by Pa Rock
Holiday Glutton
Yesterday in this space I posted a few remarks about a new tradition which I am incorporating into my holiday routine: The wonderful fruitcakes baked and sold by the monks at Assumption Abbey in Ava, Missouri. But the holidays are about more than just extraordinarily wonderful fruitcakes. The festivities surrounding Christmas and New Years also demand a plentiful helping of rich, dark chocolate - a craving that led me to my second great snack discovery of this holiday season: Trader Joe's "Jingle Jangle."
Trader Joe's does not have stores out in the rural areas like where I live, probably because they assume that the hicks in the sticks, people like me, would not be sophisticated enough to enjoy the unique variety of grocery items that they traditionally stock. And maybe they are right, but I don't think so. Trader Joe's retail cousin, Aldi's, has established footholds in rural areas with their grocery stores, and they seem to be doing quite well, thank you very much. And when I do make the long trek to Kansas City, I often visit a Trader Joe's to pick up a few items - like their ginger snaps - which are just about as good as cookies can possible get!
When I was in Kansas City earlier this fall, my son gave me a tin of Trader Joe's "Jingle Jangle" as an early Christmas gift. Like the Assumption Abbey fruitcake, which came in a tin exactly the same size as the "Jingle Jangle," I set the "fun mix of fan favorite candy treats" aside until Christmas Day when I opened it and used the wonderful dark chocolate treats to help subdue the effects of the fruitcake.
Tim, my urban son, told me that "Jingle Jangle" was a seasonal item at Trader Joe's which sells out quickly. According to the advertisement on the tin, each assortment contains milk chocolate candies, dark chocolate 'enrobed' Trader Joe's cookies, milk and dark chocolate mini peanut butter cups, milk and dark chocolate covered pretzels, and dark chocolate covered caramel popcorn.
The outside of the tin also contains this proclamation:
"We have chocolate that jingle jangle jingles . . . well, when you shake the tin. Anyway, there's a party - of bite-size, dark & milk chocolate-covered, salty sweets - inside every tin. Gather your friends, satisfy your chocolate cravings, and give it a jingle . . . jangle."
(Television addicts might also associate "Jingle Jangle" with the teen drama, "Riverdale." On that show, "Jingle Jangle" is the illicit drug that the bad thirty-year-old teens abuse while the good thirty-year-old teens are busy having lots and lots of sex!)
Riverdale's "Jingle Jangle" is bad, but Trader Joe's "Jingle Jangle" is good . . . really, really good!
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