I was also intrigued with that chip suggestion… have an unopened bag sitting on the counter.
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I started off well, only eating a few at a time. Then I ate an unfortunate amount… which, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed every second of. But I just can’t eat chips like that anymore…
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I meant to come back earlier to say how much dh loved the chocolate-covered figs! He ate two immediately and has cut back to one a day to make them last.
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Happy birthday to your husband! 
The only “miss” on our Thanksgiving table yesterday was the cranberry orange relish from TJ. Terribly bitter - nobody liked it.
The horseradish chive potato chips were a hit. We opened them on the way home from our Thanksgiving ski day.
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I love them so much, and am also glad they only have them for a short time LOL…
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Sorry if this has been mentioned before but yesterday I tried the the chocolate Brooklyn babka and it is so delicious!!!
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We like the TJ waxed amaryllis bulbs (not watering needed). We like to send to relatives at the holiday, along with some candy goodies. It’s kindof fun because a few weeks later they start sending us text messages with photos of the blooming plans. They are only $7.99, but this is probably the last year we’ll do it because shipping those little light boxes costs about $15 each.
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The “Nuts about Rosemary” holiday mixed nut mix is just delicious! Not cheap, but very yummy!
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We got them for TG. They’re good, but they were very salty.
Perhaps you would like to look into Pirate Ship. I use this for my small business and it saves quite a bit when compared to USPS, UPS, FedEx. You open an account, I have it tied to my paypal business account. You weigh, measure, put in the address and it will list a the price of shipping for the carriers I noted above. You choose which you want to use, print a label and ship with said carrier.
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Trader Joe’s spices question, with a bit of a backstory.
Story - I’m working at a new place, got here in mid-September. I found out a few weeks ago that they do a white elephant gift exchange. I couldn’t get anyone to tell me if it was a silly or serious thing, so I opted to go for getting something that people might like and use, but I don’t know these people well at all yet (and it was bigger than just my team, so people I don’t know period). I decided to go for food, because at least that’s not junk.
I put together a basket from TJ’s stuff - a few fun holiday things (peppermint hot chocolate, a smallish box of truffles, a fat candy cane and a hot chocolate spoon). Then I decided to add a few of the spices that you just don’t see most places - things I’d heard other people talk about, but which I, personally, never bought. I thought that might be a fun adventure splurgey kind of thing (yes, i’m boring if that’s an adventure…). I bought the Ranch seasoning blend, Chile Lime seasoning blend, Everything but the Bagel blend, and the Green Goddess seasoning blend.
Friends, when my gift got opened the person who got it was SO obviously disappointed. She said “spices, who would want spices?” and then proceeded to make fun of what a bad gift it was, and how she wished she’d stolen the scented oil diffuser she almost took instead. Then when every person after her went around the room to peak and see what people had to see if they wanted to steal, they all dismissed the TJs basket, even though she was clearly TRYING HARD to give it away. It made me feel so badly! It’s one thing if someone gets stuck with something that is funny and semi-useless (like the weird puzzle someone got), but this wasn’t supposed to suck as a gift but clearly no one liked it. Well, eventually someone stole the gift * I * had gotten when I picked one, so I went and took the TJs basket, figuring I wanted to try these things, now I will.
So. Long story already too long. I hadn’t bought these spices before because I didn’t know what to do with them. What do I do with them?
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I think that was a very thoughtful gift!
A couple of weeks ago H and I went to a white elephant exchange. I bought several of the red & green lunch-sized insulated bags that were so popular a while back, and used them for “wrapping” with a pretty bow. (Items inside were not from TJ’s.) They were some of the last to get picked. I guess not everyone has my Trader Joe’s obsession 
.
I love the Everything but the Bagel. Put it on avocado toast & eggs.
You might find this helpful: The Ultimate Guide to Trader Joe's Seasonings - Blogilates
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Wow, well that told you a lot about your colleagues! If I were you, that would tell me very clearly who I wouldn’t want to be friends with.
I love those spice blends! I used the ranch and the green goddess to make salad dressings. I think the recipes are on the jars. We’ve used TJ spice blends (don’t remember which ones) to sprinkle on salmon before broiling too.
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@OctoberKate I would’ve loved that gift! Love the Everything Bagel blend & I use it on a ton of stuff. I work with a lot of younger people and I don’t think many of them actually cook or make much homemade food. Maybe that was the issue? Still, most people know how to make hot chocolate & eat truffles and that was a nice part of the gift as well! So who knows. And I also would’ve taken back my own gift on the gift steal! 
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What an ungrateful bunch! Making fun of spices? Boo. Now you know… a $20 DoorDash card will be a hot ticket item next year.
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I would have LOVED your gift. Honestly, that behavior is terrible. At least fake it!
Tell us what spices you have and we can tell you how to use them.
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Thanks @aMacMom, @cinnamon1212, @Christyski, @BunsenBurner, and @abasket - you all made me feel better! It was a relatively young person who got the gift, like I’d be surprised if she were more than 25-28, so maybe that’s just not appealing to her? And to make a total gender stereotype, the group also had a decent number of men, maybe they just don’t cook? Anyway, I thought it was a good gift. The things that got stolen until they couldn’t be anymore were the bottle of wine, the bag that had lots of different chocolates, and the bag that had the diffuser and scented oils. I might just do wine next year, that’s easy and clearly popular.
Anyhoo, I just sprinkled some green goddess on my cottage cheese for lunch, and it was pretty good. I’ll check out the link for the guide to seasonings, that might give me some ideas. My college kid is home now and he loves fish and doesn’t get it at school, so we’re doing salmon later this week so sprinkling some there (at least on mine, so if it’s not good I’m only messing up mine) is a good idea too.
More than anything, you all made me feel better and not like a jerky gift giver, so thank you!
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The person who got the spices has apparently not bought any spices recently. I mean the price of eggs has nothing on spices.
It was a good gift. Boo on the ungrateful
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