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Trader Joe’s Tuesday: Dark Chocolate Nutty Bits
Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Nutty Bits Tastes Like: Part granola bar, part chocolate dessert treat. Great With: Nobody. Don’t share these. Eat them alone in a dark corner where no one can witness your shame. Perfect For: Those times when you “feel like a nut.” Or for sneaking into ComicCon and eating in the back…
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Trader Joe’s Tuesday: Rice Pudding
Trader Joe’s Rice Pudding Tastes Like: Not too sweet, not too liquid, pleasantly chunky and delicious rice pudding! Great With: Lychees on top, a side of ice cream, and some English muffin to dip in it. Perfect For: Dessert that fools you into thinking it’s healthier than it actually is? Must Know: Labelled “gluten free”…
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Trader Joe's Tuesday: Dried Flattened Banana
Trader Joe’s Dried Flattened Banana Tastes Like: Banana-bread-flavored Fruit Roll Ups. Great With: a pinch of salt and a dash of cinnamon makes these puppies REALLY sing, but they’re great on their own too! Perfect For: an unexpected addition to a sandwich, vegan fruity “lox” on a bagel, sushi or dessert sushi Must Know: can…
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Trader Joe's Tuesday: Crispy Crunchy Jackfruit Chips
Trader Joe’s Crispy Crunchy Jackfruit Chips Tastes Like: Very thick banana-and-passion-fruit-flavored Fritos. Great With: I have to be honest, my boyfriend and I tried dipping these in almost everything in my fridge. These are totally the loner of the dried fruit aisle: I had a hard time finding complements for them! Even Greek Yogurt did…
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Time Enough For Love
There are some Heinlein books that are speedy, breezy adventures. Others will take over your life, seep into your soul, refuse to let go, wrong you out like a sponge and then sop you full of brilliance. Time Enough for Love may be the epitome of such a novel. Confession: I think I went about…
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Trader Joe's Tuesday: Apple Carrot Crushers
Trader Joe’s Apple Carrot Crushers Tastes Like: Pumpkin spice applesauce. Sweet and slightly savory, with a definite “vegetable healthy yum” undertone! Great With: Greek yogurt…or just by itself as a snack alongside some Chai tea or gluten-free ginger snaps! Perfect For: A midnight snack, or really, snack on the go. throw in a locker or purse…
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Have Space Suit – Will Travel
Robert A. Heinlein has two modes: one is for long, drawn out emotional epics that will never leave you filled with characters who feel as close as family. But never forget that he also writes fast, fun stories like Have Space Suit -Will Travel. Meet Kip Russel, starry eyed – or should I say, MOONy…
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Trader Joe’s Tuesday: Tea Tree Oil
Trader Joe’s Tea Tree Oil Tastes Like: Not for eating! This is a beauty product! I will tell you that it smells minty fresh and feels like tingles. Great With: I know it says not to, but I use this occasionally as a toner when I feel like my skin could use it. I know,…
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Flashforward
Last week, I spoke about my disappointment with Jurassic Park, and how I felt the movie was better. In a dramatic turn of events, this week I review the novel Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer, which was the inspiration for a one-season TV drama on ABC several years ago. SPOILER ALERT: THIS BOOK IS BETTER!…
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Trader Joe’s Tuesday: Fruit Wraps
Trader Joe’s Fruit Wraps Tastes Like: Extra-thick fruit roll-ups. Or very gummy fruit leather. The texture is odd, but not displeasing. Great With: your evening glass of cranberry juice…or anything else, really. Perfect For: Children? A quick nosh? A sweet exit to a healthy lunch? Must Know: They are “organic,” for what it’s worth! Costs: …
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Jurassic Park
I picked up Jurassic Park in the beginning of the summer, expecting it to be a fast-paced, quick summer read. Your typical “beach/airplane” book. I carried it with me all over town and perhaps the most amusing anecdote I can tell you is that when I was reading it in Chelsea Market, a guy who…
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Trader Joe’s Tuesday: Pure Organic Bars
Pure Organic Cherry Cashew & Chocolate Brownie Bars Tastes Like: Rich, sticky, gooey delicious dessert that’s actually good for you! The cherry cashew flavour tastes like gnawable, portable pie filling. and the brownie – do I even need to say it? Okay, imagine Little Debbie walnut brownies, but denser and richer. Now make them a…
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Trader Joe’s Tuesday: Apple-Banana & Apple-Mango Bars
Trader Joe’s Apple-Banana & Apple-Mango Bars Tastes Like: well, first, we’d be remiss if we didn’t say what these things look like: slabs of semi-digested food. Or bird-feeder fodder. Or some kind of fruit jerky? But if you close your eyes, and try not to think about it, they’re delicious! The Apple-Mango tastes like a…
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Job: A Comedy of Justice
My first Heinlein novel may still be my favourite. It’s called Job: A Comedy of Justice but it could just as easily be called Alec and Margrethe: A Romance of Love because this book is dripping – dripping – in adorable little scenes like THIS: AWWWWWWW! (it earns bonus points for awesome because that penultimate…
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Trader Joe’s Tuesday: Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Trader Joe’s Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup Tastes Like: Spaghetti-O’s without the noodles. Boom. Light and sweet, tangy tomatoey flavor. Great With: Rice cakes on the side, or dipped in. Small broccoli florets tossed on top. And maybe just the TINIEST garnish of cheese. Perfect For: Quick and filling (yes!) snack on a…
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Stranger in a Strange Land
Once you grok this book, you won’t be able to put it down. Stranger in a Strange Land, my most recent Heinlein conquest, tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, “Mike” to his friends, a human being born on Mars. Raised by Martians, Mike returns to Earth to grok our strange Earthling ways and teach…
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Trader Joe’s Tuesday: Dilettante Fruit Medley
Dilettante Fruit Medley Tastes Like: Moist fruit chunks ensconced in a thick layer of chocolate with a sweet layer of white chocolate on the outside. Dense and chewy and lush and tangy. Great With: Coffee in the morning, tea at night, more and more of these. Chocolate addicts, pay heed! Trail mix lovers, delight! These…
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Trader Joe's Tuesday: Nonfat Greek Yogurt
Trader Joe’s Nonfat Greek Yogurt Tastes Like: Fage – tastes just like Fage but at a fraction of the price. Thick, rich, ever-so-slightly bitter in that perfect Greek yogurt way. Great With: A dash of raisins stirred in. Or some wacky flavoured jam! Or scooped out like dip for navel orange wedges or Granny Smith…
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The Colossus of New York
Once you read Colson Whitehead’s Colossus of New York, you’ll never look at the city again. His keen observations in short snippets are the perfect bon mot to pepper your conversations with annoy your friends with. “Colson Whitehead says “…you are a New Yorker the minute you say, ‘That used to be Munsey’s, or That…
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One Hundred Demons
Fear not! One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry is not entirely scary! It is sweet, insightful, revealing…and because of that, it is completely terrifying. Lynda Barry’s demons take the form of all of our fears and hopes gone awry. I don’t want to spoil a single moment of this beautiful memoir-esque collection of tales, but…