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I don’t know if Trader Joe’s truly understands their market. For instance, their Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Souffles. Wha? How many of the youngun’s even know what a souffle is!?

The problem with souffles

You have to cook them. Not on a cookie sheet, in muffin tins. First off, I couldn’t find my muffin tins, even though I have 2. (Neither of them  is Teflon, which, btw, is lethal for birds, so what is it doing to humans?) So I just put them on a cookie tin and they collapsed all over the place! Ug-ly. And it tasted like pumpkin pudding, not very good; I ended up throwing them out. But I had bought 2 boxes, because they were like .89 on sale! So I tried it again, this time in the muffin tin.

chocolate coffin with dead chocolates from zuzafun.com

No, I just didn’t like the texture. It felt weird in my mouth. That’s the other thing about souffles: most people rarely eat them, so it’s hard to know what to expect! Unfortunate, for me, because pumpkin is my favorite flavor next to chocolate.

I just recently discovered this blog about Trader Joe’s, and they also reviewed these pumpkin souffles. The writer had to look up the word souffle in the dictionary! Continue reading

Of course the ice cream store with 42 flavors is based on Baskin-Robbins, with their 31 flavors. (Less, if you are unfortunate enough to live near a smaller store, where they don’t have as many bins or selections. ) Honestly, I sometimes pick restaurants based on whether they have a big menu. Choices are important when it comes to desserts!

I never heard of Baskin-Robbins until I went to college in a small town, and they had one there. My local friends were ga-ga over it, and I vividly remember the first flavors I tried: pumpkin pie, and chocolate chip, still favorites! They’re owned by Dunkin Donuts now, I think. Bad move, because the Baskin-Robbins near me, (which was the headquarters Baskin-Robbins for the whole country, in Burbank!) is now owned by a surly unfriendly guy, and I haven’t gone back in over a year…

I just felt in a bird mood today (many days, actually), so this cartoon jumped out at me. When I lived in a more urban area I often saw birds pecking at abandoned ice cream cones. Or, at least a few times. Pigeons (rock doves are the real name) will eat almost anything. These aren’t pigeons in the cartoon, they’re sparrows, cuter.

About this title: not that chocolate is evil, of course! But it’s certainly darker than vanilla… Okay, this is really taken from a quote from the Bible: Habakkuk 1:13.

Cartoon caption: 2 birds say, Why do we always end up with vanilla? Where is the justice here?”

Klondike ChocoTacos, come here, baby. Or as they call it on the box, ChocoTaco, as if there’s just one inside. Or as if they’re foreigners, forgetting the difference between single and plural? In any case, there are 4 chocolate tacos inside, each one wrapped separately.

I don’t like real life live tacos, as I can’t stand the smell of cooked corn, and don’t like bold spices, but these ice cream treats…are a favorite of mine!

These are medium to large sized rolled chocolate cones with ice cream filling and a tasty topping,  not so big that you can’t finish it, but it fills that gnawing in your stomach nicely. The chocolate sugar “taco”  waffle crust or wrapping, is firm, but tender, not crunchy, which I really like. (Sometimes the cones for ice cream cones isn’t very good, as if it doesn’t matter, and I’m looking at you, Drumsticks.) Good amount of chocolate thread mixed with the vanilla in the ice cream itself, nice texture. It’s overshadowed with the milk chocolate topping, but you won’t mind. There are small bits of peanuts in the coating, but it’s more of a texture than a taste. Good.

Try them, you’ll like them.

Gigi Reviews gives them a thumbs down. She likes them (the waffle crust) harder, I guess. On Second Scoop agrees with her! Good thing I never listen to other people.

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Depends on their mood, I think. I’ve bought Whole Foods‘ Chocolate Cream Pie a couple of times, but the crust could be better. In fact, all pies would be better if they made them with butter instead of lard or shortening (this is a Barstow fact). Crusts made from graham crackers or cookies are also yummy, and not just for home ec, people! (This pie is made in house, in the Whole Foods Bakery, so it’s not like they don’t have a choice.)

life isn't just food! I collect chocolate things, and bought this chocolate pencil at one of the first chocolate fairs in Los Angeles. It says it is chocolate scented, and it was, a little bit, at the time!

Up until a few years ago, every store-bought pie had a crust made with shortening, of course. So I ate pumpkin pie or cream pie without the crust, in silent protest. For the last few years bakeries use a butter crust from time to time, and so pies have become more appealing to me!

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