Friday, June 11, 2010

Seattle Getaway and Trader Joe's

Last weekend we decided to head out of town (well, out of the country, actually), we wanted to visit family in their newly purchased house in the U.S. so we would be able to see their new property and picture them in their new home.  We had  a visit (and I ate some Salmonberries for the first time in years) and then headed furthur south to the city of Seattle.

The boys had a fun visit (and their first ever visit) to a Lego store and I had my first visit to Trader Joe's.  Oh, how I wish we had a Trader Joe's here, what a delightful store (with delightful staff too).  My first visit there I bought a package of dark chocolate pretzel bark - who could resist right?  It was on sale for 99 cents!
We ate it to tide us over between meals (Yes, chocolate hand-dipped milkshakes at Dyck's Drive can be considered a meal!)  while we played tourist and checked out  the Museum of Flight,  the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, the Pacific Science centre (love the butterfly room), the Washington Park Arboretum and much more.  The combination of sweet dark chocolate and salty crunchy pretzel was delicious so of course I had to go back to get more.  Lovely husband drove me back to the store and  Only 1 Left!  Horrors!!  You can only imagine how happy I was when a friendly staff member phoned their store furthur up the road and found out they had plenty more.  And I do mean plenty.  Somehow I managed to restrain myself and only buy...ahem,  14 packages.
Not to worry, I don't plan to eat them all at once.  I'm sure I can store them in the freezer and make them last - for a little while at least.  Anyone else a Trader Joe's fan?  I'd love to know what I should try next time we go to one.

8 comments:

Bec said...

14 packages!? Good for you!

I visited a TJ's near my office today at lunch. Prices are very good on bulk items and staples.

(They have a miserable selection of items for vegans, though.)

sheila said...

HA! FDPG is chortling away reading this over my shoulder. We are big TJs fans. I buy anything I haven't ever seen in a regular shop: weird mini-candy tins (I like their teeny purple tins), advent calendars, Christmas oranges, Trader O's, and anything else odd and unusual. They used to sell 20lb slabs of Ghirardelli chocolate when we lived in CA - for $20.

Glad you had a good time!

Porsess: I'm sure you had multiple porsess on that trip - one porse for Canadian cash and another porse for American cash.

ipsa said...

Gillian is a big fan of Trader Joe's... when we went to one in Phoenix, I had big expectations but felt a bit let down... I was probably looking at the wrong stuff (especially if I missed the dark chocolate pretzels!).

Colari.... oh, oh....
Contare... oh oh oh oh...
Let's fly way up to the clouds
Away from the maddening crowds
(courtesy of Dean Martin)

Elizabeth said...

I love Trader Joe's for sesame sticks, wasabi peas, chocolate covered almonds, chocolate covered sunflower seeds...mostly snacky items and cereals... Have to drive to Cleveland for my fix since I live in Erie... Glad you liked and now I can't wait to try the bark!

Greenie said...

Trader Joe's does indeed have a lot of delicious things. My main weakness is the Peppermint Joe-Joe's they sell around the holidays. They're basically mint Oreos with little crunchy bits of mints in the filling. They are so, so good. It's a good thing they don't sell them year-round.

Katherine said...

Sounds like a good time!
Never been to a Trader Joe's, but now I'll be looking the next time we go stateside...

Heather said...

Shelia, I couldn't resist their tins either, I got a little purple one for the boys (Blueberry Blast All Natural Candy) and a Green tea mint one for me. I think I'll use that one for salve or something gardeny. Would love to see their advent calendars.

Rebecca you must have been looking at the wrong stuff if you didn't see the chocolate pretzel bark!! ;-) Usually when we are in the states we are camping and so I was quite taken with their selection of veggie type packaged foods. We never usually buy those types of things but I am always tempted when camping (for ease) except I usually never see anything I would actually want to eat - they had all kinds of yummy sounding things.

Heather said...

Hobbymommy, if you want the bark I think you must go Soon. It seems the reason it was such a good price was because it was going to be discontinued. Why, I have no idea. Wish I had seen those chocolate covered sunflower seeds. :-)

Hi Greenie - Peppermint Joe-Joe's!! Those sound like something my husband would love to try.