Yay to the mini panettone. I bought one today and quickly demolished half of it. I’m going to have to go back and get a regular size one, even though I’m the only one here who likes it!
Nay to the frozen kimchi tofu soup. The flavor was okay but the large amount of black rice ruined the texture for me. Next up - the beef pho.
A big NAY to TJs for not stocking the Beemster Royaal Grand Cru gouda this season. They’ve previously had it in the fall, except this year TJ opted not to order it (they did this a few years ago as well). Per usual, when I asked TJ about it online, I just got a form reply saying that for various reasons, products are sometimes discontinued, blah, blah. I wrote to Beemster, and they assured me that the only reason TJ didn’t have it is that they didn’t contract for it this year. It’s a pity, because IMO it’s much better than the less consistent Old Amsterdam which they carry all year. I see that TJ has a new, vaguely similar cheese under its own label, named “KAAMTE Gouda Style Cheese”; Unfortunately its strongest similarity to the Royaal is that their names both contain a double “A”.
On the bright side, Beemster told me that Costco has placed an order for the Royaal, for this spring, and it may possibly show up in other outlets as well. They were also kind enough to ship me a sample wedge. 
I still miss Parrano, which I prefer to all of the others, but they haven’t stocked in years. (And, unrelated, D’Affinois.)
A big NAY to TJs for not stocking the Beemster Royaal Grand Cru gouda this season. They’ve previously had it in the fall, except this year TJ opted not to order it (they did this a few years ago as well). Per usual, when I asked TJ about it online, I just got a form reply saying that for various reasons, products are sometimes discontinued, blah, blah. I wrote to Beemster, and they assured me that the only reason TJ didn’t have it is that they didn’t contract for it this year. It’s a pity, because IMO it’s better than the less consistent Old Amsterdam which they carry all year. I see that they have a new Gouda in a vaguely similar style, called Kaamte; Unfortunately its strongest similarity to the Royaal is that the names both contain a double “A”.
On the bright side, Beemster told me that Costco has placed an order for it, for this spring, and it may possibly show up in other outlets as well. They were also kind enough to ship me a sample wedge.
i never had the beemster. how does it compare to the 1000 day gouda, which i love?
Personally, I like it much better. It’s only aged for a year, but it has a unique flavor – something to do with how the milk is cooked, IIRC. Definitely not a typical young Gouda. I should say that I’m not much of a fan of very-old Goudas in general.
100% agree. Weirdly chewy, not crispy, and NO ginger flavor at all.
I like Parrano as well (which BTW is simply a younger version of Robusto, another favorite). They’re both still available at Whole Foods, IIRC, but they’re not cheap. Beemster shows a couple of cheeses on their site which are described as “Italian Style, from Holland”, which are probably similar (Paradiso Reserve and Paradiso Vintage), but I’ve never seen them for sale anywhere.
All the cheese they carry is usually available elsewhere, at a higher price.
My WF doesn’t carry Parrano but another local store does, just a lot more expensive than TJs price. Ditto D‘Affinois (which WF does carry).
I just bought 8 packages of TJ’s puff pastry - all they had in stock. The only way it could be a bigger yay for me is if they sold it all year long.
Ugh! 50 lashes with a wet “needle” to me…apparently, I neglected to proofread and now is WAY past the edit window. Guess I had my knitting on the brain.
Hell yeah for the peanuts for chocolate ice cream. It like a chocolate fudge brownie with peanut butter.
I tried the KAaMTE Gouda style and it’s a MEH. On its own it’s not bad but was being served next to the 1000 day Gouda (yay) so tough competition
I was ready to go look for em.
To me, this seems wrong - I assume that other TJ customers would want to buy some puff pastry too.
It comes back in the spring.
In San Francisco I’ve only seen puff pastry in stock for November/December. I once used some that had been in my freezer for 3 years and it was fine, like new.
Oh that must be new. It used to come out just before Thanksgiving and ended when it was sold out. I could usually get it through early January.
They were expecting more and I needed it for an event.
I’ve been having trouble finding puff pastry in my local Safeway all year round. Lucky sometimes has it.
