Love for TJ's & Number 100

Trader Joe's is awesome. It is my 2nd favorite grocery store (if you factor in price, it would be #1, but I am just thinking about how pretty and tasty Whole Foods is right now so that will be first in my mind for today). Everytime I go to Safeway, I always wish I were at TJ's instead. Thankfully, it's a 10 min. walk so I can be there instead! Although there are some things that TJ's just doesn't have (ice cream cones, baking powder). Here is a list of some things I like there. This may get continued the more things I try, we'll see...

1. Vanilla Wafer Cookies- These must be relatively new; they come in a clear tub and are so delicious. They have Madagascar vanilla specks in them which makes the vanilla seem that much more present. Whole Foods' 365 wafers are also very good, but no specks there.

2. Salmon Patties- Come frozen in a package of 5 or so. They are super easy to make, only 80 cal each and are loaded with protein and omega-3s. Sorry, I don't know if it is farm-raised or wild (I'm guessing farm-raised since it's cheaper, although let's hope for wild:)

3. Pizza dough- At around $1, you get a bag of ready-to-roll dough, either wheat, herb or original. Very tasty and relatively fresh!

4. Joe Joe's- TJ's verison of an Oreo sans hydrogenated oils. Haven't tried the ginger ones, but we love the peppermint ones and the chocolate and vanilla are good, too.

5. Gyoza- In the frozen section, either pork, chicken or veggie. It goes great with the gyoza dipping sauce they sell (a checker there upsold us that and we loved it).

6. Hansen's soda- Other places sell this, but it is by far the cheapest here at $2 for a 6-pack (if you live in CA, add on the $.05/can for CRV....blah). Personally, it's not as sweet as I would hope, but I guess that's what you get for not having HFCS, so it's worth it.

7. Big Bars of Chocolate- At over a pound for $3.49, you can't beat it. They have milk, bittersweet and with almonds for sure. Apparently, TJ's is the only place you can get this specific brand of imported chocolate- perfect for baking. My friend's MIL had her go buy about 15 bars once and mail them out to Utah for her, they are that good.

One area I would pass over is the fruit section. Maybe buy bananas ($.19 each), but the other fruits don't look that fresh to me. Do you have any favorites?

Also, this is my 100th post, yippee! I was going to wait until Sat. to post again, since that will be my one year bloggerversary, but I am more bored at work more than usual....