Day 322 - Scallops Wrapped in Uncured Bacon with Brown Sugar Glaze

I am sorry I keep bragging about our  local Trader Joe’s (Clarendon, VA), but guys, they had an ANNIVERSARY PARTY recently for their 4^th anniversary!  Isn’t that sweet??  They had a raffle for 3 TJ’s bags stuffed with goodies, some samples (HELL-O – a whole candy cane Joe Joe instead of a broken up one like you might normally get at a TJ’s sample station) and they even had MUSIC!  This employee was playing guitar and singing and was great!  TJ’s always has fun music playing over the speakers, but it was cool to have live music while grocery shopping.

Raffle and sample!

This was the "invite" to the party!

And live music!  :)  Thanks TJ's - happy anniversary. We are glad you came to our hood.

Anyway, while we were there for the party, we picked up a box of Scallops Wrapped in Uncured Bacon with Brown Sugar Glaze.  I had been wanting to try them (David not as much as me).  We busted them out around 6:00 pm because we hadn’t eaten lunch but were hitting the road to do a few things and needed something warm in our bellies before taking off.  Just needed something to hold us over until we got back and made “real dinner”.

These could be messy to cook. The instructions say to cook these on a baking tray.  I think that means a cookie sheet looking device that has small sides.  We do not own one of those (and our cupboard is full and messy enough) so my choices were a baking dish or a cookie sheet.  I chose the cookie sheet, but put foil on the oven under it expecting that some bacon fat miiiight roll off.

They come on little skewers, which were a problem for us recently with the Chicken Parmesan Lollipops (to be reviewed soon) but in this case the skewers worked great.  They held the food securely and made for an easy way to eat it.

Aren't they cute???

The box says a serving size is 3 pieces.  There are 10 pieces in the pack.  I am not a math major, but it is gonna be tough to divide these evenly if we follow the serving size recommendation, isn’t it?

Now onto the TASTE.  I like them, they are really good.  The first bite worried me that the scallops might taste a little too “fishy” but all subsequent bites were yummy.  They hold together well – the bacon is a lovely little wrapping. 

While I was baking these I thought, “I bet these would work great as party appetizers”.  Then I wondered to myself, “WHY do I mention “party food” so often in this blog?  We almost never throw parties and are honestly not party guests very often, either.  I must imagine that the rest of the world, all of YOU, are out to or hosting parties 4 nights of the week!  I am living my life vicariously through the fabulous cocktail parties that I imagine you throw for all of your well-dressed friends.  At your next soiree, these bacon scallops would be good to serve.  When you set them out on your fancy crystal platter (that I am imagining) I would plan on each guest eating 4.

These are not as expensive as I would expect (scallops can be pricey sometimes).  I give these a rating of 4.

Now for David’s opinion.  His is less glowing than mine…

It looks like he likes 'em

David:  “Scallops are the tofu of the sea.  They are pretty much flavorless.  They have a delightful texture, but unless you have some kinda SAUCE goin’ on to give them flavor – herbs, spices, something – they are really just sort of Styrofoam wrapped in bacon.

However – the bacon is great!  The overall taste is not bad.  The skewer-age is perfectly designed and the bacon is delicious.  I poured some soy sauce over the scallop (in the inside) and it made it more palatable.  It gave it this thing that I tend to like, I don’t know about you, it is a thing called ‘TASTE’.  (Note:  as if there wasn’t enough sodium already, he goes and adds soy sauce…)  The bacon disguises the fact that the scallop isn’t really pulling its’ weight taste-wise.  I would give these a 3.75.”

There you have it!  I am gonna go with a 4 for the final review, because David also recommends them for a party.  We both think people would say, “Oh fannnncy” when they see these and think you went to a lot of work to skewer each little scallop and wrap it gingerly in bacon.  They will never know that you just opened the package and heated them.  Shhh – I’ll never tell…

Here is a link to TJ's archived article on this product:  Fearless Flyer - Scallops w/ bacon

Price – $6.99

Rating - 4

Day 257 - Truffle Marcona Almonds

I covered up the label of these almonds before serving some to David and his little brother Ted (I say “little” but by that I mean he is YOUNGER THAN DAVID, not that he is actually little) so that the taste would be a surprise.  Here is what they thought:

Ted:  (After eating a nut or two) “I disqualify myself from participating in this review…  I like a high quality nut, but dislike the combination of a FLAVOR and an ALMOND.  I am an ALMOND PURIST.  This particular almond tastes of garlic and smoke…  Maybe people would eat it with a sweet tasting beer…  These are not to be eaten by the handful like peanuts.  I can imagine a high end restaurant serving them on a cheese plate with some other fancy nuts.”

Truffle Marcona Almonda - fancy

David:  “GARLIC.”  (Interesting, eh?  In the blind taste test Ted thought the truffle flavor was garlic, too.) “These are nice.  I would be happy eating these (editor’s note – there is little that David would NOT be happy eating – he loves to eat…).  (Then I told them that the taste was actually TRUFFLE and showed them the bag).  Now that I know they are TRUFFLE they taste FANCY!!  They do what they set out to do.  You know what they are perfect for??  If you are giving a party, you put out little bowls of these in a few places.  People nibble on them and think, "These are interesting.  What are these??”.

David and his "little brother" in Cincinnati - his "little" brother is taller than he is

And here is my opinion (obviously mine was not a blind taste test):  These are very Truffle-y (that is not a proper word but it fits in this situation).  I wouldn’t want to eat a whole bag of them.  I think they would pair well with a red wine.  They are weird.  I would consider them a “novelty nut”.  They are for chi-chi parties – a chi-chi nut.  They MIGHT work chopped up really fine and sprinkled on a salad.

Marcona almonds are expensive.  Truffles are expensive.  Put them together and what do you get?  EXPENSIVE
(But they would be more in other stores than they are at TJs, so if you want them, go to TJs for them)

They are pricey - $6.49 for 6 oz.  These are not BAD, but I would rather spend that $6.49 on something else.

Price – $6.49

Rating – 3.5

Day 212 - 5 Cheese Greek Spiral

We bought this one night when we were shopping while hungry, which we always tell ourselves we should never do.  If you go to the grocery store, any grocery store, on an empty tummy you will always walk away with heavier bags than if you shopped after dinner.  But when you eat dinner after 10:00 PM every night and Trader Joe’s closes at 9:00, well, you see our problem…

Anyway, we grabbed this one night when we were strolling down the frozen food aisle.  When we got home I unpacked groceries and put it in the freezer (we got a new fridge this year and it has a bottom freezer, which is amazing!) and promptly forgot about it.

Here is our new fridge - IN OUR ENTRY WAY!  They carried it through the dining room and living room to get it to our kitchen.  Anyway, here there are no doors on it, so see how big the bottom freezer is?  Holds lots of TJ stuff!

So it nice a nice discovery in the freezer the other night!  “Hey, we got this cool Greek thing, let’s have it!” I said.  It was really easy to cook – just popped it in the oven.  It is a cool looking spirally thing – a bit snail-ish (and, for the immature among us, the end of it looks a bit, well, poop-ish…). 

Here is what it looks like on the front of the packaging

And here is what it looks like in real life after you cook it.  See how the end is, well, a bit, umm...

But it doesn’t taste poop-ish!  It is good.  The flakey filo bits are oh so flakey and the cheese is super cheesey.  In other words, all parts do their jobs very well.  Here is what the package tells us are the cheeses you will find inside this dish: “gouda, kasseri, kefalotyri, semi-hard cheese, (huh?  Isn’t “semi-hard” an adjective describing a cheese – like, don’t we need an actual NAME of a cheese?), and blue cheese”.  The mix of cheeses is quite good.  It tastes like you are on a Greek island, but without the cost of airfare and without having to try and read menus in Greek… 

This is not a MENU, but this is what it looked like when I tried to read Greek when we went to Greece is 2007....

This would be fun to serve at a dinner party as an appetizer.  It is a little messy to cut into – flakes fly – but it’s cool.  It is something a bit unusual and fun.

Bonus photo of GREECE - has nothing to do with the 5 Cheese Greek Spiral but here is David jumping into the blue water of Greece!!  Isn't is gorgeous?

Price – $3.99

Rating - 4

Day 178 - Spaghetti

I guess, in the grand scheme of things, pasta is pasta.  I mean, if we are talking about just a bag (or box) of dried pasta that you are gonna throw in a pot of boiling water, drain, then throw sauce over.  Oh sure, you might find some FANCIER fresh pastas, but in the dried pasta department all the brands seem pretty much the same to me.  (Maybe it is because I have a cold today and am a little bit cranky…)

Anyway, we recently served this Trader Joe’s Spaghetti at a dinner with guests.  It was fine.  It is spaghetti.  It was no better or worse than the other brands of dried pasta that we cook.  (I will say that the sauce, homemade pesto made with basil from our garden, was tasty J ).

Product of Italy, so it can't be a bad pasta, right?  :)

Here are the reviews of some of the guests who ate it (not all guests wrote reviews, I assume their take is like mine, pasta is pretty much pasta):

-          3 - “Pasta noodles could be a bit larger and less stail (I believe this means stale) but overall pretty good”(written by a kid whose parents probably usually serve fatter pasta J )

-          4 - “A basic spaghetti that goes with everything” (also written by a cute kid)

So if you want to eat pasta and you are at TJ’s, just pick up some of theirs.  It will do just fine.  My rating if I did it on my own would be a 3, but I will average that with the 2 guests who rated it to come out with a final number. 

Front porch dinner party (one of the reviewers took this photo of the adults)

P.S. – sorry this review is not that great…  I promise more inspired ones to come.  I just do not feel well.  L

Price - .99

Rating – 3.25

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 176 - Mushroom Mochi

Followers of this blog will know that a couple of months ago we hosted what we called a Trader Joe’s Dinner Party.  Everything we served was from TJ’s, and we had forms for the guests to fill out and rate each product.  Those scores were then averaged and used in the blog. 

 

TJ's dinner party ingredients - the Mushroom Mochi are on the far left of the photo near the kumatos and cheese...

Well, one problem was that we had purchased SO MANY items to use for the party (each review sheet had 26 products listed) that we FORGOT to cook and serve one!  Yes, the Mushroom Mochi stayed in the freezer until the middle of the dinner, when one guest saw it listed on the review sheet and said something like, “Can you pass the Mushroom Mochi?” to which I had to reply, “Ummmm….”, because I could NOT pass them, they were still frozen.

Oops - forgot to take the box out of the freezer...

And they remained frozen until last night.  We got home late from a rehearsal, I was exhausted, plus I have a bad cold.  So we needed something EASY and quick.  We ended up busting out the mochi and serving it with rice, fresh green beans, and peas. 

Here they are on a plate!

The box calls the little mochi “potsticker dumplings”.  I do not think that is a great description though, because they do not taste like any potstickers I have ever had.  There are 3 cooking instructions – microwave, steam, or stove top.  I did the stove top method and it was very easy and took a total of around 8 minutes. 

Cooking - heat in a pan (sprayed with Pam), then add water, cover, and steam

One word the box uses to describe these is “toothsome”.  Wow, that’s an adjective you do not see often!  In fact, let’s look it up.  Here is what dictionary.com has to say: 

1.        pleasing to the taste; palatable:   a toothsome dish.

2.        pleasing or desirable, as fame or power.    

3.       voluptuous; sexually alluring:   a toothsome blonde.

I am going to go with definition number one – pleasing to the taste.  These were pleasing to the taste! They were ODD, that’s for sure.  The first bite you definitely notice the TEXTURE more than the taste.  The mochi part is very gooey, but gooey in a good way.  It is hard to explain.  And the mushroom filling is really tasty. 

The box also tells us that in Japan they make mochi dumplings to celebrate New Year and guarantee good health in the upcoming year.  I will have to ask my friend Yanomi if this is true.  In any event, I think I will add these to our New Years Eve celebration traditions, right along with eating 12 green grapes in one minute at the stroke of midnight!

So even though we did not EAT the Mushroom Mochi at the dinner party, one clever guest still reviewed it.  Here is what she had to say:

-          “Probably would have been awesome but unfortunately we never got that chance.”

I say – get these.  Try them out.  My only other experience with mochi that I remember has been on top of frozen yogurt and I love it, but that is COLD.  This is a totally different taste and sensation eating it warm.

Quite cheap for such a taste experiment - go for it!

P.S.  – I dare you to try and casually throw the word “toothsome” into a conversation sometime this week!

Price - $2.99 (for 12 pieces)

Rating – 4.5

Day 142 - Teeny Tiny Potatoes

These Teeny Tiny Potatoes, served at our Trader Joe’s dinner party a while back, lived up to their name.  They were indeed teeny and yes, they were tiny.  Maybe, since potato starts with a letter “p”, they should do the alliteration with “p”s instead of “t”s and call them “Petite Puny Potatoes”.  But I guess “puny” has a sort of negative connotation, and these were not really negative.

They are pretty cheap for such delicate little items

They are adorable little potatoes – so delicate and sweet.  Not really Barbie sized, but maybe Cabbage Patch sized potatoes. 

They are SMALL I tell you, teeny!

 As far as taste goes, they were fine.  Nothing “wooooow” like extra special potato-ey, but I mean, they did taste like potatoes. 

Bowl of teeny tiny dinner party potatoes

If I were to rate them on my own, I would give them a 4.  But since they were part of the infamous Trader Joe’s dinner party, I must take into account the opinions of the guests and then average our ratings together.  Let me peek at the guest comments now:

-          “Tasty, fun, nice texture”

-          “ksfkdl;akdlfj” (this guest had bad handwriting and I cannot read their comment)

-          “Fun, tasty”

-          “Okay for what they are.  But who needs potatoes to be that small?”

-          “Kind of ordinary, good crisp bite of skin, tender potato”

Price - $2.29

Rating (average of 6 raters) – 3.75

Day 134 - Rosemary and Thyme Maple Toffee Sunflower Seeds

This snack wins the award for “most flavors packed into a tiny bag”.  I mean, just LOOK at the name – we have:

1.        Rosemary

2.       Thyme

3.       Maple

4.       Toffee

5.       And, what is holding it all together, sunflower seeds!

That’s a heck of a lot of flavors! 

It also wins the award for “snack that makes me sing out loud a Simon and Garfunkel tune every time I open the bag to eat some” – can anyone sing along, “Parsley, sage, ROSEMARY AND THYME….”.

Each guest had their own adorable little bowl of this treat at the party

We served these as a small “amuse-bouche” or appetizer at our Trader Joe’s dinner party (if you are new to this blog, it was a dinner party last month where we ONLY served Trader Joe’s products, and then had our guests write their own reviews and rate things 1 – 5.  It was fun!).  We hadn’t tried them before the party.

Does seeing "rosemary" and "thyme" together make you start humming, too?

One thing I will say – do not go by your first taste.  They are sort of strange at first.  So put that strangeness aside and take a few more bites.  They get better!  One blurb on the back of the package says, “Unlike anything you’ve ever tasted before”.  They got that right!  They are distinctly different.  But I like them.  They are nothing I would want to eat every day, but as a different snack they hit the spot.  If I were to rate these on my own, I would give them a 3.75.  But since this was a dinner party food, let’s look at what the other reviewers said and then average all 6 scores:

-          “Ginger?  Something burnt – flavored…  Not unpleasant in the fingers.  Satisfyingly filling, like nuts.”

-          “Unexpected flavor and fun texture.”

-          “Ok, not a big fan.  A bit bitter (over caramelized).”

-          “Great in small snackfuls but intense sweet/savory combo is too much for just a snack.  I’d love these in a salad!”

-          “Good combo of flavors.”

Price - $1.99

Rating (average of 6 people) - 4

Day 116 - Baby Zucchini

We have eaten this vegetable from Trader Joe’s several times, so I was surprised when I looked at the blog and realized I had not yet reviewed it!  But now that I made it again and served it at our recent Trader Joe’s dinner party, I am glad I hadn’t already reviewed it.  If I had, I am sure it would have gotten a lower rating than it will now.  Let me explain.  J

This zucchini is very small.  In fact, I think they need to change the name and re-market it.  How’s this:  TEENY WEENIE ZUCCHINI.  Isn’t that fabulous??  Better than, “Baby Zucchini”, right??  Teeny Weenie Zucchini is catchy!  Trader Joe’s corporate, if you are reading this, you can send me a check for “naming assistance” at any time. 

This comes in a little package in the fresh produce section

The other times we cooked this, I steamed it.  And the result was PRETTY, but MUSHY, teeny weenie whole zucchinis.  For some reason we decided this was the green vegetable to serve at our recent dinner party, but then we both said, “Wait, isn’t it sort of yucky and mushy??”.  So we decided (thanks to David’s suggestion) to cut each one in half length-wise and SAUTE them.  I used a mix of olive oil, lemon juice, and pumpkin seed oil in the pan (and added freshly ground salt and freshly ground pepper).  The end result was much tastier teeny weenie zucchini than the mushy steaming technique.  These are inexpensive to purchase and pretty on your plate, too.  One cooking suggestion on the package is GRILLING, and I think that would make them tasty, also.  So I guess what I am saying is, don’t steam these suckers.

They are cute lil things

If I rated these on my own, I would give them a 4.0.  Now let me look at the reviews our guests wrote and add their comments here:

-          “Very delicate and tasteful”

-          “Very tasty but slightly mushy.  Goes very well with the filet mignon roast, but I love zucchini.”

-          “Very good size.  Just the way you’d want baby courgettes to be.”

-          “Nice presentation, but more skin and less flesh than normal sized zucchini.”

-          “Simple.  Delish.”

Note – we bought way too many for the dinner party, and last night I cooked more of them by chopping them up into very small chunks and sautéing them with thinly sliced Portobello mushrooms and shrimp.  We put that over pasta and it was really good!  So that is another cooking option for these!

Price - $2.49

Rating (6 ratings averaged together) – 4.5

Day 114 - Filet Mignon Roast

Holy kamole!!!!  We had this for the first time last night.  Color me a happy eater!!

Let me explain – last night we hosted our first ever (maybe last?) TRADER JOE’S DINNER PARTY!  David’s cousin and her husband were in town visiting and we wanted to get together with them, so we invited them (Sheila and Paul) along with my lovely in-laws Greg and Joan over for dinner.  But instead of just having a “regular dinner party” I made it a TRADER JOE’S DINNER PARTY!  This meant everything served was from none other than, you guessed it, Trader Joe’s J.  Sheila and Joan follow the blog (and I think Paul might be kept up to date by Sheila) so they were keen to join in the fun! 

Here are the Trader Joe's ingredients BEFORE THE PARTY 

I made “score sheets” for everyone and they were elegantly displayed on the table (as elegant as stapled together pieces of paper can be).  Everyone was asked to rate the items listed (Joan counted – there were 26 different items to be served!) and write any comments they wished.  I have collected all the score sheets but HAVE NOT READ THEM yet.  I will write my review of the roast here first so my opinion is not “tainted” by the other reviews, but I will be sure to share their comments and scores, too!

I LOVED THIS ROAST.  We chose it for the dinner party because, as a household of two people, something as big as this roast is not normally practical for us.  But since we would have 6 people at the table, it looked like a perfect size!  And it was – we have a bit of it left over (which we are grateful for and plan to eat later today!).

David with the tasty roast in the store

It was super easy to cook – David roasted it in the oven following the instructions on the package.  He lifted it off the bottom of the baking dish using the little metal rack that came with our old, inherited crock pot.  The roast comes pre-seasoned, but he added a bit of olive oil before putting it in the oven.  When it was done cooking, he followed a tip a co-worker had given him to cover the pan with foil, then with TOWELS to keep the warmth and moisture in.  Boy howdy did that work well!  We didn’t cut into that roast for another 45 minutes after it came out of the oven but it was still warm, juicy, and dellllicious! 

The spices on it are just right – nice and peppery.  In my opinion Trader Joe’s hit a home run with this item.  It is more expensive than we would normally spring for, but hey, it was a DINNER PARTY and after tasting it, I realize that in this case, the cost is totally worth it! 

Yes, more expensive than some dinners but WORTH IT

If I were rating it myself, I would give it a 5.  But because of the dinner party set-up, I am going to now peek at the other guests’ ratings and I will average them together for the final number at the end of the review.

Here are some other diner’s comments on this filet mignon roast:

·         “Tender and peppery but a bit dry.”

·         “Tender, flavor is elegantly beefy.”

·         “Very tasty rub – lots of pepper flavor.”

·         “Wonderful texture; great flavor.”

·         “Instructions for cooking were accurate.  Roast was moist and flavorful.  Easy to prepare for dinner with guests.”

Price - $17.49 lb.

Rating (6 ratings averaged together) – 4.75