Kirkland Signature Beef Dinner Franks.
These are the Costco hotdog weiners you get from the food court.
I am doing well. I am super busy for the next 2 weeks. I have taken a personal job (side hustle) that I am working every waking moment (working 2 jobs). Then we will get into the busy holiday season.
I will make time for the blog, but I may be slow. I am well. I will keep in touch.
22nd Costco Shopping in 2021 – $149.86 / $2,512.66 this year
Costo hasn’t brought back the onion crank at the food court yet. So, tonight I brought my own chopped onion to Costco. The hot dog was brilliant.
Since this blog, I heard they brought back the onion cranks.
There was no full-scale Christmas display at Costco. This is highly unusual in October. I only saw some Christmas items, but not even close to what we normally see. Also, Kirkland Signature shampoos weren’t there. In fact, Costco took down their shampoo from the website.
I picked up a bag of salted peanuts by mistake when I wanted an unsalted one. Salted peanuts are tasty, but I don’t want too much salt in my body. This bag of peanuts had an expiration date of March 2022. I wonder if they will be good for that long (6 months from now).
This will sound condescending, but…
When I lived in a government-subsidized apartment, there were a lot of kids in the neighborhood, but I had zero trick-or-treaters in 8 years. They all went to rich neighborhoods for better candies. Then, I moved to an above-average neighborhood.
Now, on every Halloween, my street gets packed with strange cars and SUVs, each car carrying several kids from the poor side of the town. I get 60 to 120 kids every year. The number is unpredictable.
That’s why I bought 2 kinds of chocolates at Costco. I will hand out small chocolates to the trick-or-treaters. But, when I see my neighbors’ kids. I will let them pick a full-sized bar of chocolate from the box of Hershey’s. I feel bad doing this, for I am from the poor side of the town. But, what can I do?
* Hershey’s full-size chocolates were on sale ($5 off).
Vacuum, Freeze, Enjoy (#vacuumfreezeenjoy)
I bought Kirkland Signature Brats (Bratwurst) on June 9, 2021. I paid the regular price of $8.49 for 14 links (2 packages of 7 each). I vacuum-packed and froze them for long-term storage. It took me 3 months to finish all 14 links by myself. And I can tell you that these sausages are a delight. I like them, and I will buy them again.
I made gumbo with these brats. In that gumbo, I also put in an equal amount of Costco chicken breast meat. I don’t live in the South, so I don’t know how the homemade gumbo should look and taste like. I blindly followed the generic recipe, and I enjoyed my gumbo a lot. It was very good. But people from the South may look at the picture of my Gumbo and say, “What the heck is this?”. What can I say… that would be my imaginary gumbo that came to life. 🙂 I also made the collard greens from scratch (picture).
I also fried some brats in a frying pan. For these, I put olive oil and several basic seasonings (no salt). I put it on low heat with the cover on. I purposely didn’t follow the cooking instruction on the package. While cooking, I turned over the brats only once, so my pictures would come out pretty. Don’t worry, I cooked them all the way through. I am not that clueless.
Below are the official care and cooking instructions from the bottom of the package. The instruction is there for people who never cooked before. You may ignore it if you know what you’re doing.
Costco doesn’t have Combination Pizza anymore. The last time I enjoyed a slice of combo pizza was right before the pandemic (Feb 19, 2020). The following year was a blur. I guess the food court was shut down(?). I don’t remember. I didn’t go to Costco because people were yelling and freaking out at Costco.
When we came to our senses, we realized that there was no more combination pizza.
Currently, there is a petition to bring back combination pizza. They want 7500 digital signatures and they will meet that number. But, I believe the combination pizza will come back regardless, but when they are ready. I have a theory.
Costco’s combo pizza disappeared because of the pandemic. If there was no pandemic, Costco will not abandon our beloved combination pizza. I believe it because Costco took away the onion dispensers in the food court. It can be a safety-related reason or a supply-chain-related issue. Whatever the reason is, the onion dispensers are gone because of the pandemic.
Now – to make a combination pizza, they need various chopped vegetables, including the onion.
I believe there is an onion connection. I don’t know what’s going on, but at this moment, the pandemic and the onions don’t mix in the Costco food court.
I believe the combination pizza will come back when the onion dispensers are back in the food court. You must believe.
My God, I need to get a life.
Talk to you later.
21st Costco Shopping in 2021 – $38.46 / $2,362.80 this year
I didn’t see many Christmas items at Costco. It’s almost October, and it is highly unusual not to see the full-on Christmas display at Costco. But we live in an unusual time. I saw some Christmas items, but not a lot.
Not only that, they still didn’t have Kirkland Signature shampoo. They had conditioners, but there was no shampoo. I guess this has something to do with the pandemic and supply. I hope there is no global shortage of shampoo.
The peanut season is back. Last year, we had peanuts from Hampton Farms. This year Costco is carrying Sachs peanuts. In my experience, peanuts are good between October and November. These peanuts are good. Also, my favorite cookies are back for the season.
That’s about it. Today’s Costco shopping was not as productive. I shall come back in a few weeks.
Costco Member-Only Savings, September 29, 2021 – October 24, 2021.
Savings are available only to current Costco members.
Gal Costa – Folhetim
I adore Brazilian songs like this. This song is from the late 70s, and I don’t know Portuguese. This is a perfect song to relax to – around the house, or when I drive a convertible on an open road.
I am running out of these Costco European Cookies (AKA Belgian Cookies, Christmas Cookies). They are available at Costco during the holiday season. These cookies are the best, and I always buy 3-4 cans and make them last 12 months by freezing them. The goal is to taste a little Christmas every weekend. But, I ate them too fast this year because I stayed home all year. I am already on the last tray… (photo taken on September 12, 2021)
I’ve been watching Nicolas Cage movies obsessively lately. I cannot get enough of his movies. This handsome Academy Award-winner’s movie credit goes back to 1982, and he’s in 100 movies so far. Nicolas Cage gives me that cozy, nostalgic, and drive-in theater feeling I am fond of. His movies are exciting, romantic, cheesy, cool, funny, stupid, and everything in between. And I like them all. I love it when he loses his temper and goes ape shit. Nicolas Cage seems amiable that I would like to have him at my house for food and chitchat. That’s saying a lot because I refuse to have Tom Cruise or Daniel Craig in my house. That would be freakin’ uncomfortable. The same goes for Nicole Kidman and Scarlett Johansson. They are the most beautiful people and I love them. But, please, don’t come to my house… again, freakin’ uncomfortable.
What about Leonardo DiCaprio?… I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.
I believe America loves Nicolas Cage more than we realize. He is my favorite actor, without a doubt.
According to the online personality test, I belong in Louisiana. And I agree. I’ve visited New Orleans a few years ago, and I enjoyed it a lot. When I travel, I would like to experience how regular folks live their everyday life. For example, if you come to California to visit me, I will not take you to Disneyland, but I will give you my typical life experience, such as drinking coffee, going to garage sales, and driving to the beach in a convertible. Oh, In-N-Out Burger, of course.
New Orleans was hot, and it rained at random without warning while the Sun was still up. But it didn’t matter. The food was amazing. Louisiana is a state of food. I wish I can retire there and eat until I die.
God bless Louisiana.
The Spanish word “Quesadilla” does not translate to “What’s the deal?” Just saying…