I am always disappointed that Trader Joe’s does not let you actually trade for items. It seems to be a great deception in regards to their name, just like Dress Barn isn’t really housed in a Barn and Burlington Coat Factory isn’t an actual factory.

It would be rather exciting to walk into Trader Joe’s and bargain with the cashier. “I will give you this never-used souvenir coffee mug from San Francisco for two boxes of blueberry oatmeal. What do you say?” What do you think I’d have to exchange for the huge pumpkin pictured above that was in the lobby of the Ann Arbor store?

ADVERTISEMENT

Can Carolyn lose 100 lbs. in a year? Find out at 1940sExperiment.com, where one woman is living one year on wartime rations to lose 100 lbs.

• Continue reading "Bartering at Trader Joe’s"

Woah, did you know pumpkins could grow warts?

I walked into the Fresh Market yesterday and saw a pile of these ugly creatures in the corner past the sliding doors. I thought they must be the victims of a pernicious pumpkin disease, but according to this site they bred these knucklehead pumpkins on purpose. “In fact, it has taken over 10 generations of breeding to obtain the size and consistency of warting for these varieties.”

Now, I LOVE pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin bread and canned pumpkin mixed with instant pudding mix. Pumpkin is my favorite squash. I love that it’s pumpkin season again. These pumpkins are probably just as tasty as their clear-skinned cousins. So, I know it’s looks-ist of me, but I want to take a knife or a bottle of liquid nitrogen and freeze the warts off that orange skin. It looks so gross.

But to each her own. I suppose someone must think these pumpkins look cool if they spent 10 years of their time on it. I won’t be buying any, [...]

• Continue reading "Pumpkin warts"

God help me, but I learned something from Martha Stewart.

I don’t have anything against Martha Stewart, but I’ve never vibed with her either. She cooks quail eggs. What could I possibly have in common with someone who cooks quail eggs? But when I was out sick I watched daytime television. I don’t have cable, so I have about nine stations, six of them without static. After three cycles through the channels, I watched the last ten minutes of Martha as she made a pumpkin bunt cake. She scooped the pumpkin into her state-of-the-art mixer which probably costs more than my laptop. Simply owning that mixer would probably transform me into the type of person who cooks quail eggs. As she dumped pumpkin into the mixing bowl, she mentioned that if you are using homemade pumpkin puree, be sure to drain it using a cheesecloth because it retains a lot of water. Otherwise your cake will get really soupy.

That same week my mother came over and showed me how to chop, boil and puree a pumpkin. [...]

• Continue reading "Pumpkin Paradise"

As I was shivering in my short-sleeved hoodie and tank top after the Ani DiFranco concert last week, it occurred to me, “Hey, the seasons are changing, you dumbass. Next time bring a sweatshirt!” My approach to choosing my clothes is to assume that today will be the same temperature as yesterday, which makes no sense because if that were true there would be no seasons. I must think I live on the equator.

The changing seasons mean a lot for my weight loss. I’m going to have to buy a whole new winter wardrobe, again, for the third year in a row. Yeah, this is the part where I send out engraved invitations to my pity party and no one RSVP’s. “Ooooh, that’s so horrible, PastaQueen. You’re so small you have to buy new sweaters. We feel so, so, terrible for you.” I know, it’s a good problem to have, but it’s still a problem. I still mourn the loss of my fuzzy brown extra large sweater. It was so soft and flattering of my [...]

• Continue reading "Seasons of weight loss"