lostdiadem

Trader Joes has some good stuff.

Never had panna before because we only eat tomato and olive oil based sauces.

21 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

did you wedding time Iluv ?  

@ILUVAdrianaLima wishes 

@Stromboli1 and yeah, I guess so  

On 12/9/2019 at 9:37 PM, lostdiadem said:

@Stromboli1 and yeah, I guess so  

The sauces we make are very tomato, olive oil, and seafood centric. No white sauces and pesto.

@lostdiadem  you mentioning of Trader Joe's reminded of the place.  I haven't gone there in years and it's 15 minutes away from me.

Today I  bought several boxes of various cookies, imported italian nougat, their boxed tiramisu cake, their scone mix, their raisins, and an orange spice cake. 

reviews so far:  The Orange cake was mediocre at best (too dry and not orangy enough.  The tiraismu was actually very good what it was and a good value at only $7.   The Italian nougat was quite good.

On 12/9/2019 at 1:34 PM, lostdiadem said:

I noticed that in grocery stores there are a lot of imported italian brands, or italian brands that I've never heard of  I like to shop at Trader Joe's (if you know of it) because they have really good italian stuff, like many kinds of hams and cheese and sauces to use for pasta. My favourite so far is Eataly because they sell all the things that I used to eat back in Italy, except for some things, but it's not a big deal. What they sell there is super delicious. It's just that (at least here), Italian brands and food are SO expensive, like I saw Italian coffee sold for like 15 bucks when in Italy you can get it at like 5 Euros at the most  I'm like wtf every time  

For example, why is it so impossible to find panna in the US?  and I'm not talking about whipped cream, I'm talking about a white sauce made out of milk  We use panna in almost everything.

I just got back from Trader Joe's and I concur that the prices are very fair and much lower than usual for the quality.  Food prices in the NE USA are very inflated I find.  Business people are eager to get their profit margins and people just pay for it.  The only places with good value are Costco, Trader Joe's, Chinese grocers, and farmer's markets for produce.

The Italian grocer stores and supermarkets around here are the same thing- everything is overpriced.  Uncle Giuseppe, Corrado, and Fairway's in particular have a lot of Italian items, but so do the upscale national supermarkets like King's and locals like Stew Leonard's.  There are also independent, small Italian grocers which aren't cheap either.

The funny thing about the Italian nougat was that the saleslady kept on bragging how they went to Italy to source it and were able to get a "good" deal.  They were selling it for ~$13 a pound.

I actually don’t know half of that stuff, except for the tiramisu which I’m happy to know it was good! But what I also know is that many brands say that it’s italian when it’s actually not. They just like to sell and they know that a lot of people like italian food and they would gladly buy it, but never trust it fully!

I’ve had so far many frozen kind of pastas (with clams or with mushrooms), I really like the mushroom one but not that much the other one. I had paella and it was good. I always get the Citterio raw ham because I know that brand and I know it’s good. Fresh parmesan or grana cheese, which are also very good and my husband usually gets salads and he’s almost always happy about the quality (I’m not talking about italian salads here, tho, just a general point of view of TJ’s).

Here in California EVERYTHING is expensive and I was shocked to see that at Eataly all the things that in Italy are super cheap, they are super expensive here. Like for example a box of coffee powder of a very famous italian brand in Italy costs like 5 bucks, at Eataly they were more than 15 bucks and I was like wtf. The flour in Italy is like not even one buck and here is like 15 bucks too. It’s a rip off.

I love Costco too, but I haven’t noticed that many italian brands.

13 minutes ago, lostdiadem said:

I actually don’t know half of that stuff, except for the tiramisu which I’m happy to know it was good! But what I also know is that many brands say that it’s italian when it’s actually not. They just like to sell and they know that a lot of people like italian food and they would gladly buy it, but never trust it fully!

 

I’ve had so far many frozen kind of pastas (with clams or with mushrooms), I really like the mushroom one but not that much the other one. I had paella and it was good. I always get the Citterio raw ham because I know that brand and I know it’s good. Fresh parmesan or grana cheese, which are also very good and my husband usually gets salads and he’s almost always happy about the quality (I’m not talking about italian salads here, tho, just a general point of view of TJ’s).

 

Here in California EVERYTHING is expensive and I was shocked to see that at Eataly all the things that in Italy are super cheap, they are super expensive here. Like for example a box of coffee powder of a very famous italian brand in Italy costs like 5 bucks, at Eataly they were more than 15 bucks and I was like wtf. The flour in Italy is like not even one buck and here is like 15 bucks too. It’s a rip off.

 

I love Costco too, but I haven’t noticed that many italian brands.

Yes, Costco doesn't have too many italian brands. However it is really good for life's staples, like toilet paper,personal care, meats, etc. what do you think of Starbucks?  Every item has a souped up italian or french name. 

are there any trader's joes frozen items that you like?  I saw so many

6 minutes ago, Cult Icon said:

 

Yes, Costco doesn't have too many italian brands. However it is really good for life's staples, like toilet paper,personal care, meats, etc. what do you think of Starbucks?  Every item has a souped up italian or french name. 

 

are there any trader's joes frozen items that you like?  I saw so many

Like I just said above, I like some of their frozen pastas, like the one with mushrooms and gnocchi with mozzarella and tomato. I was used to eat that even back in Italy so I know that I would have liked some styles. I still have to try other stuff but once my husband and I have our house for sure will try more things too.

I’m not a fan of Starbucks but just because I’m not a fan of coffee or weird hot beverages. I’ve only tried the Strawberry frappuccino and it’s good but I can never finish it because for me it’s too heavy and too sweet. I’ve also tried the Vanilla frappuccino and didn’t like it because is too sweet.

I don’t know if there are any in the NE USA but I love Subzero for the ice cream. It’s so good.

I watched A Star Is Born again recently.   

I still didn't watch the conversation between Jack and the manager, I think I have only watched it once. I did watch Ally sing at the end, of course.

On 5/19/2020 at 9:15 AM, jkjk said:

I watched A Star Is Born again recently.   

 

I still didn't watch the conversation between Jack and the manager, I think I have only watched it once. I did watch Ally sing at the end, of course.

You did a very good thing. I would rewatch it too, but the tv is always taken, so I'm just waiting for my own place and put it like on repeat all day long  that last song always rips off every single part of me every time. Luckily I have the new songs to listen to now!  

Congratulations on the new casa!

6 hours ago, lostdiadem said:

Why is Adriana Lima still so relevant?

Nostalgia?  

On 7/15/2020 at 6:46 AM, Stromboli1 said:

Congratulations on the new casa!

Oh, I just saw this right now!

Thank you!  

13 hours ago, jkjk said:

 

Nostalgia?  

Or stupidity? 

24 minutes ago, lostdiadem said:

Oh, I just saw this right now!

Thank you!

ANYTIME!

40 minutes ago, Stromboli1 said:

 

ANYTIME!

How do you know, tho? 

2 minutes ago, lostdiadem said:

How do you know, tho? 

I know everything!