PEA POD VS STOP & SHOP AKA FLAVORED FROZEN FOAM

Pea Pod is a delivery service company connected with the grocery chain known as Stop & Shop.  When there is a load of food to buy it might be easier to get it delivered as they will even come into your home and place the bags on your kitchen floor.  The service is just a bit higher than if I took public transportation but lower than a one way trip by car service.  You have to depend on receiving what you don't see, other than what is online.  There is, however, a guarantee and if you are not happy with the product they will deduct the amount from your bill.

Stop & Shop has a double your money back guarantee and you pretty much do get to see what you buy.  Produce can be a bit of a problem in both cases as there is no opportunity to taste the product as there may be if you went to Fairway Markets.  Tasting produce also poses a situation of that it is not washed.

I placed an order with Pea Pod and was not satisfied with some products and also found that not all products sold at Stop & Shop are available on Pea Pod.  I called customer service and got someone who thinks he knows it all but doesn't, if you know what I mean.

Cherries.  At this time of year, I expect them to be sweet.  They tasted tart.  He first argues with me that the ad does not specify that they are sweet or may not be fully ripe.  Give me a break!!!  They did not look as if they needed to ripen and why send them to me if they weren't!!!

Next was a head of romaine lettuce which was obvious that no leaves were removed.  You know what I mean by that.  I'm pulling off a bunch of leaves and there is brown ruined whatever near the stem.  Add to this that it is bitter!!!  If I wanted bitter I'd buy escarole!


I bought two packages of Center cut loin pork chops bone-in.   One package is perfect.  The other has chops with lots of fat and looks more like "seconds".  Give me what I order and don't try to slip something in that is not as good!


The last one took over 10 minutes of arguing.   I wanted Ice Cream.  I looked at all of the brands offered and just about all of them were listed....except...GRAETER'S!!!!!   I thought I'd try a different brand than my usual and decided on Breyers Ice Cream and chose a plain chocolate which appeared to have sugar and not corn syrup.  Oh yeah...did I tell you that they are allowed to substitute?


Here was this 1.5 quart which read Frozen Dairy Dessert.  What the hell does that mean?   I called Graeter's to speak with Bob Greater.  He informed me that in order for a product to be labeled as "ice cream" it had to meet the minimum standards of having at least 18% butterfat.  Not only is this product lacking in mouth consistency but allowed to have 50 percent of air pumped into it.   Now I understood why the weight of what was supposed to be 48 ounces felt like less than 2 pounds.


So, I'm trying to explain this to the know-it-all.  "It sounds like ice cream, to me" was his answer each time I gave him the data.  When I look at it now, on Pea Pod's website, I don't think that I ordered the one that reads Breyers Ice Cream Extra Creamy Chocolate as that one lists it as having corn syrup. 

It took a whole bunch of talking to get my refunds which he construed as being a "courtesy".  Good grief!  With economizing it is important to get what you pay for....and please don't post as a 100 percent satisfaction if you're not going to take care of it.   Cherries should be sweet unless listed as "tart",  romaine lettuce should not be bitter,  Ice Cream should be Ice Cream and not Frozen Dairy Dessert and if you are not going to view the meat make sure that what you package is consistent!!!

EATS AND DRINKS

How could I turn down going to Fairway Market with a sale on lobster at $6.99 per lb!  We're not talking ones that are a "pound and a quarter".  Two pounders...three.   The thing is, Fairway doesn't change the price with size.  You know what I'm talking about.   I got one female that was about two pounds and a male that was over 3 and half.

I had them take the life out of the female for me as I wanted to broil that one and I'm not really sure what I need to cut into.   There was lots of roe.  After broiling in my NuWave oven, I ate the tail and cracked the  claws.  I saved the knuckles, roe and claw meat for a near future lobster bisque or stew.  As for the body, I tore it apart and got every bit of meat.

The best way that I found to cook up a live one is to steam it in beer.   Maybe it gets drunk along the way....who knows.  All I know is that it gives a slightly sweeter flavor and a little less fishy....I do this for shrimp as well.  Being that it was a rather large size, cracking the claws involved my using a hammer!!  I would not recommend that large of a lobster if you are on the weak size.  Needless to say, the tail was huge!

Ate the body and the claws...after all the work!...I froze the lobster tail in its shell along with the knuckles for a future meal.  The advantage of having such a large lobster, not only is the size of the tail but the amount of meat that you can get from the body.   A smoked lobster corn chowder is planned.

I then explored the produce section where Fairway is buying local goods...local meaning the tri-state area.   Pickup up a Boston lettuce and red leaf lettuce.  Bargain was the watermelon at 29 cents a pound....so sweet and refreshing, especially with this awful heat.

It was lobster and a salad for dinner.  I'm working on a dessert using chocolate pudding...still too hot to potchka.  I will not prepare instant pudding!  I usually make it from scratch using cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla extract, milk and corn starch to thicken.   I bought My-T-Fine pudding that you cook!   That's what I grew up on.  Will let you know how it turns out.

I had a blueberry pie, instead.   Well, not exactly a blueberry pie.   It was Graeter's "Elena's Blueberry Pie".
I'm not a blueberry pie person.  This was awesome.  No blueberry bits...the real thing.   It both had the consistency and taste of eating a small amount of blueberry pie and a large scoop of vanilla ice cream!

I had also commented on Graeter's  sorbets being a bit too sweet for me.  Found a fabulous use other than making a smoothie.  A placed a scoop of sorbet in a small plastic bottle with water, shook and put it in the frig.  Like having lemon, strawberry or raspberry "ade".  Quite refreshing and keeps me hydrated.

Oh yeah....I bought loose rooibos tea at Fairway.  Combine the tea (which is really fine on its own and without sugar) with a small scoop of sorbet for extra flavor and sweetness.  Makes for a most delicious iced tea.

MORE GRAETER FOR THE GOOD

I trying to sample each of Greater's Ice Cream flavors as all are not in my local supermarket.  This time it was Peanut Butter Chip, Coconut Chip and three sorbets: raspberry, strawberry and lemon.  The Peanut Butter Chip is wonderful and even better if you sandwich it in between a Fairytale Brownies Chocolate Chip brownie.  Much better than a Reese's Peanut Butter cup as you're indulging not only in the brownie but dark chocolate instead of the cheap milk chocolate that they use.

I do not like coconut.  I couldn't believe my reaction to the Coconut Chip!  It's not that "palm oil" taste that I get from the chips used in other ice creams but shredded coconut.  This is by far better than a Mounds as it doesn't have that oily taste that I get from a Mounds bar.

Now to the sorbets.  They tasted true to the flavor.  However....I just found them much too sweet for my palate.  I'm going to try making a smoothie using milk to help calm it down.  Or perhaps mix with vanilla ice cream for a sherbert....nah...still too sweet.  Doesn't work with a brownie.  Perhaps a scoop in my cold cereal as a fruit substitute.  I'll figure it out.

Hey, I just saw Rich Graeter on The View as part of ice cream month.  His ice cream was featured first!  

A GRAETER BROWNIE

I decided to combine my favorite Fairytale brownies with my favored Greater's ice cream.  I don't have to tell you why I love Fairytale Brownies.  I tried Graeter's Ice Cream about six years ago when I was in Cincinnati, Ohio.  That's where this small batch French style ice cream is produced.  I not only loved the consistency and flavor of the ice cream itself, but it was all about the chocolate chips.

Of the name brands, Ben & Jerry's is certainly not on the top of my list.  Each time that I had a flavor that contained some from of chocolate chips, all I seemed to taste was the palm oil.  Hey, if I wanted coconut...you know.  Ben & Jerry's isn't the only brand that does this.  The explanation is that you can't have "real chocolate" in ice cream because the chocolate would be much too hard to bite into.  Graeter's uses a small amount of soy oil which doesn't take away the chocolate taste. 

Air goes into ice cream, so if you think you are getting a pint or quart it's just the size of the container and not the weight of 16 oz. etc.  Graeter's actually weighs 16 oz.  I'm not sure about the weight of Ben & Jerry's if you were to get a simple flavor without all of the added "candy" which basically boils down to a lot of added sugar.

The way that Graeter's batches are made is that they are stirring the chocolate "liquid" into the ice cream and the paddles break it up.  That is why the chips are not all the same size.  If fact, you get a little surprise of what is like eating a small chocolate candy bar inside the pint.  Mmmmmm.....chocolate.

If you were to go to Ohio, you can most likely go to one of the Graeter's ice cream store.  That was my problem...go online and get it delivered or sulk about the chips in ice cream.  It was about a month ago when I was in Stop & Shop and saw Graeter's.  Had to do a double take and read the label.  There was my favorite flavor of Greater's, too.  Black Raspberry Chip!  Price wise it was about the same as Ben & Jerry's or Haagen Daz when they are not on sale.  I called the company and eventually had Rich Graeter on my radio show! I also talked about the additives of guar gum and locust bean that is in more ice creams.  It turns out that they are simply stabilizers that prevent the ice cream from forming ice.

That brings me to the brownies!  Chocolate Chip brownie covered with Graeter's vanilla ice cream and topped with slices of fresh strawberries.  I soaked a Chocolate Chip brownie in Chambord and then topped it with vanilla ice cream.  Graeter's Mocha Chip with strawberries and broken up plain Fairytale brownie.

I took a chocolate chip brownie, cut it in half and placed vanilla ice cream in the middle and froze it.  Another dessert idea.

I think of coffee ice cream (Graeter's has real coffee in it) and a version of iced coffee with sugar and cream.  Let me think...Original brownie covered with Black Raspberry Chip and topped with fresh raspberries.  My next venture is to a plain brownie topped with Cherry Chip ice cream and fresh cherries or chocolate chip brownie topped with cherry ice cream and fresh cherries. Please refrain from drooling on your computer.