@Midlife’s new book “The Zen of Trader Joe’s” available
soon on Amazon. 
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I saw your earlier post, but as a singleton, I can only eat so much bread. I’ll look for the multi-grain next time.
We used to have one in San Jose’s Japantown that had been open for decades, but the man running it finally had enough (making tofu by hand is physically exhausting) and retired.
I remember a flower store in Flushing that also sold hot soft tofu, which you could get topped with a sweet syrup. Wonder if it’s still there.
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Do you remember where or what it was called? There is a lot of turnover..
Grumpy but not surprised the horseradish potato chips are a yay. And a seasonal item. Grrr!
and a YAY for the honeycrisp unfiltered apple cider. My little one said it tastes like you are drinking an apple mommy. I agree
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Yep, still there.
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It’s relatively warm where I am right now, so the Patis bar went in the fridge and was pretty perfectly firm from there.
I found the Lindt bar (and most / all other versions I’ve tried, most of which are milk chocolate per the original) cloyingly sweet in both chocolate and filling, but ymmv.
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My family sampled the Double Chocolate Batard this morning: Solid NAY. My 13 year old son seemed to like it. The rest of us (including his older sister) rated it 4 or 5 out of 10.
We followed the package directions and crisped it in the oven. The crust did indeed get crispy and that was the best part of the whole thing. The inner crumb is dry and oddly cakelike, and although there are a lot of chocolate chips the chocolate flavor somehow doesn’t quite come to the fore. At best I’d rename it Single Chocolate Crumbly Bread. I didn’t go for a second slice. But now that I think about it, a bit of the pistachio paste might help…
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I don’t understand how misguided products like this make it to market.
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As Saregama said, it’s still around–yay! https://www.yelp.com/biz/soy-bean-chan-flower-shop-flushing
In my college days in Philadelphia, the local tofu pudding lady was the hidden gem. She worked out of a store front that maybe sat 6 people, but her fresh soft tofu was amazing. She sold sweet versions and savory versions. That was a weekly trip for me and my college roomie.
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Crispy Garlic: YEA for sure. Does exactly what it says on the tin: Tastes garlicy, adds some crispiness. Unlike the Crispy Jalapeno Pieces (older product, but another huge YEA), the garlic has no salt, for better or for worse. I like the saltiness of the jalapeno pieces, but a lot of fried onion type things tend to not have it for whatever reason, so I guess unsalted is stylistically correct for allium stuff..?
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NAY for boxed macaroni and cheese ala Kraft. This was awful tasting. Threw it out. Unless my tastebuds were out of whack I can’t imagine who buys this stuff.
Any recipe recs for the TJs shaved lamb? I like it a lot but it is hard to separate. I’ve been making untraditional miyeok guk with it but my kids are getting sick of that. I’ve also made cumin lamb with it.
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What about a lamb cheesesteak with caramelized onions, feta and tzatziki?
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I had that same issue with the shaved rib-eye — hard to separate in a pan. The best uses for me have been adding it to ramen or pho just before eating.
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I had really good luck using it in jajangmyeon. Actually going to make that again this coming week. Tried it in a stir fry and that was less successful; I didn’t love the texture. But I think I made the vegetables a bit too chunky and they kind of fought with the meat. Very finely sliced onion, bean sprouts, and other stuff like that, that will soften up, might work well here. I’m very curious to try it in gyudon or tanindon. I think if the sauce is made just a touch sweeter than usual it will taste really good.
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Yes, it’s very hard to make a bad jajangmyeon. Now, just one question… what is jajangmyeon? 
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