Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Trader Joe's Organic Pasta--Fusilli
Perfectly good fusilli. I don't really feel any need for my pasta to be organically sourced, but I don't mind that it is, other than being a little more expensive.
Will I buy it again?
Sure. I'm coming to prefer fusilli over ordinary spaghetti, and this is as good as any.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Trader Joe's Honey Butter Flavored Potato Chips
My mother used to make the most wonderful dinner rolls, topped with a honey-butter mix. So the phrase "honey butter" immediately gets my mouth watering with delectable memories. When I saw the first excited tweet from somebody discovering this new product on their Trader Joe's store shelves, I couldn't wait to try it.
Nina predicted that it would be either wonderful or terrible--nothing in between. I agreed.
We were wrong. It's in between.
The honey and butter flavors are strong and distinct, no shyness or subtlety to them. Which is sort of nice, considered alone. But in this particular context, it's wrong somehow. For me, I think it's the powerful sweetness. It just doesn't belong on a salty potato chip. The result is a pretty serious clash. It might work better if they toned down the honey to more like just a hint or a whisper.
I'm not saying they're terrible. They're not. They're just...off.
If TJ's added these same flavorings to dinner rolls, I'd be at the store waiting to hijack the delivery truck and stuff myself full of them until I exploded. But on a potato chip, the intensely sweet/salty combination just doesn't work.
Will I buy it again?
No.
Monday, February 6, 2017
Trader Joe's English Butter Fudge
I saw this little package on the new-products shelf last week and didn't know what to expect of it, but bought it anyway.
The instant I bit into one, I had a powerful sensory memory, though it took me a minute to figure out what I was being reminded of: maple sugar candy, which I haven't had since I was a teenager. There's no maple here, but that soft, granular texture that quickly melts in your mouth--that's the same.
Really the only ingredients in this candy are butter and several different forms of sugar. Which means, of course, that it's wonderful. How could it not be?
Nina ate one. I had two. We both scoffed at the package's claim of a serving size of four pieces. Ridiculously high, we said. And then the next night, when I was alone, I ate four--and did so again the night after that. It no longer seemed ridiculous. In fact, I could have eaten more.
With each of my three (so far; there's four pieces left as I write this) samplings, I grew to love it more, and I am ready to add it to my Top Ten list.
Will I buy it again?
Tough question. I will definitely be tempted to buy it again. But if I ever yield to the temptation, it's going to have to be a rare treat. I don't have to wear a suit often, but when I recently put on the only one I have, I nearly popped it open with straining to hold my expanding waistline. I had to have a tailor let it out. So things made of butter and sugar, no matter how wonderful, cannot be a regular feature in my diet. I could get away with that sort of indulgence when I was younger. But with middle age, and the classic middle-age spread, not so much.
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Roundup
This is my weekly compilation of news and other links about Trader Joe's.
Trader Joe's best 150-calorie snacks
New Trader Joe's products spotted on store shelves
6 essential Trader Joe's items for your watch party
Top 25 things to buy from Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's snacks for your wedding
Best tweets of the week:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Sadly, I'm still lacking in pictures of cute cats in Trader Joe's grocery bags, so none this week. However, I do have this series of tweets from a woman named Kat. So that's pretty close, right? (Read from the bottom up.)
Trader Joe's best 150-calorie snacks
New Trader Joe's products spotted on store shelves
6 essential Trader Joe's items for your watch party
Top 25 things to buy from Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's snacks for your wedding
Best tweets of the week:
1.
Hey #TSA. When you throw away an unopened jar of #TraderJoes #CookieButter... you're not stopping a security risk. You're being a dick.— Katie Jaime (@KathlynPogue) January 30, 2017
2.
When I buy orange chicken from #TraderJoes in bulk, I eat it not throughout the month but throughout the 24 hours after purchase.— Erica Lindsay Lee (@AmericaLee) January 30, 2017
3.
When u get your normal wine haul at #TraderJoes & clerk asks "Having a party?"— Karen Huston (@trails4daze) February 1, 2017
Me:(internal voice) No, it's Tues
Me:(actual voice) Um. Sure?
4.
Female sprains ankle in Trader Joe's parking lot. Regrets not crawling for the pineapple juice & salmon jerky. #TraderJoes #crutches #hungry— Ray Of Sunshine (@eagerbeavering) February 2, 2017
5.
Got serenaded at #TraderJoes for her bday this morning, was having none of it 🎉💗 pic.twitter.com/Hgbw9WGq0w— Caitlin Torres (@caitlinmto) February 2, 2017
6.
#traderjoes jerky thief! @mohawkslovelucy #instagram #naughtybutcute #cockerspaniel pic.twitter.com/4L0BuITnU9— Marisa Pratt (@MarisaPratt) February 3, 2017
Sadly, I'm still lacking in pictures of cute cats in Trader Joe's grocery bags, so none this week. However, I do have this series of tweets from a woman named Kat. So that's pretty close, right? (Read from the bottom up.)
Friday, February 3, 2017
Trader Joe's English Coastal Cheddar
Trader Joe's carries a bewildering assortment of cheddar cheeses. I first became interested in trying this particular one a few months ago when it was highlighted in this article about TJ's best cheeses:
I kissed a lot of cheddar frogs to get to English Coastal Cheddar, which shows lovely spring onion and rosemary tones. Like all TJ cheddars, it has a sweet foundation, but the allium and herbal flavors add a satisfying complexity.
Well, I don't have a sufficiently discerning palate to find all those components. But I was certainly able to tell that it's an unusual cheddar. It seemed to me simultaneously both sharper and more buttery than most. I also kept noticing a quality that I couldn't put a label on, but the description here of "herbal" seems about right.
Will I buy it again?
Yes, occasionally, though it's not going to displace my favorite go-to TJ's cheeses.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Trader Joe's Chocolate Chunk Cookies
These are better than I expected. They're much softer than most commercial chocolate chip cookies. Why, they taste almost...fresh! Other than that, there are no surprises here.
Will I buy it again?
Probably not. I still prefer buying pre-made cookie dough and baking a few at a time so I can eat them right out of the oven. But if you're going to have store-bought chocolate chip cookies, these are a good choice.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Trader Joe's Dry Toasted Pignolias (Pine Nuts)
See here for a bit about the term "pignolia" and the culinary uses for pine nuts. This is my first experience with them, so I can't compare this particular TJ's preparation with any other pine nuts. But I find that I like them as a salad topping. They taste much like peanuts, but somewhat sweeter. These have no salt (or sugar) added, but they don't seem to need it as badly as peanuts do.
Will I buy it again?
After finding that I liked them, I thought the answer to this would be a straightforward yes. They make for a cheap, easy, and tasty way to add some protein to a green salad. But then I looked more carefully at the nutrition information on the back. One 1/4-cup serving gives 4g of protein--but 20g of fat. Fat delivers 9 calories per gram; protein 4. So you're getting 11 calories from fat for every 1 calorie from protein here. This puts the brakes on my plans to have pine nuts be a regular staple of my salads. I think, then, that I'll put this item in my "occasional purchase" category.
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