TJ's, East Coast Style
Happy Sunday! I think it’s going to be difficult writing in here as much as I used to going forward, but I am going to try and commit to at least once a week.
Last Sunday I went to the local Trader Joes for the first time. The only TJs in the area is in the suburbs and due to MD law, they can’t sell wine. I used to buy most of my wine from TJs, so even before going I was prepared to have a different TJ’s experience. And there did turn out to be several other differences. As I walked up and down each aisle, I took a little mental inventory. It went like this: “Good, they carry my favorite salad dressing here,” “Oh no, where is the tomato gnocchi??” and “Wow…I’ve never seen this marinated tuna before.” In the end, this TJ carried most of the things I love. They even had a few new things that I tried since last Sunday and now love too. Which is a bonus. They do not, however, carry two HUGE staples of my So Cal existence. They don’t have my favorite frozen tomato gnocchi dish, and most importantly, THEY DON”T HAVE MY FAVORITE SALSA!!!! Yes, that’s right. The Roasted Tomatillo Salsa is not here in the east coast. And my second favorite salsa, The Medium Especial, isn’t there either. In fact they only had two or three fresh salsas available. I guess that should be expected—we’re much further from Mexico now--but still…a little piece of my heart chipped off and floated away as I noticed these items were not there. And as I noticed there was no space for them. And as I asked about them in panic to a near-by TJ’s employee. And as they confirmed they indeed do not carry such things.
To make the proverbial lemonade, I grabbed two of the three fresh salsas that were available and to my satisfaction, they were pretty good. Nothing STELLAR, but they will do. I even ate them in my normal pace and they were both gone within 36 hours. (I’ve gone back to my salsa-and-chip-as-a-meal pattern).
One of the other differences between this TJs and the ones back home: more seafood and seafood related items. I tried some lovely marinated ahi steaks. They were pretty good!
I also picked up some strawberries. I bought some strawberries the day before at the farmer’s market, but they were almost gone and strawberry season is almost over. Plus these strawberries were the largest I’d seen in a grocery store.
Here’s one of them next to an apple. They were almost the same size.
The fact that they were so big made me wonder: are these organic or were they grown with hormones and other bad chemicals? I looked at the package and saw that these strawberries are actually from California. I had been kind of down that day, so when I noticed the strawberries were Californian, it made me sad. Also, they weren't organic. That made me sad too. I guess I had been blinded by their size. Size matters in the berry world.
Last Sunday I went to the local Trader Joes for the first time. The only TJs in the area is in the suburbs and due to MD law, they can’t sell wine. I used to buy most of my wine from TJs, so even before going I was prepared to have a different TJ’s experience. And there did turn out to be several other differences. As I walked up and down each aisle, I took a little mental inventory. It went like this: “Good, they carry my favorite salad dressing here,” “Oh no, where is the tomato gnocchi??” and “Wow…I’ve never seen this marinated tuna before.” In the end, this TJ carried most of the things I love. They even had a few new things that I tried since last Sunday and now love too. Which is a bonus. They do not, however, carry two HUGE staples of my So Cal existence. They don’t have my favorite frozen tomato gnocchi dish, and most importantly, THEY DON”T HAVE MY FAVORITE SALSA!!!! Yes, that’s right. The Roasted Tomatillo Salsa is not here in the east coast. And my second favorite salsa, The Medium Especial, isn’t there either. In fact they only had two or three fresh salsas available. I guess that should be expected—we’re much further from Mexico now--but still…a little piece of my heart chipped off and floated away as I noticed these items were not there. And as I noticed there was no space for them. And as I asked about them in panic to a near-by TJ’s employee. And as they confirmed they indeed do not carry such things.
To make the proverbial lemonade, I grabbed two of the three fresh salsas that were available and to my satisfaction, they were pretty good. Nothing STELLAR, but they will do. I even ate them in my normal pace and they were both gone within 36 hours. (I’ve gone back to my salsa-and-chip-as-a-meal pattern).
One of the other differences between this TJs and the ones back home: more seafood and seafood related items. I tried some lovely marinated ahi steaks. They were pretty good!
I also picked up some strawberries. I bought some strawberries the day before at the farmer’s market, but they were almost gone and strawberry season is almost over. Plus these strawberries were the largest I’d seen in a grocery store.
Here’s one of them next to an apple. They were almost the same size.
The fact that they were so big made me wonder: are these organic or were they grown with hormones and other bad chemicals? I looked at the package and saw that these strawberries are actually from California. I had been kind of down that day, so when I noticed the strawberries were Californian, it made me sad. Also, they weren't organic. That made me sad too. I guess I had been blinded by their size. Size matters in the berry world.
posted by Follow the Frog at 8:23 AM
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