I Have a Happy Tummy

I love food. I love trying new food. A few years ago I was introduced to Trader Joe's on a trip to Washington state. On every trip out of state since then I have looked online to see if there will be a Trader Joe's anywhere near where I'm visiting and I make a point of stopping there to restock my pantry with my favorites: the Pound Plus bars of chocolate, the Powerberries, and our family favorite sauces Thai Yellow Curry Sauce and the Masala Simmer Sauce. In fact, I have a small case of Thai Yellow Curry Sauce in my food storage.

What is Trader Joe's, you ask? It's a chain of small import grocery stores that seems to focus on fresh, often organic and/or free trade type items. They always have a corner devoted to fresh flowers and a unique selection of produce, frozen foods, drinks, dairy, and prepared foods. The prices are reasonable and I have pretty much loved everything I have tried there. Trader Joe's finally opened a retail location in downtown Salt Lake last November. I thought perhaps they wouldn't ever come because liquor sales seem to comprise a main core of their offerings and the state of Utah restricts any alcohol sales besides beer to small, dark unobtrusively-signed locations.

Last Friday my mother, sister Heather, and I made a pilgrimage to our Salt Lake Trader Joe's. HEAVEN! It seemed that everyone else was making the same pilgrimage we were. The store, which was a much larger location than any I have been in, was crowded with people in every aisle. Nobody seemed annoyed because I think most of us there were just wandering the aisles to see what we could see. I bought a couple of my favorite items there, but filled my cart (the basket on my arm quickly proved inadequate) with intriguing new things: frozen Trader Ming's orange chicken; frozen BBQ teriyaki chicken; six-packs of Trader Joe's label yogurts; and a bottle of Thai Red Curry sauce, among other things.

We've tried a few of the new treatss now, and I can't wait to go get them again. We had the orange chicken and the BBQ teriyaki chicken on Sunday. My taste buds were singing -- and it had nothing to do with it being Fast Sunday and that I was finally getting to eat. We've tried a couple of frozen varieties of orange chicken elsewhere and I hated them all. They had a chemical aftertaste and a too-sweet initial taste. Trader Ming's version has a tangy fresh orange flavor and the BBQ teriyaki chicken was so tender it was falling apart on my fork. Easy preparation was a sweet bonus. And the yogurt? Amazing. Each of them is a [insert fruit variety here]-and-cream flavor: mango, banana, strawberry, or peach. They're smooth. No fruity lumps, which is important in my family. They're flavorful too.

And the little yogurt cups look like they'd be perfect for starting seeds for my garden.

I've decided I must have a monthly pilgrimage to Salt Lake for my Trader Joe's hit.

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My lovely sister-in-law from Washington, Carolyn, called me unexpectedly yesterday to say she was in town for a bit. I changed my plans for the day and we went to lunch with her daughter-in-law Rebecca and granddaughter Maddie (who is my birthday twin -- she was born on my birthday...just a few years later!). We decided to try the Black Sheep Cafe in Provo. It's supposed to be a gourmet Navajo/Southwestern fusion-type restaurant. We arrived in the middle of the lunch rush, but were seated right away. The menu is intriguing, with items I hadn't heard of before. Carolyn and I decided to try the cactus pear lemonade to drink. I was a little worried. It's bright pink and definitely has a lemonade flavor with a unique "something else" that must be the cactus pear juice. Personally, I prefer a tart, tangy lemonade. This one is pleasant, but very sweet. Rebecca and I decided to try the Taco Trio plate, which is a serving of each of their famous Navajo Tacos: Pinto Bean, Red Chile, and Green Chile. Carolyn got the Posole, which is a soup, and Rebecca just ordered fries for Maddie. We also ordered an appetizer to try, four little blue corn flour tortillas with pork, pickled jicama, and sprinkled with cotija, which is a cheese kind of like parmesan. They were delicious.

But then we waited. And waited. Other people came in to eat. Other people got their food. And we waited. When we had been there for an hour after arriving (and having long since devoured our appetizer), we caught a different waiter than the one serving our table and asked him to check with our waitress when our food would arrive. Our waitress came to explain that since we had ordered an appetizer, that had delayed the start of our food and that it would arrive shortly. Really? There had to be very little time/effort involved in preparing our appetizer since it was mostly an assembly job with ingredients already prepared. The Navajo tacos should have taken no time either in prep, other than frying the fry bread. Carolyn's soup should have already been mostly assembled or made. It was an hour and ten minutes before our food finally came to our table. Maddie's french fries didn't come for another five minutes after that! I ended up having only twenty minutes to scarf down my food before I had to head home to teach piano lessons. So while the food had amazing flavor and I would love to eat there again, I would seriously hesitate about the time commitment involved if this is their usual standard of service.

The prices are mid-scale -- $6 - $13 for lunch menu items and $10 - $20 for dinner. We were surprised on our bill to see the price of our Taco Trios carried the dinnertime price of $17. Our waitress failed to mention that dinnertime prices applied to dinner menu items served at lunch. Also, I thought the prices were listed rather cryptically on the menu. There are whole numbers to the side of each menu item which I thought menu just an item number rather than the price of the food. Lesson learned.