Day 293 - Mini Pumpkins, Gourds, and Mary Day

October 20^th is a holiday on my calendar.  It is a day known as MARY DAY.  Mary was my mom, and October 20^th is the anniversary of her death.  2015 marks 13 years since she died.  Every year I spend Mary Day celebrating her life – remembering her – by doing things she loved to do.  Mostly I SHOP.  I head out to the big local mall (the one that I usually go to once a year on, you guessed it, Mary Day…).  I shop All.  Day.  Long. 

My mom holding me - 1966

I try to buy a complete outfit – socks, pants, shirt, sweater, shoes...  A complete outfit just like she used to get me.  Other Mary Day activities could include getting a massage, playing a slot machine, getting your nails done, playing racquetball, drinking wine, for sure wearing lipstick, perhaps making a dessert and give it to someone else, vacuuming the house, going water skiing, sending people greeting cards – the point is, I spend the day doing things SHE would have done.  It gives me a day to remember, to grieve, to think of her, and to celebrate.

My mom and dad.  He is probably doing his famous move where he raises his hand and shouts "Tradition!" from
"Fiddler on the Roof", and she is cracking up because for some reason that move always makes us laugh

I never work on Mary Day.  It feels sacrilegious to work on this holiday.  And I typically spend the day alone.  I talk to strangers all day as I go about my celebrating and I always blurt out hugely inappropriate things that make them feel very awkward…  Nary a Mary Day goes by that some make-up counter lady doesn’t hear my blurted, “Hi.  I need a new lipstick.  My mom is dead, and this is the day I celebrate her.  She liked lipstick.  Can you help me find one??”.  Those are the things that fly out of my unattended mouth on Mary Day and unsuspecting sales clerks really have not been training to handle them. 

Trip to Las Vegas after she was sick.  I had shaved all my hair off (as had David and my sister Sherry)
to "go bald with her", only WE looked bald and SHE looked good with a wig.  :)  She was lucky at slot machines.

I think a ton about Mary Day for the entire month leading up to it.  What should I do this year?  Where should I go?  I think maybe my mind thinks about the specific DAY, October 20^th, for the preceding month so that it doesn’t have to think back to the month leading up to her death, when my family and I took care of her in her last days.  Those times are too hard to remember and not the images of her I want to have in my head. 

I am much more deliberate on Mary Day.  I feel like I can sense everything – my steps, my breathing, my tears.  And the weeks leading up to Mary Day every year I notice my actions becoming more and more deliberate.  This is the only year I have had this blog review project, and I have been wondering (worrying really) what to review on Mary Day.  But last night I decided:  MINI PUMPKINS (and gourds).

I like these two photos side by side - they are both old, but it shows
how much I look like her, don't you think?

Old headshot - I look like Mom :)

My mom never set foot in a Trader Joe’s.  She lived in Omaha, Nebraska (where I grew up) and died before TJ’s came to that area.  So it’s not like there is a specific product at TJ’s that I look at and think, “That’s my mom!”.  But she was really good at decorating for holidays and always made sure I had a great Halloween costume, so when I saw the pumpkins I smiled and realized they were the right fit for Mary Day.

Here we go:  Trader Joe’s mini pumpkins (all varieties) and gourds. 

GET THEM. 

Teeny tiny adorable pumpkins

They are adorable.  Trader Joe’s displays them soooo well.  At our local TJ’s they were outside displayed spilling out of wooden tubs in the crisp autumn air.  They are lovely!  They sell a ton of them so there is a fast “turn over” and you never see old junky mushy ones.

So prettttty

Look how tiny!

You can find any style of pumpkin you like – white ones, orange ones, striped ones, big ones, teeny tiny ones…  You can get your fill of PUMPKINS this time of year at Trader Joe’s!  There are all sorts of gourds, too!  Ugly warty ones, nice smooth ones, different colors… 

And they are PRICED RIGHT.  TJ’s isn’t going to rip you off just because you want some gourds on your dining room table!  Why, check out the price difference on mini pumpkins when I compared Trader Joe’s prices to those at Safeway right across the street!!

                                                                      Regular ones only .69

Fancy ones - .99 at TJ's

Gourds also cheap!

Safeway rip-off - $1.50!

Look a gourd!

Gourds look like AUTUMN

Look, in my humble opinion Trader Joe’s goes way too coo-coo over pumpkin spiced this and pumpkin flavored that every autumn.  But PUMPKINS, actual real live cutie patootie tiny pumpkins, now THOSE are worth your investment.

So go get a tiny pumpkin or two.  They will make you smile.

But more importantly, hug your mom if she is still around.  And if she lives far away, CALL HER.  And send her a greeting card!  A real, honest-to-goodness-have-to-use-a-postage-stamp greeting card.  Tell her you love her.  Trust me on this one. 

Cuz she isn’t going to around forever.  So make sure you enjoy her while she is here.

Oh, and Happy Mary Day.

Price - .69 to .99 (for mini pumpkins and gourds, larger pumpkins also cheap)

Rating – 5 (that’s a “5” for the mini pumpkins and gourds, and a 5 for having a day set aside to remember my mom)

Day 292 - Pecan Pralines

I am not sure if these are pecan prah-lines or pray-lines.  I think it depends on where you are from.  But however you say it, if you want them you can find them in a little plastic container at Trader Joe’s.

13 Oz container of Pecan Pralines

These are much more PRALINE than pecan.  They have tons of heavy praline coating over pecan halves.  They taste good but are a little too sweet for my taste.  We have been munching them on their own as snacks as opposed to putting them on a salad or something.  Maybe on a salad they would taste better because the savory of the salad would off-set some of the sweet of the praline. 

I went to New Orleans for a conference this summer and ate pralines there and these pecans DO taste like the ones that are so popular in that part of the country.  The following photos have nothing at all to do with Trader Joe's and everything to do with New Orleans :) :

Cafe du Monde - beignets and coffee is a must

Art on gate in Nola

Street musician

Street art - New Orleans is full of it!

jambalaya and greens at a restaurant called The Praline Connection (which is, of course, where I got pralines!)

Back to the review:  David agrees with me that these Pecan Pralines are a bit SWEET and rich, but that they do taste “authentic”.  He has not problem with the “construction” of these (whatever that means…).  He says the pecans themselves were good (but agrees with me that the taste of the actual pecan is smothered out by the taste of the praline).  He thinks I may be right that they might be better on a salad.

I think you can see here how much of the praline coating is on the nuts.  If you like SWEET, you will like these.

I recommend Trader Joe’s sells a tub of these that is HALF the size for HALF the price, cuz at the rate we are getting through these sugary sweet things they are going to be in our cupboard for an eternity. They are good, you just can't eat too many of them at a time.

Pretty big tub o' sweet

Price – $5.49

Rating – 3.5

Day 291 - Potato Tots

We are not “food snobs”.  Really, we aren’t!!   But I think I can safely say that, in our nearly 28 years of cooking dinners together, David and I had never once made TATER TOTS.  I know that I, for one, thought poorly of the things. 

Oh call them what you will, Trader Joe's, ain't nobody gonna say "Potato Tots"...

I thought of tater tots as a mushy side dish on my elementary school cafeteria tray.  And this may not sound kind, but I also connected tater tots with the infamous Duggar Family…  They are not high on my list of “role models” and they annoy me a ton, so I do not want to do anything “Duggar-ish” and I put “eating tots” into that category.  (In fairness, if you do not have a negative reaction to the word “Duggar” and if you are curious about “one of Jim Bob’s favorite dishes” (a grown man named JIM BOB???), then here is a link to a recipe for it on their blog:  click here to read the Damn Duggar recipe

Anyway, I think David and I both had some hidden prejudice against the teeny tiny tater tot.  That is, until we had them recently at a restaurant in Cincinnati.  Oh man – those tots were heavenly!  They served them with good dipping sauce (which was a new concept to me, I had heretofore only thought of dipping a tot in ketchup).  If you are in the area, go to Revolution Rotisserie and get yourself some TOTS!

So, since we had that lovely experience with tots at the restaurant, we decided to give it a go and try the Trader Joe’s version.  And now that we have had them twice I can safely say – WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

Having recently eaten such tasty tots in Cincinnati, David was happy to get them in the frozen food section of TJ's

I cooked them by frying them approximately ten minutes in olive oil.  I kept flipping them so they would cook evenly.  They were smaller tots than I expected, which scared me.  It gave me a quick flashback to Pawnee Elementary School and the mean lunch ladies (all except for that ONE kind lady, the one who would make you TASTE the thing you didn’t like, then actually help you hide the rest of it in your milk carton so you wouldn’t get it trouble for leaving food on your plate…). 

We served these with 3 dipping choices:  wasabi mayo ( reviewed here ), Dijon mustard (not yet reviewed) and BBQ sauce (not yet reviewed).  The tots tasted good in all 3 dips!

Our dip choices

David says, “These tots are a revelation!  Just like watching a David Gaines physical theatre performance* changes your nasty impression that you got from all those bad street mimes, so these light fluffy cloud-like pillows of tater (with a  lightly crisp edge) wipes away that impression of hard, crusty, tasteless “nothing going on inside” tater tots that you remember from elementary school cafeterias and bad restaurants since.  These are LOVELY!  And so quick!  You get them out, fry them up, and you have a lovely starch!  (MAY I INTERJECT – OF COURSE THEY ARE QUICK, HE DIDN’T COOK THEM, I DID…)  Get yourself a girl like Susan and you’ll be made!!”

We agreed that the wasabi mayo was the best dipping sauce, but David took it a step further and re-dipped in bbq, too!  A double dip!

I am glad that we have overcome our prejudice against tater tots. 

*Here is a link to see a blurb of a David Gaines performance.  Hopefully this will change your impression of “mime” the way these changed ours of tots.  David Gaines "7 (x1) Samurai" 90 second trailer here

Price – $2.29

Rating – 4.5

Day 290 - Grilled Asparagus (frozen)

First off, let’s be honest.  This frozen grilled asparagus is NOT like fresh asparagus.  It does not taste as good as asparagus you buy in the produce section, wash, trim, and cook yourself.

But secondly, let’s be clear.  This asparagus is NOT as crappy as canned asparagus.  Growing up I actually liked canned asparagus.  I think it was sort of a treat in our house and I do not remember having it until I was older, but canned was the only asparagus I ever ate.  It came out of a tall, thin metal can and I thought it was expensive and exotic.  It was also, honest here, as mushy as all get out. 

When I became an “adult” (something I still don’t claim to be, though my birth certificate says otherwise) I thought canned asparagus was the way to go.  Then I met David, and he hated canned asparagus.  He introduced me to fresh asparagus and I loved it (though every once in a while I would still buy a can and snarf it down on my own…).  I have a dish that is one of my specialties – asparagus, brown butter, and capers.  It is amazing!

Reasonable price for a vegetable that is normally pretty expensive

 I saw this grilled asparagus in the TJ’s frozen section one night when I was shopping there alone and thought I would give it a try.  I had dinner ready when David came home from a late night of work and these spears were on the plate.  Here is what he thought:

“I like it.  It’s got crunch but it’s soft enough to cut with a fork.  It is flavorful, tasty.  In this case perhaps because we grilled it lightly (EDITOR’S NOTE:  “WE”????  We??  Ummm, YOU were at work when I made this meal…).   Ummm, and it is entirely NOT WOODY.  No part of the stalk have I encountered a kind of fibrousness to.  And I haven’t even gotten up to the tips yet - I presume those are gonna be even nicer!”

BAM – I PUNKED HIM!  He thought “we” grilled those!!!  Boy was he surprised when I told him they came in a bag, frozen, and I had just defrosted them in the microwave. 

The asparagus spears are quite pretty, eh?  I served them with grilled eggplant from our garden topped with TJ's feta
and a TJ's Chicken Balti Pie.

My opinion of these – they lost a bit of asparagus taste in the freezing process.  So they are not as delicious as fresh asparagus but they win hands down over canned asparagus.  If TJ’s carries these during the asparagus off-season they would definitely be something good to have in the freezer.  I agree that they were not woody.  They were a nice size and very “uniform”.  Fresh asparagus goes off really quickly in the fridge if you don’t cook it right away, so I think this frozen asparagus would be a good staple to keep in the freezer on nights when you haven’t gotten to the store to get a fresh veggie.  It would be the equivalent of the can of “emergency corn” I keep in the cupboard.  Overall, they are good but do not have the “vibrancy” of fresh.

David admitted I had totally fooled him and he would have never known they were not fresh if I hadn’t told him.  He did run into a bit of fiber (to be expected with this vegetable).

Price – $3.99

Rating - 3.75

Day 289 - Persimmon Salad

We were heading out to the thea-tuh (that is how fancy people say it) and stopped at Trader Joe’s in Fairfax, VA to get something for dinner on the way.  Sadly, we spent so much time wandering the aisles, tasting pumpkin soup and pumpkin beer and (non pumpkin) wine, that we pulled into the theatre parking lot with enough time to rush to our seats, not to EAT DINNER.  Therefore we did something the fancy people do NOT do – chowed down on a salad with a plastic fork during intermission.  But hey, that’s how we roll.  Deal. 

Oops - caught you eating dinner during intermission.  SO not fancy.

This salad was new to us.  Apparently Trader Joe’s had it last autumn and it was a big hit, so they juuuust brought it back!  I am glad they did, and you should be, too.  It is in the Fearless Flyer this month.

The Fearless Flyer is TJ's newsletter.  I don't really get into it much, which is why I am making this photo small.  :)

This salad is a very nice combination of stuff.  The front of the package boasts this contains butter lettuce, kale, roasted almonds, goat cheese, and a pomegranate dressing.  Of course, as the name suggests it also has PERSIMMONS, which, hello, who buys persimmons??  We do not, but maybe we should!!  They were good in this context for sure.

Even before OPENING this salad I thought it looked good.  I was right.

The nuts and pomegranate seeds come in little plastic sealed cups that you open and dump in.  This keeps them fresh and they do not get mushy, which is cool.  The majority of the salad is butter lettuce and kale.  We normally do not eat raw kale and this salad really made me want to do that more often.  The kale was great!  It tasted “healthy”, if healthy is a taste.    

I think there could be a bit more dressing.  It is a super tasty pomegranate sherry dressing and by the bottom of the salad I was wishing for more.  David agreed about needing a bit more dressing.

See - FEARLESS FLYER item 

David says, “The dressing is great!  The mix of kale and butter lettuce is a nice balance.  The nuts are nice.  And I think it is Roquefort cheese??  It’s nice!  The kale is good because it is the TENDER LEAVES and not so much stalk.  I give this salad a 4.”

I at first thought the cheese in question was FETA, then realized it was chevre (goat cheese).  Well done, Trader Joe’s, well done. 

This salad would be great for lunch.  I give it a 4.5, so will average the two ratings together for the final number. 

Wade through the aisles of pumpkin products and get to the refrigerated section to pick one of these salads up.  It is nice to have an autumn taste other than pumpkin.  (Not that there is anything wrong with pumpkin…)

Price – $3.99

Rating – 4.25

Day 288 - Danish Pancakes (aka aebleskiver)

I almost bought these little Danish pancakes one other time at Trader Joe’s – they are in a bag in the frozen breakfast food section.  I decided against them that time, but they caught my eye again and I thought, “What the heck, let’s give ‘em a go!”.  Their proper Danish name is aebleskiver, isn't that fun to try to say??  We ate them as a leisurely Sunday breakfast while reading the Washington Post.  

This is the bag - it contains quite a lot of pancake balls

Here is what we thought:

David – Taste - very good.  Texture - lovely.  Convenience of eating them - not so great.  You have to tear ‘em apart and hold ‘em in your hand, unless you are gonna eat one whole ball at a time, which is more of a mouthful than I care for.  I used my hands to eat them, not a fork. 

David dipping his Danish Pancake!

Susan – They are a little bit bland.  They are sort of an excuse to carry whatever topping you want to put on the ball to your mouth, as opposed to actually being  flavorful themselves.  I put out several toppings to choose from:  TJ’s Fig Butter, apple butter from Union Nebraska that a Nebraska friend gave us, powdered sugar, and TJ’s Boysenberry Preserves review here.  To us the best one was apple butter – these balls worked good as a system to cart apple butter by the mouthful from the bowl to our mouths. 

The texture, to me, was a little weird.  The taste is good but sort of boring.  If the tasty toppings weren’t in the picture I do not think we would want to shovel these naked pancake balls in our mouths. 

They sure look cute all laid out on the table with toppings and espresso

We heard a really good story on NPR about the Danish concept of hygge.  It was a great piece and I recommend a listen, but I cannot FIND it online.  Let me just that that listening to it made us both long for more “hygge” in our lives.  I can’t seem to find the original piece we listened to but I do not want to leave you high and dry, so here is some hygge information for you:

Here is a short “Driveway Moment” piece that references hygee at 2:00 - Driveway Moment

And here is an article on the subject:  BBC news hygge article

Oh I WISH i could find a link to the piece we listened to on NPR because it was so perfect.  Anyway, the concept is the “hygge” is a word not meant to be translatable, but to be felt/experienced. 

 

Our hygge...

I bring all of this up because the term hygge is Danish, as are these pancake balls.  And in fact EATING these pancake balls while sitting in front of a roaring fire wearing your handknit sweater and heavy socks while playing Dominoes with friends could likely BE hygge!

Not expensive.  But not my favorite breakfast food in the world.  I will probably wait until I go to Denmark to eat them next :)

Back to the review:  to me these pancake balls taste like something they would serve at the Ikea restaurant, only they would be yuckier cuz the topping they served would be lingonberry… 

Price – $3.49

Rating -3

Day 287 - Artichoke Ravioli

David balks at the idea of artichokes.  Too much work to eat a whole one, and something turns him off about artichoke hearts (not sure what).  So we do not normally have them.  But last night he went to a play and I opted out.  Instead I went to, wait for it…  TRADER JOE’S!  Hahaha.  (I went other places, too, mind you, I do not live my whole life at Trader Joe’s).  while there I got some ARTICHOKE RAVIOLI and decided to have it ready for dinner when he came home and not tell him what was in it.  Here is his reaction:

Shhh, don't tell David what is in the ravioli...

David:  “These are great!  They were cooked apparently just the right amount of time.  The pasta is delicious and al dente.  They have a FILLING inside them that is sort of, cream cheese-y, ummm, full taste.  Maybe it is RICOTTA and something…  There is no SAUCE on them.  Normally I would think, “Oh, no sauce, I won’t like this”.  I mean, there is a little bit of parmesan and some mushrooms that we cooked but on its own it’s really VERY NICE.  I mean this really would be quite delightful with just some olive oil poured on it.”

AHAHA – GOT HIM!!!  He had no idea it was artichoke!!!  And he LIKED it a lot!

Tasty!!

I cooked little portabella mushrooms in olive oil and pumpkin seed oil and put those on top, along with more olive oil and pumpkin seed oil (which, if you have not tried it, is amazing).  Then I topped it all with freshly shredded parmesan. 

These raviolis are really nice.  They are “meaty” (with no meat) without being overpowering.  They taste clean, and fresh.  They would be good to eat outdoors on a summer night paired with a nice white wine. 

Dinner is served!  Artichoke Ravioli topped with mushrooms, olive oil, pumpkin seed oil, and parmesan
 with sides of fresh green beans and TJ's mashed sweet potatoes  

Trader Joe’s has a big selection of “fancy ass” fresh ravioli near the meat and cheese section.  We don’t try a lot of them and one reason is because I am never sure what to put ON them.  I asked a TJ’s employee who seemed pretty new and unsure (had never tried these) and she thought maybe just olive oil.  I think she got it right! 

These are priced really low for what you get.  Brands in other stores (like Buitoni) are more expensive and these are better.  These taste fresher and just overall nicer.

Seriously good price for what you get

Price – $3.49

Rating – 4.5

Day 286 - Mini Pumpkin Pies

This pie is so tasty that when I dropped a piece of mine on the floor, I picked it up and popped it in my mouth (note:  it did qualify for the 5 second rule…).  This was our first PUMPKIN flavored thing of this Trader Joe’s PUMPKIN SEASON (seriously, TJ’s goes insane this time of year and makes every single item available in pumpkin flavor – pumpkin this and pumpkin that…)

Here are boxes of these cutie patootie little pies still in the freezer section at Trader Joe's

 The on these pies crust is nice.  It has little sugar crystals on it.  Trader Joe’s has different varieties of “mini pies” and they all seem to have the same crust. (see the review of the Mini Pie Medley here and see the review of the seasonal Mini Pecan Pies here ).  I think the crust is a great match for this pumpkin filling.  We ate these little pies for dessert and paired them with a Vin de Bordeaux from TJ’s.

Here is a San Pellegrino lid next to a pie to show the size

The wine we paired these with

These pies taste like a little tiny taste of Thanksgiving.  J  They are not really BARBIE sized – Cabbage Patch size is more accurate.  I made one for each of us for dessert but David (who normally doesn’t like pumpkin things) snuck back into the kitchen and heated up a second one for himself.  We also had them for BREAKFAST Saturday morning.  Cuz what the hell – it’s the WEEKEND, life is short – eat pie for breakfast right??

This would be a good dessert to serve if you were having an autumn dinner party and had a little platter of various desserts.  We ate ours warm and did not add ice cream or whipped cream on top, we just ate them naked. 

David says, “I like these, too.  The best part about it is the crust which is delicious and soft and nice.  The filling is pumpkin, so if you are a fan of pumpkin pie (which I am not terribly…) you will like this.  I think a crust this nice should be graced with some fruit filling, but if I have to have pumpkin pie, then give me pumpkin pie with lots of good CRUST like this has!”

Hmm David, this is pie number 2 for you...  You don't look like you are disliking this pumpkin...

I think part of the reason this pie works well is that it has some crust on TOP.  Normally pumpkin pie (in my experience) has a bottom crust, then a huge ass can of pumpkin…  This results in way more PUMPKIN than crust.  But these little TJ’s pies balance the pumpkin to crust ratio better.  David agrees with that.  He loves this crust. 

Reasonably priced little treats

If you are only going to invest in one pumpkin item this year from Trader Joe’s – this one would be worthy.  And if you didn’t read yesterday’s review of PUMPKIN BODY BUTTER, you probably should… 

Price – $3.99

Rating – 4.25

Day 285 - Pumpkin Body Butter

I was not going to buy this.  One of the premises of this blog is that I would not buy anything that I anticipated before even trying it I would dislike it – that does not seem fair to the ratings to go into with a negative attitude.  But I was curious about this body butter…  I love lotion – I use it every single day.  And I really like body butters (oh man, the unscented generic one from Sephora is amaaaazing and David often gets me a tub of it for Christmas!).  So I wondered about this Trader Joe’s one, but I was afraid I would not like the scent.

Look, it is LUXURIOUS, it says so right on the label!!!

One night recently when I was checking out at Trader Joe’s I asked my checker if he has tried this product yet.  He had a stack of them sitting at his register.  He said he hadn’t tried it (secretly I was hoping he would say, “Should we open one up and give it a whiff??” but he didn’t).  But then I overheard the cashier right behind me offering some to HIS customer to try!  Well, you don’t have to ask me twice (technically, no one had asked me once, but go with it…)!!  I turned around and inserted myself into their conversation and grabbed a blob of the body butter to rub on my hands.

Of COURSE it is a "Flyer Item" - it is OCTOBER!  Every pumpkin product is a flyer item this month.  :)

It was nice!  The texture seemed good and the smell was not overpowering (as I had feared it might be).   It seemed to smell more like AUTUMN, more like SPICE, than stinking like a PUMPKIN PIE.  It was nice.  I thought maybe I had previously just had a bad attitude toward pumpkin scented things and I should get with the program. 

In store selfie...  I was a little bit nervous about this product...

I would have picked up a tub of it then and there but my cashier was done ringing me up and had everything bagged so I finished up and left.  But the next time I went into a TJ’s I got a tub of the Pumpkin Body Butter.  I was still NERVOUS, mind you, but the little sample on my hands had gone well enough that I thought a tub might be just the thing for the autumn weather.

That charge of $4.99 for this product will soon be a refund…

I put this body butter on today after my shower.  I mean – I PUT.  IT.  ON.  Everywhere.  All over my whole body.  It is sticky going on.  Once it was all on and rubbed in it was not too sticky, however…

I SMELL LIKE A CANDLE.  I smell like a rust colored pillar candle in the middle of a harvest centerpiece on the Thanksgiving table.  David said, “You are bloody AUTUMNAL is what you are!!”.

If you like smelling like a human sized pumpkin pie this is the body butter for you.

I don’t really smell so much like – well – I smell more like a PIE than I would like.  I am not the sort of person who likes fragrances that smell like FOOD.  Case in point, you will not see BIRTHDAY CAKE scented lotion in my cupboard (even though I really like one manufacturer who mistakenly (IMHO) makes that scent…).  That is disgusting!  If I want to eat a birthday cake I will EAT A BIRTHDAY CAKE.  I don’t want my ARM to smell like a birthday cake!!!

So, to wrap this up, this body butter goes on sticky.  After you get it on the texture is okay.  And the scent is good IIIIFFF you want to walk around smelling like a big pumpkin pie (or centerpiece candle).  If you do not want to smell like a pumpkin pie, just use some from a sample jar one time on your hands when you are at Trader Joe’s.  Trust me.  Learn from my mistake.

I have to give them points for the lid.  It's quite ingenious.

Because this is not sticky after you get it on, and because some people actually want to smell like walking desserts, I do not feel I can give this product a zero score (even though I am going to return it and ask for my money back).  I mean, some people might LIKE this…  It is not HORRIBLE.  It did not make me throw up and I did not jump in the shower and wash it all off.  Oh, it also has a really cool lid , you can either unscrew it like a traditional body butter lid or you can pop the middle of the top off. 

Because of those positive, I will not give it this product a zero.  J

P.S. – lest you think I hate all things pumpkin, make sure to read tomorrow’s review of MINI PUMPKIN PIES!

Price - $4.99

Rating - 2