You know how sometimes you want to update your website, but you really have no idea what to write about? No? Before I evolved TB to center around recipes, I used to post pictures everyday (sort of) without anything more than a simple caption of what your eyeballs were glancing at. Now that I’m forcing myself to write something witty & interesting with every post, I can no longer do food photo dumps without some purpose. This has led to a bunch of my photos sitting on my computer from last year & beyond, unseen by my regular visitors. Well, one of my solutions is to simply create a new series that will be more specific to an all encompassing theme. Foodie Fridays will be my food dump days, so I guess there might not be a real point to any of these future posts other than to tell you about some restaurants, grocery stores, or how good/bad/mediocre the food I consumed was. Since not too many people visit a food blog to read anything, Foodie Fridays will fully appreciate the, “wow, this post is making me hungry & my desk has accumulated some drool from my mouth,” comments more than ever!
Trader Joe's
Last year in August, I lightly reviewed some brand new items from Trader Joe’s new line of Asian products: Sriracha & Dried Kimchi. Today, I’m finally getting around to reviewing their instant ramen & seaweed salad. Recently, Trader Joe’s has pulled the seaweed salad off their shelves because they were produced in a facility that also produces peanuts & unknowingly sold them without stating that they were peanut-free. I’m not sure when they’ll be back, but I definitely hope they shelve them again because–spoiler alert–they’re actually pretty good.
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Last month, I posted half of the results of a Blind Taste Test I conducted with my roommates MOA & Yuri along with MOA’s friend David. The first half of Part 1 covered Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts vs. Trader Joe’s Toaster Pastries along with Pirate Brands’s Pirate Booty vs. Trader Joe’s Corn Puffs. A correction must be made about the last post – I was incorrect about Pirate Booty not being available in other flavors because they also come in barbeque, sour cream & onion, & veggie. I’m human, I make mistakes, y’all!
So how did our taste testers fair with Tea Chai Te’s loose leaf tea vs. Tea Forté’s pyramid infuser & Trader Joe’s Organic Ketchup vs. Heinz’s Ketchup? Find out after the jump!
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Happy New Year to everyone! Hopefully 2014 won’t be a filler episode for you like 2013 was for many. Personally, 2013 was half a wonderful year & half miserable. It was wonderful since I finally graduated, met Josh–an amazing & hilarious individual I call my boyfriend–& I got to spend more time with some of my closest, but busiest, friends. Yet, it was miserable because if I wasn’t happy, I was stressed or depressed in some shape or form trying to organize the next decade of my life. If I wasn’t somehow masterfully disappointing myself, someone else would disappoint me instead.
I’ve never really enjoyed New Year’s & this year was no exception. Josh flew back home to Florida to spend time with his family. Despite being 3 hours ahead, he stayed up until it was 12 AM in California to Skype me even though his eyes were obviously growing heavy with sleep. Had I tried to keep him up any longer, he’d probably be snoring in the middle of my story telling! He didn’t want me to be alone, but my house was completely void of human life except my own. He was really sweet & it was the perk of the week especially since I was recovering from a 72 hour migraine & the cough I had, developed into a fever. I’ve been practically bedridden for a week, so I haven’t been able to study very much either.
Nevertheless, I’m using my break time from studying to post up my very first Blind Taste Test featuring corn puffs, ketchup, poptarts, & tea. I conducted a BTT with my roommate–who’d like to remain anonymous–Miss MOA (Michelle Obama Arms) & her friend David. Afterward, MOA tested our roommate Yuri & me with the same products. The results were pretty interesting!
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Asian Sensations from Trader Joe’s |
Trader Joe’s has been one of my favorite specialty stores for well over a decade when my mother first scooped my brother & me up from school to do some light grocery shopping. Vinny & I always really enjoyed the snacks they offered, not to mention their free samples, but trips to Trader Joe’s were rare in comparison to trips to Lucky’s, which was “married” to Albertson’s, another large chain grocery store. My mom claimed that she loved Trader Joe’s, but complained that it was too expensive. Until I was granted a driver’s license, I was under the impression that TJ’s was expensive, but I was dead wrong. Technically, my mother’s wrong, but let’s not get technical here. We is all human.
For starters, some of the more well known products sold at TJ’s are all under $5. There’s 2 Buck Chuck, a cheap high quality wine, which is formally known as Charles Shaw, based in Sonoma, California. They raised the price to $2.49, but it’s still the best cheap wine around. It’s the perfect wine for all you starving college students who need a cheap buzz.
Recently, Trader Joe’s started introducing some new asian items, much to my Asian delight. To prevent this post from being a short story, I’ve designated two products per post as I have a feeling TJ will release other new Asian products with time. We must be patient, young grasshopper.