Trader Joe’s Wine “Big Day” from Pancake Cellars

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Pancake Cellars Big Day Wine

Pancake Cellars Big Day Wine

This wine moment is special because it is one of the few that that will feature a white wine. Yeah I still will post about white wines but they most likely will be overshadowed by the red wine posts.
This white wine came from Trader Joe’s of course and I believe it was $5.99. Big Day is a 2009 white from Pancake Cellars. Big Day is a blend of 5 different grapes: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc; Viognier, Muscat Canelli, and Pinot Blanc.

The first time I had this wine was for a graduation party, Kris’s folks were in town and I knew the liked white wine. As it was a “big day” I thought the name was fitting. Well, it is May again and I found that I was actually craving this wine. I am so glad that Trader Joe’s offers it because now that I have found it, I have new respect and curiosity to try more white wines.

In my assessment this wine is a “big” wine. This is the most complex white wine I have ever tasted. The label says you can serve it with “Thai green curry, turkey sandwiches, chicken apple sausages, or pesto anything.”

I would agree with the label and say it does goe with everything. In fact one night hot night we had a simple late night dinner with just apples and a smoked Gouda cheese (yes we got all of those for Trader Joe’s) and this wine was a very nice complement. Even though it is only May, this would be the perfect summer wine. It is light and fruity and refreshing on a hot summer night. Or even a warm May evening in Tucson, when it is already 90 during the day.

The label further describes this wine as featuring flavors “white peach, apple and cantaloupe, along with orange blossom, honeysuckle and lemongrass.” My pallet is not sophisticated enough to pick up all of those flavors but I would agree with the cantaloupe and honeysuckle as these are favorite flavors of mine.

So give this wine a try the next time you are looking for a great wine for a hot evening.

I hope you all enjoy this wine as much as I have…oops…did!

For more information about this wine, checkout my short video on the front of this blog, or click to view our wine videos and more on You Tube  HERE.

Trader Joe’s Coffee: Fair Trade Organic Bolivian Blend

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Trader Joe's Bolivian Blend Coffee & our French Press

Trader Joe's Bolivian Blend Coffee & our French Press

Are you looking to try a new coffee at Trader Joe’s? We are currently drinking a fantastic coffee that we have not tried before. Introducing: Trader Joe’s Fair Trade Organic Bolivian Blend

We have been enjoying this coffee for about a month now, and we still like it!

This is unfortunately not always the case. Many times we will enjoy a sample cup of coffee at Trader Joe’s, and then enjoy the coffee for a few days, but then… blah! The coffee just sorta tastes funny and we eventually wind up bringing it into the office for everyone to try there. We admit  that our tastes favor tea  over coffee and that we are tea drinkers the majority of the time,  so the fact that we sometimes “go off” coffee should be noted.

We should also note that this is a “Medium Dark Roasted” Coffee. We seem to gravitate towards the medium and lighter roasted coffees.  We feel like many times Dark Roasted coffee tastes a bit “burned” – OK we know it is not burned, but they can be soo dark that it seems that way when you are drinking it. Maybe it is like eating a steak? We prefer a steak cooked rare or medium rare instead of well done and like to drink our coffee the same way.

Having said all that, we are enjoying this Trader Joe’s Bolivian Blend a lot. We make it in our French press coffee maker and serve it up both warm and cold.

We are enjoying making a sorta/ mock  Trader Joe’s Latte by heating up some milk in a pan on the stove and whisking up some foam to top our coffee. While not the stuff you get in those fancy coffee bars, we are enjoying the fun of making the “foamy” part.

We are even experimenting to jazz up our coffee drinks with some new (coffee bar style) flavors such as adding vanilla to the milk or sprinkling some  cinnamon and sugar on top.  Trader Joe’s has some chocolate syrup that we also want to try so that we can make a Trader Joe’s Mocha! (look out whipped cream!!)

What is your favorite kind of coffee at Trader Joe’s?

Trader Joe’s Fantastic Coffee Selection

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Coffee Selection at Trader Joe's

Coffee Selection at our Trader Joe's in Tucson

Well, as you know from reading this blog, we love to drop by Trader Joe’s for a coffee. Yes, you are right we are talking about the sample coffee that is always available when you shop, not a Trader Joe’s Specialty Coffee Shop (although we would just love that second  option).

Those cute little cups of coffee are soo good. We usually head to the samples first, and fix a cup so that by the time we are shopping in the wine department, the little cup of coffee will be cool enough to finish. Hey- no point in trying to check out of the store with a hot shot of coffee in a paper cup, right?

So thanks to these samples, we have tried all kinds of coffee. We love the sample system as it gives us the confidence that we will love the coffee when we get home as we have tried it first in the store. (Also, as we have said, Trader Joe’s will give a refund of an item that you do not like- simply return with the receipt.) Also thanks to the samples we know which coffees to buy. Our Trader Joe’s store has a lot of coffee to choose from, and sometimes it is hard to make a decision about which one to try.

Right now we are enjoying a coffee that we have not previously tried: Trader Joe’s Fair Trade Organic Bolivian Blend. It is a medium dark roast coffee which is perfect for us, who do not enjoy those darker roasted beans.

What are your favorite kinds of coffee at Trader Joe’s??

Brunch Ideas From Trader Joe’s

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More great breakfast ideas from Trader Joe’s website (Click here to view) If you have not visited the Trader Joe’s website in a while, take a quick trip there now, you will like what you see!

A few days ago, we were paging through the online Trader Joe’s Frequent Flyer catalog, and saw some new ideas in the recipe area. Many looked like they would not only be easy but tasty made with the good stuff from Trader Joe’s.

OK they all looked fabulous but the one that really stood out for us was the Blueberry Waffle Bling. This was most likely due to the fact we LOVE blueberries and “cream” (such as whipped cream or creamy yogurt or even sour cream). There is a recipe (PDF) that you can download, print and take shopping with you at Trader Joe’s- How convenient!

Note: This PDF did take quite a while to load so be prepared for a small wait. This could be due to the fact we had a LOT of stuff open on the computer, but we wanted to let you all know.

Anyway the clever folks at Trader Joe’s started with two Trader Joe’s Toaster Waffles and then jazzed them up with a great sounding filling of:  cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and some fresh or frozen blueberries. From the look of the photo, they used the frozen blueberries which would have a nice, blue sauce to drip or drizzle on the waffles.

What you need (4 servings):

  • 1 package Trader Joe’s Frozen Waffles
  • 1 package Trader Joe’s Cream Cheese
  • 1 package Trader Joe’s Blueberries (we like the frozen mixed berries)
  • 2 TBS. Trader Joe’s Sugar
  • 1 tsp. Trader Joe’s Vanilla

How to:

1. Mix up the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a bowl or even in the food processor. You can soften up the cream cheese by zapping it in the microwave for 10 seconds, then waiting 30 seconds and repeating a couple more times until the cream cheese is slightly soft. You don’t want it to melt. After mixing in the sugar and the vanilla, taste to see if you like how it tastes, as you may want to add more sugar or vanilla. Set aside. You could make this mixture a few days before-so that you have this part ready ahead of time.

2. Toast the waffles according to package directions. When hot, spread the cream cheese on one waffle; add some blueberries and then top with another waffle, more cream cheese and more fruit. You can serve this with some Trader Joe’s real maple syrup if you like.

3. Enjoy!

Variations:

  • Use other fruit such as Strawberries or Mango chunks.
  • Add some lemon peel to the cream cheese mixture.
  • Add Maple syrup to the cream cheese mixture- Taste to see if you need/want to add the sugar as well.

This looks so fabulous on the web page, we are defiantly going to try this recipe soon.

Have you tried it before? What did you think?