I bought some chicken, bacon, cheese, and one of my favorite salad dressings. And on my way home I stopped at Staples to pick up my face painting banner for this weekend - and it looks FANTASTIC! I'm super excited, and a special thank you to my friend Isaac for figuring out the proper sizing and whatnot. I'm lousy with technology, but I know people who are great with it and love when they help a gal out :) I then went home and made a simple, but utterly delicious, meal consisting of onions, garlic, chicken, spices, wine, black beans, cheese, and tri-colour quinoa. After a few days of absolutely abominable eating, this was near divine.
But I knew a bit of chicken wasn't going to be enough in the long run, so I vaguely planned to head down to Trader Joe's Thursday afternoon - what I was hoping would be an "off" hour. Turns out it was - woo! I haven't been grocery shopping in a long time, and I don't remember the last time it was for pleasure. I like my grocery shopping time to be a leisurely, indulgent experience, not a hurried get-in-get-out-fight-the-masses affair. I went down to my favorite TJs location (the one in Chelsea), and commenced my browsing and label reading, price comparison and so on. It was around the time I came across their gluten free flour and gluten free penne that I realized how much I really love Trader Joe's. They didn't have those things a few months ago, leastways not that I saw - and I was looking! I think it's great how they get new ingredients that cater to a smaller demographic, and their prices are fantastic! The people are also super friendly and helpful - unlike many NYC shopping experiences I've had. I'm not a fan of Greek yogurt, but I will pair Trader Joe's brand of Vanilla Bean Greek Yoghurt with my berries and quinoa any day. Their frozen corn is wonderfully sweet (unlike most frozen corn I've bought here in NY), and they have edamame, which is a new favorite of mine. They're also the only place I've found that sells ground almonds and pine nuts at a reasonable price. Now if they'd only stock lactose free milk and chocolate milk...
I do find myself buying the same few items, but one day when I'm not on a grocery mission, I think I'll go browse at their entire selection of goods and maybe pick up something new. I hear their frozen meats are good quality at a good price. I've always liked to buy my meat fresh and then freeze it, but maybe I'll branch out and be really adventurous one of these days.