cuz he feels like they are "small".   

$4.99 - a fair price if I do say so myself.

Having written all of that, I asked him his thoughts and here is what he says, "These are a traditional seasonal event, so perhaps more delicious for their sentimental value than pure taste.  The nuts themselves are rich, large, and of a taste all their own.  

If you have never tried chestnuts you should do so.  They are quite sweet as nuts, although not in a sugary way.  They are hard to de-shell sometimes but there is nothing wrong with eating the inner fibrous skin if you can't get that off.  Ideally both the outer shell and the inner skin will come off with careful peeling and reveal a perfect, moist, golden nut looking like a tiny rat brain.  :)  Mmmmm, delicious!

Chestnuts roasting by an "open fire"...
Well, as "open fire" as you get in a beach house with no fireplace... 

In practice though, it is usually a numbers game; some nuts will be so hard you can't get the shells off, some will be mealy or have a rotten spot inside.  But the REST will be delicious and warm!  These TJ's nuts are medium sized (editor's note:  see!  I knew he would mention the size!!  Ha!) but relatively fresh so most of them are good.  You can probably get whopper sized ones at a higher price somewhere, but these are fine.  I give these a 4."  

Here is a bonus photo of the bottom of my new shopping bag from Jax.  Did you ever look at the BOTTOM of your TJ's bag??  You should - they are always cool!

Look!  The Florida bag bottom has a postcard written to corporate!  :)

Price - $4.99

Rating - 4

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 343 - Fresh Squeeze Orange Juice

We bought this little 1 pint bottle of unpasteurized fresh Orange Juice during our shopping adventure at the Chelsea Trader Joe’s with Ttrockwood.  Since we were going to be running around New York City all day, I figured having this little bottle of juice in our bag could both quench our thirst and give us a “pick me up” if we got tired from all of the walking.  Plus, orange juice is high in vitamin C, so bonus!

This photo sort of makes it look larger than the 1 pint it actually is

I opened it and drank the first sips while riding the subway.  That was strange to me, because you CANNOT eat or drink on the metro we normally ride (Washington DC).  When I see people chowing down on NYC trains it surprises me, then I remember that there is no rule about it in NYC (or at least if there is one, they do not enforce it).

I TOTALLY drank this on the subway.  Rule breaker!!!!  :)

I busted the juice out again when we were standing around waiting to see if we won tickets to see the show “Hamilton” on Broadway.  (Note:  we did NOT win tickets in the lottery, but if you are ever in NYC and want to see a show, try the lotteries!  They are fun!  If you win, you get super discounted tickets.  Last time we were there David’s name got drawn in the “Wicked” lottery J.)

The "Hamilton" lottery has begun!  Will we be lucky???  (Spoiler alert:  we were not lucky.)

Here is the sign for the show - we saw the SIGN, just not the SHOW...

Then we drank the rest of the juice while eating our Mega Crunchy Salad with a Bite in Times Square (reviewed yesterday here ).  We sure made that little bottle of juice last!

This was not a cheap juice, but was totally worth the cost.  We like to buy oranges and squeeze them ourselves, but it is not like you have a juicer when you are standing on a NYC sidewalk or in the metro…  This bottled version was just as good as if we had squeezed the oranges ourselves.  It was fabulous.  It had a little bit of pulp but not toooo much – just enough to make it interesting.  It was extremely “orange-y” and very tasty.

Signage at the Chelsea TJ's - their artist has cool handwriting.

David – “I quite agree with Susan’s assessment.  What I normally worry about with store bought orange juices is that they will squeeze the orange so hard that you get that rind bitterness in it.  With this juice there is none of that going on.  It is just pure liquid delight.  It has a tasty sweet orange taste.  I give it a 4.75.”

Upon discussion, we were both tempted to give this juice a rating of 5, but because it was pretty expensive we dinged the score just a little bit.  It is worth the splurge though! 

This photo is from a previous trip to NYC.  It has nothing to do with orange juice, I just really like it.  David can basically jump a mile high.  As you can see here, sometimes the TIMING on our couples jumps are a bit off...

Here's another totally unrelated photo - shot in NYC on an earlier visit.  I love it.  

Price – $2.29

Rating – 4.75

Day 342 - Mega Crunchy Salad with a Bite

Here’s the thing:  “internet life” is sort of like “pretend life”, isn’t it?  I mean, online, the people “aren’t real”, which is why some folks can sometimes say such mean, hateful things that they would not say in a face to face conversation; or post insane photos of themselves that they would never take out and pass around at a family gathering.  The internet can seem like a make-believe world. 

Granted, my view of life online is decidedly different than that:  I try to live a genuine “online life” just as I do in “real life”.  I don’t make things up, I don’t only post flattering photos (oh heavens, I think this blog is proof that there are some unflattering photos of David and I out in cyberspace…), and I don’t post things online that I would not want to say to someone in a real life conversation.

Even so, “internet life” and “real life” ARE different. 

But sometimes “internet life” and “real life” somehow magically intersect, and when that happens, you find yourself in a Trader Joe’s on a Sunday morning in Chelsea (NYC) saying, “Are you Ttrockwood???”.

YES!!!  I GO TO MEET TTROCKWOOD, A READER OF THIS BLOG!!!!!  (If the ALL CAPS didn’t indicate it clearly enough, I will spell it out for you:  I was very excited!)

LOOK!!!  I met Ttrockwood in REAL LIFE!  In the Trader Joe's Chelsea store.

Ttrockwood is a reader and frequent commenter here.  I always like when Ttrockwood comments.  And I already had a super cool and fun experience with Ttrockwood earlier this fall when we did a HONEY EXCHANGE – they didn’t have Tuscan honey at their Trader Joe’s, so I offered to send some (review here), and in return, Ttrockwood sent ME Mike’s Hot Honey that is only available in THEIR TJ’s (review here).  I mean, that honey exchange already sort of blew my mind – that a person I had never met in real life was interacting with me not only ONLINE but via the US POSTAL SERVICE was bizarre!!!

So when we planned a quick trip to NYC recently, I contacted Ttrockwood to ask if we could meet up.  I was a little nervous.  It was not because I was AFRAID to meet, but because I was afraid Ttrockwood might think I was a weirdo or a stalker or something!  I mean, I just emailed out of the blue and was like, “Hey, do you want to meet us at a Trader Joe’s??”.  Sorta strange…

So when a positive reply came back and a date/time were set, I was so excited!!! 

Ttrockwood teaching David some of the finer points of inner city TJ's shopping

I have to let you in on a secret – for all the months that Ttrockwood has been commenting here and I have been smiling and reading the comments out loud to David, I have been unable to identify Ttrockwood with a pronoun.  That is because I have never known if Ttrockwood was a male or female.  And that mystery was lovely!!!  I so enjoyed the verbal challenge of not applying a pronoun!  (Oh sure, I could have tried the gender neutral “Ze”* but that is quite cumbersome for some reason…)   So I would say things like, “David!!  Ttrockwood is down to meet us at the Trader Joe’s in Chelsea!  They will be there at 10:30 am!”.  J  I LIKED not knowing a gender, but I was also curious to see him/her face to face and figure out which pronoun was more appropriate!   (Side note:  in my work as a sign language interpreter I often face the challenge of unknown gender, as ASL is not as definite as English in pronouns.  So maybe it is because of this experience in my professional life that I found this challenge to be so fun in my personal life.)

Of course, Ttrockwood has seen a bazillion photos of us here, so knew who to look for when we met up.  But all I knew was that the person would be blonde and have a camo backpack.

But it turns out that info was more than enough to quickly see Ttrockwood at the TJ’s entrance and blurt out, “Hey, are you TTROCKWOOD???” and give her a big hug!! 

Introductions (and pronouns) done, we set about shopping at one of her local Trader Joe’s.  It was so fun to have a personal concierge showing us around!  She knew all of the ins and outs of the Chelsea store and was happy to teach us.  And let’s just say, there is sort of a lot to learn about shopping that urban TJ’s! 

Two long ass lines - very organized and cool

First off, the line basically goes through the whole store.  It is really well managed and moves quickly.  There is an employee at the end of the line with a cute “End of Line” banner, and an employee at the middle of the line with a “Middle of Line” banner.  The middle is important because, pay close attention here, the middle is where the line SPLITS INTO TWO lines.  “HUH???” you think.  I KNOW, crazy, eh??  And that is where having a tour guide like Ttrockwood with you makes all the difference!  She explained that if you want to grab BAKED GOODS or REFRIGREATED MEATS while waiting in line, you take the OUTSIDE/RIGHTHAND of the 2 lines, but if you want to continue shopping for FROZEN GOODS or TREATS while in line, you migrate to the INSIDE/LEFTHAND line.  Man, shopping in Chelsea is COMPLEX!!  (But cool.)

Here's the MIDDLE OF THE LINE guy, see his banner??

The store was much, much bigger than anticipated.  The footprint would be big even for a suburban location where they paid much less rent.  Ttrockwood explained that we were there at a “slow time” and amateurs like us would get eaten alive if we showed up during peak hours.  J 

Of course, many things are the same as they are in other Trader Joe’s – friendly staff, double bagged groceries, tasting station.  Actually the tasting station was funny, because it was completely obstructed by the outside line.  Oh sure, I guess you could pick the outside line to wait in if you wanted to grab a sample, but what if you were still SHOPPING and wanted a sample?  I wormed my way between the people in line to nab a tiny plop of oatmeal.  I doubt my technique was “correct” but hey, I was a tourist!!

Ttrockwood taught us her patented “drop it and grab it technique” that she uses at her crowded Trader Joe’s!  It goes like this:

1.        Take your place in the long ass line.

2.       Drop your shopping basket (the little handheld one) in your spot to save your place. 

3.       Quickly grab the desired item from the nearest aisle.

4.       Return to your basket and drop in the item before the line moves!

See, it is lessons like that that you cannot learn from a YouTube video!

Our lunch!

We decided to grab a Mega Crunchy Salad with a Bite to eat later in the day, and Ttrockwood got the same salad.  That way we could review them “together” (though eating them apart).  Ttrockwood sent me her review:

Salad close up

 Ttrockwood - “I had my Mega Crunchy salad today and my deep thoughts are......

I loved the texture and fork sized bites of crunchy veggies.  The beans and quinoa were great additions, so it's a legit salad meal vs salad that leaves you starving an hour later. The cilantro dressing packet had waaaay too much for one salad.  I liked it, but didn't pay enough attention to the label so the spicy kick surprised me (be warned if you're sensitive to spicy stuff). 

I'll totally buy it again. Solid 4.5 here. “

David and I did the totalllllly tourist thing of sitting in Times Square and eating our salad.  It was a strangely warm December afternoon so a great day to dine al fresco!  We thought we sat on the “sunny side” of the steps, but shortly after we dug into the salad the skyscrapers soon blocked the sunshine L.

Panorama of our lunchtime view.  I am not sure you can see it in this photo, but on the left side there is
an ad for KINKY BOOTS very near an ad that says, "A Savior is Born".  Ahhh NYC.

I must point out:  this is the first review I have ever done where, in the middle of the review, a complete stranger walked by us with his hand DOWN HIS PANTS feeling himself.  I kid you not.  In the middle of Times Square.  He made no attempt to hide it.  He didn’t seem to be doing it to “impress” anyone.  He was simply walking up all of the steps to get to the top and take a group selfie with his friends, but along the way he decided he needed to unzip his pants and play with himself.  Only in New York…

Now, here is what we thought of Trader Joe’s Mega Crunchy Salad with a Bite (with quinoa, carrots, adzuki beans, jicama, sunflower seeds, and cranberries with a cilantro dressing) (ironically the list of ingredients on the front do not mention LETTUCE, but I can confirm there is, indeed, actual lettuce in there, too):

Tasty salad in a fun environment!

Me – I really, really liked this!  It is delicious.  Many pre-packaged salads suffer from the dreaded “not enough dressing” problem, making them dry.   THIS salad does not have that issue, in fact my lunch date put the whooooole packet of dressing on and for my taste there is a bit TOO much dressing.  I really like the dressing though!  It has something hot and spicy in it, giving it a real ZIP. 

The veggie bits in the salad are chopped very small and are, as the name promised, crunchy.  I like them a lot.  I did not notice the taste of sunflower seeds until my last bite of salad. 

When reading the list of ingredients one might fear that this salad would be “too crunchy-granola-tree-hugger-y” and that people who were not ardent vegetarians might think it was yucky, but that would be wrong.  It is good.

This is a healthy lunch and it is yummy.  It is easy to grab and go.  Don’t forget to pick up a fork at Trader Joe’s before you leave if you want to eat this on the go (we forgot and had to sneak into a Starbucks and get one).  I give this a 4.75.

We sorta look like giants here!  This was our lunch spot.

David – “THANK YOU FOR PICKING THIS SALAD OUT TTROCKWOOD!  This is a great salad, mostly because of the plethora of sauce (dressing) that you can put on it that kind of blends/melds everything together.  All of the elements are delicious and it has such great “taste-ness” because of that cilantro dressing.  I give this a 4.75.”

Post Trader Joe's selfie :)

Now on to the rating.  Of course, I give the whole experience of actually meeting one of my blog readers and shopping with her a big ol’ shiny FIVE!!!!  It was most excellent.

For the salad, I will average our scores together.  Thanks for coming to Chelsea to shop with us, Ttrockwood.  It rocked.  And guess what guys?  Later this month I get to meet another reader, Marilyn, in Winter Park, Florida!  Wheeeeeee!!!

*Here is a link to an MIT page containing “Ze”, the gender neutral pronoun I referred to earlier:  Ze link here

Chelsea TJ's signage

Price – $3.99

Rating – 4.75

Day 92 - Tart Cherry 100% Juice Blend

This juice wasn’t as TART as it was THICK.  Maybe it should be called “Thick Cherry 100% Juice Blend”.  I mean, it was TART, but not toooo tart.  And really not too thick, either.  It was quite good.  It is not the kind of juice you want to grab when you are super thirsty, because it is more like a little MEAL than it is a thirst quencher.  But it feels quite HEALTHY to drink.  J

Tart Cherry Juice Blend - on the left of the photo.  I will try the other juices before the year is out! 

We picked this up on our recent visit to the first ever New York City Trader Joe’s!  We chose it because we had never seen it at “our” Trader Joe’s in Northern Virginia and so thought it was special.  However, I went to our local Trader Joe’s tonight and oops, they DO have it, we just had never noticed it!

Anyway, it is a healthy juice – I would put it in the Pom category if you know what Pom is.  The label says it is “tart cherry juice from concentrate with notes of plum, pear and apple juices and white grape juice from concentrate”.  It definitely tastes mostly like cherries.

It says it is 2 servings and I think that is about right.  One thing that might seem like a small point but to me it was good – it has a tight screw on cap.  Some juices have flimsy pop or snap on lids, and those are not good if you want to throw it in your bag after you have started drinking it.  With this tight cap, we felt confident bringing it with us after we had opened and re-closed it.

See??  You can open and reseal it - drink it in the NYC Subway Station!  

 If you like cherry juice and you want a healthy snack/drink, try it out.

Price - $2.99

Rating – 3.75