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 316 - Egg Pappardelle Pasta (plus bonus news about our HALLOWEEN COSTUMES!)

Before I review today’s product, let me share some super fun news: 

WE WON 2 TRADER JOE’S HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTESTS! 

When we first went to the Bethesda Trader Joe’s on October 25th we saw this sign, which of course got me excited! 

  

We had already been working on our costumes – I was going to be a big piece of BACON and David was going to dress as a sunny side up EGG!  (Of course, ironically these are 2 things that we really like from TJ’s and got great reviews see bacon review here and see egg review here .)  We checked at the Clarendon TJ’s (very close to our house) and they were ALSO having a customer costume contest!!! 

We got the costumes all finished up (easier said than done) and went into the Clarendon store to get our picture taken.  It was a blast!  Walking around the store dressed as bacon and egg was not EASY, mind you, but very fun.  Everyone kept saying, “Hey!  Bacon and eggs!!” as we passed.  We had to wait in line to pay for our purchases and that was funny – standing there in costume as the line snaked forward.

Here we are in the underground parking garage of the Clarendon Trader Joe's - you can see David was sort of TALL...

The next day we went to the Bethesda store and got our photo taken for the contest there, too!  That store was even HARDER to walk around because it is smaller and more crowded.  But it was really cool because some employees were also dressed up (like the lovely Alison who was dressed as Carmen Miranda!). 

I wish I had a photo of the Carmen Miranda costume, but I don't, so here is another BACON & EGGS costume shot!  :)

Both stores called and said we were WINNERS!!!  We won gift cards, which of course we spent immediately on more TJ’s stuff.  J  Thanks Trader Joe’s!!!

THANKS BETHESDA TJ'S!

THANKS CLARENDON TJ'S!!

Now onto the review - Egg Pappardelle Pasta 

The package said four servings, which I thought seemed wrong because there didn’t seem to be that much in the package.  Of course, after COOKING the pasta I realized they were right – those puppies really plump up!  Four servings was indeed accurate.

Here is what the package looks like - find it in the pasta section

We served this pasta with a dollop of butter ( butter review here from waaaay back on day 49) and smothered with beef stroganoff which David lovingly prepared while I was at work, and a side of TJ’s broccoli cooked perfectly by yours truly.

YUMMY!  The broccoli was a nice side for this hearty meal

This pasta was DELICIOUS.  It balanced the beef stroganoff splendidly.  The pappardelle is noodle-y.  It is egg-y.  It is everything you would want an egg noodle to be.  It tastes “fresh” and is something different rather than rice or a traditional pasta (we eat a loooot of pasta).

Mid-bite.

David agrees and said they were good noodles.  They were rich and soft and “the noodles did their job”.  The egg noodle is a little richer than just having pasta all the time.

Note – these noodles are low sodium so if you are looking for that in your diet these might be a good fit.

Price – $1.99

Rating - 4

Day 187 - Wasabi Mayonnaise

We are a MAYONNAISE family.  Not salad dressing.  Not Miracle Whip.  Not even “Mayo with Olive Oil” (tried it – bleck).  No – we are a pure, unadulterated, mayonnaise family.  And we get through some mayo.  David slathers it THICK on sandwiches.  On both pieces of bread, mind you. Yeah, we love us some mayo.

So trying this product was a little bit wild.  It could have gone very wrong. 

As you can tell, I was a bit aprehensive about this purchase...

But it didn’t.  it turns out Trader Joe’s Wasabi Mayo is a kinky, tasty, and fun way to spice stuff up!!  I have dipped avocado chunks in it – yum!  And we have had it on a bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato sandwich – DELICIOUS!  Today we even had it on a salami sandwich – also 2 thumbs up. 

It is SPICY, but not like “OUCH I ACCIDENTALLY ATE THE ENTIRE BLOB OF WASABI FROM MY SUSHI PLATE” spicy.  Know what I mean?  You will taste the wasabi, but will not need an entire box of Kleenex for nose blowing.

I dipped some of these Florida avocados in Wasabi Mayo - oh yeah baby!

The label mentions using it in dressings and I think I will do that.  I also think it might be good with EGGS – like an omelet.  I wouldn’t normally put mayo on an omelet, but I DO put Dijon mustard on them, and I think this Wasabi Mayo might be a bit like the Dijon. 

This sign doesn't lie - this stuff DID add zest to our sandwiches

There aren’t often advances in the condiment department, but I would call this one.  Oh sure, it will never REPLACE plain old mayo in our fridge, but it will sit alongside it. 

P.S. - full disclosure, I also like this product like I like saying, "Wassss(abi) upppp??".  It makes eating this fun.

Price - $3.29

Rating – 4.25

Day 64 - Eggs

We are a household of TWO humans.  We do not eat many eggs.  Hence, sometimes our eggs “egg-spire” before we get through them all (see what I did there??).

Enter Trader Joe’s eggs.  They have the expiration date stamped RIGHT ON THE EGG. 

“What???” I hear you say.  “Impossible!”

But no!  Think about it, if a brand (ok I will say it, Eggland’s Best) can stamp it’s NAME on each and every egg, why can’t someone stamp an EXPIRATION date on each egg???  Trader Joe’s has gone and done it, folks!

Check it out - DATES on each egg!  So cool.

And before you can raise your hand and ask, “Why, if I may ask, would one want eggs to have expiration dates stamped on them??  The date is on the carton – isn’t that good enough??”.  Oh no my naïve little friend, it is not.  J  And you obviously didn’t watch the same “60 Minutes” (or some other such “news expose” show) where they showed (gasp!) egg producers just plopping old expired eggs in new cartons…  Ewwww.

Oh, but my partner David saw that show, and though he will drink milk at least 5 days after it has technically expired, he remembers that documentary and insists on Trader Joe’s date stamped eggs. 

You can trust that these eggs are still good!

In my mind, eggs are eggs.  But it does make you feel like you are not getting egg-spired ones (I did it again!) when each fragile shell is dated.

Price – $1.99

Rating – 5 (if my man is happy, I am happy.  End of story.)