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Joe's Journal

joe
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12/30/2013 00:05 #58514

Shopping and Quacks
Category: science
Today (e:paul) and I went to go shopping with (e:mike) and (e:libertad) out on the Boulevard, at Trader Joe's, Feel Rite and Michaels. We stopped at Michael's first to get the new years ball before heading to Feel Rite. Mike had to use his insurance card Supermarket Sweep money which ended up being a fiasco.

Feel Rite is kind of crazy to me because while they do sell a lot of good health products, they also sell a lot of bullshit supplements and therapies that are useless at best and outright harmful at worse. Some of the natural herbs and food have been scientifically proven to be useful and I consider traditional medicine. But the vitamins/cleanses and homeopathy section drive me crazy. The worst part to me is they seem to all appeal to some anti-traditional medicine sentiment. Sure, a few doctors may have a vested interest in profiting off you, but not most and they have typically have peer reviewed science behind them. Why would these snake oil salesmen be any better in that sense, when all they have are their own crazy specious claims? Water with herbs in the parts per billion having any sort of efficacy? I doubt it. Doesn't this undercut the credibility of a health store? Maybe its just buyer beware. So many studies about these products are available online now. If you can't even look it up on your phone like Paul I consider it your own fault. I always like to visit when it comes to quackery.

Then we ate at Red Pepper. I got the tofu stir fry with rice noodles which was really good. Last stop was Trader Joe's before we headed home. We failed to kick the candy addiction. The penguin gummies are amazing.

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The Boulevard looks so rough these days. Maybe its just winter being ugly. A lot of run down vacant buildings and even a boarded up house.
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Ying's moved into his ex wife's KCafe after his fiasco.

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(E:mike) thought this was to kick a candy addiction. Yeast infection might be worse, lol.






12/29/2013 23:52 #58513

Wegmans Organic Smooth Almond Butter
Category: food

The first of the nut butters from (e:paul).

I never had almond butter before because usually it costs so much. I think this might make me less of a cheapskate because this is the best nut butter I've ever had. It is just almonds, no sugar but but still tastes kind of sweet. The texture is gritty but in a good way. I opened it yesterday and it's already half gone. A+ 5 stars would buy again.

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joe - 01/06/14 12:49
That's really true, I haven't even considered grinding my own. I can get almonds from Aldi for ~$4.50 a pound which definitely sounds cheaper. Might be worth the extra couple of bucks if Trader Joe's is that cheap!
tinypliny - 12/30/13 14:34
The original Justin's Hazelnut Butter (the version with only Hazelnuts) was around $7 or so. They have now added almonds to it and marked it up to $10. I sometimes think all we need for wonderful butters is lots of nuts and a good food processor.
tinypliny - 12/30/13 14:32
Hey, you need to try the $5-6 TJ Almond butter and post a comparison!!
joe - 12/30/13 12:08
It's amazing! I checked Wegman's website though and it's $9 at the Amherst Street store. Sounds crazy to me when I buy $2.50 Trader Joe's PB, but maybe as once in a while thing it's worth it. The glass jar is really nice.
tinypliny - 12/30/13 11:32
How much is the bottle, for reference?
tinypliny - 12/30/13 11:32
wow! super jealous!!!

12/29/2013 22:04 #58509

Pumpkin Moving
Category: halloween

The giant $38 dollar pumpkin is finallunoff the porch. After (e:mike) squashed the air out last week it it started leaking a river of pumpkin blood down the porch. We finally decided to move it since it was thawing. (e:paul) rolled it down the stairs then we moved it back to the compost pile. our hands smelled like rotting pumpkin.

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tinypliny - 12/30/13 11:34
Hahah - love this post! :)

12/28/2013 14:30 #58507

Old friends and Founding Fathers
Category: going out
(e:terry) and I met up with Emily, Kevin, Lindsay, Tim and Kyle at Founding Fathers last night. It was the first time I've actually seen Kyle in such a long time even though Ive been at her house a bunch since then. Of course I needed the nachos.

After we headed to Brick Bar for a bit. We ran into a couple of people we haven't seen in a real long time - Emily D. and Andrea. I can't decide if it was awkward or not because its been so long. Emily D. used to be my one of mu best friends but there was a lot of drama with the whole group abd her liking me, and I haven't seen her since. I think the last time we hung out was after freshman year of college.

Lindsay wanted to head to Chocolate Bar but we headed back in pretty early.

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12/28/2013 10:56 #58504

Ice skating at Rotary Rink
Category: winter
Yesterday (e:paul), (e:terry) and (e:mike) went out to ice skate at the Rotary rink in Fountain Plaza. I don't think any of us had been ice skating in a while.
Skating was super tough with the loose skates and rough ice, but I think we figured it out by the end. Paul tied his laces around the back which made the skates way tighter.

Terry was super good at ice skating just like roller skating. He was was even doing circles by the end (no triple lutzes though sorry).

I'd definitely go again but maybe with skates from somewhere else since these were beat up and so gross (the rental place smelled awful) and smoother ice. Maybe MLK splash pad when its open for skating?

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