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 252 - Salmon and Vegetable Croquettes

This product, found in the frozen food section, contains salmon, edamame, broccoli, kale, and chia seed.  I cooked them the quick way – nuked them in the microwave for 45 seconds, then pan fried them. 

They looked pretty much like the package after I cooked them - truth in advertising here.

The box says they could be, “Served as an hors d’oevre or a main course and be a super star in your own kitchen.”  I say, “If there is one thing I wanna be, it is a super star (just kidding, not really my life goal).”  The serving size is two and there are four croquettes in the package, making this a perfect size for a main course for my main squeeze and I.

These were good.  They were “salmon-y” without the taste of the salmon being overpowering.  It was nicely balanced by the other ingredients.  I couldn’t really single out any of the veggies involved – they all sort of blended together.  We served them with mashed potatoes, broccoli, and fresh corn.  It was a good meal.  We drank The Pass Sauvingon Blanc with the dinner, which will be reviewed tomorrow.

Here are the croquettes in "action", ready to be gobbled up

David says, “These were meaty enough to be a main course, but had crunch and vegetable enough to be interesting (whatever that vegetable was, maybe celery?)”.  SEE!  He could not distinguish the veggies either!  He continues, “The outside breading was nice and crunchy without seeming just be trying to provide filling.”

These work out to cost $1.37 per croquette - not bad really

We will get these again.  They do not go on my mental MUST EAT OFTEN list, but they are good and a nice change of pace for us.

Price – $5.99

Rating – 4.25

Day 250 - Coconut Shrimp

Find in the frozen food section

Here is David’s take on these puppies  – “They are okay, but a little dry…  They need a SAUCE.  I used a shrimp cocktail sauce but I think a sweet and sour sauce would be nicer.  I would give them a 3.25.”

A little coconut shrimp "drumlette" looking thing

And my opinion – They are easy to cook.  Just preheat the oven to 450 and put them on a baking tray.  We left them in around 14 minutes (our oven always takes a little longer than recipes say it will).  Not GREAT, but not HORRIBLE…  Like David said they are a bit dry.  It would be cool if they came with a little sauce in the box. 

The sign suggests serving them at your luau, but I don't think they are good enough for a luau.  For personal consumption only. 

The coconut taste is nice.  We do not eat a lot of seafood so it is nice to have SHRIMP, but I think this might not be the best way to get them.  We served them with leftover garlic mashed potatoes, and I have to admit the mashed pots were better than the shrimp.

Here David models the box while we are in the Clarendon, VA Trader Joe's. 

Would I serve them to guests?  Probably not.  Would I buy them again?  Maybe not.  Will I eat the remaining 5 that are still in the freezer?  Yup – that much I will do.  (Serving size is 5 and there are 3 servings in the box.)

Price – $5.99

Rating - 3

Day 238 - Steamed Mussels in White Wine Sauce

I am guessing this was the first time in Indy Fringe history that MUSSELS were served at the BEER TENT… 

We had picked up a box of mussels at the Indy Trader Joe’s on the advice of a really cool employee.  When he heard about the blog he wanted to make sure we got some new products to try, so he steered us to these brand new, reasonably priced MUSSELS.  We bought a box.  Then proceeded to forget we had them in the freezer of the apartment we were staying in for our time in Indy.  Oops!  But the final night of the festival I remembered, so OUT THEY CAME!

Here is the box - find it in the frozen food section

 The box explains that you can leave them in the bag and cook them in the microwave or in hot water.  Since we were trying to get them to the party before everyone left (we didn’t think of them until around 11:00 PM) we chose the faster microwave method.  Lucky for us our apartment was only a couple of blocks from the beer tent, so we poured the mussels and sauce into a bowl, covered THAT bowl with another bowl, and rushed to share them with friends.

We are not huge mussels eaters.  The only time I can remember having them is in Paris, and we have never made them at home, only ordered them while out to eat.  So I was a bit nervous but excited to try them.

Something about MUSSELS made me want to make a FISH FACE

They were pretty good!  They were super easy to cook.  The sauce was good, I really wished we had a baguette to soak it up and eat it.  The garlic was nice.  The mussels themselves were a bit chewy but not too bad.

Laura, the mother of a performer who had come to town to see her son’s shows, tried the mussels.  She said they were very flavorful, in fact, delightful!

Laura likes mussels!

Taylor, a magician, liked the mussels.  As a magician, she made several disappear (into her belly!).  She said the mussels were “not bad”.  She is from the Northeast and claims these were “just a little chewy, but some people like them that way”.

Taylor did some magic on the mussels

David also ate some and he started a discussion at the table of what the HERB was in the sauce…  Tarragon?  Something else?  In the end we learned it was THYME. 

Eating mussels and drinking beer at the end of a long festival - life is good

They are really pretty cheap, considering how much you would pay for this many mussels in a restaurant.

Only $3.99!

Price – $3.99

Rating – 3.75

Day 28 - Seafood Cocktail Sauce

We do not eat very much seafood.  It is not that we do not like it, we just rarely think of getting it I guess.  But every once in a while, mostly when we are in Florida right on the water, we splurge on FRESH SHRIMP and have ourselves a little SHRIMP COCKTAIL.  And it is amazzzzingly good. 

Seafood Cocktail Sauce

This Trader Joe’s cocktail sauce is what serves as our dip for those luscious shrimp.  Yup, the shrimp cost a pretty penny, but the sauce sure doesn’t!  It is cheap, spicy, zesty, and delicious.   I recommend grabbing a bottle of it and having it at the ready.  Maybe seeing that puppy in the fridge will remind you to GET SOME SEAFOOD!  J

Very reasonable price for a very tasty sauce

Price - $1.79

Rating - 4