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?

Rate-A-Restaurant #254: My Sweet Cupcake

Restaurant: My Sweet Cupcake

Location: 954 Mission St. (South Pasadena)

Type of restaurant: Bakery/Cupcakes

We stipulated: We were in South Pasadena for one of our regular go-to adventures with the kids: Taking the Metro Gold Line downtown. Back in South Pasadena, we were walking around and decided to check out My Sweet Cupcake's goods.
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They stipulated: My Sweet Cupcake won Food Network's "Cupcake Wars." "My Sweet Cupcake prides themselves on fine ingredients with a touch of homemade flair to make their cupcakes delicious and classic."



What we ordered: "Oreo Delight," "Simply Vanilla" cupcakes.

High point: My Sweet Cupcake had just closed, but we must have looked sad otuside the door, because they still let us in and let us buy two of the day's leftover cupcakes.

Low point: Well yeah, it was an end-of-the-day cupcake... which meant that it wasn't quite as fresh.



Overall impression: Cute place, cute cupcakes. Does the job if you're in South Pasadena and you're jonesing for a cupcake.

Chance we'll go back:  In a town overrun with cupcake shops, there wasn't anything that memorable about these. (If anything, the cake was a bit dry.) They were OK, but is anyone jonesing for cupcakes anymore? So I'm no so sure.

For a complete list of our more than 250 restaurant reviews, check out Franklin Avenue's companion Rate-A-Restaurant site.

Choice Cuts, Ol' Skool Edition

Meeting up with friend of Franklin Avenue JustJenn yesterday, I knew that she would be bearing gifts of the delicious variety. And she did: Those red velvet cupcakes (above) are as tasty as they look.

I had to come up with something to return the favor: And so I decided to bring along the Gift of Old Skool.

Here's the rundown of my brand-new Ol' Skool mix, of which Jenn got the first copy yesterday:

YES, THIS IS OL’ SKOOL. mix by mike

1. Crossover EPMD

2. Treat 'Em Right Chubb Rock

3. Expression (Half-Step) Salt-N-Pepa

4. Express Yourself N.W.A.

5. Do For Love 2Pac Feat. Eric Williams

6. Strobe Light Black Sheep

7. Hand On The Pump Cypress Hill

8. L.A.’s Hottest Music is on Power 106

9. Poison Bell Biv DeVoe

10. Say No Go De La Soul

11. I Left My Wallet In El Segundo A Tribe Called Quest

12. It's A Shame (My Sister) Monie Love featuring True Image

13. Case Of The P.T.A. Leaders of the New School

14. Principal's Office Young MC

15. You'z A Ganxta DJ Quik

16. Around The Way Girl LL Cool J

17. Regulate Warren G

18. Children's Story Slick Rick

19. No More Lies Michel'le

20. I Wish (LP Version) Skee-Lo

21. It Was A Good Day Ice Cube

Test Driving the Sprinkles Cupcake Van

Just a few days after the Los Angeles Times wrote about the new Sprinkles Cupcakes van, we got to experience it first hand Monday afternoon outside the Variety Tower.

Parked on Wilshire (and looking in particular to target Los Angeles magazine, also in our building), the Sprinkles Mobile was passing out free cupcakes -- and I couldn't pass on that.



In addition to some regular flavors, the Sprinkles Mobile was offering up special seasonal flavors: Key Lime and Raspberry. I tried the Key Lime -- nice, with a tinge of tartness. (By the way, a reminder: Those signature Sprinkles dots are edible. But don't. They taste horrible.)



The cupcakes disappeared like, well, hotcakes. Free will do it every time.



The one downside: The cupcakes cost more than they would in the store, notes the L.A. Times:

Cupcake fans will pay a premium for the service. Individually boxed, the treats will sell for $4 each, 75 cents more than what Sprinkles charges at its stores.

The van, which can hold 1,500 cupcakes, will also hit some malls and places like the Malibu Country Mart. It will do Hollywood events -- it took a test run to the set of the HBO television show "Entourage" -- and will be available for hire by private parties.

Sprinkles plans to announce most of the stops via the bakery's Twitter account.

Indeed, it seems like Sprinkles regularly enjoys giving away cupcakes -- keep up with their Twitter account for more details.

Maria's Thursday Three

1. Wall of Gift Cards at the Grocery Store: An unspoken tradition in my family has become the giving of gift cards as birthday presents. Unimaginative, I know, but with 6 birthdays in February alone from our combined family, it's necessary. I've come to really appreciate those walls of gift cards at the local Vons or Ralphs which allows me to make my selections while I get the necessary bread and milk. They offer up gift cards for countless businesses -- Home Depot, Gap, Eddie Bauer, etc. -- and you don't have to make a trip to the mall as a result.

2. The Great L.A. Cupcake Map: Via Eating L.A., I discovered this google map compiled by the L.A. Times of the cupcake bakeries cropping up in and around Los Angeles. I could make it my personal mission to try each and everyone -- I'll do it for the blog (oh, the sacrifices make). I'm just happy those mini red velvet cupcakes at Auntie Em's are within 3 miles of us.

3. Biirdie: Recently discovered this group from Glendale. Good to know a local band is making some waves in the music scene.