Sonia and I are both quite fond of Korean barbecue, but we've never tried things like jumeokbap, kimbap, hotteok, and japchae outside of Trader Joe's. Fortunately, we've had good experiences with almost all of them. Let's hope that lucky streak keeps up.
Enter: Trader Joe's Korean Japchae Fried Rice. It's a product of South Korea. It's a fried rice medley with japchae sweet potato glass noodles mixed in. There's a great balance of flavors like the constituent veggies: shiitake mushroom, carrot, onion, green and red bell pepper, cabbage, spinach, and green onion along with spices like garlic, black pepper, and salt.
We heated ours on the skillet for about 12-13 minutes. We served it with lightly seasoned salmon. Sonia only added a bit of onion salt and black pepper to the fish so the flavors of the japchae fried rice could shine most brightly.
It's a nice umami flavor. It goes great with salmon, but we're certain it would go well with fried egg, tofu, or even bulgogi beef. We both think it's even better than the above-mentioned japchae noodle stir fry.
$3.99 for two big servings imported from the other side of the world. Found in the frozen section. Would definitely buy again. I'll give Trader Joe's Korean Japchae Fried Rice eight out of ten stars. The beautiful wifey will go with eight and a half.
Just "chocolate pudding"? C'mon, marketing team. Once upon a time, Trader Joe's called fairly run-of-the-mill chocolate bars Extraordinary Bark of the Finest Collection. I think there's a happy medium in there somewhere. You could be Joesian without going overboard. Use of the word "choco-riffic" is underappreciated by my estimation. You could probably get away with calling this "mousse" or something a little more exotic than pudding. But I digress...
Trader Joe's Chocolate Pudding may not have a fancy name, but it's quite thick, rich, and slightly darker than most milk chocolate-flavored puddings. It's not "dark chocolate," per se, but it's darker than your average chocolate pudding. I'd say it's a bit denser, too. It's not unlike the very popular but now defunct Trader Joe's Belgian Chocolate Pudding, although this one is apparently a domestic product.
For three bucks, you get four little single serving cups, perfect for school lunches or brown bagging it at work. Unlike some other leading brands, there aren't any hydrogenated oils or weird ingredients in this chocolate pudding. Sugar content is slightly less than what you'll find in comparable products from other companies.
Not a bad product. I think most folks will like this even more than I did since I prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate and generally like treats like this to be quite sweet. Sonia gives Trader Joe's Chocolate Pudding eight out of ten stars. I'll go with seven and a half.
