green with envy
don't worry, brett, i can totally empathize w/ your affection for great supermarkets. Although there are some really great places to get groceries here, all in all, they're pretty out of the way for the average New Yorker (read: young poor kid like me who lives waay out in the boroughs), which translates to people like me (read: lazy good-for-nothin's) generally don't end up shopping at those fine establishments. Alas, most of the grocery stores that are convenient to us are really cramped and dingy.
When i was home a couple of months ago (for that wedding--just before i visited all my glorious friends at that glorious camp called sumatanga) i went w/ a friend into Publix (in Bham) and was awestruck. I mean, i've totally been to grocery stores like that before....but it'd just been so long. It was just so VAST. I felt as if i were walking into a cavernous chamber in the midst of a spelunking expedition (ok...maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration--but it sounds dramatic--leave me alone). Most of the places here, the ceiling is so low you could totally jump up and touch it--basketball rim style...except you're probably already toting a really heavy basket of groceries and, doing so would likely cause you to drop it all, make a big scene, and probably knock over a jar of pickles in the process. (and really, who wants pickle juice spattered all over their flip-flops?) So, what i'm saying is: i haven't tried it....but you TOTALLY COULD (if it weren't for the pickle juice and all).
One thing i do like about grocery stores here is: a lot of them have such a vast selection of cerveza. ("mmmmm...cerveza" -Hombre Simpson [ok, i just made that up]). But, it really is nice. Especially considering the fact that i'm totally becoming a beer snob since having moved here. Often, when i go to the store, i'll pick up a sixer of something i've never even heard of before...just b/c i can. It's cool. Microbreweries are our friends.
On a related note, most grocery stores here do not, however, sell wine :(. It has something to do w/ grocery unions vs. liquor store unions. whatever...too much stuff here has to do w/ unions. It's mildly annoying. Nonetheless, if you want a nice bottle of wine (at least in my nabe') you have to scrub shoulders w/ the drunkards and vagabonds at the corner liquor hole (does anyone really say "vagabond" besides cher?).
ok, enough of my extemporization about the state of grocery stores in the modern world... See, brett...you were definitely in the clear w/ your grocery comment. A huge nerd like me would totally pimp the subject out to a ridiculous degree.
When i was home a couple of months ago (for that wedding--just before i visited all my glorious friends at that glorious camp called sumatanga) i went w/ a friend into Publix (in Bham) and was awestruck. I mean, i've totally been to grocery stores like that before....but it'd just been so long. It was just so VAST. I felt as if i were walking into a cavernous chamber in the midst of a spelunking expedition (ok...maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration--but it sounds dramatic--leave me alone). Most of the places here, the ceiling is so low you could totally jump up and touch it--basketball rim style...except you're probably already toting a really heavy basket of groceries and, doing so would likely cause you to drop it all, make a big scene, and probably knock over a jar of pickles in the process. (and really, who wants pickle juice spattered all over their flip-flops?) So, what i'm saying is: i haven't tried it....but you TOTALLY COULD (if it weren't for the pickle juice and all).
One thing i do like about grocery stores here is: a lot of them have such a vast selection of cerveza. ("mmmmm...cerveza" -Hombre Simpson [ok, i just made that up]). But, it really is nice. Especially considering the fact that i'm totally becoming a beer snob since having moved here. Often, when i go to the store, i'll pick up a sixer of something i've never even heard of before...just b/c i can. It's cool. Microbreweries are our friends.
On a related note, most grocery stores here do not, however, sell wine :(. It has something to do w/ grocery unions vs. liquor store unions. whatever...too much stuff here has to do w/ unions. It's mildly annoying. Nonetheless, if you want a nice bottle of wine (at least in my nabe') you have to scrub shoulders w/ the drunkards and vagabonds at the corner liquor hole (does anyone really say "vagabond" besides cher?).
ok, enough of my extemporization about the state of grocery stores in the modern world... See, brett...you were definitely in the clear w/ your grocery comment. A huge nerd like me would totally pimp the subject out to a ridiculous degree.