Wednesday, April 26, 2006

I got in!

Last night I took another stab at going to Trader Joe's-- and it was a breeze! Indeed, the lines have died down. You can walk right in without having to wait on the street. There is still a long line inside, and they have imitated the nearby Whole Foods in employing a person to do nothing but stand at the end of the line with a big sign that says "end of the line," but there is a somewhat hidden express line for 6 items or less so I was in and out in 15 minutes.
Really, when it comes down to it, it's just another store with the usual grocery items and a few odds and ends that make it feel a bit more fun. I got some frozen salmon, some apples, some almonds, some Clif bars, and yes, the haricots verts I had been dreaming of. It all came to about $20, big whoop.
But then... then... in the movie of my life, this is going to be where the clouds part, the sun beams down, and a rhapsodic swelling of choral voices and violins heralds the arrival of something truly mindblowing! I WENT NEXT DOOR TO THE WINE SHOP.
Whoa. I had heard they had low prices, but I was still pretty blown away by the variety of wines and how many of them were under $10, under $5 even! I kind of went into some sort of spazzed out mode where I was even grabbing California chardonnay-- and though I usually don't even need a basket half the time I buy groceries, I found myself plunking an armful of bottles into a shopping cart! Did you ever read The Wind in the Willows? Remember the scene where Toad first encounters an automobile and all he can do afterwards is sit there in a daze and say "poop poop" or "toot toot" or however he imitates the sound of the horn? That's kind of how I felt...
However, I soon came to my senses and put a few things back and managed to get out of there with only 4 bottles of wine, which came to only $18.38, after a wait of exactly zero minutes in line, which was mind-boggling. I started at the high end and drank some of the $5.99 La Ferme Julien Cotes du Luberon with dinner and it was lovely. Even if the other 3 cheaper bottles I got turn out to be crap, it's going to be hard to justify buying wine anywhere else now. It's going to be hard to justify drinking tap water, for god's sake! Shh, don't tell my liver.

4 comments:

SEO Speaker said...

You did try the Three Buck Chuck's Wine right :)

mapgirl said...

Ah. I remember when it was just 'Two Buck Chuck'... ;-)

TJ's has really great selections on wine for cheap. I've never turned up my nose at anything I've bought there. It's my first stop for table wine these days.

Caitlin said...

The magic of TJ's to me really lies in their frozen food aisle.

But now the question is...how will this affect your wine budget?!?!? I smell a contest...

Anonymous said...

I've always been tempted to try the Charles Shaw, what is it $1.98 per bottle?? Also, the pasta, sauce, eggs, and bananas are always much cheaper than any other store.