Teeny Tiny Avocados (and Zechery)

Guys, you need to go to Trader Joe’s soon.  They have the most adorable thing right now – little tiny baby avocados!!! 

SHOPPING COMMUNICATION FAIL!  Me: "David, please hold a bag of those cutie patootie teeny tiny
avocados for a photo!"  David (grabbing bag of regular, NOT teeny tiny avocados):
"OK!".  Yeah - wrong avocados in photo.  The ones in this review are teenier and tinier.

I know, I know, tiny versions of stuff is usually a rip off.  You usually have to pay MORE to get LESS.  But in the case of Trader Joe’s Teeny Tiny Avocados, you don’t get ripped off!!  Au contraire, mon frere!  If you have bought avocados lately you know the price is super high right now.  But at TJ’s you can get a bag of petite cutie patootie avocados for $2.99 (each bag has 6 tiny avocados, as opposed the the regular sized ones like David is accidentally holding in this photo which come 4 to a bag).  So teeny tiny avocados come out to 50 cents each!

A medium size price for some teeny tiny avocados

 And with these teeny tiny avocados you don’t give up TASTE for cuteness, either!!!  These little suckers taste amazing!  And, like the sign says, they are perfect for a single serving!  Why, just last night I cut one open and drizzled TJ’s balsamic vinegar (and non-Trader Joe’s olive oil…) in it.  I topped that with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper, then got myself a bit of TJ’s feta (which we are addicted to and is reviewed here) and a few TJ’s raw English peas (reviewed here).  It was a delicious and healthy side dish!

Here is a little glimpse of a little avocado.  My hand is included for size reference, though
the angle of the photo is a bit tricky I guess.  Sorry.  But you get the idea!

So the long and the short of it is: YOU SHOULD GO GET A BAG OF THESE ADORABLE AVOCADOS.  I wouldn’t say they are Barbie sized, cuz a Barbie avocado would be the say of, what, like a jelly bean??  These could be Cabbage Patch sized avocados. 

And before I go, let me introduce you to one of our favorite Trader Joe’s employees.  His name is Zechery and he works at our local TJ’s at Bailey’s Crossroads in Virginia.  

BEST Trader Joe's ambassador - Zechery!

Zechery is the friendliest, sweetest, nicest TJ’s employee!!!  He smiles at us every single time we see him, and he always gives us a big hello and stops to talk.  I egotistically thought he just liked us, and that’s why he was so nice!  Then the other day I realized, it has nothing to do with US and everything to do with ZECHERY!  He is that way with all of the shoppers!  He makes everyone feel happy to be strolling the aisles and putting stuff in their carts.  Trader Joe’s is lucky to have him.

So, go get yourself some teeny tiny avocados while they still have them.  And if you live in the Washington DC/Northern Virginia area, go to Bailey’s Crossroads, pop into Trader Joe’s, and introduce yourself to Zechery.  Trust me, you will leave a happier person than you were when you went in.

Price (of the avocados, not of Zechery): $2.99

Rating (of both Zechery and the Teeny Tiny Avocados):  5

Day 275 - Snow Peas

I LOVE FRESH VEGETABLES.  Love ‘em so much I am kind of picky about them.  Like, don’t try and sell me asparagus that is starting to go off, know what I mean??

In the past, that pickiness about veggies meant only buying them at stores where they were not pre-packaged.  I like to touch them.  To SMELL them.  To see the actual produce – not see it through packaging.  But when I started this blog it meant shifting the vast majority of our grocery shopping to you-know-where, and most of TJ’s produce is in packages.

That worried me.  But not for long. 

Cuz one of the coolest (in my opinion) things about Trader Joe’s is that they really seem to care about freshness.  You know how in MOST STORES they put the soonest to expire stuff in the front, and stack the fresher stuff behind it?  It makes perfect business sense – sell the stuff that is going to go off first, then sell the newer things.  But to me, a customer, it makes the least sense – I end up buying an item that has less “shelf life” when I get it home than if I dug to the back of the stack at the store and grabbed one from there.  Know what I mean?

This photo is unrelated to Snow Peas.  It was taken in January in the Raleigh, NC Trader Joe's.  This is me talking
to the QUESTION GUY, who walked around with that sign so he was easily found to ask any questions to!
I SHOULD have asked him if he knew about the whole expiration date thing with bagged produce and dairy...  

But Trader Joe’s doesn’t pull that stunt!  Trader Joe’s (at least most of the locations I have been to) puts the FRESHEST stuff in the FRONT for you to grab and the stuff that is set to expire SOONER goes in the back.  Isn’t that the most awesome thing???  I have noticed it at lots of the TJ’s we have gone into.  Tonight I was explaining the concept to David, who had not noticed it before (he doesn’t pay as much attention to expiration dates as I do, hence his ability to drink milk after the expiration date I guess…).  I showed him the Half and Half we were buying, and sure enough, the one I picked up in the FRONT had an expiration date of October 15^th, and the one behind it was October 14^th!  Isn’t that cool?  In most stores it would be the exact opposite – push the older stuff onto customers.  I don’t know if Trader Joe’s has a policy about this, if they do it on purpose, if they care so much about freshness that they sacrifice a bit of profit, or if the people who stock the shelves just don’t pay attention and shove the new stuff in the front because it is easier, but WHATEVER THE REASON, I love it.  (It’s the little things…)

Which leads me to:  Snow Peas! 

Trader Joe's Snow Peas - all washed for you!

Snow Pea signage from Washington DC
(I will explain about their signage in a later post)

Pre-blog I would have bought these at a grocery store where I could touch them and choose which ones I wanted.  But now that I shop so much at TJ’s and I know I can TRUST them, I have no problem whatsoever grabbing a sealed bag of these puppies! 

Here is what I thought of them:

Color – perfect

Taste – great

Value – good

Cooking instructions – DECEIVING

I cannot single out Trader Joe’s for this, because all brands of bagged “convenience” snow peas seem like they do this now.  Look what the package says, right on the front:

It SHOULD say, "Microwave in this bag if you enjoy pulling pea strings out of your mouth during dinner"

But IF I followed that direction and just nuked and ate these things, LOOK HOW MUCH PEA STRING I WOULD BE EATING!

That pile you see closest to you is the pile of yucky bits.  If we just zapped them in the
microwave IMAGINE eating all the pea string.  Ewwww.

Gross!

You need to rip those stringy bit OUT OF THERE before you eat these things, man.  They are not meant to be eaten.  Snow peas are delicious but not if you have to reach into your mouth after every bite and pull out thick bits of pea string.  Not tasty and definitely unattractive.

See how delicious snow peas can be when you take time to prepare them properly?
We served them with pasta, mushrooms, shrimp, garlic, and parmesan.  

I recommend taking the strings out, then eating some snow peas raw as you are prepping your other ingredients for dinner.  Then cook these up and ENJOY (sans strings, of course)!

Price – $2.29

Rating – 4 (would be higher if the package didn’t tell you to cook them without removing the pea strings)

Day 222 - Cripps Pink Apple

We are not hip.  I mean, if you could not figure that out from the fact that I take the time to write about a GROCERY STORE every day, or from looking at our photos on here…  We are in fact a bit quirky and dorky.  Ok, a lot quirky and a bit dorky. 

So, when I saw this CrippsPink Apple, a variety I had never seen before, I immediately thought of the Crips (is it Cripps?  Crips?  Krips? ) GANG.  I do not even know if the Crips are still a gang.  Are they??  Ok, I looked it up on Wikipedia.  It is spelled Crips, and yes, they are still a gang.  Here is the link if you would like to know more:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crips

All of this is to say, this apple made me think of a GANG, which might not be the best correlation for a piece of fruit.  But I asked David to throw a gang sign and here is what he came up with.  I think it looks more like Sue from “Glee” (“And THAT is how Sue sees it!”) than a gang member, but hey, it’s all good.

David, a faux member of the Cripps, a faux gang of produce lovers

Now, to the review.  We ate this apple with our breakfast and here is what we thought:

Susan – This apple has a good crunch.  What is LACKS is enough flavor.  The color of the outside is dull-ish and the flavor on the inside is dull-ish (so I guess it is consistent).  In a head to head battle the Cripps apple would lose to the Honeycrisp apple every single round.  I rate it a 2.5.

Dull.  Not juicy.  Not tasty.  No thanks.

David – It’s okay.  It has a lot of texture.  It’s pretty mild, not very juicy.  Not tart.  It is fairly sweet.  It is kind of unsatisfying.  I give it a 3.

This apple does not go on our imaginary list of favorite produce.  I doubt we will bother with it again.

Price - .79 piece

Rating (average of 2 raters) – 2.75

Day 36 - Kale Sprouts

I think internet acronyms are stupid, but OMG…  I mean SERIOUSLY, a new veggie is in town, and it frickin’ ROCKS!!!  Kale Sprouts, man!!!! 

I had never heard of them.  I stood and stared at them in the produce section, trying to figure out exactly WHAT they WERE…  A lady came up and assumed the same stance next to me, and I asked if she had tried them.  “Nope, but did you read the article in the Post about them???” she countered.  HUH??  The Washington Post did an article on a VEGETABLE??  Now that tipped the scale, not only did I need to find the article, I needed to taste the vegetable!!!

We invested in a bag (at $3.49 for a smallish 8 oz. bag it felt pricey), and went home for what I was sure was some over-hyped yuppy trend.

Oh no, no, no.  Kale sprouts are REAL, baby.  Real as in REAL GOOD J !!!  I cooked them following one recipe on the package – a couple tablespoons of EVOO in a large skillet, sauté until “golden” (though that term seemed dumb for a dark green/purple veggie, how does it get “golden” exactly??) around 3 minutes.  Add half cup of water, salt, and cover until however tender you want them (a few minutes for us). 

Run, don't walk, to Trader Joe's now and get some Kale Sprouts

They are heavenly!!!!  They will most certainly find their way to our house again (and again…).  The bag says 3 servings, which sounds exactly right.  We had them alongside a veggie/tofu stir fry, and just had the leftovers with lunch (just as good reheated the next day, folks).  They are not bitter, in fact there is a bit of sweet. 

You need these veggies.  It is not very often that a brand spankin’ new vegetable comes to town, and when it does, you have to invite it over for dinner.  By the way, here is the mention from the Washington Post (January 13, 2015), “Speaking of kale…kale sprouts, lollipop kale and the newly marketed Kalettes are basically identical…”.

Price - $3.49

Rating - 5