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The One Man Band – Zinfandel, 2010

Wine Moment with Delaina

Hello Fellow Trader Joe’s Fans

It has been awhile so I thought I better give you another wine review. We were in our local Trader Joe’s buying splurges for the Super Bowl; and being a sucker for Zinfandels and things placed on end caps I could not resist tying this “new-to-me” Zin.

The Zinfandel is out of Sonoma County bottled by The County Fair Wines, titled The One Man Band 2010 and it is zin-fully delicious. Best part it was priced at $8.99.

The most dominate flavor to me was the blackberry but the vanilla rounds out the finish very nicely. There is also a peppery hint that adds a little punch to this highly berry flavored wine. Like many Zins it is a bit on the dry side but all of the berry flavors balance the wine nicely.

It turns out that Trader Joe’s featured this wine in their Fearless Flyer so if you would like a more details and sophisticated plate evaluation of this wonderful Zin check out what the experts have to say here: http://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article.asp?article_id=469 .

It paired nicely with roasted chicken, asparagus, and sweet potatoes. (All purchased from Trader Joe’s of course.)

This wine would pair nicely with many entrees and hardly salads or hors d’oeuvres such as smoked gouda cheese. Yes…it is true I think smoked gouda goes with everything, just as I think Zinfandels go with everything.

I hope you enjoy this wine as much as I did.

Thank you for reading.

Cheers,

Trader Joe’s Guide To Summer

We had a pleasant surprise today when we went shopping at Trader Joe’s in Tucson: The Trader Joe’s Guide to Summer has arrived! See it here on the web at www.traderjoes.com

This June version of the Fearless Flyer is a trimmed down summer version, that includes a unique multiple folding system that took me a little time to figure out! I kept trying to make it into the  Fearless Flyer book, and instead this booklet was one long page folded up about 4 times.

Eeks! More Coffee!!

Anyway, this Guide to Summer illustrates a few of Trader Joe’s more Summer Friendly items. These include items to grill, snack on and drink to stay cool.

One item that we have to mention (as we have already finished off our first cup!) is the Avocado Salsa Verde. This is a wonderful “vibrant” (their wording here) tomatillo salsa verde (green salsa). It first caught our eye in the sample area, as they were combining the salsa with the Red, White and Blue Tortilla chips!

We both just loved the salsa- it was cool and had large chunks of avocado in it. At first it seemed to be very mild, but then … the heat (medium) came a few seconds later.

We brought this Avocado Salsa Verde home and enjoyed the salsa with eggs and tortillas – a sorta Ranchero dinner.

Another way to serve the Avocado Salsa Verde is the way they fixed the sample at Trader Joe’s: with tiny shrimp chopped and mixed in. This became a kind of mock Seviche (you know that fish dish that you sometimes see in Mexican Restaurants).

This brings me back to the Summer Guide. Pick up a copy today – in it you will find some great new products to help you stay cool this summer!

Trader Joe’s New Fearless Flyer

Wow is it that time again??

Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer arrived earlier today in our email. In all the years, this is the first time that we have received an electric Fearless Flyer. I am glad that Trader Joe’s is going electric!

We usually find a number of interesting items in the Fearless Flyer, and this time, it came thought with flying colors!

Wine:

There were a number of great sounding wines that we will have to try –Including a $1.99 Pinot Grigio from Italy’s Umbria region. At this price, this wine is cheaper in Tucson than the “Two Buck Chuck” which sells here for $2.99. This is a great time to drink a Pinot Grigio, slightly chilled it would be fantastic with a main dish salad (say grilled chicken or fish on top of a nice bed of salad greens).

Grub:

We also found some main-dish items that looked interesting. One in particular, was Gourmet Chicken Meatballs with Sun-Dried Tomato, Basil & Provolone. Now, these little beauties sounded absolutely fantastic. They made our menu-mind go crazy with ideas: Add to pasta, serve with eggs for breakfast? But the best we thought was from the Fearless Flyer: “serve as an unexpected addition to chicken soup” WOW that would be both unexpected AND delicious, right?

Sweets:

OK our confession for the best part of the Fearless Flyer? Dessert of course!  On the bottom of page 14 was a small note about Whoopee Pies!  Now we realize that not everyone knows what this wonderful item is, but we both really love them. A Whoopee pie is not actually a pie at all, but two chocolate cookies (soft mind you) with a marshmallow cream filling. They sorta resemble an chocolate sandwich cookie, but the whole thing is extra rich and soft and yummy…

So before we tear out of the house and head to Trader Joes to stock up, we will close with a pledge to share all the lovely goodies from the Fearless Flyer that we purchase here, so you are able to read our comments and the review.

Have you received your Fearless Flyer yet?

Click here to go to the Trader Joe’s Website and read it for yourself.