Balducci’s Christmas Dinner

As with a lot of people, this year was not the usual for us. We always visit our son and his family for Christmas in central Virginia. It’s a four hour drive, we stay for two days, and come home. So they told us not to get anything for Christmas dinner this year; rather, they would be sending it to us via Balducci’s. The large box arrived on our doorstep on December 23. There was a huge turkey breast, bacon wrapped meatball appetizers, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, cranberry, rolls, and a whole apple pie - probably enough to serve 6 people. So we went ahead and cooked the turkey that afternoon, and sorted the other items for our first crack at the several days of meals in front of us. It was really good! The refrigerator was stuffed with the food and the leftovers. I cut the turkey down to small pieces and froze a bit of it for soup later on. So we had the same meal for two more evenings - except I prefer cold turkey sandwiches after the first dinner. Last night we had turkey soup, and there is still plenty left for another batch in the future. The next time we’ll use noodles instead of potatoes. So it was the gift that kept on giving. And it was delicious! But I think we would have preferred the annual fete - like everyone else. We thought of our family with every bite. 

Balducci’s Gourmet Market

We are on the hunt for Italian Pizzelle cookies/wafers. They taste a bit like sugar cones, but are very thin. We looked up where they might be located and Target was listed as an option. So we drove over to Reston last Sunday for the ride but also for the mission. Of course, they didn’t have any. So we then figured an Italian market should have them and drove over to the Balducci’s in our neighborhood. We spent a lot of time searching around the store. The cherries and fresh fruit all looked quite nice, and the overall feel of it reminded us of Sendik’s in Milwaukee. But the prices were out of this world compared to Harris Teeter, Giant or Safeway - even Whole Foods. We have come to the conclusion that each place has one thing we like better than the others, which means there is always something we are missing wherever we end up. I would classify Balducci’s as a specialty market for a very specific purpose or occasion and clientele. In the end, they didn’t have Pizzelle cookies either, but we ended up getting some cheese and olives. If I had ordered the cookies on Amazon they would have been here yesterday. That’s the sad thing, or good thing, about it - depending on your point of view.