Maria Jola Sangria (Red AND White)

This is an unusual review, in that I am going to actually review TWO products in ONE review.  But I feel I must put them together, to save you the sadness that befell us.  Therefore, this review will cover:

RED Sangria

and

WHITE Sangria

Consider this a Public Service Announcement…  In my mind, SUMMER SANGRIA SEASON IS NOT OVER YET.  I refuse to believe that autumn is right around the corner.  So read these reviews, then rush to TJ’s and stock up on (red only) sangria.

BUY THIS BOTTLE!!
(Well, not THIS bottle, we already drank this one, but a bottle that looks just like this one!)

Let me say this right off the bat – we loved the red Maria Jola sangria (which I shall review first!).  We loved it so much, that after we drank it, the next time we were at Trader Joe’s and saw the WHITE version, we thought, “Hey!  The red was soooo tasty, the WHITE kind has to be delicious too, right?”.  Oh man, were we suckers.

First review – RED Maria Jola Sangria

We lugged a bottle of red sangria with us from Virginia down to Florida (land of “no Trader Joe’s near where we stay…”).  One lovely Florida day we swam in the ocean, rehearsed David’s show on the back patio (which makes a great “stage”), then I capped off the day by making a pitcher of SANGRIA!  I put the bottle of red sangria in a pitcher and added fresh orange slices, fresh blueberries, fresh strawberries, and a little bit of Meyers lemon from our very own fruit cocktail tree (whose name is Trixie!).*  I refrigerated the whole shebang for a while to let it chill.  My opinion is that the longer the fruit is in the sangria the better the whole thing gets (though our opinions might have been skewed by the increasing amount of sangria we put into our systems as the night wore on…).

Us on the BEACH!  (This was pre-sangria, we were not day drinkin'...)

And speaking of the fruit, it tastes super delicious to munch on after it has stewed a while!  When you pour this make sure everyone gets fruit in their cups!  It is like a healthy (??) little serving of fruit with your drink.    

Anyway, this red sangria is really good, especially if it is very cold.  It is a great summer time drink. 

Trixie the Fruit Cocktail Tree loaded down with Meyer Lemons

It may LOOK like a lime but it is a Meyer Lemon

David’s take on it: “I agree with what Susan said completely.  This is much better than I expected.  I have had a lot of sangrias that just take like not very good wine with fruit thrown in them, but this is (maybe because of how Susan prepared it!) very, very nice and fruity.  It is the way I think a NICE sangria you might get somewhere in Spain or Europe somewhere would taste, or at a nice restaurant.  It tastes very summery – the strawberries and lemons taste fantastic, too!   I like that it isn’t too strong – it lets you drink more of it!!  (Editor’s note:  the label says the alcohol content is 7%.)  I give this red sangria a 4.25.”

Susan:  I agree with that score – a 4.25.  It is not too sweet, it is not chemically tasting…  It tastes a bit PUNCHY (and, we both agree, if you drink enough of it, YOU GET A BIT PUNCHY!).

Price – $6.99

Rating – 4.25

* If you do not a fruit cocktail tree to pick your own Meyer Lemon off of, you can find them in season at Trader Joe's!  Excellent review of them from day 3 of this blog here: Meyer Sweet Lemons 

Second review – WHITE Maria Jola Sangria

I added raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and orange slices in this sangria.  As you just read above, we really dug the red sangria, so I was excited to have this white one!   I like white sangria when we order it at restaurants!  We thought this bottled version of white would be juuuust as tasty as the red one.

(I hate to keep bringing up the RED SANGRIA, but geez Louise,
it is yummy!  We brought it to a dinner the other night...)

We were wrong.

When David first tasted it he said it was “perfume-y”, and I think that is the right term.  There is too much “perfume”-like scent to it.  When you raise your glass to take a drink, it smells too much like PERFUME, and then you TASTE the perfume…  And somehow, to my “sophisticated palate”, that “perfume-y” taste makes it takes like BATHROOM CLEANER.

To be perfectly transparent here, I have never drunk bathroom cleaner.  And I am not saying this product tastes TOXIC or anything…  It just tastes too much like it smells…   Do you know what I mean?  It is hard to describe.  I would say you need to taste it to understand what I am trying to explain, but that would mean you have to actually taste it, and I don’t want you to have to do that!

I give this a 2.25 rating.  I MUCH PREFER the red version.

Obviously I get excited over the red version....

David’s opinion: “This white sangria is too sweet and too perfume-y so it overpowers the fruit.  I can’t even really taste the fruit as much as I would like.  I think would be a better sangria if it were made with a more “transparent” white like a vino verde or something.  It is WINE, and it is not UNPLEASANT, but if I went shopping for sangria again I would get the RED instead of this one. I would give this white sangria a 3.5.” 

Price – $5.99 (a dollar cheaper than the red, but spend the extra buck, trust me!)

Rating - 3

Almondina – The Original Almond Biscuits

So, Almondina. 

A gentleman named Frank contacted me via Facebook message way back in May.  He had seen my blog, and asked if I had ever reviewed Almondina Biscuits.  I replied that I had not, and he replied with information on the product, links, and also offered to SEND ME SOME to review.  This flattered me!  I mean, FREE BISCUITS, right??!!  But I said no, thinking that if I accepted his offer of free biscuits I would not be able to review them neutrally.  I didn’t want to be swayed (or appear to be swayed) by a gift.  But I did tell him I would be sure to check them out.

Then life got super busy.  We travelled to India.  We hung out in Florida.  We went into intense rehearsals for a show.  I was swamped with work.  We travelled to Canada (twice) for the shows…  So, ummm, yeah…  Trader Joe’s reviews got even more backed up than usual.

Almondina Package

Frank contacted me a couple more times, nudging me and asking if I had a chance to review his product yet.  I felt so guilty!!  So finally I remembered to pick some up while we were at TJ’s in July, only then we never took time to EAT THEM.  Cuz, see, these reviews take quite a lot of time to do!  First, we need to buy the product.  Then photograph it.  Then taste it.  Then review it.  Then write and edit the review…  Then find and add the photos taken earlier…  Then POST the review…  It is not like a 10 minute job, people! 

Anyway, life is a tiny bit calmer today.  It is a Saturday.  We both have the day OFF.  We slept til noon.  We were tempted to pop down to the local donut shop and grab a maple and bacon donut for breakfast (healthy choice, I know!), but then I remembered – ALMONDINA!!!!!  So we finally ate them (not to worry, the “best before” date is March 2, 2017).  I served them with cappuccino and TJ’s yogurt topped with honey, fresh strawberries and toasted almonds (to match the Almondinas!).  Here is what we thought:

Look!  An Almondia!

David: “This is a biscotti, so it is a little bit hard and crunchy.  But since that is the ESSENCE of a biscotti I can’t really fault it for that.  It is THIN SLICED, which I like, ‘cuz that makes it easier to bite through.  It is tasty.  It has a nice balance of the almonds and raisins.  I must say; I am impressed the almonds stay in the cookie, they don’t pop out, even though they have so little biscuit to purchase on.  It is a well-made cookie.  Biscotti is not really my favorite…  I like a slightly softer cookie with maybe a little more buttery-ness to it, but this is doing the “biscotti thing” very well, so I think it is a good one.  It has a little bit of aftertaste of “honey-ness” rather than aftertaste of pure sweetness (editor’s note: there is no honey listed in the ingredients, it is pure cane sugar, and when I mentioned that to David he said, “Maybe the honey taste is my imagination, I am an unreliable source.”). 

The taste is good.  It is nice to dip it in coffee.  It is a great old family recipe from a time before mega food companies found ways to soften everything and make everything taste sweeter.  For that, it is a lovely historical and still delightful biscotti.  In terms of what the cookie is trying to do, I would give it a 4.5.  in terms of whether I would recommend to someone in the store that they are gonna LOVE this, I would give it a 3.5, because it is not very soft and it is not very buttery, and that is what I like in a cookie.”

Susan: “This cookie is filling a niche that I do not personally need filled.  I am not a huge biscotti person.  So I want to be honest about that from the get go.

2 Almondinas on a petite plate 

The tag line on the packaging for this product is “The Delicious Cookie Without the Guilt”.  I find this super funny because this is the one product I have ever reviewed that I feel SUPER GUILTY about!  I feel like I should have reviewed it months ago when contacted, and have had pangs of guilt every time Almondinas crossed my mind.  But I must say that normally, had I not been feeling bad for not doing something I said I would do in a timely manner, this tag line would be offensive to me.  It is my belief that one should never feel GUILTY about eating anything!!!  Food is something our bodies need, and what we choose to eat is a personal decision that should not be guilt inducing.  We can eat complete crap one afternoon, and a super healthy choice the same evening.  DO NOT FEEL GUILTY ABOUT EATING, PEOPLE!!!  (See another review with this rant here:  Reduced Guilt Pita Chips ).  For that reason, I recommend that Almondina re-think the tag line.

I also have been nervous about writing this review because, honestly, I feared I wouldn’t like the cookie.  Normally my personal like or dislike of a product doesn’t make me nervous, it is indeed the name of the game with these reviews. But since I was ASKED to review this one, I felt somehow like I didn’t want to disappoint Frank.  That is ironic, because I have been doing media work for David’s show lately, and a big part of that is contacting outlets and “pitching” the show to them.  Basically, I am asking them to review David’s show.  This situation of ME being the asked of (instead of the ask-er) has made me wonder if theatre reviewers ever feel nervous or guilty about disliking a show. 

One of the promo images I have been sending out to media for "A Little Business at the Big Top"
(photo credit R. Rado)

Stepping off soap box now to get back to the cookie review.

This is not the kind of cookie that I would normally go for.  Here is what I see as positives about it: 

-          It is thin – I love that it is thinner than most biscotti.  I like the petite-ness

-          I like the almonds

-          The raisins are good

-          The biscuits are CRUNCHY, but not MESSY.  I was surprised that no bits fell out when I bit these

-          It is cool that is a family recipe

-          It is awesome that they have been making them since 1929

-          I give them MAD PROPS for getting a non-Trader Joe’s branded product into TJ’s stores. That is a wicked hard thing to do, and THEY DID IT.  That, to me, means loads of people love this product

Here are things I am not really a fan of:

-          The biscuits have a bit of a rubbery, bendy quality before it snaps.  That is odd to me (David did not notice any bendiness)

-          They are not sweet enough for me – if I am going to eat a cookie, I want SWEET

-          They are really dry

Packaging:  I love the 3 little sections that so carefully hold the cookies.  They do a great job of keeping the crispy cookies whole – only one was broken when we took it out of the package.  The thing I do not like about the packaging is that once you open it, there is no way to seal it back up.  There are 4 servings in a package, so unless you have 4 people sitting around each wanting 4 biscuits, you are going to have to find a way to store these to try and keep them fresh (a Ziploc or a plastic container perhaps?). 

These are a biscuit that you want to eat paired with a nice coffee or tea (the website says you do not need coffee or tea with them, but I would beg to differ on that point).  I can sort of imagine a healthy parent giving one of these to a child, too (though NOT with a sippy cup full of coffee…). 

Overall, I would say that this product must fit a lot of people’s palates.  Non Trader Joe’s branded products rarely make it to TJ’s shelves, and this one did.  Color me impressed!!!  I think that this is just not “my cup of tea” when it comes to cookies.

Mad props to you for getting a product into TJ's under your own brand name
(Photo at TJ's Cincinnati) 

This is a tough one for me to rate.  I, like David, am going to give it 2 scores…  For the packaging, for having the gumption to do all the legwork to get it into TJ’s stores, for reaching out to me, for keeping a family recipe going, and for execution of idea – I will give this a 4.25.

For MY opinion of this cookie (which is how I have reviewed every other product on this blog, so I feel I need to be fair and review this one the same way) – for my enjoyment of it – I give it a 3.

Price: $2.79

Rating (average of 4 scores):  3.75

Find Almondina on Facebook at:  Almondina

200,000 VIEWS and ADDENDUM TO HEAD to TOE Moisturizing Balm

MY BLOG REACHED 200,000 VIEWS!  I knew it was coming – I hoped it would happen before we rush off to Canada (land of nooo Trader Joe’s….) again in a couple of days.  Then late last night it became apparent it was gonna happen OVERNIGHT…  Well, I like to take a photo of momentous times with the blog, and 200,000 is an awfully momentous number, so I needed a PICTURE.  But how?  In the middle of the night??  It was momentous, but not quite momentous enough to stay up ALL OVER and hit “refresh, refresh, refresh” repeatedly until the magic number appeared.  So, I did the next best thing – grabbed a photo in the location where I knew I would be when 200,000 rolled around – in my cozy bed!

WHEEEE - 200,000 HITS!  Who'd a thunk?

HAPPY 200,000 VIEWS, EVERYBODY!

To celebrate, let’s review something, shall we???

Well, instead of a brand new review, how about we do an ADDENDUM to the most read product review ever on this blog – HEAD TO TOE MOISTURIZING BALM (a product which boasts on the lid, a boast which it turns out is completely a lie, of no greasy residue…).  I do not know why or how this particular product review became so popular – it alone currently has 2,901 hits.  You can read the original review here:  Head to Toe Moisturizing Balm

Let's take another look back at Head to Toe Moisturizing Balm,
which got a clunker of a review way back on day 89 of this blog

As the product NAME implies – this is supposedly meant to be used HEAD to TOE – i.e. on your whole entire body.  And as the original review explains, I tried it on every part of my body I could:  my lips, my skin, and my hair.  However, I do NOT have a beard or mustache to try this balm on, so I couldn’t give it a COMPLETE test.

That is, until KARIM and Carrie stayed at our house!!!  You see, they are performers, and Karim has grown an outstanding mustache for their summer tour.  ENTER HEAD TO TOE MOISTURIZNG BALM!!! 

I asked Karim if he would do me the honor of trying it on his mustache, and he was more than happy to.  Here is his review:

“I think it’s ok.  I guess it depends on what your use is for it.  I would give it a solid B.”  (Editor’s note:  it is obvious that Karim does not read this blog.  That’s alright buddy, I will cut you some slack.  This is where I had to explain that I rate things numerically, not alphabetically like a report card…)

Karim is a true PROFESSIONAL - he travels with a mustache comb!!!

“Well, what am I reviewing this on the BASIS of??  What is its PURPOSE??” Karim pleaded.  (Editor here again:  damn, Karim is a serious guy!  I explained that he was reviewing it on the basis of “fly away mustache” (the tin mentions fly away beard, and not being familiar with facial hair I figured if it applies to a beard it must apply to a mustache, right???) 

“If the purpose of it is to STYLE my mustache I would give it a 0.  However, if the purpose is to SOFTEN my mustache and maybe just get it out of my LIPS a little bit, and give it like a SUBTLE SHAPE – I give it a 2.5.  It doesn’t really do much.  It is not a big difference.  It sort of changed the direction of the ‘stache, from down to sideways…  (David noted here that the product might be a good mustache TRAINING TOOL….)  Right – before you are ready for the FULL MUSTACHE WAX.  I would not buy this.”  (Carrie, Karim’s wife, pointed out that you can pick up real mustache wax for around the same price at CVS, thought I would implore you not to rub THAT on every part of your body like this product claims you should.)

Karim and Carrie in their show "Darlings" - "Peter Pan" from Mr. and Mrs. Darling's point of view.
Check out Karim's mustache!!

Honestly, I thought he was more keen on the balm than that…  But it turns out, even as a mustache styling product, this still sucks.  Oh well, you can’t say I haven’t given this product the complete test!!!! 

Price – $3.99

Rating (average of Karim’s 2 scores -  0 and 2.5):  1.25

P.S. - Karim and Carrie are terrific performers.  If their company, Animal Engine, is in your town be sure to check them out!  They are currently touring the show "Darlings".  Follow them on Facebook here:  Animal Engine

White House Cookie SALE

Ok, ok.  I know I need to stop telling you all how great Trader Joe's White House Cookie Kit is. You are going to start thinking I am obsessed with it or something...  But seriously guys, we were at TJs last night and they have marked the WH Cookie Kits down to $3.99!!  You kinda sorta NEED one.

David had the brilliant idea of getting one and SAVING IT FOR THE INAUGURATION!!  Wouldn't THAT be a fun thing to do on inauguration day, like a little cookie celebration of our country making it through these last few horrible hate filled months of the campaign.   (Note:  the cookies might actually be too hard and old to eat by then, but the joy of a cookie White House is in the making it, not the eating it.)

Amancay Winery Reserve Torrontes La Rioja (2014)

This is an Argentinian white wine that David chose when we were on a Trader Joe’s wine binge (well, maybe not a binge, but stocking up before we escaped to Florida, which, while great to visit, does not have a Trader Joe’s anywhere near where we stay). 

We drank this Torrontes La Rioja chilled and paired it with LEFTOVERS J.  Cuz nuttin’ pairs better with leftovers than a cold Torrontes, right?

Very reasonably priced wine from Argentina

And speaking of cold, did you know that the United States is the only country that has refused to switch to metric??  When I was in school I remember that they tried to teach us about the metric system for a couple of years before they gave up - you know, these are centimeters, this is a meter, and hey, how about if we measure temperature in CELSIUS instead of Fahrenheit??  I mention this because this bottle of wine says it should be served at “10 degrees Celsius”.  Then, for the morons in America, they have to save space on the label to let us know that in our slow-to-adapt-something-that-everyone-else-uses, that means 50 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Other than the recommended serving temperature, this label also says that this wine is “An intense white wine, showing mandarin, rose petal, and tropical fruit flavors, along with a crisp, juicy finish that will leave you enchanted.”  Damn – enchanted??  That’s a pretty high bar you are settin’ for yourselves there, Amancay Winery! 

This wine has a fun to say name!

Let me spend just a second more on the LABEL – it looks a bit like a junior high school student drew it…  Maybe it is supposed to be a dock, a boardwalk perhaps, with some fencing around it and a mountain…  The mountain seems to have a bit of DEPTH to it, making me think that they spent extra money to get a fancy LABEL, but they didn’t spend extra money on the ARTIST…  I am gonna guess they held a contest in the local junior high school and the winner got his/her artwork on a bottle of wine. 

See how the mountains have a bit of RELIEF??  Extra money for that, I am sure!

Now – the WINE.  David says he chose it because we hadn’t had it before and it has a name that is fun to pronounce.  “I think this thing is doing all of the things that it wants to do, and doing them well, but they are not things that I really ENJOY.  I think this wine has a little bit too much PAINT THINNER notes to it for my taste…  It out-chardonnays chardonnay in terms of that strong flavor…  I like a LIGHTER white wine.  But if you like to drink turpentine, then  this is your wine!  I will say, it does pair well with leftovers…  I suggest serving it with leftovers (as opposed to wasting a good meal on it)…  I give it a 2.5.  I think it does what it wants to do, it is just not what I like.”

Here is my take:  one time we went to a winery in St. Augustine, Florida* (DO NOT LAUGH, we realize that in and of itself is a ridiculous concept…  Winery + Florida does not = a good experience…)  Anyway, we WENT TO A WINERY IN FLORIDA.  While there, we drank a wine that tasted, I kid you not, like CAT PEE.  It was incredible!!!  It had a cat pee SCENT and a cat pee TASTE!  Not that we had partaken of a glass of cat pee prior to that evening, but we all agreed that the wine being poured was CAT PEE FLAVORED!

David and my sister slamming back some cat pee flavored wine in Florida - ahhh those were the days...

This bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s (Amancay Winery Reserve Torrontes La Rioja) also tastes a bit like cat pee!!!  Not as much as the super pee-flavored one we had at the Florida winery, but this has more than a hint of “cat pee” in it. 

All in all, this is not as horrible as the FLORIDA CAT PEE wine, but it is still not being added to our “Hey, pick up a bottle of that next time you are at Trader Joe’s!” list.   We DID finish this bottle.  Heck, we have only thrown away 2 bottles of opened, unfinished wine ever (one being “Scary Clown Wine” reviewed here:  Scary Clown Wine

I agree with David on the score – I will give it a 2.5, too.  But maybe someone who reads this will like it better than we did.  J

While in St. Augustine, Florida we popped by the Fountain of Youth, but it was closed.
However, that didn't stop us from letting the magical powers of the fountain from erasing all of our wrinkles!

Price – $6.99

Rating – 2.5

*If you want to taste the cat pee wine, I can’t remember which one it was that we tasted, but you can go on the tour of St. Sebastian Winery and taste it for yourself!  The tour was sweet and it was very fun tasting their wines, even if one of them WAS cat pee flavored.  Here is their website:  San Sebastian Winery

Ghost Pepper Potato Chips (Lattice Cut Kettle Cooked)

The Ghost Pepper Potato Chip package says:

“If spicy flavors bring you joy,

More than any game or toy,

Then try these chips with loads of heat

find crunch that simply can’t be beat. 

We’ve used a chili called the ghost,

providing heat which we can boast

Is hotter ‘n jalapeno or habanero. 

And so we issue you a dare-o

To grab a bag and take a bite

Of chips packed full of ghostly fright.”

I mean - GET OUT…  Any product that has a great poem on the bag is off to a good start, no???  We tried this at the Fairfax, Virginia Trader Joe’s when they were sampling them and can I just say:  TRADER JOE’S FOR THE WIN!

After sampling, David is obviously happy to be snagging a bag of these chips!

This is an excellent new product.  I was a bit nervous about tasting them because the sample lady warned us that “These are the hottest peppers eveeeer.  They are hotter than JALAPENOS!”.  In my opinion, they are not super spicy.  I mean, they have a kick to them, they are hot, but they are not TOO spicy.  Normally when I eat spicy things I do not want to pair them with anything else because the spicy flavor “ruins” the taste of what you are pairing it with.  But for these chips we paired them with Trader Joe’s Onion Dip (to be reviewed at a later time) and the two worked really well together. 

These chips are GREAT to eat on their own and super to eat with a dip!  I have never eaten “lattice cut chips” (that I can recall) but they are a good invention!  They make grabbing and holding onto dip easy – you don’t get any of that “dip slide off” that you sometimes get with other chips.  These chips also do not bust when you plunge them in the dip, no chip bits plop off and mess up your dip.

These chips really "grip your dip" (that's a good thing)

Here is what David thought of this product: “I agree with a lot of what Susan said.  The taste is good.  These fill a niche for people who would like more taste with their potato chips – they are very nice!  The taste is light enough to not be overpowering, like some kinds of BBQ powder poured on chips.  They really go lovely with TJ’s Onion Dip.  The lattice cut thing is good, too.  They are great for dipping – they don’t SNAP OFF like regular potato chips."

Reasonably priced - not only do you get CHIPS, you get a POEM!

David continued, "The only thing is – I got ONE that was a “pile-on” of about 6 chips melded together.  That is a minor inconvenience, because they are so tasty, but it would be nice if their processing of making these allowed them all to dry separately so they were individual in the bag.  I would give these a 4.75.”

Susan here again with one more thing – these DO make your fingers a tiny bit dirty.  You might imagine they would make them RED (since they are “ghost pepper” and all) but they are not red.  And they do not coat you with a thick goo on your fingers like if you indulge in Cheetos.  Plus, the goo comes off if you LICK YOUR FINGERS.  J

David usually doesn’t like kettle chips, and he LIKES these!  So Trader Joe’s, I hope you don’t stop making these.  Don’t say these are just a summer product, ok?  These will taste yummy in the middle of winter, too.

Bonus photo - READ THE SIGNS David...

I agree with David – these chips are a 4.75.  GET SOME!

Price – $2.29 (well worth the price)

Rating – 4.75

COOKIE WHITE HOUSE UPDATE!

Update on our COOKIE WHITE HOUSE kit from Trader Joe's.

It.  Was.  Fabulous!

Tada!  Our completed cookie White House!  On the right is Lil Barack (he didn't come with the kit, he is my finger puppet).  On the left is the little Michelle Obama garden!  Isn't it swell??

We had some friends staying with us so they helped with the creation.

Getting ready to build

Making the cookie White House

And, if I can boast a bit, IT TURNED OUT FANTASTIC!!  Isn't it adorable??

And of course, if the ACTUAL White House is in the backyard of your COOKIE WHITE HOUSE, you have to carefully bring your version to the life size version for a photo opp...  Cuz, well, why not??

It is hard to distinguish the REAL White House from the COOKIE WHITE HOUSE, no?
Check out the security guard in the background...  They kept their eyes on us, but liked our lil White House!

The security guards all loved it.  I am not saying they UNDERSTOOD it, but they all loved it.  And the people visiting from other countries really dug it, though they were very confused about the "why" of it...  And really, how does one explain that??

No David, no!  Don't eat it YET!!

2 other people I know also made cookie White Houses!  Here is one from Facebook friend Kate (made with her darling kids I am guessing :) )

The Meehan family cookie White House - impressive, no???  

And here is one from my big sister in Omaha who adores the first ladies!

My sister's cookie White House.  She also has a lil Barack!  Plus even MORE added on politicians!  My favorite is, of course, the Eleanor Roosevelt...  At least I THINK that who has her arm around Abe...  Very fancy!

All in all, cookie White Houses rock.  Our TJ's only had a few and they seemed a bit hidden, but check out this huge display of them we saw at another local Trader Joe's!

Get 'em while they've got 'em!

The next time they have them (or cookie Taj Mahals, or cookie Sears Towers...) GET ONE!  They are fun.

This product, OF COURSE, keeps the 5 star rating. Here is the original review of the kit (before we built it):  Cookie White House Kit

Mango Coconut Flavored Caramel Corn

It looks like a good idea for a snack food, no??

We ate this Mango Coconut Flavored Caramel Corn while on a road trip.  We were on I-95 somewhere in Southern Virginia when I busted the bag out.  I had picked it up at TJ’s during a MANGO RUN one day when I was throwing a plethora of mango items into our cart.   I should have paid more attention to the quiet conversation between two TJ’s employees that I overheard that day…  One, pointing to a bag of this snack, said, “Have you tried this yet??” with a sort of glazed look on his face.  The other employee replied, “Ummm, yeah, I did…  It’s not great…  But it might be, like, a good PICNIC food or something…”.

WHY didn’t I heed the warning signs and take it out of my cart then?

Look - David thought it would be an IMPROVEMENT on your everyday, run of the mill caramel corn...

Here is what David, who was driving while taste testing this, said, “This is NOT an improvement on caramel corn.  In fact, it is a DE-provement.  It is like somebody squeezed a coconut and dripped the coconut pee all over your good caramel corn.  I didn’t even remember that there was supposed to be mango associated with it, but I can only presume that mango is what gives it that sort of “too-flavorful-like-somebody-has-rubbed-an-air-freshener-dangling-from-their-rear-view-mirror” onto the popcorn after the coconut pee has been on it.  I am gonna give this a 2.5, and hope that god rewards me in heaven for my charity.”

He wasn't as happy with it here, in the car, after he had actually TASTED it

Side note:  DAVID LOVES ROAD TRIP SNACKS.  He would eat snacks the entire 14 hour drive in the car if he could.  In fact, he has eaten so many “natural” (white cheddar) Cheetos on a road trip once that he got sick.  All of this is to say, David will basically eat ANYTHING on a road trip (except an Arby’s sandwich, he draws the line at Arby’s “meat”…).  Yet, I still had to practically force him to eat bites 3 and 4 of this popcorn so that he would have tasted enough to form a considered opinion for this review. 

As for me, I regret buying this.  At the time, it seemed like a good idea.  But even when I pulled this out of the bag of road trip snacks to open it, I was hesitant.  After we tasted the first bite I understood why I was nervous to try it. 

Misleading (but clever) signage.  I wouldn't say there was a "party" in this bag of popcorn.  I would say there was an
AIR FRESHENER in this bag of popcorn.

First off, when you open the bag, it SMELLS BAD.  It doesn’t smell like FOOD.  David hit the nail on the head when he called it an “air freshener”.  That’s what it smells like!  And the mango tastes fakey to me.  I don’t imagine it is – I mean, most stuff at TJ’s is pretty darn healthy, but it tastes fake in this product.

The coconut tastes like suntan lotion – ewww.  We love caramel corn!  So honestly, this product could have been a big winner!  Like, an improvement on caramel corn!  If they nailed the flavoring on this one I think we would have really liked it.  But I would rather have naked caramel corn any day of the week than this.

We adore Trader Joe’s Caramel and Cheddar Mix (formerly known as Chicago Style) – reviewed here.  You should buy THAT instead of this yucky seasonal caramel corn.  As for the Mango Coconut Flavored Caramel Corn, they need to nix the mango and coconut flavorings and just make it plain ol’ caramel corn – that would be yummy. 

We don't like to return stuff, but we just had to bring this bag back.
 Not to worry though, we filled our cart with our yummy stuff at Trader Joe's!

David says that even though he remembers eating so many Cheetos before on a road trip that he threw up, he prefers to eat the last 1/3 of the bag of Cheetos that remain in the car and risk getting sick again instead of eating more of this caramel corn.  (David also ate at least 8 store bought chocolate chip cookies on this road trip…  We are all about the healthy, apparently!!)

I am surprised at David’s high rating of this.  I can’t give it any higher than a 2.  I recommend you do not buy this one.   David (in a rather hesitant voice) says, “It is CRUNCHY, and this IS some caramel in there…  So if you are desperate, it’ll do….”

BONUS ROAD TRIP PHOTO!!!  No drive down I-95 would be complete without a stop at SOUTH OF THE BORDER!!!!  And I have a new photo series called "Dhavid's Dhoti" - where he wears his dhoti (men's attire from Southern India) in fun and interesting locations!  So here is Dhavid at South of the Border!!  Classy, no??

Dhavid's Dhoti at SOB

Price – $2.99

Rating (average of 2 raters) – 2.25

WHITE HOUSE - Rush to TJ's NOW!

I don't normally post photos or talk about a product until after we have tried it and reviewed it, but guys, I've gotta share!! 

LOOK WHAT I JUST SCORED!!! It is a WHITE HOUSE COOKIE KIT to decorate for the 4th of July!!!!! Color me psyched! 

It was either $6.99 or $7.99, I got so excited I forgot the price.  But it was even CHEAPER cuz I returned my half eaten bag of gross black bean pasta!  

I know my Lil Barack fingerpuppet is gonna love this cookie White House! If you want one hurry to get it, they are probably in super limited supply!!! Keep your eye on this blog for a review (after Independence Day, of course...)