So I Finally Joined the 21st Century a Little More...

Today I actually went to a Trader Joe's for the first time. Yeah, old news to most but people who know me know I'm pretty out of it.

More seriously, I've simply never lived near one but I had a gift card expiring and so there it was once I figured out that I was about ten miles' drive from the nearest one. I'm not sure what I was expecting but this one wasn't at all Whole Foods-y. Prices are way better than the local grocery store and they seem to have decent stuff, by and large. I thought the local immigrant store had good prices---and in general it meets or beats TJ's and is way closer---but for a national chain shopped at by bobos, TJ's prices were nice.

On the totally arbitrary shopping list:

-Tuscan pane bread (decent but not exceptional)
-2 jars of olive tapenade (cheap, I hope it's good)
-organic yellow mustard (was what it said it was)
-1 lb heirloom grape tomatoes (plan to roast these bad boys)
-1 lb raw almonds
-precooked BBQ pork (we'll see)
-provolone and salami (which I ate on the previously mentioned pane with mustard)
-apricot kernels ("poor man's almonds")
-chili dried mango
-parmesan cheese
-apricot preserves (for the sirene)

So far so good. I'm not sure it's worth a regular 10 mile drive but to stock up on things like olive tapenade or the various dried stuff, it might be worth it.

Update: Having now tried a piece of pane with tapenade (and a grind of fresh black pepper), it's pretty good. I plan to go back....