Shel_B

TJs is in 43 states, has more than 600 locations.

And let's not forget their tasting kiosks, and the Fearless Flyer newsletter ... informative, funny, and a worthwhile read.

Service and a stong motivation to have happy and satisfied customers. In no particular order, you can return anyhing at any time, no questions asked. Tangentially, I was at the dairy case one day looking at something and unsure if I wanted it. One of the staff saw me, said that I should go ahead and try it, and if I didnt like it, it would be no problem. I didn't even have to pay for the item first. I was told thatTJ's wants people to try new-to-them items. They have some unique items, things you'll not see anywhere else. And their prices are lower than nearby markets, like Safeway. I can sometimes buy at Costco prices without having to buy Costco quantities. The staff is always happy to help and offer suggestions. I've never encountered a grumpy staff member. TJ's is a pleasant place to shop.

Many years ago - mid - late 70s or so - I had a few acquaintances and friends in the entertainment business, and we'd always "do" lunch: "Hey, let's do lunch tomorrow ..." It was almost show-biz vernacular. It ain't new, it ain't Gen Z, and it's still going on ...

Late to the party ... I use a strainer and a stainless steel bowl. Put rice in strainer, add water through the rice, swish it around, rinse, repeat as needed, drain as appropriate. The pics below show an 8-inch strainer and the Grip n Whip bowl, but any bowl will work well as will most appropriate-sized strainers. I don't see a need to purchase a specialized rice rinser for so simple a task, especially when one probably has everything needed at hand anyway.

Funny or Sad?

TJ's Palak Paneer with a Twist A few days ago, I made a batch of chickpeas in the Instant Pot, used most in a dish I made for a neighbor, and was left with somewhat more than a cup that called to me from the back of the fridge, "Use me. NOW!" I put the garbanzos into a small pot, added about a cup of frozen spinach, roughly mashed 'em up and added Smoked Piment d'Ville ground pepper, some thinly sliced and minced jalapeño that lives in the freezer waiting to be sliced and diced and added to various recipes, and a teaspoon+ of recenty made garlic-ginger paste. Meanwhile, the Palak Paneer was heating up in the microwave, and was then added to the ingredients in the pot, stirred, tasted, adjusted, and enjoyed for quck and reasonably healthy lunch. The mashed garanzos added an earthiness to the dish, the peppers a little heat and smokiness, and the rough mashed garbanzos and paneer cheese contributed texture.

A simple breakfast: fresh blueberries with yogurt, made-fresh-this-morning mango-orange juice, Ethiopian blend coffee:

Interesting to note, Serious Eats just posted the results of their hot dog test and Boar's Head was the winning frank. I was seriously disappointed to see that. https://www.seriouseats.com/hot-dog-taste-test-11735425? https://www.seriouseats.com/hot-dog-taste-test-11735425?#toc-overall-winner

What is the difference between a soup spoon and a tablespoon? What's a tablespoon used for, or intended to be used for?

I used to buy Boar's Head hot dogs, but after reading about their health and safety issues, I stopped buying them and any other of the company's products. I won't support such an operation. There are many other options available. Why would anyone be confused about this issue?

@Smithy Great writeup and useful pics. I've a TJ's run planned for tomorrow, and I have freezer space and a freshly loaded card in my wallet ... I've wanted to try the Chiles Rellenos, so that'll definitely come home with me. You mentioned salsa ... I tried this one a few weeks ago and was quite pleased with it. Taste, heat, and texture were to my liking. Generally, I don't buy salsa, but it's always nice to have a jar in the pantry. It made a nice salsa rice side for a mild chicken dish I made, and it goes well with TJ's dipper corn chips. I'd like to try the green chili chicken and the chicken mole as well. Maybe the birra, too.

Something very simple for the evening meal tonight: Almond cashew milk sweetened with one plump Medjool date. I don't have a clue about the staining shown in the image. The bottle was perfectly clean before adding the nut milk, and the milk doesn't show any discoloration in the drinking glass, nor does it have an off or odd taste <shrug> This was an experiment as I was running low on almonds and didn't want to open a fresh package. I had an opened bag of cashews left over from a recent chicken tikka masala dish, so I added them to the mix and ended up with a 2/3 - 1/3 mix of almonds and cashews. Soaked those puppies about 10 hours with one complete change of water, threw a quart of 34-degree filtered water into the blender, added that plump date and a three-finger pinch of Diamond Crystal. Whirred it around, filtered it, and crossed my fingers for the best. The result was quite good ... I had no expectations, just a hope that the mixture would work out, and it did. Going forward, considering the price of the almonds and the deal I can get on cashews, I may just make this blend more often. Not long ago, I found a local source for fresh, refrigerated coconut chunks, so almond-coconut milk will go into the rotation along with the more usual straight almond milk.

@JoNorvelleWalker Why is your floor sticky? Do you need extra traction? My sister sent me a pair of sticky socks for those "traction emergencies." Note the grabby traction dots:

In 1969 I spent time living and working in Chinook, and spent time in other towns along the high line, and had the opportunity to learn how to cook venison. If memory serves me, I posted about that experience here. Additionally, over the years I've had occasion to cook ground bison meat which I've always understood should be cooked in a fashion similar to venison. In any case, right or wrong, I've always cooked it low and slow and on the rare side. I was actually taught how to cook venison steaks and meat (nothing ground, though) and developed my bison cooking technique by reading about it and by trial and error. Your comment about "cursing all venison" suggests that venison includes more than just deer meat, and includes elk, antelope, and similar species. Is that correct? In any case, my original post about how to cook ground elk and goat was more directed to getting some recipe ideas rather than just how to cook an elk or goat burger. Somewhere in the dusty corners of my mind there's an echo of blueberry sauce being a nice complement to certain game meat. Suggestions?

I'm going to take issue with the point that milder olive oil is less flavorful. My friends at California's Bariani ranch make an early and late harvest oil, from the same olives. And while the late harvest is "milder," i.e., less bitter, it's still very flavorful. IMHO, the reduced bitterness and bite allows more of the olive flavor to shine through. At Francis Ford Coppola's vineyard, where some years ago he began growing olives, I encountered the same experience. Well grown olives from well tended trees still produce a very flavorful oil from late harvest, olives. I've had the same experience with Rancho Milagro's oil. I liken the experience to using late harvest grapes to make various wines. The old Mt. Veeder late harvest zin, for example, produced a symphony in the mouth while, by comparison, the earlier harvested zin came across like an orchestra tuning up: more intense (more noise) but the musicalty was missing. By diluting a good quality, late harvest olive oil, you may be missing out on the subtleties brought to the table by the aging process. YMMV (and seemingly it does). I tend to go for more subtle flavors rather than strong, hit-you-in-the-face intensity. Different strokes, different folks ... but I urge you to experiment with different late harvest oils. I think some people confuse flavor with intensity.

That burger certainly photographs well About the cashews, just yesterday it was suggested to me that for an even creamier/smoother result, soaking the cashews (preferably raw cashews) in hot/boiled water for about an hour would be helpful.

Haytaliyeh this morning: Not quie a failure and not quite a success. Let's call it a learning experience. I followed the recipe pretty closely: https://plantbasedfolk.com/haytaliyeh-vegan-lebanese-milk-pudding/ with the following exceptions. I made my own almond milk, something I've been doing for many, many years, and I used about half the total amount of sugar that the recipe calls for. The dish could have used a bit more sweetness. It would have been the better for it. However, for my taste and preferences, it was acceptable, but just barely. The biggest issue was the texture. The result was quite thick and lacked a certain lightness. Rubbery might be a good descriptor. You can probably see from the image how thick this pudding is. The recipe called for 100 grams of cornstarch mixed with an equal amount of water. My instincts told me that was too much. That feeling was based, at least in part, by a chocolate pudding recipe that I perfected over the years and in part by seeing just how much cornstarch 100 grams is. Watching how quickly the pudding mixture firmed up, and how "ploppy" it was, told me that this was going to be one heavy pudding. I was also concerned that the amount of rose water and orange blossom water would be a bit much, but it wasn't. That worked out well. And the aromas realy perfumed the apartment ... nice! So, next tme I'll adjust the sweetness and cut back on the thickening agent, perhaps using but half the amount. Any suggestions on that point? The dish needs work, but I feel it will eventually make a very nice dessert.

$30.00 for 9-lbs. Unfortunately, this is a cow's milk feta.

I should have said "feta packed in brine."

This might help you to better understand the situation at the Salt Lake City Costco. The largest Costco in Utah has aisles of two and five-pound blocks of cheese, cases of yogurt, two-packs of milk gallons, and every other kind of dairy product you can imagine ... in super large sizes. The store has three refrigerated coolers - each measuring 3,000 square feet. An interesting aside is that, hanging just outside the coolers, by the entrance, are warm jackets for the customers to use while shopping in these house-sized refrigerators. The freezer section in this Utah Costco is also vast and carries some products you won't find elsewhere, like whole lambs and pigs. Here are some lamb carcasses hanging in a freezer compartment. In the same room, but in other compartments, were goat and pig. This location is a combination of a regular Costco warehouse and a Costco Business Center. Local businesses shop here for products for their vending machines, restaurant equipment, and bulk items for restaurants. Customers come from great distances to fill their trailers and box trucks with supplies and food items. It's a bit of a special place. When I told them about this store, a couple of friends who live in Nevada started planning a trip to visit the place. These people have travelled the world, and continue to travel throughut the US and Canada. One of their great travel pleasures is to visit Costco and Whole Food stores whenever they can. Recently, I was told that Costco is planning to open an even bigger store in Fresno, Californai. If Fresno gives their approval, they can claim they have "Costco's world largest store" at 241,000 sq. ft. with 32 gas pumps & a car wash.

A friend who works at Peet's, knowing my propensity for African coffees, mentioned that this was a blend I'd enjoy. Well, it arrived a few hours ago, roasted the morning of Aug 5th. I'll have some as soon as the hopper on the grinder is empty ...

The feta was in the store's regular, refrigerated dairy section.

This was snapped at the world's largest Costco in Salt Lake City, Utah ...

... start cooking without being 100% absolutely positively sure that all the needed ingredients are at hand. Today I started on a recipe that called for rose water. I knew I had some as less than a month ago I saw it in the cupboard and moved the small bottle to be with other similar items ... almond extract, vanilla extract, lemon oil, and so on. I had to make almond milk for this recipe (an almond pudding). The almonds were prepped this morning and soaked for about twelve hours. A short while ago, I put the prepped almonds in the blender jar, added several dates (for sweetener), added the appropriate amount of very chilled water, and reached for the rose water. WTF, said I, and started digging into the cupboard. I moved every item on the shelves, pulling some of them out of the cupboard completely, used a small flashlight to search more thoroughly ... Nada! So I made the almond milk, put it in the fridge, cleaned and reorganized the kitchen, and set the rest of the necessary ingredients in the staging area for use tomorrow. First thing in the morning, it's back to the market where I was just two days ago buying the dates for this recipe. What a waste of time and energy.