When I lived in the Northeast, I had the good fortune that my
favorite specialty food store, Trader Joe's, had two locations within five miles of my home. When I moved to Florida, however, I was disappointed to learn that the closest Trader Joe's store was 50 miles away in Sarasota. Ugh!
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I decided to pack a cooler and
set off by car for Sarasota with a long shopping list. Here it was, a Wednesday afternoon, and when
I arrived at Trader Joe's, I was shocked there wasn't a parking spot to be
found in the lot. You'd think they were giving the food away! I circled and
circled, until lo and behold, ta-da...a space finally opened up for me.
It was good to be back, pushing a cart up and down the narrow
aisles of TJ's. I stocked up some of my favorites (including bacon-wrapped
scallops), learned they were sold out of pumpkin butter (drats!), tasted
food samples (dee-lish!) and also purchased a lot of specialty items geared for
the holiday season.
My favorite find from this trip was Trader Joe's Pumpkin Cranberry Scone mix. I whipped up a trial batch for a gathering this past weekend. Folks
there admitted that they were not "crazy about" pumpkin, but they
gobbled these up. They were a cinch to make: add an egg, melted butter and milk
to the mix and drop by heaping spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Yes, that easy. After
baking at 375 for about 15 minutes, viola! They were the hit of the day, and I am definitely making another batch of these for Thanksgiving.
Visiting the Trader Joe's in Sarasota was certainly worth the
trip. And I'm pleased to report that two new Trader Joe's locations are in the
works for South Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida for 2014! So much closer...Hooray!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
