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Something EVERY store should copy from Trader Joe’s is their free sample of the day. I can’t tell you how many foods I never would have tried, or even noticed, if I didn’t greedily pass by the freebies, try one and then buy the whole shebang.

This is how I tried Trader Joe’s Ultimate Berry Pie. Otherwise, why take a chance?

Nice, but I think I could have used one more. (Not that I actually ate these - these are fantasy cakes.)

I’m not a pie person. I think it’s the crust – shortening tastes terrible in it, or is it baking soda or powder? I don’t stay around long enough to find out, but unless a crust is made from butter or cookies or graham cracker, I just leave it on the plate.

But here was the Trader Joe’s sample, with a lot of whipped cream on top, and who doesn’t need more fruit, right?, so I tried it. I’m always looking for something a little more healthy that also tastes good and sweet. Good!

The crust is not too hard, and nicely crumbly — I would have liked more of it. (Although  I think this is more of a tart than a pie.) Fruit is right: it has raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries and cherries, in that order. I had second thoughts in the store when I saw the cherries, because I like cherry flavored lollipops or cough drops, but not real cherries! But you know, it tasted more like blackberries and brown sugar, with a lot of natural juices to wash it down, so I ignored the cherry part.

Is this a local pie? I couldn’t find any other reviews of it. I recommend it, but I didn’t finish the pie. It turns out whipped cream was the “cherry on top” in the store for me, and I ran out of whipped cream!

cartoon of chocolate kitty litter

For some reason, cat cartoons are very popular. The smell of kitty litter really isn’t. But the smell of chocolate is, so it all works out in the end.

I remember feeling so pleased when I thought of this cartoon for my chocolate book! This cartoon is also very New Yorker Style. These women live in Manhattan, probably. I want her purse.

Cats are very hard to color or put wash on, btw. With a black cat or darker color, all the details of the whiskers, eyes, etc can get lost, but these somehow survived.

Woman tells friend: Oh my, it smells wonderful in here, Iris. Chocolate scented kitty litter?

PS, When I wrote this cartoon, it seemed funny enough at the time. (The smell of chocolate beating the smell of cat litter works for me!)  But looking around, I just discovered that there is an actual  kitty litter cake. Ugh! Here’s another Kitty Litter Cake. And they have closeups, along with every detail there!

Weird. Who wants to spend all that time assembling such an ugly idea, anyway?

Cat lovers are crazy.

I think you know my answer: both.

Actually, the real name on this box of chocolate-covered pretzels is “little brown pretzels covered in milk chocolate” without even the Bloomie’s name attached! All in their famous lower-case “little brown bag” font – (part Bauhaus font, they claim.)

Bloomingdale’s Chocolate-covered Pretzels are sold only at Christmas. Which means I buy them only at the half-off Christmas sale the day after, along with their chocolate-covered potato chips and other goodies.

These Bloomingdales pretzels are a different bakery than ones they’ve sold in the other years, (even though the shop-keeper told me they were the same), and rather disappointing. They come in a long tan box, about the right size if you still buy long women’s gloves (!) and even though they’re called little brown pretzels, they are medium sized, flattish rather than round, and are packaged 2 to a cellophane bag, with only 10 bags in the box. Kind of chintzy!

But the real problem is not enough salt on the pretzels; this negates the whole concept, since the burst of satisfaction comes from the  mixing of the sweet chocolate and salty pretzel. There’s no snap here. In addition, the chocolate is just middle of the road, certainly not luxury chocolate. Bloomie’s, I think we both missed out.

I finished them, but unhappy.

Am I a philistine, that I’ve never watched a cooking show on TV? I just don’t see the point, just to make my mouth water, and for what?

The butterscotch cake is a sore point with me. Over 10 years ago I saw the cake mix in the 99 cents store (there’s that store again), tried it, and it was unbelievably good. I made it for someone as a birthday cake, and everyone raved. (With chocolate ganache frosting. OMG.)  I can’t remember if it was Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, but I think it was DH.

BUT, then of course, the death knoll of the 99 cents store, they discontinued it. Could not find it anywhere. Had my friends casing 99 cents stores in different parts of the city, yes.

So, sad. And it makes perfect sense that this TV chef is so passive-aggressive that he won’t give the recipe out today, or maybe not ever!

Cartoon caption: We’re out of time again, so I’ll give you my recipe for Worlds Best Butterscotch Cake next week. Maybe.