Whoa! Many esoteric tastes for me; a "meat & potato" person. Was going to quote today's newspaper article - former customers heading for "chocolate brownie cookies," "luscious shepherd's pie," "hand-tossed Italian pizza." Any comments re: these items?

Closest to me scheduled to open mid-Nov. Will definitely check it out!

The wine situation ($2-3 Buck Chuck) to be determined but SURELY someone investigated the legal situation before they committed to open 5 stores!??!

try their double chocolate ice cream.

The chocolate brownie cookies are good and the fresh and frozen pizzas are great too. They have one kind with a cornmeal-type crust that I really like.

Oh, and another one of my favorites - hard to describe but here goes. In the freezer, they have packages of about 20 little individual frozen cubes of herbs (about the size of sugar cubes) - I get minced basil and minced garlic. So convenient to pop a cube out of the frozen tray and into polenta, tomatoes for pasta, whenever you need a little basil or garlic - no chopping required - and no waste! (I sometimes buy fresh basil and throw most of it away!)

Oh! and really good fresh red peppers stuffed with ground turkey and rice. Love those! I don't drink juice but Grant loves the limeade and other juices.

A gushing TJ fan,
Dena

I remember liking their flatbread - great with hummus. 'Course, now I don't have one close, I seem to miss it even more. :)

Masaki

Well, DUH to me on that Ken/Barbie comment (it's been a long week and I was tired last night!)

I'd gladly switch with you, too Amanda!

Kathy,

The pizzas are very good and many that they carry are made in Italy. Haven't tried the shepherd's pie, but I'll bet it's very good, too.

Dena,

Great items. Those frozen herbs are terrific. They frequently carry basil plants. I love using fresh basil in my pasta sauces.

Have you tried their stuffed Poblano chilis? They make for great wraps filling. I buy their Spanish rice mix to prepare along with it and it's a fast and tasty dinner.

Other fanastic items are Chimichurri rice, Thai carrots, and Thai green beans (HOT!!!). Pasta sauces are not bad, either. Try their Four Cheese or Proscuitto sauces - almost tastes like homemade.

TJ's has very refreshing bottled green tea and bottled green tea with Bergamot.

Do you shop at the new TJ's on Newport Ave.? Nice store!

It seems we live at TJ's, as we're there at least 3 times a week!

Donna,

I've bought the Dubliner Chedder and love it. TJ's has got a wonderful cheese selection, as does COSTCO.

Please email me the joke, as well. Thanks!

The joke is great!!!! Well Ken was a "stretch", Denise so no Duh's necessary - I am off to our boring supermarket

Our local TJ told me that as of Nov. 1st they're going to accept AmEx! YEA!

I'm so glad to hear that TJ is coming to the Atlanta area. I'm thinking about moving back to that area in a couple of years, and would miss my TJ goodies.

Amex - yeah! There are only a few places where we have to use MasterCard - mainly TJ's and hair salon.

Denise, I like the mojito sauce and the spicy green beans. Stuffed poblano chiles - have not tried but sounds great! I will look for them this weekend. We do now shop at the Newport Blvd. store - used to go to the Culver store.

Dena

Dena,
Amazing that with all our trips to TJ's we've never run into you and Grant. Probably too busy shopping to pay attention to who's in the store!

We go to both stores and sometimes to the store near UCI.

Donna,
That joke was hysterical! Thanks for sending it my way!

Your avatar is so nice, Crystal!

Us too Dena. Happy that now Tuesday Morning and TJ will both take AmEx, the only 2 places I use Visa or MC.

Last night we had the TJ skirt steak, good flavor!! Tom said it didn't taste as tender as he remembers as a kid (guess his Mom made it a lot) I told him it's the same, his teeth worked better 50 years ago! :D

Marcie,

Tuesday Morning is another favorite. You can get some great deals there. Good to hear that they and TJ's will soon take AMEX.

For many of us, a lot worked better 50 years ago! And, we'll leave it at that! ;)

OK, Donna and Denise...you're right, life coule be worse than living in HI. :)

What's Tuesday Morning? Another grocery/specialty store?

Amanda,
Tuesday Morning is sort of an everything store, mostly housewares. But you can sometimes get really good buys on really good stuff, if you get there in time.

Gotta love Tuesday Morning. You kind of just have to keep checking there. If you just go in looking for something in particular, it seems they never have it. We have gotten some great buys on Samsonite at Tuesday Mornings.
http://www.tuesdaymorning.com/indexCatalogOff.asp
Debbie

We shop Trader Joes regularly. The food there is really terrific. Because they change things all the time your cooking skills don't get stale. They were sampling some soup today that they made with their canned diced tomatoes, rice, their organic chicken broth, Italian Sausage and frozen spinach. The recipe in the current Fearless Flyer. I was astounded how delicious it was. Easy weeknight dinner. Here is a link to their website and the Fearless Flyer for Southern California. Recipe on page 3

http://www.traderjoes.com/flyers/SC.pdf

And Tueday Morning is a gem. I've purchased some household things there for cents on the dollar. I think that the fireplace screen was about 10% of what I saw it for in the fireplace store. It's a nice place for party ware and if you hit it right some giftware. They just had Anchini linens and some Lalique pieces too.

Kathy, that soup recipe sounds fantastic, I will try it this week!

Editing to add, after reading the Trader Joe's brochure that you linke me to, all I can say is waaaaaa! I want a Trader Joe's!!!

This thread on T.J's is so fortuitous for me. I just found out that one is opening very close to me on Nov. 2. Now I can compare it to Whole Foods, which I find great but too expensive.

Woo Hoo! I can soon travel 60 miles to a Trader Joe's!!!

Opening soon:

Pittsburgh, PA - October 27th

You're gonna love it, Karen. Invest in a very large cooler!

Those recipes from TJ's are really good!

I really enjoy shopping Tuesday Morning. The only gripe I have with them is that all their sales occur on....Tuesday morning! If you work and can't get in line to be there well before the doors open, you wind up with not much, if anything, left over from the sale. I've asked if they will set aside items I am interested in purchasing, so I can pick them up after work. Their policy is not to hold sale items.

Denise--I love Tuesday Morning too. I check it out once a month or so. Unfortunately we don't have Trader Joes in Fort Worth (but I think there's one in Dallas). I'm sure I'd like it but for the time being have to settle for our Central Market (like Trader Joes with higher prices).

I like Tuesday Morning with the exception of the store's set-up. Maybe it's just my store but the aisles are narrow and the merchandise is crammed together. Like Debbie said, they do have great bargains on luggage of all kinds. Also, good area rugs. But, my favorite is their Christmas section. I'm lucky that my store is in the same strip mall as LA Fitness. I go exercise, then shop.

Donna: Our store set up is bad too - rem the one in Santa Monica had wide aisles and not all crammed in - I have had some "hits" at Tues AM but it is about 30 minutes from me - when my granddaughters were little I would get them Madame Alexander dolls at Xmas for great price -

Thanks for the FYI about yet another store we don't have. Sigh...the problems living on an island.

Anyone also guilty of going in to TJ's for "just a few things" then $100 later.....

Yes and how about Costco? No matter what I buy the total is always $200 plus.

Oh yes Donna - Tony wants to go to Costco on rainy day - he is bored - I say you must have $200 plus to spend - Joanna

No Express check-out at TJ's or COSTCO.

Lordy - Costco - how could I forget!!! Easy $200. Love those giant jars of Grey Poupon!!

Oh no, went to COSTCO yesterday. Now I can't get out of there for under $300 (but it was a BIG trip, out of everything).

Both our Costco and our TJ's have express checkout. But who goes there and buys 10 items or less?

Costco drives me nuts because they don't give you bags for your loot!!! A seemingly standard thing when you make a purchase. Is Trader Joe's the same way? (Still haven't gotten there yet..)

I get to go to Costco this afternoon.
Of course I am driving to Billings (145 miles)
Will meet up with Jan B who just flew in from Nashville and is in Billings.
We are also going to go and get our Yellow Fever shots today. :(

Trader Joes does have paper bags at checkout. They are consumed with trying to jam as much stuff as possible in said bags...

Thanks, R! :)