love/hate

I have a love hate relationship with Trader Joes. I love the concept of it, very good food with lots of organic options for cheap prices. Lots of great easy dinners if you are not a fan of cooking that do not cost an arm and a leg. I love that when I look at my receipt it is hard to find an item that is over $7.

I absolutely loathe going to Trader Joes in SF. There are too many annoying people there. It's always crowded, parking is heinous, and the checkout lines spill out into the aisles. People bring their annoying kids. People stand and take up the whole aisle crouched over with their big bags trying to compare ingredients of tomato sauce. People will shove other people aside to get the last tub of hummus. My favorite things apparently are the favorite things of everyone in the city because they always run out. Produce never lasts longer than a few days. Their bread is not yummy. Did I mention annoying children.

But there are some things I do love!!! I love their French Berry Lemonade. It is seriously my favorite non-alcoholic drink. I love that is almost a little too sweet so I only drink it in small amounts. I love their ricotta-stuffed chicken breasts. These are super easy to make and they taste soooo delicious. I like some of their pizzas. There is such a large wine selection and most of it is cheap and not entirely terrible. Everyone raves about their stuffed peppers but I've never had them. They never seem to be in stock. I also don't know where they are even located so maybe they are in stock but I just don't know it. The peanut butter pretzels are good and dangerous. Greg has spent many a night very upset with himself over eating the whole bag.

So I would go back to TJs for the above items, but definitely not during peak hours. I've learned my lesson. I went today at 12pm and it was surprisingly a somewhat pleasant experience. My chicken breast is baking in the oven and I can't wait to eat!!!