Sunday, April 09, 2006

Trader Joe's Makeover

The cat is out of the bag. Novato, where I reside, has a new Trader Joe’s. This is not earth shaking news for most people. Here, it has created quite a stir. We have the standard name brand supermarkets and a cool seasonal farmers market. However, in the past serious gourmet food shopping required a long journey out of town. I wasn’t interested in letting the world know about our acquisition before now because I was afraid the place would be crazy. Trader Joe’s was smart enough to build large and staff heavy. Welcome to town, you’re doing a great job.

As I’ve written before, I have an addiction to T.V. food programs. In order to wean myself away, I started watching home improvement shows. Now I have another vice in home makeover shows. I decided on a makeover of my own, this time with food. On a trip to T.J’s I challenged my food stylist skills to a test. I picked out some common products and redesigned them. They say you eat with eyes first. I think many things in life are about presentation. Sometimes you have to change the way you look at things.

For breakfast I made honey yogurt with vanilla almond granola and berries. Add bento box to make it special.
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Here’s an easy change from plain to fancy sushi.

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All that fancy dishware didn’t break the bank. The bento box was purchased in S.F. Japantown for $1.50. Asian serving dish purchased at Ross for $2.99.

5 comments:

cookiecrumb said...

Fabulous!

Guy said...

They got creme fraiche over there in that one? Ours seems to come and go, mostly go.
Love the inexpensive natural broffs. If you're a fan of the canned tuna, their olive oil version of the albacore is mighty fine.
Ours is small, cramped and yet doesn't have enough room to get around through. Plus there's very little parking. I will only go 9am saturday morning. Oh, and great deals on the unfiltered apple juice for the chillins. It don't solve everything, but am glad to have them around.

Can I go home now?

Cate said...

So jealous! We have two of them twenty minutes away... close enough, but would like them a little closer, although that would be a dangerous thing!

Mona said...

That looks awesome. What is all the craze with Bento boxes? What are they exactly? I keep reading about them and love the look of the granola and oatmeal in them..is it just a fancy lunchbox/pail? Please help clueless Mona.
TJ's gettin' a makeover. Looks like it did a good job. Honey yogurt sounds so good. I wish I could eat that for breakfast every morning...

Anonymous said...

Fantastic, Greg!

Just great! I especially love the last phot with the sushi!

I've never seen a Trader Joe's much less been in one. We don't have that chain in Toronto ... yet. Whole Foods is still relatively new on the scene here, but I'm guessing in a few years we'll probably have a Trader Joe's in Toronto, or if not Toronto then Montreal or Vancouver.