Trader Joe's Cracker Assortment

This was the second part of the cheese and cracker variety combo that I bought to serve to Nina's birthday party guests.

I wish I could say that it makes a perfect complement to the other half, the Cheese Party Tray. After all, four kinds of cheese and four kinds of crackers make 16 possible combinations, which is nice.

But I didn't like the crackers. The plain water crackers are pretty bad; they taste like cardboard. The wheat "entertainer" cracker is perfectly decent, though unexciting. There's a pepper/poppy seed cracker that's pretty good, but a lot of them were broken. Finally, there's a vegetable cracker. It's the largest of the four and the only one that's rectangular rather than round. It's admittedly got a lot of interesting flavor. For most people, it might be the best of the batch. But for me, I immediately detected onion in it, which is a dealbreaker. So I deemed two of the four acceptable, two unacceptable.

The plastic wrapper sleeves that the four varieties come in are impossible to open without ripping in random directions, and impossible to re-close. Annoying.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Cheese Party Tray

Nina's 60th birthday was a few days ago, so I had a little party for her at my house to celebrate. When planning refreshments for the guests, I remembered that I had recently seen this announcement from Trader Joe's about a new tray of cheese slices intended specifically for parties. It seemed like it would be a fine choice.

And it was! None of the four cheeses is spectacularly great, but they're all perfectly adequate, and exactly what you'd expect from the varieties selected. That is, they're all right up the middle, with no surprises. The Swiss was a little on the flavorless side, but other than that, each of the four varieties is distinct and easy to like.

The slices are uniform, and separate reasonably easily. They seem to be sized so that two of them side by side will cover a slice of bread for sandwich purposes. That makes them much too big for loading onto crackers, but they're easy to fold/break into halves or thirds for that.


Will I buy it again? 

I would never buy this for my own use, because I much prefer buying blocks of more distinct cheeses and slicing my own. But for the particular purpose of assembling a small selection of pre-sliced cheeses for party guests, this product is very close to ideal--so yes, I would buy it again for another such gathering.

Trader Joe's Miso Ramen Soup

I was strangely torn while eating this and trying to decide whether I liked it more or less than its chicken-flavored shelfmate. I don't love miso generally; in fact, I find it a little off-putting. And the miso is quite strong here.

But it was at least interesting, unlike any soup I've had before, whereas the chicken one was just another in a long line of mediocre chicken-noodle soups. So it's got that going for it, which is nice.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Roundup

This is my weekly compilation of news and other links about Trader Joe's.


Trader Joe's appetizers that come to the rescue at every party

Top 10 most intriguing Trader Joe's stores



Best tweets of the week:

Some people say there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, but we found something better at the end of this #doublerainbow. #TraderJoes #Towson #Baltimore pic.twitter.com/vSxadYNzzt

— Keith D. Flynn (@KeithDFlynn) August 12, 2018

My Trader Joe’s total.... something doesn’t seem right 🤔 #traderjoes pic.twitter.com/TkZtN8cc6w

— mr. jones (@MrEazyE) August 12, 2018

2nd time in 2 weeks, idk even know what creature this is that was inside my #TraderJoes prepackaged Caesar salad @TraderJoesRants #Disgusting pic.twitter.com/UGD7fZUBE4

— Desiree Kiva Powell (@desiree_kiva) August 14, 2018

@traderjoesusa What, no frankincense?!... I bet if you were making toothpaste for Baby Jesus, HE’D get frankincense. #TraderJoes pic.twitter.com/IgjUgtUO1u

— Dan O'Brocta (@danobrocta) August 15, 2018

My boyfriend just ate a #traderjoes #dunkers dry and now I have to break up with him.

— Carrie (@FoliageFluffer) August 17, 2018

And finally, here's this week's cute cat dog in on a Trader Joe's grocery bag:

Everyone loves the #TraderJoes bags pic.twitter.com/xIKSC5pNqe

— dani (@DANCEDANI) August 2, 2018

Trader Joe's Chicken Ramen Soup

Pretty clever of Trader Joe's to release two new flavors of ramen soup in the week before the college kids are heading back to the dorms, eh? (Say, did you know that the University of Southern California has student housing with a Trader Joe's right in the same building? It's almost enough to makes me want to go back and do college all over again. Almost.)

Preparation was easy, following the microwave directions: Open the two little packets inside (one powdered flavoring, one oil), add water, zap for 90 seconds, stir, and let sit for six minutes. The noodles came out cooked just right.

But I can't say I'm excited about the result. Nothing terrible, but it's pretty generic chicken-noodle soup, with a heavy emphasis on the "noodle" part, and only hints and whiffs of the "chicken" part. You could buy any number of similar but better products in a can (and have a recyclable container, rather than one in the trash, as this cup will be).


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Organic Yellow Lentil & Brown Rice Pasta--Spaghetti

This is Trader Joe's latest attempt at a gluten-free pasta; see the company's introduction to the product here. The others have included Organic Brown Rice Pasta Fusilli, Organic Brown Rice & Quinoa Pasta, Organic Black Bean Rotini, Gluten Free Egg Fettuccine Pasta, and Organic Red Lentil Sedanini. I thought the last two of that list were the most successful. This one joins them in being a passable substitute for real pasta.

The color isn't a giveaway, as it resembles whole-wheat pasta. The texture was a little stiffer than regular spaghetti, but not a dealbreaker. (Nina would beg to differ. She found it both gummy and gritty.) I thought it had just a faint lentil flavor, but it's basically a bland, neutral canvas on which to place your favorite protein and sauce.


Will I buy it again? 

No. But it's another decent option for those who need or want to live gluten-free.

Trader Joe's Macaron Aux Framboises--Raspberry Macaron Cake

Nina spotted and purchased this recently, and served it for our dessert last night when I was at her house for dinner. I had never noticed it before.

It is quite excellent.

No preparation is required, except to thaw it for 45 minutes. With that much time, ours was still very cold, and the cream filling still had the texture of ice cream. Nina and I both liked that, but it seems not to be what the manufacture intends. Maybe next time we'll experiment with leaving it longer before eating.

I'm not a big fan of almonds or almond flavor, but despite the "almond 'biscuit'" language on the box, I didn't find it objectionable at all.

The raspberries were perfect--plump and flavorful and sweet. The cream filling was appropriately decadent.

The package says it serves three. That's true, as long as you're willing to leave those three people wanting more.

As Nina pointed out, you could serve this to guests, claim that you made it yourself, and nobody would be the wiser. I probably can't pull that off with her now, but you could fool your friends into thinking you've become a fine pastry chef.


Will I buy it again? 

Yes. It's thoroughly delicious.