Posts Tagged ‘review’
12/02/2017
December 2, 2017
Well this is another experiment in spending an extra couple of dollars for an older red wine. The general principle being tested here is that red wines improve with age. With most of the inexpensive red wines on the shelves being sold at around the two to three year mark, does another couple of years aging make an inexpensive wine better?
At five years this wine is decidedly better than most of those other two to three year olds. The wine has had time to blend itself together into more of a whole. The wine is generally smoother than a younger wine, with less rough edges. What does that mean? Consider a new t-shirt, put it on straight out of the package and it feels stiff and rough. Wear it for a while and put that t-shirt through a couple of washes and it gets softer and cozier.
This wine is relatively cozy. There are less of those little sharp edges. There are still a few, so maybe another two or so years in the bottle will make the wine cozier still.
Just because age tends to make the wine cozier, doesn’t mean the basic characteristics of the wine have changed. After all, a blue t-shirt is still going to be blue after a few cycles. This is a strong wine, very much like a strong Cab, even though the grapes are 100% Tempranillo. In fact rather than a nice mellow blue, this is more of an in-your-face red, a red that doesn’t fade in the wash. So buyer beware, there’s lots of character in this wine. If you’d like to see how the various styles of Rioja wine compare, check out this. If you like a strong California Cab this may well be the best $10 “California Cab” you’ll ever buy. In general, the wine gets a little above average reviews on the web, 3.5 out of 5, with a few nods to the relative value of the wine (quality/price). Price of $9.99
Tags:mindiarte, price, red wine, reserva, review, reviews, rioja, Spain, tempranillo, tj, tj's, trader joe's, wine
Posted in Trader Joe's, Wine | Leave a Comment »
12/02/2017
December 2, 2017
The corn is there. The dog is almost there. This dog will hunt.
I’m always on the lookout for a veggie meat substitute. More specifically, I’m always looking for a good veggie meat substitute. The best I’ve found so far is Trader Joe’s Soy Chorizo. These veggie corn dogs aren’t quite up to that standard. But still, they’re pretty good. What’s better than that is, they’re pretty good veggie “junk” food.
The texture of the dog is just about right. Even the color is about right. The taste is more of a neutral taste than a real hot dog. The fatty moisture from a real hot dog is obviously missing. However as long as it’s not overcooked, the dog remains fairly moist. Watch the time in the microwave, just a little too much time (even just 10 or 15 seconds) dries out both the dog and the corn.
Overall, just like a real corn dog, the corn bread makes up around half of the taste and texture. The veggie dog in the center adds some flavor and texture, but more importantly does not take much away in the form of negatives.
These are slightly smaller than a standard corn dog and missing the animal fat, so the calories are lower. Unfortunately, the sodium content is relatively high just like a real corn dog. They’re labelled as meatless and veggie, but not vegetarian. So check the ingredient label to make sure this conforms to your personal vegetarian standards.
Price $2.99 (4 veggie corn dogs, 10 ounces )
Calories 160 per veggie corn dog
Tags:calories, corn dogs, food, nutrition, price, review, snacks, tj, tj's, trader joe's, vegetarian, veggie
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's, Vegetarian | 4 Comments »
11/29/2017
11/29/2017
The coffee is not bad, bearable and actually fairly good. There’s some bitterness in the cup, but not enough to stop drinking. The bitterness subsides as the coffee cools. The coffee has a decent body for a medium roast. On the scale of coffee goodness, this one falls above a McDonald’s or Denny’s coffee and below most Trader Joe’s offerings. The coffee is entirely drinkable black, which is how I review all coffees.
I picked this up because Trader Joe’s Honduran coffee is one of the better coffees I’ve reviewed. This isn’t as good, but still fairly good, especially for the price. Coffee plants just might have a thing for Honduras.
If you’re on a budget or just happen to be close to an ALDI when you find your cupboard bare of coffee, this one just might be good for you. The coffee is labelled fair trade and organic, so it may be good for the farmers and environment also. Price $4.79
Tags:aldi, coffee, fair trade, food, Honduras, organic, price, review, whole bean
Posted in ALDI, coffee, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 5 Comments »
11/29/2017
11/29/2017
So far the lighter roasts at Trader Joe have been in general, disappointing. The beans tend to have some oil on them, which indicates the roast is bordering on the next shade of dark. But worse than that, the coffees tend to be bitter. Bitterness is something that’s not supposed to happen with a lighter roast. So, in a late night supermarket run, and in a moment of weakness towards my checking account balance, I picked up a local roaster’s light-medium roast coffee at an on-sale but still significant price. The beans were also Ethiopian according to the bag. This was another point of curiosity for me, as I’ve been somewhat disappointed with the African coffee beans at TJ. So I was able to try another source for African beans. And don’t forget Ethiopia is the home of the very first coffee beans discovered by man. Women discovered coffee beans about 362 years earlier, but I’m not going to get into that.
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Tags:coffee, Ethiopia, food, price, review, stringbean coffee company, true blue, whole bean coffee
Posted in coffee, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | Leave a Comment »
11/29/2017
November 29, 2017
Crispy is the key word on the bag. Pay attention.
Homemade might be another word for the bag. What’s meant by that is; not your homemade, nor grandma’s homemade, but my homemade. Cookies and my oven don’t get along. I blame it on the oven, of course. Any kind of cookie I’ve ever attempted came out thin and so crispy that they bordered on just this side of burnt. That’s the feeling I got with these oatmeal raisin cookies from our favorite Trader.
The cookies were so thin that the pretty much hard and dried out raisins tended to pop out of the cookie on their own leaving small holes in the cookie. Look in the bottom of the bag for the raisins. The cookies were crunchy, as most things toasted beyond tan tend to be. Now of course, even in their current condition, I ate them up, because any oatmeal raisin cookie is better than none. But if you prefer the softer thicker chewier kind of oatmeal raisin cookies, like I do, pass these up.
Price $3.99 (7 ounce bag)
Calories 130 per ounce (2 cookies)
Tags:calories, cookies, crispy, food, nutrition, oatmeal raisin, price, review, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
11/17/2017
November 17, 2017
This is perhaps the best $5 wine you’ll ever have. For about the last year or two the very good Tuscan wines ALDI used to stock have been missing from the shelves. I was pretty happy to see this one on my last visit, even if it has the unlikely sounding generic name of Chianti with a further Adventure Series qualifier. What gives, where are the nice Italian names on the bottle that I usually can’t pronounce?
The wine is: a medium-dark red color, mildly dry in the mouth with gentle tannins, medium bodied, has no bad tastes, and has little aroma in the glass. There’s nothing outstanding about this wine except that there’s also absolutely nothing bad about this wine. Because it’s a mild inoffensive wine, it should make a good sipping wine for anyone liking a red wine with these characteristics. It also makes a nice table wine, which should go well with just about any food red wines are generally associated with. Paired on different occasions with some homemade pizza and lasagna, the wine was a perfect fit.
While most DOCG Chianti wines don’t appear on the shelves for around two years, this wine is a 2016 vintage making it a little young. However the wine is perfectly ready for drinking now. I suppose that’s why it’s on the shelf.
For $4.99 a bottle this is a true bargain. It’s not a WOW! wine, but it’s also not a wine where you’ll find people leaving 3/4 full glasses on the table. Having a party? This should be a safe red wine where your investment in several bottles will not go to waste.
Tags:2016, adventure series, aldi, chianti, price, review, reviews, wine
Posted in ALDI, Wine | Leave a Comment »
11/17/2017
November 17, 2017
Unexpected? You bet it was unexpected. After months of searching for this on the top shelf where all the other Cheddars live, I found this in with the Bries, Camemberts and who knows what else.
TJ says there’s a touch of Parmesan in the taste which makes this Cheddar unexpected. By my taste buds, I didn’t detect any Parmesan. And also by my taste buds, this doesn’t really taste like other Cheddars. But the taste of this cheese is very nice, having a touch of tanginess mixed with a touch of sweetness. The texture is similar to other TJ cheese blends, firm but tends to crumble when cutting. That’s not a negative, just an observation. In the mouth, there are a few bits of what seem like cheese crystals characteristic of an aged cheese. Whatever the blend of cheeses here, or whatever the process that went into making this, this is a nice cheese, perfect for enjoying by itself or even better with a glass of wine.
Price $3.99 per 7 ounce package
Calories 120 per ounce
Tags:calories, cheese, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's, unexpected cheddar
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 6 Comments »
11/07/2017
November 7, 2017
This wine is a very clear pale yellow color with a few happy bubbles once the screw cap is taken off and the wine meets the glass. There are slight notes of sweet fruit on the front of the tongue. There is no burn on the tongue, roof of mouth or back of the throat. I liked the 2013 version and have no complaints with this one either, other than it’s a touch too sweet for me.
Paired with a Trader Joe’s Balti Curry pie, it went well. The sweetness helping to balance out the curry. While an unusual pairing, the wine is probably better by itself as a sipping or party wine. The wine is fine at room temperature, but a slight chill makes it a bit better. This is advertised as an 88 point wine. While some might argue rating points, no one can argue the price and the value that represents. Price $4.99.
I had this at the same time as a 2016 Crystal Creek Riesling also from ALDI. As neither was my cup of tea, what I did was “blend” them in the glass. The sweetness of this wine helped balance the negative burn from the Crystal Creek. The sum was better than the parts. Forced with making a selection, I’d pick this over the Crystal Creek.
Tags:2016, aldi, germany, landshut, mosel, price, review, reviews, riesling, wine
Posted in ALDI, Wine | 1 Comment »
11/07/2017
November 7, 2017
A fruit fly, probably making its way into the house via a bunch of bananas, immediately found the bottle once opened. A good sign. And he/she made repeated return trips to the glass. I don’t like sharing that much. The wine is very clear with a pale yellow, almost white, color. There’s a nice fruity aroma, reminding me of apples and apple cider. The wine produced a warm feeling in the mouth and a slight burn in the throat, otherwise there wasn’t much flavor. By the end of the glass, I had a very tipsy fruit fly.
Paired with some tasty cheddar cheese, the fat from the cheese helped balance the wine, reducing some of that harshness at the back of the throat. The wine also picks up some sweetness and fruit flavors when cooled. The cooling also helped with the throat burn. Price $5.99.
I had this at the same time as a 2016 Landshut Riesling also from ALDI. As neither was my cup of tea, what I did was “blend” them in the glass. The sweetness of the Landshut helped balance the negative burn from the Crystal Creek. The sum was better than the parts. Forced with making a selection, I’d pick the Landshut over this.
Tags:2016, aldi, crystal creek, price, review, reviews, riesling, white wine, wine
Posted in ALDI, Wine | 1 Comment »
11/05/2017
November 5, 2017
The first bad sign was the tear-off tab failing while trying to open the bag. I had to resort to a Kelly clamp to fix that. The second bad sign was the aroma of slightly burnt coffee beans coming from the bag. It should be difficult to burn a light-medium roast. The third bad sign was the aroma of almost tea coming from the cup. Or maybe it was bouillon? The fourth bad sign was the weak bitter coffee coming from the cup.
Well I’ve had worse and despite the four bad signs, the coffee is still drinkable. For those who prefer less body in a coffee, this one’s for you. This coffee reminds me of the recently reviewed Nicaraguan Coffee. Trader Joe does a really good job with their medium-dark roasts, so far the lighter roasts have generally been not as good.
And Boquete? Boquete is a small city in Panama in the western coffee growing region.
Price $8.99 (12 oz bag)
Tags:boquete, coffee, food, panama, price, review, tj, tj's, trader joe's, whole bean
Posted in coffee, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 2 Comments »
December 2, 2017
Ain't Found A Good Title Blog 