Trader Joe's

There is no Trader Joe's in Berkeley. You can find two within 2 miles (in different directions) of our apartment. Both stores are equally crowded and both provide snacks all day long. Today's interesting snack/drink was called "Very Green Juice Blend." The big juice container (the like 5 gallon serving type container with a spigot) was 3/4 of the way full. Was this because it was recently filled or are other people feeling the same suspicion that I do about the thick deep forest green liquid inside? Feeling adventurous, as I have been feeling more and more about food since moving here, I poured a cup full and brought it back to Grant who was waiting in line at the checkout. "What is that?" he says as he looks doubtfully at the liquid I have delivered to him. The look was half disgust and half interested. For being so green, the juice did have a strong banana flavor and was thicker than the typical juice that we buy. This was not made from concentrate.

About a month ago Grant and I both purchased cyclocross bikes. His is a Trek (strong, American) and mine is a Bianchi Volpe (a cute little Italian delight). Cyclocross bikes look like road bikes but have the ability to ride on thicker tires in order to go safely on dirt and gravel roads/trails. They are fast. Not as fast as road bikes could be- not that I will ever feel safe about going over 25 mph on a bike anyways- but fast enough for me and the hills of Berkeley. Anyways, one of many cool things about these bikes is their touring capabilities. Grant is all about going on a weekend bike/camping trip someday. The trip across America is always a possibility. So the bikes have the screws built into the frames for racks and of course we had to get panniers for the racks and of course we have to prove that the bags and racks work by going grocery shopping. This would have been our preferred method except today we had a bunch of errands to do like going to Target to pick out Mitch and Laurie’s wedding present.

Trader Joe’s is the store we go to for cheaper frozen veggies, Morningstar farm products, tortillas, bagels, pasta, sauce, condiments, and beer. We buy beer here because they always have descriptions on the price tags on the shelves. Since I have not developed my taste for beer yet, we choose a new six-pack each time we go based solely on the tags. I usually drink one or two before they are all gone. Liquids disappear quick around this apartment. Gallons of milk in a few days. (Milk we buy at Long’s Drug Store as well as ice cream)

One of the secrets to Trader Joe’s is that they can fit a lot of stuff into a small place because there are not 10 different options for everything (not many different brands and sizes). So it is easy to shop. People are happy there in their tropical work shirts.