50 YEAR CELEBRATION!!!

Get.  Out.

You guys - TRADER JOE'S IS 50 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!

Celebration sign at our local Trader Joe's (they also had balloons!)

Honestly, we had no idea.  I am just so thrilled to be back in the land of TJ's (home in Virginia after a long time away), so we went to the store closest to home, in Clarendon, VA.  Look what we saw before we even got on the elevator in the parking garage:

Party at Trader Joe's??  That elevator couldn't come fast enough!!!

PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I tell you, Trader Joe's Clarendon knows how to party!  For starters, they have a guy named GARY who works there who is a musician and he performs!  Like, IN THE STORE!!!  We were lucky enough to see him singing one other time and it was great.  Sadly, today we were there at the wrong time, but he was setting up as we left and he gave us a sneak peek at his set list:  all songs from 1967!!!  (Get it??  50 year anniversary, songs from 50 years ago...  Gary is clever that way!!) We are going to try and go back tomorrow and see him play.

They also are having a drawing where we miiiight win a great give bag full of TJ's merch or a gift card (fingers crossed...).

Also super cool, the employees all had 50 year TJ's t-shirts.  But ULTRA COOL was Kara, who went out of her way to totally bedazzle the hell out of her shirt!

Each letter is BEDAZZELED!  Seriously, I love it.  Adorable!

She even blinged up the BACK!

Seriously, the shininess of the shirt helped with the party vibe!!!

















And guess what??  There are items on sale for .50 cents!!!  I mean, wowsa!!!

2 days only - 50 cent stuff!

 

For .50 cents each we got:

A baguette (which we are taking with us for a pre-show picnic when we see the remarkable David Sedaris perform tonight!).

Ooooh lala - a cheap baguette!

Get it while you can!

A mango.

Now that's CHEAP!

Spaghetti.

You HAVE to have spaghetti in the cupboard at all times, right?
Get some while it is on sale!

3 avocados (.50 cents each) which David was so psyched about that he juggled them.

Wheeeee!  AVOCADOS!

Corn.

And, get this, we got a dozen eggs, normally $1.29, BUT TODAY AND TOMORROW FIFTY CENTS!

Looks like we were not the only ones grabbing eggs

BARGAIN!

Now, I can't promise you that YOUR Trader Joe's will have these same items on sale.  Apparently each store is having special deals on different things.

And I certainly can't promise you the dulcet tones of Gary (cuz there is only one Gary...) or the blingy shirt of Kara (again, only one Kara...).  But I still say - YOU NEED TO GO TO YOUR TRADER JOE'S TONIGHT OR TOMORROW (August 19th and 20th, 2017) TO CELEBRATE 50 YEARS OF JOE.

Cuz you know as well as I do, that deserves a party.

Day 234 - Triple Cream Brie with Mushrooms

This cheese is DECADENT!   It is the sort of cheese you would expect to find in a little case in some super fancy schmancy wine shop – only it is AT TRADER JOE’S!  And instead of being a bazillion dollars, it is $9.99 a pound.  That means our chunk which was plenty big (almost half a pound) came in for under $5. 

$9.99 per pound

Brie with MUSHROOMS?  I'm in.

Remember how I recently explained that we are in the middle of the Indianapolis Fringe Festival, and that traditionally Fringe artists eat crap the entire time of the Fringe?  Well we are mixing that up a bit this Fringe, and so we showed up at the beer tent with this cheese, a Stilton (to be reviewed soon), some crackers (also deserving of a review forthcoming), and a bottle of wine.  Trust me, this cheese was a change of pace from your “normal Fringe Festival food”. 

We shared with a few artists and later asked them to tell us what they thought of it.  Two performers from the Fourth Wall, a hybrid music group, replied.  Hilary said, “I’m terrible at describing food!  Greg will be better”.  Gee, thanks Hilary!  

Greg is playing accordian.  Oh - and that is Hilary playing upside-down flute...  You can learn more about their group at 

https://www.facebook.com/TheFourthWallEnsemble?fref=ts

But she was right, Greg was good.  Here is a foodie and here is what he had to say about this cheese, “The mushroom Brie had a nice mushroom flavor.  Good earthiness without being over powering like some truffle cheeses (see – I told you he was a foodie!  He has other truffle cheese in his head  to compare this to!).  The cheese itself was somewhat lacking in character, but its’ luxurious creaminess was an excellent backdrop for the savory mushrooms.”

Damn.  Drop the mic.  He needs to be a food critic, no?

This is a damn fine cheese

I would disagree with him slightly in that I do not think the cheese lacked in character, but hey, everyone has their own opinion.

I left this out on the counter for the evening to warm up.  It was lovely and spreadable.  It would be ah-frickin’-mazing on a fresh baguette.  The mushrooms are sooooo good in this! 

I am glad we discovered this one at the Trader Joe’s in Indianapolis.  We will certainly get it again – both for us to chow down on and to serve to guests. 

This cheese is a winner.

Price - $9.99 per pound

Rating – 4.75

Day 177 - French Baguette (bread)

I like baguettes.  We lived in Paris for a while, and there is NOTHING like a Parisian baguette.  I used to pick one up at the bakery and I NEVER got a whole baguette home – always had to break off some bits and chomp them on the walk back.

But GOOD baguettes are hard to find in America.  And reasonably priced ones are difficult to come by, too.  Baguettes are not BIG but they are expensive. 

French Baquette in a bag!

David and I have some Guests staying with us (I capitalize the word Guest because it is a proper noun, their last name is GUEST!  So technically we have some Guest guests!).  Last night we made dinner for them and all ate out on our front porch.  One thing we served was baguette with butter (of course the tastiest butter, which got a glorious review on day 49 of this blog) and cheese (cheddar (not from TJ’s), brie (reviewed previously I think), and Creamy Toscano) (to be reviewed soon). 

This review will focus on the BAGUETTE.  Unlike Parisian baguettes, which normally come in paper sleeves with the tops sticking out, making them so tempting to pick at, this one came in a plastic bag.  I have had baguettes from other American stores in plastic bags that taste like they have been in said bags for weeks. 

But this one was pretty good!  It was not the world’s BEST baguette, but it was not the world’s worst, either.  It was easy to cut into pretty little slices.  It was not too hard, and not too soft.  The crust did not threaten to chip your teeth when you bit into it.  Overall, I will say PRETTY GOOD BAGUETTE.  And at a very good (for a baguette anyway) price - $1.59.  Some American stores charge an arm and a leg for them!

Day 2 of the bagquette - this time served with brie and olives. 

We gave everyone a piece of paper and the chance to review a few items, this bread being one of them.  I will include those reviews here:

-          4 – “It is very tasty and soft in the middle but the crust is too hard.”  (Andrew, I think age10)

-          4.1 – “Dry, but good with butter or cheese.” (Lucas, I think age 12)

-          5 – “Love it.”  (Bella, I think age 8)

-          3.75 “I didn’t notice it that much.  I didn’t have any at the evening dinner (he ate some the next day as a sandwich).  I would say it seems okay, not fabulous.  It doesn’t get as hard as a regular baguette.”  (David, age 62 J )

If I gave it a review number myself, it would be 3.5.  But since this was a team one, I will average all the numbers above to come up with the final score.

Price - $1.59

Rating - 4

Day 101 - Belletoile Triple Cream Brie (cheese)

If you like BRIE, go for this.  It is such a good price, and it is delicious!  Get a fresh baguette and SMEAR this on.  Wait, you COULD get a fresh baguette (soon to be reviewed on this blog), put on a thick layer of Kerrygold butter (reviewed on day 49 of this bog), THEN smear this Triple Cream Brie on it…  Oh man my mouth is watering just THINKING about this…

There are several bries at Trader Joe's, this one is really good

I am sure you could make an awesome sauce with this brie, too, but when we get it we normally devour it all on fresh bread (or crackers if we are out of bread). 

Not a bad price- you would pay much more at other stores

Yum - BRIE

Triple Cream Brie rocks – get it!

Here is a hunk of Belletoile Triple Cream Brie on my picnic lunch plate!  SPRING has sprung - picnic!!!!

Price- $8.99

Rating – 4.25