Trader Joe’s

Well, I suppose that really wasn’t the theme of our vacation to Minneapolis, but it sure is my lasting memory. This past weekend my husband and two of my good friends, packed our bags, grabbed our passports and jumped in the car for a 7.5 hour drive to Minneapolis.

Our hotel! The Weston in downtown Minneapolis. That bed and shower = AMMMAAZZING.

My husbands birthday was last Thursday and all he wanted was Fogo de Chao. Now for my vegan/vegetarian friends….this would be the first place on your list not to go to. Those of you that enjoy meat…will really enjoy it. It’s a Brazilian steakhouse and they do this well.

Saturday we did WAY too much shopping in Mall of America, Ikea, Golfsmith(my husbands choice) annnnnnd TRADER JOES!!!!

When I first started blogging I soon quickly heard about Trader Joes, being a girl from Canada….not many of us know about them or maybe I just didn’t. I soon learned it had tons of natural organic food choices. What I DIDN’T know was the prices are unbelievable. I knew healthy food options were more affordable in the states as I make many trips up to Grand Forks to restock my pantry……but TJ’s was just awesome. The below bag was only $42!!! I am still in shock and envy.

I also was able to meet Whole Foods!!

And fully understand why it is called ‘Whole Paycheck’. I didn’t get as much, but that Almond Breeze with coconut? Say what? Yes pllleeeeaassee!! When I try it I will let you all know.

After an embarrassing amount of hours shopping, our exhausted crew all dragged our bums to the hotel and took a relaxing hour to gather, shower and get ready for a night on the town. As it was my husbands birthday he decided we would enjoy some Minneapolis Pubs.

It was fantastic but also lead to a hard Sunday morning.

Sunday the boys took off to a baseball game and I went for a walk around downtown Minneapolis to enjoy the heat. The boys didn’t last very long at the game(it was humid and hot) and we met up at another pub called The Local for some lunch with some Target shopping.

Top left was Crave at the mall, I had sushi.. Top right was Fogo de Chao’s salad bar..yes that was salmon. Bottom left was Solera which is a Spanish Tapas restaurant. For vegans they had a wonderful vegan choice! Expensive but well worth it. And bottom right is probably one of my favorite meals, which was my lunch on Sunday at a pub called The Local. That was a humus, avocado, cucumber and tomato pita with a field greens salad. SOOOO good!

Being the last evening of our trip we wanted to check out something a little special, Spanish tapas at Solera. Fantastic atmosphere, great staff and a perfect way to end our trip. This was my first experience with tapas and it won’t be my last!!

That flourless chocolate cake…OMG sooo good.

After a weekend of this much craziness I really needed yesterday off to just relax…which I did.  Now back to the grind of life and to remove a weekend of good food and maybe a drink or too many. Hey! It was vacation  Well enough blabbing! I want to go watch Sundays Game of Thrones with the hubby!!

Question: Have you ever been to Trader Joe’s? If so, what is your favorite thing from them? AND have you ever tried Tapas??

Tagged as: Tapas, Trader Joe's, Vacation, Whole Food's

{ 8 comments }