Trader Joe's Woes

Trader Joe's are few and far between around here, but when we were visiting David's Gramma we decided to go to one just around the corner.  David calls it the Hippie Store.  Politically correct?  No.  Funny?  Yes.  Let me say that if you're a TJ's first-timer, you will stand out like a sore thumb.  People who shop there regularly know where they're going.  I definitely felt lost and out of sorts several times...reading all the labels wondering exactly what I'm looking at.  I realize I just ended a sentence with a preposition. 

I was mostly looking for things for Amelia.  Not that I'm super picky about what I feed her, although I do try to give her well-rounded meals and snacks.  She is getting about 5 teeth right now but she still doesn't chew things very well so I'm forever chopping up her food in little pieces which completely cramps my laid-back-mom style.  What's worse is when I spend more time chopping than Amelia spends time even considering eating it.  Tess is a very fat dog right now.  Imagine my complete elation when I stumbled across these in Trader Joe's:

They're teeny tiny ravioli!  Perfect for munchkins with few teeth.  Plus, they're freeze dried so they don't have to be refrigerated or cooked all at once.  I thought I was being all clever when I boiled enough of these to last a few of her meals.  We also bought mini tortellini with pesto filling. Brilliant!

These things are nasty.  Amelia won't touch them.  I tried one and they taste like...well, like freeze dried cheese would taste.  Major convenience fail.  I'm pretty sad about this - I am hoping Amelia will develop a liking to them.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, these...

...are awesome.

They're also $3.50/box which is roughly $.59/package.  Amelia really likes them.

I also bought some hummus which, paired with calamata olives, pita bread, and cucumber, was a very yummy dinner for me tonight.

A few Amelia things:

~  Last night she was sitting and eating at dinner and I was going to be a little longer fixing my plate so David sat down to eat, too.  As soon as I sat down to eat, Amelia clasped her hands and bowed her head.  She knew it was time to pray!  Even though David had said his own already, he said a prayer for all of us.  Very proud moment for us!

~  My dad has always called us girls his "chickens".  Before (or maybe right after) Amelia was born, my dad picked out chicken ornaments for each of us.  I think they're supposed to be ornaments for a Christmas tree, but I took the hook and string off and it became a decoration in Amelia's room.  Every morning when I go get her up for the day she points to it on her shelf and says "Bid, bid" (bird).  Then she does the motorboat thing with her mouth and that is her trying to say "bird" the correct way.  Every single morning this happens - like that bird is the first thing on her mind!  I snuck in her room and took the bird off her shelf so I could show it to you!

~  She has started blowing kisses.  She puts her hand to her mouth and says "Muuuuah!" but doesn't remove her hand, so she's keeping the kisses to herself for now.  She's also started giving kisses close-mouthed which is a little less messy but makes me a little sad. 

~  She took 3 steps on Wednesday, 3 steps on Thursday, and a couple today.  She could be on her way to walking!  Everyone tells me that when they walk is when you have to look out and be careful, but she's been standing and cruising for months.  I can't imagine anything that would be in her reach now that wasn't in her reach before.  I'm ready to be able to take her to the park and let her walk around.  Right now she just sits on my lap which can't be fun for her.  She'll walk about 5 steps next to me while holding my hand so I let her do that while we're out and about sometimes.  She loves, loves, loves going crawling after church at the building.  Grandpa follows her around and cheers her on which is so cute.

We went to a local street fair today.  It was less than I was expecting but still nice to get out and about.   

Happy Weekend!

Food : Reviewed & Other Things...

Starbucks has a new drink. It's called a Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. I know what you're thinking - "Ew! You eat salted things, not drink them!"

You are so right. Before Meg (my coworker) and I went on our usual Friday trek to Starbucks, the receptionist front desk coordinator was telling me all about the new Salted Caramel Hot Chocoalte and how it had changed her life. Okay, she didn't say it changed her life but she sure was excited about it. She said it tasted like a maple donut. A donut? I'm in! I wasn't convinced about the salted part but I figured that if it tasted like a donut it was probably heaven in a cup. Thankfully I didn't have to pay for (and thereby waste) this drink before I tried it. They had samples at the register so I scooped one up and took a sip.

Hmm. Salt crystals on top of the whipped cream. Need to stir those in or it will throw off my taste buds.

Stir, stir, stir.

Sip.

I had in my head that it would taste like a maple donut. I tried really hard to get past the salty flavor but it didn't really work. As a matter of fact, I'm still tasting the salty flavor and that grosses me out. I did. not. like. this. drink. Some people like it so maybe I'm crazy. That little tiny sample cup was more than enough for me...I can't imagine drinking more of it than that, and Meg agreed. So, try it and tell me what you think.

Update: My friend, who works at Starbucks, just told me that they've been telling people that this drink tastes like a chocolate covered pretzel. That's a much better description of the taste than a maple donut. Unless you're in the habit of salting your donuts.

I would also like to review Campbell's Select Harvest soup. I had to take a picture of the one I brought for lunch today since I couldn't find a photo of the "on the go" soups online. I bought these because they were on sale and I had 3 coupons. They were a great deal. On Monday, I tried the Mexican-Style Chicken Tortilla soup. Sound good? Not so much.




The broth was a LOT thinner than I expected for a tortilla soup.
The chicken was extremely dry and had no flavor.
The soup, in general, was flavorless.

Needless to say, I'm not really looking forward to lunchtime. But, these have to be eaten! Maybe the Chicken with Egg Noodles variety will knock my socks off. I'll let you know.


It's Friday, finally. I literally took the above pictures about 3 minutes ago. Such will be the weather this weekend but I'm not sad about it! I'm excited to stay indoors and decorate/clean my house. I plan to have everything spic and span by tonight or (more likely) tomorrow night.

Beef & Bean Chimechangas are on the menu tonight. Maybe I'll post that recipe later. I've never actually made chimechangas before, so hopefully they turn out well. I'm looking forward to my Spanish rice more than anything, honestly. I love it. I'll definitely post that recipe.

D & I hope to attend the Issaquah Salmon Days on Sunday after church since it's just a short walk from where we attend worship. I've never been and neither has D so hopefully the weather holds out.

It's interesting working in a building where, if a heavy set person or many people walk by, the entire floor shakes and my monitor convulses. I'll never know if an actual earthquake happens.

There's a guy who sits near me who sighs incessantly. Loud, heaving sighs. This is between when he hacks loogies. The loogie-hacking has gotten better but one loogie-hack a day is too much for me! Especially since I know he doesn't spit the loogies out - there's only one thing he could be doing with them. *shudder*

I thought Palin did a great job last night. Some of my favorite lines:

"Say it ain't so, Joe!"
"Dadgumit" (or was it "doggonit"?)

I kept expecting her to mess up - mainly because I didn't want to see her mess up. I loved her bejeweled flag pin and red pumps. Yay for strong, conservative women! Did you guys see her 6-year-old daughter hauling the baby around? That poor baby gets handed off so many times but I thought the 6-year-old looked just adorable toting him around.

Okay, I've rambled far too long. Enjoy your weekend!

UPDATE
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Well, my socks are firmly in place. The soup was NOT good. Although, how can you really say something wasn't good when it didn't have flavor? I added salt and Saltines and nothing saved it. I think I've decided that I prefer thicker soups - or at least the kind with MSG. Isn't that horrible? I'm hoping that Progresso will save me. I bought some of those with a coupon, too.

I'm off to eat my sugar-free chocolate pudding and then maybe a pear or banana.

Oh, and about the approved Bailout plan...
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Read this article from 1999. It's very interesting. Now who do we blame??

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

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