I went to Trader Joe's today on a mission—a mission to find vanilla beans.

I've become slightly addicted to the vanilla bean scones from Starbucks. (Thanks a lot, Justine! Haha!) Deciding that I didn't have enough money in my bank account to support the purchase of the tiny 85-cent vanilla bean scone every so often, I decided I was going to look up a comparable recipe and make them myself. After a quick google search, I found one and immediately began gathering my ingredients.

I was a few ingredients short: whole milk, heavy cream, and the most important ingredient, the vanilla beans. I headed on over to Trader Joe's because I heard that they sold them. But after two minutes in the store, I walked out disappointed. No whole milk—apparently it's not healthy enough to be sold at Trader Joe's—and no vanilla beans. Trader Joe's epic fail.

I got home and went on google. (Yes, I know I google everything.) I came to discover that the grocery stores that DO sell vanilla beans sell them for a lovely price of around $9 per bean. NINE dollars. Nine DOLLARS. PER BEAN.

I quit.

I'm too broke to bake.



Starbucks, I apologize for judging you on the prices of your vanilla bean scones. I now understand why they are priced so high. And I admire your courage for choosing to sell those scones and part with an ingredient so rare.