Trader Joe's Bonanza of Holiday Items

Oh, Trader Joe's, you know exactly how to fatten us up every holiday season. Besides the usual favorites, like the Mini Gingerbread Men (with white fudge icing) and the Pfeffernusse cookies (now in new packaging!), here are a few more items in stores right now. I'm assuming most of these items will be gone soon. Stock up, just like I did with the Pumpkin Bread Pudding (now gone!)

Trader Joe's Egg Nog Ice Cream ($3.99)
Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels ($4.99)
Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe's ($3.99)
Mini Panettone ($1.79)
Cranberry, Walnut and Gorgonzola Salad Dressing ($3.49)
English Toffee with Nuts ($8.99)
Peppermint Pretzel Slims ($2.99)
Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Cremes ($2.99)
Gingerbread House Kit ($7.99)
Dark Chocolate Collection ($6.99)
Taste Test of Caramels ($5.99)
Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Stars ($2.99)
10 Petits Four ($5.99)
Chocolate Peppermint Loaf Mix ($3.99)
Butterscotch Cupcakes ($3.99)
Egg Nog and Light Egg Nog ($2.69)
Salted Caramel Chai Latte Mix ($3.99)
Joyful Trek Mix ($4.99)
Cranberry & Chocolate Rolls ($3.49)
Gingerbread Cake & Baking Mix ($2.49)
Fig Butter ($2.29)

Trader Joe's Wants to Ruin Your Diet This Holiday, Part 2

Remember when I listed a roundup of Trader Joe's holiday treats? Turns out there were plenty that we missed. Here's a second round of TJ gifts that we found in a recent visit:

Cocoa Truffles $2.99
Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels $3.49
Cranberry Caramel Delights $7.99
Fruit and Nut Log $3.99
Brandy Beans $2.99
Dark Chocolate Orange $2.99
Belgian Chocolate Shoppe $9.99
Dark Chocolate Triple Ginger Cookies $2.99
Chocolate Liqueur Cherries $5.99
Peppermint Sandwich Cookie Cake $6.99
Winter Wonderland Mini All-Butter Sugar Cookies $3.99
12 Peppermint Macarons $4.99
Peppermint Bark $9.99
Gingerbread House Kit $7.99
Chocolate Peppermint Brownies $3.99
Mini Gingerbread Cakes $3.99
Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes $3.99
Caught In A Blizzard Chocolate Cookies $3.99
Almond Snow Man Cookies $4.99
Caramel and Dark Chocolate Popcorn Crunch $3.99

Anything else we're missing? Drop us a line?

Trader Joe's Wants to Ruin Your Diet This Holiday

I mean, just look at the holiday goodies we've already spotted this year at Trader Joe's, and I'm sure we missed a few:

English Toffee with Nuts
European Cookies
Panettone
Edel-Marzipanstollen
Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Astounding Multi-Flavor Joe-Joes
Chocolate Drizzle Stick Cookes
Winter Wonderland Mini All-Butter Sugar Cookies
Mini Peppermint Waffle Cookies
Mini Gingerbread Men
Almond Snowman Cookies
Dark Chocolate Caramellows
Pfeffernusse German Spice Cookies
Cocoa Drizzled Kettle Corn
Dark Chocolate Triple Ginger Cookies
Dark Chocolate Stars
Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe-Joes
Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel Butter Cookies
Candy Cane Joe-Joes
Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
Mini Candy Cane Cookies
Salted Caramel Nut Delights
Peppermint Baked Alaska
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Salted Caramel Truffles
Dark Chocolate Candy Cane Truffles
Peppermint Pretzel Slims
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Chocolate Rings with Sprinkles
Cocoa Truffles
Dark Chocolate Cashew Brittle with Sea Salt
Candy Cane "Coal"
Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel
Dark Chocolate Minty Mallows
Fleur de Sel Caramels
Cranberry Pecan Caramel Delights

Wow. Thank you, Trader Joe's. I mean... stop making me so fat, Trader Joe's.

FRANKLIN AVENUE IN BANFF: Canadian Food Finds

One final post from my trip to Banff, Canada, for the Banff World Media Festival. As I've mentioned in the past, one of my favorite things to do in a foreign country is visiting the grocery store. Here's one Canadian grocery store find: "Muffets," as in "Little Miss"?


Another Canadian grocery store find: Not Macaroni & Cheese, but rather, "Kraft Dinner."


Among the restaurants in Banff, there's the Grizzly House -- "Buffalo & Caribou Served"


Back home, organizing my candy haul from Canada -- Nestle Smarties, Malteasers, Aero Dark, Kit-Kat Dark, Coffee Crisp, Caramilk.

Trader Joe's Wants To Stuff Your Face with Holiday Goodies

Cookie Butter -- spread made of crushed biscuits

This is why I'll be getting fat this holiday season. Trader Joe's seems to have upped the number of specialty holiday items on its shelves. I mean, how can you not try something called "Cookie Butter," right? Or Kettle Corn drizzled with cocoa? Just a sampling of treats you'll be putting in your Trader Joe's cart this holiday season:


Mini Gingerbread Men cookies with white fudge icing


Chewy egg nog cookies with white chocolate drizzle


Mosaic of chocolates


Cocoa Drizzled Kettle Corn


Astounding Multi-Flavor Joe-Joes covered in chocolate, sprinkles and drizzles


Pfeffernusse -- German spice cookies


Dark Chocolate Minty Mallows


Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe-Joes

The Trader Joe's Taster: Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies, Dark Chocolate Chipotle Hazelnuts and Edamame Hummus

Lucky we live in the land of Trader Joe's, right? Every week we stumble across another unique -- and most of the time, tasty (but not always) -- treat. And then we usually blog about it.

My latest loves include the Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies, which yes, taste about as good as they sound. I love Mexican Hot Chocolate (with that nice, cinnamony spice) and I love cookies... so yes, the merger of two equals works out well. The consistency -- similar to Mexican wedding cake cookies -- makes for a nice crumble in your mouth as well.



Oh yeah, it's the holidays... so yes, we're going a little crazy with the sweets. But again, I couldn't pass up the promise of spicy dark chocolate "with a hint of cinnamon and cocoa." Sense a trend? Again, I was pleased with the results. I can do without the hazelnuts; I'm really here for the spice. And although this item promises "mild, smoky heat," I was actually impressed with how spicy they allowed it to be. I'm a big fan of mixing chocolate with other flavors (except orange, don't ask me why), and this wins.



I was also pleased with my edamame hummus selection, even though the edamame flavor may be too subtle to notice. I find that I tend not to like flavored hummus these days... it always leaves such a lingering, garlicky taste in your mouth. But the edamame hummus flavor was pleasant, and didn't leave a long-lasting aftertaste. I approve as well.

Wow, three for three. That's why we heart the TJs.

MEANWHILE, thanks to the Atwater Village Newbie for his holiday hint: TJs goodies are great gifts for people who don't live anywhere close to the chain.

Got any new Trader Joe's finds? Leave your comments below.

Another 99 Cents Only Store Haul

I had heard about the mythical 99 Cents Only wine deals -- but had never seen it with my own eyes. Until Wednesday night.

We were in Bellflower -- yes, Bellflower. It's off the 105, near Norwalk. Look it up -- Wednesday night to visit our pals Anthony and Candice, who just gave birth to Baby No. 2. Across the street from the Kaiser Permanente sits a strip mall with the two beacons of close-out shopping: Big Lots and 99 Cents Only. We, of course, headed straight to the promised land.



And there it was -- a full shelf of a wide variety of wines. None of which sounded familiar, and most of which came from Australia.

What the hell, it's 99 cents. We're gonna experiment. We picked up a shiraz from South Africa (Matuba) and a sauvignon blanc from the California Central coast ("Thirsty Fish"). I can't find much info about either brand -- particularly the mysterious Thirsty Fish -- on the Internet. Hmm. Not a good sign.


Our candy intake was small this time, and all in the 59 cent range: Milka (which expires this week, by the way); a strange and pretty terrible (yes, I already tried it) 3 Musketeers-branded bar called "Generation Max"; "Monster Malts"; and a Vanilla Latte-flavored granola bar branded by Caribou Coffee.

The 3 Musketeers Generation Max bar was "Chocolate Strawberry Brownie" flavor -- pretty much an insult to chocolate, strawberries and brownies.


One of our favorite and hard-to-find items at the 99 Cents Only store: Ink jet printer ink. Talk about saving money. Too bad it's hard to find -- this is the absolute only one we located at the Bellflower location.


Nectarines!


This is one of those things that we tend to buy then never actually use or eat. "Hey, I love chai, let's buy this and drink chai tea more often."

Cut to three years later, when I rediscover this container collecting dust in the back of the pantry.


The Koala Brothers! Not well known here in the U.S., but Evan was a big fan at one point.

Piece of That Japanese Kit-Kat Bar

As you may know, I love unusual candy flavors -- and I especially love bizarro Kit-Kat flavors from overseas. The Japanese market close to my hotel in New York sold two varieties of Kit-Kat I'd never had: Vanilla Bean and Green Tea. The Vanilla Bean flavor was fantastic: No chocolate, just pure vanilla-flavored goodness. The Green Tea flavor was chocolate, with a green tea middle. Good, but hard to make out the Green Tea flavor.

Also at the store, I spotted something I KNEW I had to bring back for the Kid Formerly Known As Blogger Toddler:



Thomas the Tank Engine Pocky!