Libation Lollygagging: Tropical Lemon Drop

- Lemonade pic from F&E. Kai Lychee Vodka pic by Jo McGarry

I picked up a bottle of F&E Organic Mango Lemonade from the bargain bin with a day left on its shelf life. Even that, it was still very tasty.

Verdict: Heavenly

Always thinking about what I can bring to a party over here, so I pondered what I can mix this lemonade with. Suddenly, a brilliant thought occurred to me to do something with my newest alcoholic obsession, Kai Lychee Vodka! (Unfortunately, not available at F&E but at BevMo, in the premium vodka case.)

Welcome to the first F&E inspired bar menu.

Tropical Lemon Drop

In a shaker with ice, mix 3 (or 4 to taste) parts of F&E Organic Mango Lemonade with one part Kai Lychee Vodka. Shake well.

Enjoy tropical party in your mouth!

The Horror...

The clutters.

THE. CLUTTERS!

A follow up from last post about the change I noticed in my F&E store: taller shelves, more brand names, more family sized items.

Front of the store is packed full of stuff. The bins are back in the middle of the produce aisle. To the greatest of my horror?

Wire basket displays in the middle of the last open space left in the store, between the toiletries and medicines along the wall and the rest of the shelves.

Even Brandon, who actually would gladly run into an F&E for me (and not the other places) because he LOVES the uncluttered spaces and self check-out, uttered, "What the...?"

Out of the respect of the store's request not to take photos, I didn't take any. I was too horrified.

We did walk out with more than what we went in for, as always. But the cluttered shop weighs heavily on our minds.

The self check-out really is the last thing left of the store I worship?

(Well, that and Belgian Chocolate Mousse.)

I tried to justify with the fact that UK items are coming to the store, that more wine selection are coming to the store...oooh, and they have turbinado sugar now...

But is that enough?

My faith is being tested.

You might still be fresh, my dearest store. But you ain't makin' it easy for me.

Verdict: Sale Item Displays Out In the Middle of Aisles: Hell.

Ch-ch-ch-Change

Friends, I have braces.

Yep. This will surely affect the way I eat and therefore what I will cook and what I will buy stuff. Now that I can't do anything crunchy, (Bye, kettle chips!) chewy (bye, trail mixes!), or super meaty (bye rib eye steak...sniffle...sniffle...).

Aside: Well, I can still have meat if I cook the hell out of it in a braise. And in burger form. And in not-too-crispy bacon. Oh...but the crispy bacon!! *sigh*

Since I had the separators in to clear the way for the braces almost a month ago, I pretty much stopped cooking and haven't really gone to buy any groceries. Yesterday's trip was first major restocking in over a month.

Naturally, we went there before dinner and went a little bit crazy and walked out with $100+ worth. 3 canvas bags full of stuff.

We are trying a few new-to-us things from F&E which I will eventually report on: shortbread (a la Walker's), frozen turkey meatball, roasted garlic pasta sauce, teriyaki marinated firm tofu and Thai style firm tofu, Tofu burgers, refrigerated peach in syrup (surprisingly a product of Thailand. I didn't know *WE* grow peaches!?!) and a cheesecake with fruit topping I am taking to a potluck tonight.

The tofu is easy for me to chew. Once I make a big pot of rice, I can reheat and eat those for lunch all week. Yey, me.

The biggest change of all wasn't just my shopping list. But the store itself.

There were more sales stuff out by the entrance. Kraft Mac & Cheese anyone? Seriously. ANYONE?

I don't like how the sale stuff are all up in the entrance now, but it's much better than stuff in the middle of the produce aisle like how I ran into those watermelons last time.

The hummus, dips, and pasta salads are moved to where the bargain bin used to be. They were replaced by the refrigerated fruit-in-syrup stuff. The bargain bin goes over to the butter/sour cream section. This arrangement threw me off for a bit.

"Why were all these hummus and pasta salads going in the bargain bin???" LOL.

Then, I rounded the corner and looked up at the huge display of the new F&E's own Mother's Joy breakfast cereals. I mean, TOWERING by F&E standard.


- F&E Flickr

Actually, I was sent some of Mother's Joy cereals to taste with a list of new cereals and their prices. We gave the Corn Flakes to my friend Olaina and kept the Cocoa Crisp Rice and Magic Shapes.

Always a skeptic about generic brand, especially when it comes to cereals because I've heard they could taste like, well, nothing, I had Brandon tested the Magic Shapes since I can't do crunchy any more.

"So, how's your F&E brand Lucky Charms?"

"Tasted like Lucky Charms."

I gotta say the same with the Cocoa Crisp Rice. Given that I soaked it thoroughly in milk, it more resembles cocoa rice mush, but it tastes, well, just like Cocoa Rice Crispies. Seriously, I doubt I could tell the difference in a blind test.

According to my local Vons/Safeway online shopping, national brand is $3.49 for 12 oz. of Corn Flakes, F&E is $0.98; Lucky Charms $1.99 v.s. Magic Shapes $1.58; and regular Rice Crispies $3.49 v.s. Crispy Rice $1.58.

Not too bad on the pricing there, peeps.

Now behind the tall display, the shelves in the entire breakfast/chips & cracker aisle were also taller.

Holy high shelf, Batman!

The shelving which used to be just a little taller than me (I'm 5 foot flat) now seem a foot taller than it used to be, at least. Still, not quite as tall as the regular stores.

I guess it took me by surprise a little bit. But for the fact that I can still reach stuff off the top shelf, I am good with that. I guess instinctively that was why I was drawn to F&E in the first place.

You know how many times I have to abandon buying something because I can't reach it, or risking my life actually climbing the damn shelf like a 5 year-old in search for a cookie jar? It sucks to have ask someone who's not your husband to reach the top shelf for you, I tell ya.

I definitely see more name brands on the shelves than before. But as long as there are F&E stuff available where it counts, I really don't mind the new addition.

Just one request, guys. Don't add TOO MUCH stuff to the store.

Why many of love you is because of your streamline, uncluttered stores...which, sadly, seems to slowly going away now. We love that we don't have to go through a dozen brands of the same damn thing...which we now have to go through a few more brands that we are used to.

If you turn into just another cluttered, overstocked grocery store, you are going to lose the appeal that is worth me driving 3 miles for. I could easily just walk around the corner to Vons if I want a cluttered, overstocked grocery store.

I expect you to change as you grow, F&E. But I don't expect you to change into a small version of the stores I didn't like in the first place.

So, please don't let the self check-out be the only thing left to love about the store.

Fresh & Easy Pork Chops: I don't understand

My friends,

If you know me, you know that I LOVE my pork. I have said, on many an occasion that the way to my heart is through pork products.

That is why it pains me so to say: Avoid the pork chops at Fresh & Easy. Twice now I've bought both the apple stuffed pork chops and the cajun pork chops. And all four times there was just something OFF about the taste of the pork.

I don't know if it is the supplier, the stuffing/spices, or what, but all four times I've taken three bites and thrown it all away.

If anyone has had a different experience of these dishes or other Fresh & Easy pork, I'd love to hear about it. I hate feeling like I have to avoid my beloved pork at my beloved Fresh & Easy.

Genius packaging

Thank you Fresh and Easy for making the interlocking container for the cupcakes!

I've always hated the fact that regular plastic containers elsewhere seem to have the flat top so you have to be super careful if you stack them.

These puppies interlock, so I carried 6 boxes out of the store, 3 on each arm, with no problem at all. Transporting this from Los Alamitos to Downtown LA tomorrow on my bus SHOULD be a breeze. Well, I will still put them in a canvas bag but they sure won't slide off all over the place.

Oh, and I will get a review/field report on the assorted cupcakes tomorrow. As much as I want to eat both vanilla AND chocolate cupcakes for the sake of reviewing, I think my coworkers would kill me for hogging the cake before I could die of gluttony.

New stores near you?

Now, you can track and see when the new F&E stores are coming your way.

Hey, when is that rumored Cypress store coming?

Also, on Earth Day (that's next Wednesday, April 22) stop by F&E and get a free canvas bag with $10 purchase. Plus buy a bottle of ONEHOPE Wine, 50% of the profits will be donated to the nonprofit organization American Forests – so for every bottle of ONEHOPE Wine sold a tree will be planted in an area recently devastated by wildfires.

You too can save the world. :)

F&E Review: Experimenting with Grab-And-Go

I've been stocking up on a variety of grab-and-go entrees from F&E as they make perfect lunch to take to the office. Some were hits, and some miss the mark by miles. So here are my verdicts.

Chicken Tikka Masala with Basmati Rice is still the winner so far.

Chicken Parmigiana with Fettuccine comes in close second. Can't fault anyone for the parmigiana not being crispy. I mean, it's been sitting on top of sauce and noodles. However, the flavor and the tenderness of the chicken more than makes up for the lack of crispiness. I like the fact that I don't need a knife to cut through the chicken. The pasta sauce is fine to me although Brandon thinks it's a little sweet. Verdict: Nirvana

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad looked and sounded promising, but it did not deliver. Not sure what it is with F&E (or Chef Mike's?) decision to put red bell peppers in a lot of things. (i.e. a surprise in the Tikka Masala although not disruptive.) But the roasted red peppers KILL this salad. I really want to like it but I just can barely taste the Caesar underneath the peppers. Verdict: Pergatory

Chicken Arrabiatta with Fettuccine is a far cry from the fellow Italian entree. The chicken was bland. I mean, I saw that it's supposed to have herbs on it but I don't taste anything. It was like bland boiled chicken slices on top of noodles and sauce. The sauce, I didn't like that either. Not sure what it is but I gave it three bites before I tossed that out and went downstairs to look for edible lunch. Verdict: Hell

Finally, a field report from Sister Sarah, another friend and fan of F&E, that matches my verdict. Chicken Tortilla Soup = FAIL. Big time. First, the texture was like someone blended a proper chicken tortilla soup. Not completely smooth but not completely chunky. That's not very appetizing. And then there was the taste. It was salty. And that is all we could taste. There is absolutely nothing good we can say about the soup. Verdict: Hell

**

Now you too can be the reviewers for F&E product!

F&E just announced that you can write your review of what you've tasted at F&E Kitchen Table. Once again, they're showing us that they LISTEN. And that's why we love the store.