No. I didn’t lose my mind. I was merely going along for the ride…despite the fact that I was the one doing the driving! But anytime someone asks me to check out a store that I’ve only heard about and would love to visit, I’m there. So last weekend, my enabler, friend and coworker Simone and I hopped in the Kelly’s Kitchenmobile and actually drove to Naples for the day.  So glad I did! I stepped into Trader Joe’s for the first time, and it will not be the last. Especially since they’re about to build a new store in Sarasota, a much shorter drive!

   I was prepared to see a store along the lines of the places that have organic foods, foods that are considered specialty, etc and see the high prices that go along with all of that. So not true here. I’d heard about their wines that for the under $3 price tag are pretty darn good, so I grabbed a few of those, along with some very nice looking red peppers, the best bread and butter pickles I’ve ever tasted, and enough to fill two coolers plus between the two of us. Mostly wine. By the way, the wine selection is fairly impressive; I saw everything from the inexpensive to bottles from the Coppola vineyards and sparkling wines that have me thinking “party!” But here’s another good tip from Kelly’s Kitchen; when road tripping bring along a cooler for those impulse buys you will in no way regret. That would be one of the only complaints I might have had for Traders – they didn’t sell ice and the bottled water they do sell in the freezer section for just such a thing was not frozen.

   The staff at Trader Joe’s is beyond friendly (and thank you for the storewide round of applause when we told them how far we had come for the experience), the selection’s delectable. Check it out yourself if you find yourself down Naples way and let me know what you love about them. I had more than one person here at the station tell me the next time I make the trip to tell them. They have a list for me!

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM KELLY’S KITCHEN

“When you come to a fork in the road….take it” – Yogi Berra