All Things Trader Joe's

Over the past several months, I have slowly discovered that I am more of a pescetarian than an omnivore. The progression by eliminating meat started off with red-meat particularly beef. I have tried pork a few times in the past plus lobster, lamb, crab, rabbit, shrimp, deer, calamari, squid, octopus, termites, buffalo, lemon ants, and a fat white larva in the amazon in 2000. I think the hardest thing to get over has been chicken. It all goes back not to the "other white meat" but that "other white meat". Why do you hear the phrase "it tastes like chicken" all over the place? I'm sure that at one time or another I used that saying as well (certainly not with the little fat grub because it tasted like coconut, but the aftertaste made me think twice....chicle anyone?).
Praise the LORD for Trader Joe's.....I have always been his biggest fan. You know why? Because shopping malls are for girls (you will notice if there is ever a place to sit down in a mall the men occupy those benches) and arcades are for boys, but Trader Joe's was made for me! I think I am one of those girls (just like in Julie & Julia) who get super excited when shopping for food. Eating = Passion so I have to be extra careful with what I eat. When I was visiting family in Ecuador this past June, one of my aunties asked me how I can stay so thin? I told her "Easy, I eat plenty of low calorie, nutrient DENSE food!" I said, as I stuffed my face with a huge plate of lettuce, beets, chickpeas, carrots, cucumbers, radish, olives, mini-potatoes, and broccoli topped off with olive oil and lemon juice. Look...if you want to lose weight and you want to do it by eating plenty of raw foods and salads...please don't POUR on the ranch dressing like one of my father's former obese employees. That will add tremendously to the calories. If you choose to ignore my advice, then you can stay ignorant. If you choose to be aware of the fact that bottled dressings have tons of fatty calories and still continue to consume them....well that's your choice too. I simply tell it like it is....and I eat it too (but not those heavy salad dressings)!
I went to Trader Joe's the other day with my dear friend Lina and I purchased some dark chocolate fruit & nut trail mix, dried apricots, Mediterranean pasta salad mix, and fresh tofu spring rolls (the kind with that translucent flat noodle covering). I have to keep eating during the day because of my meteoric metabolism (hey I'm not braggin' God gave me that so I want to treat it right). I can't remember when I first laid my eyes on T. Joes but i'm pretty sure I discovered him on the east coast where we first met. Love at first sight, er...taste. Oh, and have you tried his powerberries!? Heavens! I have never tasted such dark-chocolatey-covered bliss! Choices, choices, choices. Well you can have your pasty-white-frosting-covered-empty-calorie cake and eat it too. I'll have my TJ's

A New Day with No Cheese

I am considering becoming a vegan because I discovered this year that I have some degree of lactose intolerance. Last night I was at my friend Lina's house and I brought over some organic red beets, green beans, goat cheese, basil, and dressing for dinner. We also had boiled potatoes (no, she's not Irish, but Russian, yes) and I of course wanted to add more cheese to my potatoes....making it rudimentary mashed potatoes. I also included tofu cream cheese for good measure. Then my dearest friend enticed me to Trader Joe's Chocolate Ice Cream Bon Bons. How could I resist anything with that unmistakable label? Not possible with this chica....anyways I had more than my fair share (so I thought) and then we crashed on the couch to discuss our desires for future nursing career goals and where to take an artsy photography class. You know, not the boring class that only teaches you the basics, but one that also lets you explore the world through a fish-eye lens and how to capture that ethereal golden light that illuminates the subject. So back to the cheese of the matter, this morning I woke up to the rumble-tumble of my intestines. Oh for the love of Dairy! Brie, Roquefort, Pol le Veq, Port Salut, Savoy Aire, Saint Paulin, Carrier de lest, Brest Bleu, Bruson....Camenbert, perhaps? It's a bit runny sir....
My dear father played the part of John Cleese in Monty Python's "The Cheese Shop" for a church talent show once upon a time and when he took us to and from school he would play the recording over and over in his Jaguar S-type (he absolutely loathed that British make-of-a-car) therefore I too memorized his part, although I must admit I did not know how to spell half of those Parisian cheeses mentioned.
But brie has always been my favoritest cheese. Alas...I must give this up too if I go on a dairy strike. Oh cruel irony!