Day 237 - Cold Pressed Watermelon Juice

So, we visited ANOTHER TRADER JOE’S in yet another state!  This time we were on a road trip – driving from Indianapolis back home to Arlington, VA.  I took a nap while David drove and when I woke up I said, “Wait, are we near a Trader Joe’s???”.  Lucky for me we were!

Tada!  The 16th Trader Joe's int he 10th state we have visited since January 1, 2015 - DUBLIN, Ohio!

Dublin, Ohio has a very nice TJ’s.  We talked to a super sweet and cool employee (whose name I have forgotten…) and he told us there are only 5 or 6 Trader Joe’s locations in all of Ohio.  And guess what?  There is no special OHIO REUSABLE SHOPPING BAG!  Trader Joe’s corporate, are you reading this?  We need an Ohio bag, stat!  You could put the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on it!  Or heck, you could put Cornhenge on it, which we stopped at right before shopping at TJ’s!  There are loads of Ohio things you could choose, just pick one and make a bag for those poor people.  I feel sorry that they do not have one.

The miracle of CORNHENGE, very near the Dublin, OH Trader Joe's!

Anyway, I picked up a Cold Pressed Watermelon Juice.  You must understand, the concept of this product sounds gross to me…  I have seen it in stores before and skipped it because I wasn’t sure I could give it a fair review.  To me, DRINKING watermelon sounds yucky.  But for some reason, on this sunny Ohio day I decided to give it a shot.

Isn't it a pretty color??

I am glad I tried it.  Granted, it doesn’t go into my “favorite juice” category, but it was not nearrrrrly as horrible as I had feared.  In fact, it was not HORRIBLE at all.  Here is what David and I thought of it:

David – It is good.  It’s light, refreshing.  It needs to be drunk cold but the little bit of lime juice is a good balancer.  (Editor’s note – it tasted like lime to David but is actually lemon juice.)  I guess I would give it a 4. 

As you can see from this photo, David didn't expect to like it either...

Susan – I expected to hate it.  Even when I opened the bottle and smelled it, it smelled disgusting…  To me, watermelon is something to be eaten, not DRANK.  The first drink was surprisingly refreshing!  We drank it right after leaving the store – it was very cold.  It’s light, not at all thick, gloppy or chunky (which is what I feared).  It is a very pretty color, but it looks gross on the shelf because all of  the watermelon pink part separates and goes to the bottom of the bottle. That is very visually off-putting to me.  You need to shake it really good before drinking.  I would give it a 3.5.  It is everything it is advertised to be – cold pressed watermelon juice.  It is just not the best taste for a juice for ME it is not disgusting like I feared it would be.

A little taste of summer in the Ohio sunshine

It is cool – the side of the bottle explains exactly what is in it.  That one little 15.2 oz bottle contained 2 lbs of watermelon and ¼ lemon.  I think that explains why the cold pressed drinks at TJ’s are so expensive!  2 lbs of watermelon squished into one bottle!  Yowsa!!

See how it looks BEFORE YOU SHAKE IT?  Bleck - the watery part on top doesn't look great

If you want to see Trader Joe’s info on this product, read here:  http://www.traderjoes.com/digin/post/cold-pressed-watermelon-juice

Overall, though this is a good product, I still would rather EAT a watermelon than DRINK one.  J

Price – $3.69

Rating – 3.75 (average of 2 ratings)

Day 194 - Salt Water Taffy

I thought I could review this product.  I wanted to buy it.  I find salt water taffy BEAUTIFUL.  The colors, the swirls.  The IDEA of salt water taffy is very appealing to me – it means SUMMER, vacation, seaside, fun, sweetness…  Then I tasted one, and I remembered the REALITY of salt water taffy – uber sweet yucky tasting sticky FLUFF.  I do not feel qualified to review this product with my obvious bias, so am turning this review over to my partner David:

David with the Salt Water Taffy before we checked out.  He was happy to get it.

"Tasty taffy.  The package is just the right size.  There are a number of different fruit flavors, but let’s face it, salt water taffy always tastes like salt water taffy, whatever the fruit flavor.

These are very good.  The only strike I have against them is the packaging.  In this, they are no different than salt water taffies:  each taffy is rolled in a small piece of waxed paper, twisted at the ends.  The problem with this system is that at room temperature the taffy STICKS to the waxed paper.  And just out of the fridge, the taffy is so hard that the paper tears or little bits of brittle taffy flick off as you are unrolling the paper and go everywhere.   My solution is to put them in the fridge and then take them out for five minutes before unwrapping the ones you want to eat.  Why they can’t find a system to solidify the taffy before wrapping it is beyond me. 

Hmmm, this sign says Saltwater but the package says Salt Water...  I can't remember which store we got these at.

But the taffy itself – delightful." 

(Note – Susan here – David mentions fruit flavors.  The package says there are cherry, strawberry, banana, red licorice (which technically is not a FRUIT flavor, David), sour apple, and watermelon.  I tasted a pretty one that was dark red with a white swirl and I THINK it was red licorice but I would not bet you $10 on that.  I had a pretty photo of it but sadly that Sim Card thing-a-ma-bob is not working and I cannot upload it.  Sorry.)  Holy smokes – I just read the back and it says a serving size is SEVEN PIECES!!  That overindulgence may be the reason David wants to give these a high mark.)

Price – $1.99

Rating – 4.25 (from David, NOT from me)