Trader Joe's

This past weekend I took a fun trip down to Santa Fe.  While looking up things to do in Santa Fe, I discovered they have a Trader Joe's.  Denver does not have one.  I was very excited to stock up on two buck chuck and try Trader Joe's pickles.  They are suppose to be quite good.  I purchased one jar of kosher dills and one jar of sandwich stacker type pickles.  When I opened the jar of koshers, I will admit, I was a little scared.  The pickles were very, very bumpy.  Well, despite my apprehension, the pickles were delicious!  They are the perfect snack size for most people and the taste was really good.  They were not too salty, therefore you could taste flavors that you can't taste in a lot of pickles!  A bug thumbs up Joe!

Although the pickles get an A+, I am touch disappointed in two buck chuck.  Two buck Chuck is actually $2.99.  I know the argument, three buck Chuck just doesn't have the same ring. I do believe that in most California stores it is still $1.99 but it was not in Santa Fe.

In honor of $2 Chuck, I found this song by the Beatnik Turtles:
Two Buck Chuck

I hope you enjoy it!

A damn fine pickle indeed!

Let me apologize by saying this review is a touch premature.  Normally, I like to sample a couple of varaties of a brand of pickles before I write a review to make sure my opinion of the brand is not shaped by one type of pickle.  This did not happen with my latest pickle, Brooklyn Brine's NY Deli Pickles.

Brooklyn Brine is a company that was started by two metal band mates who found a mutual love of pickling.  Brooklyn Brine's mission is to make "a damn fine pickle" and I think they have succeeded in doing so.  In addition to cucumbers, they pickle other things, such as fennel beets and asparagus.  The cucumber varaties include, a damn spicy pickle, whiskey sour pickles and the NY Deli style pickles.  As I mentioned before, I had the NY Deli Style pickles.

 I bought these at Williams and Sonoma, while looking for the always sold-out McClure's.  I had read about these pickles on the Pickle Freak blog and thought I should give them a try.  I liked the label and that they are hand packed.  When I read the ingredients, two stuck out that made me immediately think I was not going to like them, sugar cane and apple cider vinegar.  I was wrong.  These pickles were not too sweet at all.  There was a hint of sugar but the apple cider vinegar made the pickles sour in a good way.  There is red pepper and other spices that made these pickles not only sour but a touch tangy.  Delicious!  I can't wait to try the other cucumbers and vegetable varieties they offer!!!

In other news, I want to give a shout out to super pickle.  As you may remember super pickle is my mascot.  He is stuffed pickle I have sitting on my desk at work.  Well this week my daughter went to a dance intensive and I thought she might need super pickle for luck, so I let her take him to New Mexico.  Well, I miss super pickle.  I hope he is enjoying Santa Fe and I hope Claire is treating him right.  I will see you soon Super Pickle!

Pickles and Soccer--a match made

Alberto and I ate lunch at a local deli on Saturday.  Alberto wanted to go there because they had a West Ham scarf in the window.  Let me explain since most American's would not understand why this is a draw.  West Ham United is an English Premier league soccer team.  (Football if you are from somewhere else.)  Alberto is a huge soccer fan and living in Colorado does run across a few Colorado Rapids fans, but rarely runs across other English premier league fans.  Sadly, this is how we pick where we are going to eat lunch.  It was easy for me to agree because they had a pickle on their sign.  How could it be all bad?

I have been to many deli's that show pickles or even have pickle in the name and they are no pickle paradise. Jimmy and Drew's was!!  First, like any good deli, they serve every sandwich with a pickle slice on the side. These are BIG pickle slices.  Bigger than some whole pickles.  We also bought a couple pickles as extras.  They had spicy, which was super delicious and regular.  Alberto, who is not really a fan of spicy pickles, said the regular pickle is the best pickle he has had in years.  As a man who probably eats more pickles than he cares to, I think this is high praise!  I ate a sandwich called the Dilly Capone!  The sign wasn't the only think with a pickle, there was a pickle paining, pickles on the table and even a pickle wreath.  I told my dear soccer loving, pickle eatin hubby that I want decorations like that, but I am scared that I would become the crazy pickle lady.  His reply, "Become the crazy pickle lady?"  :)

My husband posted this picture of me on facebook:

He captioned the picture by saying I was taking my pickle obsession to a whole new level and eating pickles for my meal now.  Silly Alberto!  I have been doing that for years.  (I did order and eat part of the Dilly Capone.)

Overall, this place is awesome and we will definitely be back.  The soccer stuff was cool, the pickles were whimsical and delicious and it was a local establishment which is always good.  Oh yeah, the sandwiches were okay too!  :)

The USA and pickles

Happy Belated 4th of July.  This year was a particularly good holiday for me.  I ate numerous pickles and enjoyed the company of good friends.  I had ambitions of dying my pickles red white and blue, but alas, it didn't get done.  I do have some fun pickle/America facts:

In 1492, Columbus gave pickles to his crew to prevent scurvy.  When I read this fact, I was a little baffled.  I thought scurvy was a lack of vitamin C.  So, I Googled it and found out I was indeed correct.  Here is what I didn't know, cucumbers have vitamin C.  I am a little sad by my lack of food knowledge.  At any rate, it is another good reason to eat pickles and now I can tell people it is part of the reason America is what it is today because of pickles.

Another fun America/pickle fact is Amerigo Vespucci, who it is widely believed that the Americas are named, was a pickle merchant.  I guess he gave up the pickle biz to sail around the world and steal maps from Columbus, but it is important to note that he spent time contributing to society, by selling pickles!

I tried to find a picture of a red, white and blue pickle but was unable to do so.  Instead I found a sign with a pickle and the USA on it.  Lil Pickle USA subs is a sandwich shop in Costa Mesa, CA.  I haven't ever been there, but I bet it is good!  :)

Pickle 2.0 and purses...

Alberto says I am the world's worst blogger.  I told him between raising two kids, holding a full time job, being Booster Club secretary, hanging with our neighbors, traveling for family, traveling for dance and driving the kids around I hardly have time to eat pickles, forget about writing about them!  Really, I am not quick on my feet, so I said, "I know."

Let me start by saying that Jenny's pickles has EXCELLENT customer service.  Miss Jenny read my blog, sent me new pickles and apologized for the previous jars.  Two thumbs up for Miss Jenny's pickles.  Since the event occurred so long ago, I cannot re-review them at this time, but will order from them again.  Customer service like that does not happen in this day and age.  As extra incentive to order from them, they are offering free shipping over the summer to all orders over $25!  Everyone should take advantage of this:
http://www.missjennyspickles.com/

My family recently visited the Lone Star state.  While we were there, my daughter and I did our requisite vacation shopping.  Claire and I went into the Coach store at the Barton Creek Mall in Austin, TX.  My old coach purse is starting to show signs of wear and my fashion conscious 14 year old pointed out all my other handbags are winter colors.  Claire also really does not like that I usually carry such big bags.  She is pretty happy that my current Coach is small.  The problem with this, is that my current Coach Purse can hold exactly one pickle.  If I need to carry a jar, like most of the time, Blue Betty (yes I name my handbags) does not do the trick.  Claire thinks the bigger back I carry, the more junk I carry.  That is probably true, but for me it is all about pickle capacity.  This was my choice:

This is the bag we compromised on.  One jar capacity with little extra room for junk.  After our big debate and our compromise I didn't buy it.  Why, you may ask since it was perfect?  I am cheap.  So many pickles could be bought with $350.  So instead I went down to Williams and Sonoma and bought McClure's instead.  (Yeah for this, our Williams and Sonoma NEVER has them on the shelves!)  I will find a bag at Target with a one jar capacity that costs less than $30.

Any purse suggestions would be greatly appreciated.