Trader Joe's Pound Plus 72% Dark Chocolate Bars

I always try to keep a 3-pack of the small Trader Joe's dark chocolate bars in my desk for when I simply must have chocolate. One strip of small squares usually does the trick.

But if you're making truffles, you need more than a 3-pack. You need the Pound Plus 72% dark. Ten of them. Musician/chocolatier and short-run Jeopardy champion Minstrel Boy shows you how to use this seemingly pedestrian bar to make enough confections to appease a pride of angry lions.

Disappointed

to say the least

I bought the TJ's mini-chicken and mini-Beef Tacos. I was having my aunt and uncle over and wanted to serve something to eat

they are the greasiest things I have seen in awhile. The three of us also tasted one of each, despite looking like a rags used to clean a carburetor.

They tasted worse than they looked. I was suckered in by the cover.

The All-Trader Joe's Dinner

Back in the days when I worked 20 minutes from home and Mr. Brilliant worked in New York City, I had time to cook from scratch every night. But now my ride home consists of sitting in traffic on Route 46 and his ride home is the same bucolic ride through tree-lined suburban neighborhoods that I used to enjoy. So he is helping out with meal preparation, often with great help from Trader Joe's.

Tonight's menu was Mediterranean stuffed chicken breast with a stuffing of bread crumbs, black olives, herbs, and feta, the aforementioned multigrain pilaf in a pouch, and Brittany Blend vegetables sauteed with garlic in olive oil. If you buy, note that the chicken has to cook longer than indicated on the package -- 1/2 hour before removing the foil and another 25 minutes afterward.

I could get used to this.

Meanwhile, Trader Joe's employees work long days. At various times during my three years of waiting for the next round of layoffs, and realizing that I was an over-50 Cold Fusion web developer, I often thought that I could do worse than to work at Trader Joe's, which from all accounts pays reasonably well for grocery work, even if you do work till 11 PM stocking shelves after the store closes.

If you ever wanted to know what happens at your local Trader Joe's after hours with all that Sirius/XM oldies music pumped in, these two gentlemen give you a clue:

Chuck was sold out....

It is three buck Chuck at the 14th Street TJ Wine store - and they only had the shiraz tonite.

so I bought

Venetian Moon Pinto Grigio
TJ's Coastal Sauvignon Blanc
D'Aquino Pinot Grigio
TJ's Coastal Chardonnay
Zarafa Sauvignon Blanc

total - $25.96
not bad for 5 bottles.... I am sure some are better than others.

If you go, you know

This is what inspired us to do this:

Single File

Saturday at the Manhattan Trader Joe's - not only did you have to wait on line to pay, you had to wait on line to get into the store. It was decorated with lots of hearts in anticipation of Valentine's Day.

New item: Trader O's - the TJ version of Spaghetti-Os. They didn't look all that appetizing.

Today's purchases (which was rushed because the check out line was already at the free coffee counter by the time I got into the store)

Trader Giotto's Pizza Sauce
Orangina Soda
TJ's Rice Pudding
TJ's Orange Juice from concentrate
Handmade Chicken Burritos
Gyoza Chicken Pot Stickers
Apple Cereal Bars
Salsa Verde
Mini-Pearl Tomatoes
TJ's Kalamata Hummus
Yellow Fin Tuna Fillet
Egg Pappardelle Pasta
Tandoori Naan Garlic Bread
Restaurant Style White Chips

Ryan asked me if I found everything OK. I asked him if he gets hazard pay.

Total time: 35 minutes of which 25 were waiting

Per Square Foot

Trader Joe's opened in Manhattan in March 2006. It is located on 14th Street between 3rd Avenue and Irving Place. The store is part of an NYU dorm - that formerly was the Palladium club back in the 80s.

It is also busy. Very busy. Extremely busy. This has to be the busiest store per square foot in the chain, maybe in the world.

Take last Saturday - I got there at 905AM (5 minutes after it opened). I still waited on line for 20 minutes. I learn a lot on line at TJ's. You will also learn as I contribute to the Disciples of Joe. Or maybe just get hungry. Or frustrated like me when I wait on line to buy eggs.

But I did get my TJ Italian Roast Coffee.

Who are the Disciples of Joe?

You know who they are. They're the people with cupboards full of multigrain pilaf in a pouch. They're the ones who put out baskets of praline pecans and peanut butter-filled pretzels for a party. They're the ones who delude themselves that they're drinking healthy soda when they guzzle Hansen's diet pomegranate. They're the ones whose faces light up when they hear the words "Trader Joe's" at 100 paces.

If you've never been to Trader Joe's, you just don't get it. So here in this blog, we Disciples of Joe are going to explore All Things Trader Joe's -- product reviews, recipes, silly videos -- the entire Zen of Joe. So visit often, and feel free to spread the Word of Joe in the comments.