Foodie Friday: It's 5:00 somewhere

It's Friday which means it's time to talk about food. But we're talking about something far more important than food (but can be found in a food store, so I say it still counts.)

I, of course, am talking about beverage :)

On my new and improved Foodie Friday feature, I'm comparing two glorious grocery stores, Wegman's (because I like to brag to my friends in Ohio), and Trader Joe's (which will be here in October. I may or may not be counting down the days...)

At Wegmans

I'm no longer a beer drinker. While I'm happy in my Gluten Free life, I miss my wheat ales terribly (yes, I know they make GF beers, but they're just not the same). Wegmans has a great selection of hard ciders though. One I've found is McKenzie's Black Cherry cider. Nice, dry, refreshing and yummy.

But, for all the beer drinkers out there, one beer I recognized right away is Brewery Ommegang Witte, brewed in Cooperstown. I loved the white ales and this one was especially delicious.

At Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's is known for their wine selection, although they do have a small selection of unique beers. I sincerely hope the new TJ's strikes a deal to stock more wine (otherwise I'll be really sad). There are too many wonderful wines I've gotten there, but this one stands out in particular.

2009 Cocobon. It's light, and has hints of coconut, mocha and cherries. So wonderful.

Another week almost done. Cheers!

Foodie Friday: Super size me

Last week I brought back Foodie Friday with a little catch :) Moving to Rochester means shopping at Wegman's, which ranks right up there with some of the other Greatest Places On Earth.

But I'm missing one of the other Greatest Places On Earth, Trader Joe's (and Earth Fare... and Whole Foods...) But alas! My beloved TJ's is coming in October!

So Foodie Friday now serves a dual purpose: Bragging to my Ohio friends about my new grocery chain, and educating my new Rochester friends about the glory that is Trader Joe's :)

Today's edition: Things you can buy in massive quantities

One of the most glorious things about Wegman's is the club pack. All around the store, you can get big packs of items at really good prices.
My favorites so far:

• 2 lbs of strawberries for $5 (once I consumed an entire pack in a single day)
• (A lot) of sweet cherries for $7
• A big pack of chicken (that's not inflated with antibiotics) for $2 a pound
• A big pack of 90% lean ground beef for $3 a pound
• 2 lbs of tilapia filets for $10

I'm working on my upteenth club pack of strawberries right now so I was going to compare produce, but the fact is, produce isn't Trader Joe's strong suit. But then, when I started thinking about buying in bulk, I thought of the perfect thing.

Like any good Italian, I go through olive oil like CRAZY. And it's not cheap. But at Trader Joe's you can get an entire liter of cold pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil for $6 (disclaimer: I have not compared the price to Wegman's yet, but you must believe me that this stuff is awesome!!) 

As you can see, I'm 1/4 of the way through the bottle. I wonder if the rest will last until October :) 

MIT run: 12 miles!

Edit: I lifted this picture off of Fleet Feet's Facebook page.
Pretty crazy!

Ran 12 miles this morning through the streets of Worthington, which beat my old record of 11. And I'll be beating it again, and again, and again, until race day.

What a morning. Today was all about toughing it out. 

I almost didn't go. My stomach hurt when I got up, probably from eating too much Trader Joe's pesto tortellini. I've had cold symptoms on and off all week. But I'm glad I got my lazy butt out of bed (partially thanks to a redheaded greyhound who really had to pee). 

We usually run on the bike path but I guess it wasn't in great shape with all the ice, so we ran through Worthington neighborhoods. Those poor people, living on a quiet backstreet in suburbia, suddenly have 500 people coming through. Two kids were staring at us out their bedroom window. One guy was trying to back out of his driveway and was getting very irritated.

The run went very well, went with a good group of people as always. It started to rain/snow toward the end and I could literally feel bits of ice bouncing off my face. The ninth mile was the toughest, especially since we ran past the school where we started so it would have been so easy to just cut it short. Then the last two I was just on auto pilot.  

(Ok, I just bolted off the couch to grab my phone, literally every muscle I have protested). (continued)