Flowers -- Holidays or Everyday

This is my periodic reminder to YOU, dear reader, to BUY FLOWERS FOR YOUR MOTHER.

Go to Trader Joe's.  Pick up a poinsettia if they still have some in stock.  Get one of those sweet little Christmas trees in pots.  Get a bouquet of pretty colored blooms.  Get ANYTHING - just GET FLOWERS FOR YOUR MOTHER!

Sure, she may say, "I don't need flowers,".  She might say, "Oh, you shouldn't have...".  But trust me, you SHOULD.

And you might think, "But I can't afford flowers!  I mean, it is the holiday season, I have spent so much on gifts already, I am strapped for cash".  But flowers at Trader Joe's are very, very reasonably priced, and your mom will SMILE when you give them to her.  

Don't wait for a special occasion-  do it today.  Think of all she has done for you - all of the "gifts" she has given over the years (some that came in boxes and some that were gifts of time and love).  Gift her back!  Show her you care.  Do it today.

Do it while you can still look her in the eye as you hand them to her.  Tell her how thankful you are for all she has done for you.  If you are 6, 16, or 50 - if your mom is still here on earth, GIVE HER FLOWERS.

Because someday, you won't be able to hand them to her.  Sure, you might still buy them in her memory, but trust me, it is not the same.  Give them to her NOW, while she can appreciate them.

Happy holidays one and all.  And God bless us, every one.  

Cinnamon Roll Wreath

Today’s review is of a holiday product – Trader Joe’s Cinnamon Roll Wreath.  We are visiting Omaha, Nebraska to have an early Christmas celebration with my family, so I thought, “Who better to invite to be guest reviewers than my dad and his wife??”.  May I present – John (my dad) and Evelyn (his wife)!!

Ho, ho, ho - MERRRRRY CHRISTMAS!  Santa stopped by early!

This photo was taken the night of our family Christmas, when Santa showed up!  Yup, the big man himself made an appearance!  It was quite fun.  We have 5 believers in our family – well, 4 believers and 1 too young to really get it…  But they all liked Santa (wellll, that is stretching it…  In all honesty, the 2 toddlers were not so fond of the jolly old fat man).  But the adults loved him! 

Tallis is one of our BELIEVERS.  She WHISPERED what she wanted to Santa!

Anyway, David and I stopped at the Omaha Trader Joe’s in One Pacific Place and picked up a few things, including a CINNAMON ROLL WREATH.  The whole family was crashing my dad’s house (uninvited) to eat pizza after a hockey game, and I thought a few cinnamon rolls after pizza sounded great.  However, I failed to read the package instructions…

Oops, I should have turned the box over and read the other side...

These suckers are not simple to prepare.  I mean, they are not DIFFICULT by any stretch of the imagination, but they are not like a tube of Pillsbury rolls that you just pop open and bung in the oven.  These need to sit and rise before baking.  Also, they do not come with the GLAZE…  Again, I should have read that and known before we bought them, but it was a “grab and run” because we are rushing around doing family things.  Had I KNOWN we needed to make glaze, we would have picked up some powdered sugar (because, let’s be honest here, my dad and Evelyn do not cook much., let alone BAKE, so finding powdered sugar that was not expired a decade ago in the pantry would have been impossible…).  In the “fly by the seat of your pants” category, David Googled and learned he could make the glaze with regular (not powdered sugar), which he found and mixed with water and vanilla to make glaze.   

So, due to these treats needing to rise before baking, having them as a late night snack was out.

Hey look - a WREATH made out of CINNAMON ROLLS!  (Pre-glaze)

But that left them for breakfast the next morning!  Evelyn had sort of a hard time waiting for them (because, like I said, they had to rise).  But when they were finally ready, she was thrilled with the results.  Here is what everyone thought:

Dad:  “These are delicious!  I give them a 4.95.  It sounds hard to make them, but it really wasn’t.  Susan is making it sound like they are very difficult to make, but they really are not (editor’s note:  Dad did not assist with the preparation… 😊 ) .  I like them WITH the frosting best – David makes a mean glaze.  If they were any better they would be perfect!  I give these a 4.95.  (Editor’s note:  I explained that normally in this blog we only use .25 variations, so he could give them a 4.5 or a 4.75 or a 5.  But he INSISTED on the 4.95.  And he is the dad, so he gets to pick his score!)

Dad loved them

Evelyn:  “I would say these are perfect!  I prefer them with the glaze.  They are perfect! Let’s have them again!  I give them a score of 5.”

David:  “The taste is nice.  The glaze is good.  They are a little under-cooked, a bit under-done tasting.  (Editor’s note yet again:  I followed the instructions and baked these right in the middle of the recommended baking range time.)  I like them.  I give them a 3.5.”

David liked 'em

Susan:  I agree with David that the centers of the cinnamon rolls were a bit underdone, but I sort of like that taste.  I agree with everyone else that the frosting/glaze is a good addition.  I think the whole “wreath” concept is super pretty.  If I got them again I would bake them a bit longer.  These would be good for Christmas morning breakfast.  I give them a 4.5.

Sweet, fluffy, and buttery - good description

There you have it.  If your Trader Joe’s still has these in stock, grab a box.  They are fun and tasty.

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Susan and David (and Santa, of course)

Price: $4.99

Rating (average of 4 raters):  4.5

Poinsettias - Please Treat Your Mom

We are visiting Omaha, Nebraska for a week to celebrate Thanksgiving, birthdays, and an upcoming wedding with my family.  Part of my visits to Nebraska always involve visiting my mom's grave.  I wrote about this once last year, explaining how I find it sad to go visit her, yet also very necessary, and the act of bringing flowers to the grave is somehow comforting. 

This is my mom's handwriting.  I find it so comforting to see it.

I recommend that you save a card or letter from your parents - it

is lovely to have their writing after they are gone. 

Last year I stopped into the Trader Joe's at One Pacific Place in Omaha and bought a very pretty bouquet to take to the cemetery and the woman in the demo area was super sweet and helpful (that piece can be found here:  floral bouquet review ).  So this week when I wanted flowers to put on Mom's grave, I headed out to TJ's to see what they had. 

There are a lot of flowers and plants to choose from at TJ's

As you may have noticed if you have shopped recently, TJ's is now filled with holiday flowers.  They have lots of lovely flowers and potted plants to choose from.  I settled on a medium sized red poinsettia (I guess it would be considered "small" in other stores, but TJ's has some adorable teeny tiny poinsettias so I will call this 4.5" one "medium").

So pretty, and so reasonably priced, too

The red flowers are so bright and just right for this time of year.  The sun was shining when we visited my mom and I was glad to have a gift to bring, even though she isn't really there to receive it.

My mom - I think this photo was taken in the 70s.

My point in telling you this story is this:  if your mother is still alive, please visit her now while you can.  Go see her when you can still hug her, still have a conversation with her.  And bring her FLOWERS.  You don't have to spend a ton of money on them, just bring her SOMETHING pretty.  Give them to her NOW, while you can hand them to her and see the smile on her face.  Please. 

As pretty as these flowers look here, they will be a million times more

beautiful on your mother's coffee table.  Bring her some, please. If she asks

why you are bringing flowers, just tell her I sent you, and that you love her.

Price - $2.99
Rating- 5

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 365 - FINAL OFFICIAL DAY and review of Blason de Bourgogne Brut Reserve Crement de Bourgogne Burgundy

THIS IS IT!!  I can seriously say, I DID IT.  365 days.  1 product EVERY.  SINGLE.  DAY.  A whole year!  Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!

Let’s look at a few stats:

·         I took at least 1,850 photos for this project. I say “at least” because I do not have an exact count.  I tried to keep them organized in a folder but sometimes life just got too out of control, so some are thrown about in other places on my laptop.  Many of them were featured in the blog, some were total duds and never saw the light of day, until now…  J

Florida Lager - scary in the store for some reason, but never reviewed...

"Scary Clown" wine - never reviewed

English Breakfast Tea - never reviewed

·         Each entry took an average of 45 – 50 minutes to write (I think).  If we add all of those together, I spent around 304 hours this year writing this blog.  That is ALMOST THIRTEEN FULL DAYS (if I worked round the clock) just to WRITE the blog (not counting taking photos, cooking, tasting…)

·         55 guest reviewers participated (counting each guest reviewer only once even if they tasted on more than one day)

Guest reviewer Elizabeth

·         Of the 55 guest reviewers, at least 8 of them were complete strangers before I asked them to participate  J

·         One review was in ASL see it here

·         I reviewed 29 wines (that is almost a full month of wine!) (30 wines if you count today's review!!)

Wine is Fine

·         One review was via Skype see it here

·         35 products got coveted 5 star reviews!

·         Only 2 products got 0 star reviews – Cranberry Juice (here) and Pumpkin Scones (here )

Poopy Pumpkin Scones

·         The blog keeps a running tally of the 10 most popular posts.  I am proud that as of the moment I am writing that list is really varied!  It contains 1 pasta, 1 fish, 3 toiletry items, 1 snack food, 3 wines, and one chocolate!!  The bottom 1 or 2 entries change frequently.

·         The entry with the most views BY FAR is the one about Head to Toe Moisturizing Balm.  It sucked as a product (1.5 stars) but people must really like that review cuz it has 1,843 views.  J  You can see it here:  here.

For some reason this review is super popular

·         We visited 24 Trader Joe’s stores this year

OMAHA Trader Joe's

·         We visited Trader Joe’s stores in 11 states (plus one District) this year

·         Of all of those visits, only one store (Clarendon, VA) and TJ’s corporate replied to letter I sent to each one (except Jacksonville Beach – your letter is coming)

·         I met one reader in person this year – Ttrockwood, in Chelsea, NYC (see her here)

·         I did reusable bag and honey exchanges with 2 other readers this year (a 3^rd was tentatively scheduled but cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control).

A reader SENT me these!!!  So nice!!!

·         I gave away around 120 business cards for the blog (I am not a great marketer…).

·         One review featured a video of an original song about bacon

• And final stat - as of this morning, the blog has surpassed 75,000 total hits!!!

And now, with n further ado, drum roll please…  May I present, with a couple of tears, the FINAL REVIEW for this year long Trader Joe’s 365 review project!!!

I decided to close out this amazing project with a bang - well, with a BUBBLY!!!  We went to Trader Joe's to get a champagne to have a double celebration:  making it through the year of reviews, and NEW YEAR’S EVE!! 

David making his fancy pants hoity toity face with our "champagne" purchase

Only, we ran into a slight glitch...  The blog technically finishes TODAY, December 31, 2015, and New Year’s doesn't really happen until MIDNIGHT, making it January 1, 2016...  I couldn't wait until midnight to pop open the bubbly to review, because then I would have missed a day on the blog!

So we did the only sensible thing - WE MOVED NEW YEAR'S UP A NIGHT!  Yes siree, we celebrated New Year’s (and the blog) last night!!  (Of course we will celebrate AGAIN tonight, but for you, gentle reader, we will sacrifice and celebrate twice...) 

BREAK OUT THE BUBBLY - it's faux New Year's Eve!!

The "champagne" we chose has to have quotation marks around it, because in actuality it is a sparkling wine and not a champagne (which can only come from a specific region in France).  But hey, champagne without quotation marks was out of our budget, and maybe it is out of yours too, so we got this sparkling wine which I shall refer to as "champagne".  

After a day at the beach and an evening of putting together an Ikea Stuva (see here - who says it is just for a kid's bedroom? It screams "kitchen storage unit" to me!!) we busted out the "champagne" (Blason de Bourgogne Brut Reserve Crement de Bourgogne Burgundy) with our friend Kathy. 

Beach kindness - David "saving" a jelly fish/man o' war (he was a tiny bit alive but still floated back to the sand.
RIP little fella)

Wheee - THE BEACH!!!!

David feeding his buddies

Here is what we all thought:

Kathy - "This is light and refreshing.  It is quite nice.  I don't really know much about champagne, so I can't compare it.  So I am not comparing it to anything else, I am just taking it on its own face value.  I would give it a 4.5."

Nothing says fancy like plastic flutes.

David - "I like this better than many fancy champagnes that I have drunk.  (Editor’s note:  I think David must have drunk fancy champagnes in a former life before he was reincarnated as himself, cuz I have been hanging out with him for quite a few years now and “fancy champagnes” are not normally on his list of drinks…)   I think it is tasty in the sense that it is, as my wife says when she is referring to me, FRUITY!  And it has a lot of taste and it tastes like WINE, which is better than CHAMPAGNE, which usually to me just tastes like bubbles and effervescence, which I am sure is what it is supposed to do, but I like WINE.  So there ya go.  I will give this a 4.75."

The fancier the people are, the higher the pinky is raised.  Proven fact.  :)

Me – I like champagne.  I don’t normally have it often, and now I realize that probably what I have drunk before at places that tell me they are serving me champagne is really “champagne” (sparkling wine like this is).   I mean, if they just put it in a fancy glass and tell you it is champagne you go with it, right? 

I like this TJ’s “champagne” better than many champagnes or “champagnes” I have been served in the past because this seems lighter, fruitier, and not soooo dry.  Sometimes champagne/”champagne” has a weird thing where you are more thirsty after you drink it than before you drank it!  It is just so dryyyyy.  But this one doesn’t feel like that, and I enjoyed it. 

This “champagne” was a nice celebratory way to ring in the “New Year”.  I GIVE IT A 5.  (But I have to admit that the 5 is as much (perhaps more even more so) for the completion of this project as it is for the taste of this particular drink. 

After hearing my rating of a 5, David changed his to a 5, too! And after hearing David raise HIS score, Kathy raised HERS, too.  J  So in the end it was unanimous – A FIVE FOR THE “CHAMPAGNE” AND A FIVE FOR THE BLOG!!!  J

A TOAST TO TRADER JOE’S!  AND TO THE NEW YEAR!!!

TO TRADER JOE'S!!!!

Price – $9.99

Rating - 5

Thank you again for reading this year.  I will post infrequent reviews from this point forward, probably mostly TJ’s products that we find that we adore or make us gag.  J

But I would love to keep in contact with you and perhaps inspire you to spread some kindness with my NEW PROJECT – Kindness Activist.  Find it here:

·         Blog – KindnessActivist.blogspot.com

·         Facebook – Kindness Activist

·         Email – kindnessactivist@gmail.com

·         Twitter – @kindactivist, Kindness Activist, pw Kindness Activist 1

See you on the new kindness blog.  And in the meantime, keep shopping at Trader Joe’s!!!!  (And if you happen to see David and I shopping at a TJ’s, pleeeeease come over and say hi!!)

New year, new project :)

Day 347 - Blueberry Vanilla Chevre (and ALDI)

Aldi.

There, I said it.  Aldi!

There is much confusion over Aldi, a German grocery store chain that has some stores in the United States.  Some people have told me it IS related to Trader Joe’s, others have said it is NOT.  I cannot find any info on the relationship on the official Trader Joe’s website, but there are loads of articles online is you search.  The majority point to this:  Aldi and Trader Joe’s are separate companies owned by German BROTHERS.  Apparently they used to run a company together in Germany (called Aldi), but, like their country, Aldi SPLIT into Aldi North (Aldi Nord) and Aldi South (Aldi Sud) after the siblings got into what I can only presume was a huge fight (the article here says the fight was over selling cigarettes:  Aldi article.

So now Aldi SOUTH operates Aldi, and Aldi NORTH operates Trader Joe’s. 

At least that is the version of the story I am going with until someone from corporate offices of Aldi and/or Trader Joe’s tells me differently.

So, while they stores are not directly related, their OWNERS are siblings.  I wonder if they get along?  Imagine that holiday meal – Aldi South brother brings Aldi food to the party, while Aldi North brother insists on bringing only Trader Joe’s stuff…  Ahhh, families. 

I have long heard about Aldi but didn’t get to visit one until I was in Omaha recently.  My sister Sherry took me to Aldi, and as you can see from this photo I was excited to go!!

I get to check out an ALDI!!  Omaha (actually Bellevue), NE

First off, the grocery carts are EUROPEAN style.  You deposit a quarter, release your cart, and use it.  Then, at the end of your shopping trip, you return the cart and get your quarter back.  I love it!  (People who leave their carts in parking lots are one of my pet peeves, and this system offers an incentive to return your cart.)

Sherry investing in our shopping cart

Aldi stores are not nearly as well appointed, well lit, or well stocked as Trader Joe’s.  Each Aldi only has a very few number of people working at any given time (I think 3 or 4 employees run the entire store – stock, cashier, do everything).  The displays are not the least bit fancy.  You pay for your shopping bag.  You bag your own groceries.  You are not greeted with a smile or helped to find a product if you need it.  There is not a lush, vibrant produce department.  The aisles are not wide and welcoming.

But ALDI IS CHEAP.  Like, super cheap!!  And that can make it fun!!

Aldi, like Trader Joe’s, mostly carries plain label products, not nationally known brands.  But there were some big brands there.  There are not CHOICES in brands like you would find at other supermarkets though.

(My sister and I had another thing happen at Aldi that made our shopping fun:  there was a super cranky and a bit “off” old man shopping when we were there.  We made the mistake of engaging him in conversation, and h e basically stalked us after that.  He kept FINDING us in aisles and criticizing every single item we put in our cart.  It was hilarious.  He thought everything we were buying was terrible, and even said the PAPER TOWELS we had chosen would kill us.  It became apparent through our “conversation” (which was mostly HIM talking and us being berated…) that he was a veteran.  Well, I politely thanked him for his service, and his reply was, “They all say that.  Then they say F*&%  YOU!!!”.  Bwahahahaha.  That was the first time a service member replied THAT way when I thanked them!!)

Anyway, I wanted to make sure to compare prices while at Aldi, so I looked for things that I knew Trader Joe’s also carried.  One thing I found to compare was Kerrygold Butter.  It is our very favorite butter and I reviewed it for this blog here:  butter review   In the review, I bragged that it is much cheaper at Trader Joe’s than it is at other stores, but guess what?  It is even CHEAPER at Aldi!!!  You can save an extra .30 cents by picking it up at Aldi!  Awesome!

Same butter, even CHEAPER!

Another thing I saw at Aldi that I knew Trader Joe’s carried was Blueberry Vanilla Chevre.  Now that we have picked up a log at Trader Joe’s, I see that the packaging is different (though I suspect the quality is the same?) and the TJ’s version, though one dollar more, is two ounces more. 

Seasonal item at Aldi's.

OK, speaking of Blueberry Vanilla Chevre, let me finally get to today’s review and let you know what we thought of it!!!!

We first had it months ago at Trader Joe’s when they were sampling this cheese spread on top of Triple Ginger Snap Cookies (cookie review).  The taste was deeeelicious, which both surprised and delighted us!  So we decided to buy the cheese and cookies and serve them as appetizers recently at a birthday dinner we hosted.

Don't they look PRETTY??

Turns out that was a big mistake.  Though I am totally cool with “desserts as appetizers”, it turns out our guests view appetizers in a more traditional sense and didn’t like the “sweet for starters” concept.  I am afraid my “eat dessert first” mentality hurt the overall score of this product and for that I apologize, but here is what everyone thought:

Joan (the birthday girl) – “It’s not my favorite.  I love blueberries.  I like chevre on crackers.  I would like this better if the combination was not together.  I prefer plain chevre and plain blueberries rather than the combination.  I don’t think I would have liked it better on a cracker because of the sweetness.  I think I liked it on the ginger, but as an appetizer it was a little sweet for my palate.  It would be an excellent dessert.  As a dessert I would enjoy it with a glass of ice wine.  I give it a 2.”

Greg (Joan’s husband and David’s brother) – “I support my wife in everything, in this as well.  I agree with her – because of the blueberries and the ginger snaps it tasted more of a dessert instead of an appetizer.  If it was dessert I would toss the chevre and just have the blueberries and ginger snaps and that would be fine.  The chevre is frankly overpowered by the blueberries and ginger snaps.  I couldn’t really taste much in the way of chevre, which is a shame because I like chevre…    I would give it a 1.5.”

Isn't it a pretty color??

David –  “I liked it.  I am embarrassed that my family is so critical.  Although it is sweet and you don’t get to taste the chevre as much as you would like, it is its own thing.  Particularly the concept of the ginger snap – it is certainly a dessert.  When we had it in the store it had less blueberry in it.  I give it a 3.5.”

Me – I think it is super kinky to have this cheese on a ginger snap, that is why I like it.  I think the chevre is tangy, the ginger snap is sweet, and the blueberries are neutral.  That’s why I like it – it is like three different tastes in one.  it says there is vanilla, too, but I don’t really taste the vanilla.  I would give it a 4 when served in this combination with the cookies.

Here is what the package looks like

Whew – those reviews are all over the map, eh?

Want to see if there is an Aldi in your area?  Check out this site:  Aldi site

Price (at Trader Joe’s) – $4.99

Rating (4 reviewers averaged) – 2.75 (I really think it should be at least a 3, but I am honoring the math, sigh)