"The Loving Dead" by Amelia Beamer

You visit this site for Trader Joe's product reviews, and end up with a post about a sexy zombie novel. What has gone wrong?

Well, nothing, really. Today you just get a different kind of Trader Joe's post. You see, the characters in this novel are Trader Joe's employees, and one of the major scenes takes place at their store.

Look, this isn't high art. But it's better-written than you'd expect from the genre. It's a fun, fast read. And it's the first novel I've ever read where Trader Joe's features prominently.

Here's the summary from Amazon, where you can buy it in various formats:

Kate and Michael are roommates living in the Oakland hills, working at the same Trader Joes supermarket. A night of drunken revelry changes their lives forever, but not in the way that anyone would expect. A slow-spreading plague of zombie-ism breaks out at their house party, spreading amongst their circle of friends, and simultaneously through the Bay Area. This zombie plague — an STD of sorts — is spread through sex and kissing, turning its victims into mindless, horny, voracious killers. Thrust into extremes by this slow- motion tragedy, Kate and Michael are forced to confront the choices they've made in their lives, and their fears of commitment, while trying to stay alive and reunite in the one place in the Bay Area that's likely to be safe and secure from the zombie hoards: Alcatraz.

Cookbook and chili

As most Trader Joe's fans know, there is a small industry of writing/publishing cookbooks using only ingredients you can find at TJ's. I've looked at some of them online, and thought about buying one, but never did. Then Nina gave me this one for Christmas:

The first recipe I decided to try was "Soy Chorizo Chili." It's dead simple to make, because the soy chorizo gives you the protein source and the spices all in one, already perfectly balanced. The only work involved was dicing a bell pepper and opening a few cans.

The star of the show:

Other ingredients:

I don't think any of these secondary ingredients merits a separate review, because they're all basically interchangeable with similar items you could find at any other grocery store. (One possible exception: Though I haven't tried it side by side with other brands of corn, my impression is that the TJ's corn is both sweeter and crisper than competitors. It has become the one I choose over all other canned corn.)

The same is true for the oyster crackers with which I topped the finished chili: perfectly good, but indistinguishable from every other brand of oyster crackers on the market.

There was not any serious doubt that I would like the result. After all, TJ's soy chorizo is one of my very favorite things--one of the staples that I always keep around, and maybe the single most common source of protein in meals I make for myself. And, in fact, I did like it, as expected. I liked it even better the next day at lunch, when I also added a little TJ's shredded cheese on top.

So you have here a chili that is probably easier to make than any other recipe you've ever encountered, vegan-friendly, chock full of protein, dirt cheap, and completely delicious. Do you think I'll be making it again? Like duh obviously.

As for the cookbook, this one recipe is enough to make me a fan. I've barely even glanced at what else it has to offer, but if I like even, say, 10 percent of the recipes as much as I do this first one, it will likely become my favorite cookbook of all time.

Nina's View

The chili was delicious. I just came back form a TJ's run myself where I bought ingredients to make my own batch (although I will probably do some variation substituting). I will also include The Vegetable Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken, which Bob omitted in his version. I'm sure that his batch will improve with sitting, as most chilis and stews do, and I intend to make enough to freeze some for future consumption when lazy.

But even more wonderful that the chili was the pleasure of having my honey make me a dinner using a recipe I'd help him find—and have him be pleased with it. Win all around!


Addendum 

I was looking around the web to find contact info for the book's authors, so I could ask their permission to include the full recipe in this post. I not only found their web site, but found that this particular recipe is there. So I'm happy to refer readers here to see it:  http://www.cookingwithtraderjoes.com/soy-chorizo/

(Note that the online version is missing something important that is in the cookbook: 1 cup water or vegetable broth.)