Made In America

I Love This Stuff!!

Are you a peanut butter nut, like I am? If so, you have to try this brand, it is soooooo good. My favorite three ways to enjoy peanut butter are spread on a sliced apple, spread on bread with sliced red grapes instead of jelly, or right out of the jar using a Hershey bar for dipping.

Anyway, back to the brand. I am not paid for anything I salute here on the blog, I’m just passing along something I found to be really really good. Peanut Butter & Co. ! I like the founders story…and these folks are do-gooders too, even better.

About the Peanut Butter Guy
Lee Zalben is the founder and president of New York City’s world famous Peanut Butter & Co., and the man behind “gourmet peanut butter.” Lee grew up in Philadelphia eating a lot of peanut butter. And while an under-graduate student at Vassar College, he always won the fierce competitions he and his friends held for the wackiest but best-tasting peanut butter sandwich during late night study breaks. It was then where the idea of opening a peanut butter sandwich shop sprouted.

After college, Lee worked in advertising and publishing but he never forgot his dream of opening a peanut butter sandwich shop. While walking in Greenwich Village one day, he spotted a vacant storefront near NY University. Quitting his job the next day, the 26-year old entrepreneur-to-be started developing a business plan for his dream shop. On December 21, 1998, the vacant storefront became the Peanut Butter & Co. Sandwich Shop, offering not just various kinds of peanut butter sandwiches like The Elvis and Pregnant Lady but also peanut butter in newfangled flavors like Dark Chocolate Dreams and Cinnamon Raisin Swirl.

It was only a matter of time when people started clamoring to take the peanut butter home. Today, Peanut Butter & Co. is sold in ten delicious flavors in over 10,000 stores around the country and in Canada, the U.K., Japan, and Hong Kong. And the sandwich shop has turned into a pilgrimage site for many peanut butter lovers all over the world. Lee’s dream to open a peanut butter sandwich shop did not just become a reality, but he also created the market for specialty peanut butter.

My favorite flavor so far… and it is DREAMY delicious.

My Whole foods love/hate relationship

Today I dragged the husband to the Whole Foods store closest to us, about 40 minutes away in West Hartford. I love the store and I don’t.. so much. What I love?… great produce, healthy meats, all the gluten-free stuff I could possibly be looking for, and a great lunch bar if I’m so inclined. Lots of flowers and chocolate and natural soaps too. What I don’t like? The drive. The prices. And the general population in that store seems a little…. ooooh, how can I remain politicaly correct here…. snobby.

Why is that? well… quite a few customers appear to be in the upper tax brackets, and yes, I’m judging by the cover of those books…and the type of cars out in the parking lot too. Does that have something to do with it? I suppose not fair to say. But I don’t see ANYONE who looks like they might be struggling financially in that store…again, judging a book by it’s cover, the shame of it.

Something’s not right with this system tho. Good quality produce, clean, antibiotic and pesticide, gluton, dairy or soy free foods should be affordable and available to everyone, no? I’m sure the superfood gurus have a list of reasons why it’s more expensive to provide CLEAN food to consumers. It just seems like it shouldn’t be. There is LESS stuff in that food, not more. The reason so many low income families eat crappy food is because quite frankly it’s AFFORDABLE. They should have better choices.

Anyway.. the husband wasn’t impressed. After we left the store he said…… “you can get all this same stuff at our grocery store, just not as many OPTIONS. AND.. you are a sucker for eye candy… and there’s lot of it here. “ Well, I beg to differ just a little, but truth be told, he’s atleast partially correct. Ask me how glad I was that I didn’t cave to the eye candy on this particular day, huh?

Now Trader Joe’s is a whole nother barrel of apples… would you call it the discount version of Whole Foods? I’m curious… if you’ve had experience with either, what’s your opinion?

Goodspeed’s Station Country Store & a History Lesson

One of my favorite places to visit this time of year is the Goodspeed’s Station Country Store, found this side of the Connecticut River and East Haddam Bridge across from the Goodspeed Opera House and Gelston House Restaurant. Both can be seen in the photos below…

There is old fashioned candy and kitchen goods and cookingware….

..and beautiful reproduction prints – like this one.

So New England… It’s titled “A Smart Turn-out” – original artist unknown!

Oreo says hello –

Speaking of prints… do you see George Washington kneeling in prayer?

Some internet searching today revealed two sites with a grand idea. If you live anywhere near Albany, NY.. or more importantly Elma, NY have you seen this store yet?

Made in America Store ..900 Maple Road….Elma, NY 14059

716.652.4USA (4872)

The Made in America Store , (which opened on April 3, 2010). Located just 20 minutes from Buffalo and less than an hour from Niagara Falls, NY, it is the only general merchandise store in the country that sells 100% American Made Products, down to the packaging. Our mission is to restore U.S. manufacturing jobs by providing American consumers a brick & mortar store and e-commerce site that guarantees that each product sold is entirely American in materials and labor.

They also do THIS: At the Made in America Store, we pay the sales tax for our customers. We also honor our active duty members of the U.S. military and our veterans by offering a 5% discount on every purchase, every day.

I looked at some of their online merchandise, and while there isn’t as much available on line as I’d like to see, from the looks of the photos on their site, the actual store appears to hold much more merchandise. I’ve decided I’m going to give their jeans a try.

At $30, if they’re made well, I’ll be happy with the price. If any of you live near that town and you get the urge to do a little exploring, stop in the shop and let me know what you thought of the experience. I LOVE the concept. I hope it flies.

Here’s another site to check out…

www.americansworking.com/
THis is what they have to say….

This site is dedicated to help you find American Made Products. Let’s keep our jobs home, lets pressure retailers to sell more products Made in the USA, lets ask companies to quit outsourcing
support jobs overseas, and lets watch over our school systems to ensure we are turning out the next great generation.

This site is not about Red States, or Blue States, it is about one big Red White and Blue Nation. Back when our brave men and women went off to fight the war to end all wars, I doubt they ever
envisioned we would loose the battle in our stores, when they fought so hard to win on the battlefield.

We Americans find ourselves in another great battle, the battle for our industrial, technological, and support jobs. The enemy is different and comes in all forms. In forms like cheap Chinese goods. China is not the only struggle we have. And to be honest do you blame China for pouring goods into the US. We have a huge appetite for cheap goods, we enhance our lives because of cheap goods we may not be able to buy other wise. But we are not really getting ahead. Yes you can buy a DVD player for about $50.00 bucks, but what are we losing? We are losing a lot, and if you will take the time to explore our site I think you will be convinced if you are not already.

At this site we are not protectionist in the sense we wish to have politicians place restrictions on foreign goods, that would be foolish. Our goal is to convince Americans to spend a little more for our own goods. That little price difference keeps another American working.

Thank you for visiting our site.

So, if you check these sites out and find them worthy,

lets spread the word in the blogosphere.

I’m ordering those jeans tonight.

Buy American, and lets keep it going.