I should shop at Trader Joe’s more often. They have some really interesting items – stuff you won’t find at other stores – like Branzino Sea Bass. I was at Trader’s last week to stock up on Moon X wines and poked around in the side aisles where I saw a package of frozen Sea Bass, not Chilean Sea Bass but Branzino Sea Bass. I am always looking for a fish to serve and I am leery of tilapia. You … [Read more...]

Here’s another great reason to shop at Reid’s. Not only do they offer the best trimmed and most tender chicken in town, their Pork Cutlet’s are simply superb. There are two types of pork chops, most come from the loin. They are generally very lean, and can be tough and tasteless. The chops near the shoulders have more fat, thus more flavor. The Reid’s butchers carve their Pork Cutlets from … [Read more...]

  Ran across an amazing product recently, again from Aldi’s. I was poking around in their ice cream section looking for some “lite” bars or popsicles. I saw a box of Fit Active 20 Calorie Bars. 20 calories? That’s like one bite of steak. I figured they would be awful, but if we could enjoy a little something sweet after a meal and only spring for 20 calories, it was worth a try. Plus, … [Read more...]

  I understand that somebody won over a billion dollars in the latest lottery. Big deal. I won a Melon Lottery last week. I bought a melon, and it was good. This is the season when melons show up in the grocery stores from Argentina or Mexico or wherever and you are tempted to buy one. You knew that the melons in the stores for the past 6months weren’t ripe nor edible, but now there’s … [Read more...]

It was nearly lunchtime, and I wanted a BBQ. I was also in Kroger’s and knew exactly what to do. I went back to the prepared foods section and crossed my fingers, hoping to find some Doughtie’s BBQ. It was there and within the hour I was eating BBQ you would normally only find in Eastern North Carolina. Doughtie’s is whole-hog BBQ with a little smokiness mixed in with the pork, vinegar, and … [Read more...]

Aldi’s had rack of lamb on sale at $9.99 a pound. I immediately penciled it in for dinner that night. But I knew Aldi’s wouldn’t have mint jelly, so I first went to Kroger’s, but Kroger’s didn’t have mint jelly. Damn! Now I’d have to go to Food Lion and hope they had mint jelly. Nancy had asked a for a bag of mandarins (I think they call them Halo’s). They were $4.48 a bag a … [Read more...]