What The Hell Is Arancini? - Arancini Bites

So I'm strolling out of ALDI the other night and the last thing you pass at our ALDI is the horizontal freezer with the special frozen foods. The stuff that was in the ad that week that you'll probably never see again. Although, the Mac and Cheese Bites have had some amazing staying power.  Anyway, I see this box with a word on it I've never seen before so today, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you - Specially Selected Arancini Bites?

What the...?

First things first, there's no way this is a real thing. I'm Googling this stuff. Well I'll be damned - Arancini or arancine are fried rice balls coated with breadcrumbs, said to have originated in Sicily in the 10th century. Arancini are usually filled with meat sauce, tomato sauce, cheese and/or peas. Please accept my humble apologies, ALDI. 

Buy Me Some Peanuts... Roasted Peanuts

Being from Georgia, there's two things I like - Jimmy Carter and peanuts. I was going to bring you Jimmy Carter but my Secret Service friend advised me against it. So in the name of not getting arrested I bring you...

Both!

Awwww, not really, today I bring you...Southern Grove Salted and Roasted Jumbo Peanuts!

Just Peanuts, Sorry.

So guess what country produces the most peanuts in the world. China! Like 13 million metric tons of the things. That's a LOT of Kung Pao Chicken. The good ole U.S. of A. is a distant third with 2 million metric tons and from what I can tell from my 30 second search on the internet, Georgia is carrying the water for the rest of the country producing about half of that. What's that? You want to just jump into the review? You don't think you need to learn anything? Well take a look at what I found on the bag - apparently some of us are morons.

 How can there be peanuts in peanuts?

 

 

Clancy's Holiday Spectacular -- Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Here's one of the things I like about ALDI. They stock up for every single holiday imaginable and then, like a week after, they slash the already cheap prices. So since it was two weeks after Christmas, you know it was with a pretty huge amount of joy in my heart that I purchased today's item. Don't put away that garland just yet, it's time for Clancy's Pretzels - Milk Chocolate Caramel with White Chocolate Drizzle.

Clancy Got Festive!

Our ALDI has a section with the weekly oddities like walkers, gas powered generators, elliptical machines, etc. and then one aisle over it has the Island of Misfit Items. Things that aren't normally stocked and didn't sell in the week or two after they were in the weekly flyer end up shipwrecked here. This is where the sweet spot is for super cheap stuff and that's exactly where I found these. To be honest, I have no idea how much these were. They were the only box I saw and I didn't see a price tag - sidebar - doesn't ALDI have the best price labels? Everything (almost) is always sitting underneath a bright yellow price card that's hung above it - nice job ALDI!

Simply Nature Week - Garden Salsa Brown Rice Crisps

I'm sleepy. Here's the low down on Simply Nature's Garden Salsa Brown Rice Crisps. Crushed up, Wendy's would put these chips on their "Asian-style" salad, calling them "crispy Asian noodles."

Nature's Nectar Sparkling Spice Pumpkin Cider

There is so much pumpkin-themed food still for sale at ALDI - we went to two separate ALDI's yesterday morning and I came home with one more pumpkin item (cookie mix). Are you guys tired of all this pumpkin yet? Honestly, I think I'm getting tired of it - the fun of it is starting to wear off.  When you can buy a pumpkin version of everything, nothing is special.

Don't worry, I'm not letting my encroaching pumpkin ennui affect my review of Sparkling Spice Pumpkin Cider!  Of all the pumpkin things I bought for Pumpkin Blitz, GC was convinced that this cider was going to be the only decent item. Boy was he wrong! Of all the items I've already reviewed, this one is the least likely to be purchased again.

We Got Sauced -- Primavera Sauce

Humble spaghetti sauce, a staple of single people and tired mothers everywhere. So much so that there are a ton of different brands and everybody is upscaling it. So you knew the folks at ALDI were gonna get in on this sweet action.

Shitload -O- ALDI Sauce

And BINGO - I bring you.....Priano Primavera Sauce! 

FIBER NOW Cereal

 

I think most of my reviews about ALDI food are going to be cereal and wine.  I have two more Winking Owls and two more cereals to review. That probably says a lot about my lifestyle. But you're reading about ALDI wines and cereal, so what does that say about your lifestyle?  

Millville Honey Clusters FIBER NOW cereal is clearly attempting to knock off Fiber One. And similarly to Fiber One, this stuff is pretty bland. I had assumed that Millville would have skimped on the clusters but they were pretty abundant. Unfortunately, they didn't add flavor or texture to the cereal. 

Cleanliness is next to ALDIness -- Laundry Detergent and Dishwasher Soap

Before I get to the review I'd like to apologize for the Lady's use of this sacred blog to promote her non-ALDI Arbor Mist agenda AND ALSO buzz market her Coach Paul Johnson buttons. I would however, like to give her a shout out for making a sweet new header for this blog, adding the A.L.D.I. scale and a label cloud for easy reference LOOK------------>
and a disclaimer at the bottom of this page so ALDI doesn't sue me and take all my stuff and build a new ALDI where my house once stood. Now, on with the show....

If you're a dedicated reader of this blog and live in Maine, a state I love but which has no ALDI's, then you might think all that ALDI has to offer is great bargains on food. Well you'd be wrong my dear Pinetree State friends. ALDI has great bargains on EVERYTHING. Everything. Including pet stuffs, health care items and today's blog items - cleaning supplies. Since there's just not a lot I can think of to tell you about cleaning products, I'm going to review a couple here and a couple in my next post. So I give you a twofer ..... Tandil laundry detergent AND Reeva dishwasher soap!!

Conjoined

Do you think ALDI and IKEA use the same company to name their products? Tandil? Reeva? I feel like they're both just a random K and an umlaut away from being sold at IKEA. In fact, I think I own a REËVAK table and some TÄKNDIL chairs. Anyway...

Winking Owl Cab

Hello readers!  This is going to be an exuberant post because I have had 2.5 glasses of Winking Owl Cabernet Sauvignon! Hooray for drinking and blogging!

Proof of drinking while blogging

There are so many things to talk about when you talk about Winking Owl.  So many things. First of all, a confession. This isn't my first experience with Winking Owl. A week ago, GC and I had an ALDI Italian dinner that included ALDI spaghetti sauce, breadsticks, and this same bottle of WO Cabernet Sauvignon.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Guys, I love Valentine's Day. I LOVE it. This ALDI specialty item is everything I love about Valentine's Day. Let's explore:

 

1. Red and pink garishly thrown together.

2. Hearts!

3. Foods that are not normally shaped like a heart are shaped like a heart.

4. On February 15th, these are all 50 percent off!

She's My Cherry Pie -- Cherry Pie

 

As the Lady and I were leaving ALDI last Sunday we made one final swoop back down the frozen foods into what I will graciously call the bakery section. Perched high above the three racks of L’Oven breads was a nearly empty box of single serve Baker’s Treat apple and cherry pies. A steal at $.49 each and I wasn’t the only one who thought so – apple was sold out. If there are two things I love it’s a bargain and pie. So into my shopping car…oh yeah we gave our shopping cart quarter to some family that looked like they needed it more than we did. Sometimes the Lady is a softie.

Side bar – for those of you unfamiliar with ALDI one of the many quirky things about it is you need a quarter, a case quarter, to get a shopping cart. You put a quarter into this manual contraption that chains all the carts together and it lets you pop out a cart. The quarter stays in the contraption until you return the cart to where you got it and then you can get your quarter back out. It’s a fairly ingenious way to get people to return the carts to the store. In fact, unlike Kroger, I’ve never seen a cart rolling around in the parking lot. 

But I digress…on with the review.