Thursday, May 21st, 2009
It has taken me forever to write this post. I don’t know why. I guess I thought it was never really all that important, but the more I think about it, the more I get bothered. Also, since when have I written about only important things?
I would say we haven’t been to Whole Foods in about two months. The last time we went there, I got extremely annoyed. Also, a few times before that, Laura got really annoyed. Both times were really annoying, but my “annoyance” meter is a little taller than Laura’s.
Let me tell you what annoyed me first. Okay, the prices at Whole Foods are high. We knew that when we started going there. I kind of let it go because I felt like I was doing something good for society, whatever that means (you know, the whole organic, green, blah blah blah). The problem is that I always felt like the store was ratcheting up the prices just enough for us not to notice the increases. That is annoying in itself.
During our last visit, we picked up a few items and put them in the cart. When we got to the produce area, I took it upon myself to go grab some asparagus. When I walked over to the asparagus section, I picked up a bunch and then looked at the price. It said $4.99 per pound. I instantly felt my face getting red. I put the asparagus down and walked over to get some “Silk” creamer. When I looked at the creamer, it said something like $3.89. This was for the tall, skinny jug. I put the creamer down and went back to Laura all ticked off. I said, “This place is a freakin’ rip off.” She didn’t dispute that. I asked her if we couldn’t get this stuff someplace else for half the price. I got especially mad at how much this store was trying to charge for a brand name item that costs so much less in other stores.
We paid for what was in the cart and haven’t been back since. I really hate the feeling of being ripped off.
What Laura was getting angry at was the people, meaning the other shoppers. I am sure you can visualize the totally oblivious fellow shopper that walks right in front of you while you are reaching for something off the shelf. These are the same people who cut you off on the highway and when you try to chase them down to “talk about it,” they scurry off like little rats. Needless to say, we felt like the other shoppers were a tad bit on the rude side. I guess we don’t feel too bad for not shopping at Whole Foods anymore.
The other day, we had to go to Wal-Mart to get kitty litter. Wal-Mart is the only place that we have been able to find that sells the scent-free stuff. Our little kitty cat is allergic to the scented stuff.
While getting the kitty litter, we grabbed a few grocery items. When we walked up to the produce area, I saw asparagus for $1.77 per pound. I almost freaked out. Now, I’m not an idiot. I know that organic food costs more than “conventionally grown” food (as Whole Foods likes to call it). $4.99 per pound is a little much of an increase from $1.77 per pound, organic or not. I don’t care what it is, I’m certainly not a fool.
I asked Laura what would be so bad about doing our food shopping at Wal-Mart from now on, as long as it was in the morning to avoid the crowds. She couldn’t find any reason not to.
Since we stopped shopping at Whole Foods, I have gone food shopping at Wal-Mart twice. Both visits were fairly pleasant. I haven’t been annoyed by any fellow shoppers and have actually found them pretty friendly and easy to talk to. I also especially like toying around with the cashiers, something I could never do at Whole Foods because they just don’t do that.
Remember that time I told you about our first visit to Whole Foods? It was the time I walked out of the store after paying $89 for one bag of groceries. Well, I went shopping at Wal-Mart yesterday and got half a cart of groceries for $87. Now that’s amazing.
It seems like I am ripping on Whole Foods an awful lot here. It’s just that I am still annoyed at how they tried to take me for a ride with their absurd prices. I haven’t even mentioned the time that I saw a container of ice cream for $8. I mean seriously. Someone would have to be a moron to pay that much for one of those shrunken down half-gallon sized containers of ice cream. It was a regular brand name too, so you could easily compare prices with another store. I came so close to taking a picture of it with my cell phone to post here. I really should have.
When I got back from my last visit to Wal-Mart, I pulled out a half gallon container of juice. I held it up and asked Laura to guess how much I paid for it. She said $4. I said, “Wrong. One dollar.” Now that is neat.
So, what am I supposed to do? Continue shopping at Whole Foods and get ripped off or contribute to the Wal-Marting of America? I know there are stores in the middle, like Stop and Shop, but I have never really been a fan. I actually prefer Wal-Mart over them. You never know when you might want to buy a kayak and underwear while you are food shopping.
You know, I am starting to feel pretty good about going over to Wal-Mart. The people seem fun and they don’t cut you off while you are shopping.
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
Today was the day that Laura and I chose to cruise up to Costco to spend hundreds of dollars. We haven’t been there since the beginning of February and knew this one was going to be a whopper. Shopping at Whole Foods and paying $80 for one bag of groceries was getting a little old.
On the way up, I told Laura that I was going to get gas before we went in, because after we do our shopping, I am in no mood to get gas. Luckily, today the weather was beautiful and getting out of the car to pump the fuel turned out to be fun…as the following picture shows.
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I think Laura described me as “herbolicious.”
Half way through pumping the gas, I noticed the “Members Only” sign and just had to get a picture of it. Remember those “Members Only” jackets? How cool were they? Not really, I guess. Nevertheless, I felt it was necessary to have my picture taken next to the members only sign.
Also, if you notice, the gas is $2.06. That’s a far cry from the $2.49 I payed at a local station last week. Go Costco.
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Sunday, January 11th, 2009
I now accept and eat the samples at Costco.
I completely forgot about this post. When we were shopping in Costco last week, I was all, “ooh and aah” about what I was going to write. Then, we left and I forgot all about it. It’s simple really…I just wanted to tell you about a change that’s going on in my life.
It takes a certain type of person to eat samples while shopping. My old self would avoid the whole “sample station” altogether. I have seen people bump, scratch, kick and scream to get at that food. Unless, of course, it’s a slow night. If it’s slow, the opportunity is there to have a wonderful morsel of goodness.
As we are all aware, samples taste really good. The store gets you when it counts; while you are hungry. What better way to sucker you into buying pizza bites than to hook you with a small dose when you know you already have to lay out all that green for the rest of the groceries? The problem is, samples are usually of the food you should never in a million years buy. Pre-made food is a no-no. I will admit though that these guys do a particularly good job at temping souls such as myself.
I’ll tell you how it happened. We were shopping in Costco a few weeks ago and I saw a sample lady standing all by herself. I felt bad, so I walked up to her and asked her what she had there. Her face lit up as she told me all about what she was serving. Since it didn’t contain meat, I accepted. Well, little did I know, I had just entered the sample underworld, a world my father had entered many years earlier. He just loves Costco samples and tells me stories of the science behind it. Stories now, that I listen to with great interest.
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From that point on, every time we go to Costco, I look around to see what is available to nibble on. Laura doesn’t seem too interested, but then again, I am a little more pushy when it comes to these types of things. I also like to look at the name tags of the people handing out the samples to say hello to them. Oftentimes, they have had a long day and a bit of excitement from a tall guy with red hair wouldn’t hurt.
One sample I enjoyed during our last visit to Costco was “POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice.” It was thick, rich and wonderfully delicious. I also hear it’s good for you. I was just looking at its website and learned a little more about the pomegranate. I think I am going to pick some of this stuff up next time we go shopping. See, it’s working…
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Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
This post is dedicated to my good friend Robert, who, as it turns out, is a Scotch man.
The other day, I wrote a post telling you that we were planning on traveling over to the Mayflower Inn, in Washington, CT for Christmas dinner. In that post, I described how I was going to finish eating, order a nice Scotch and walk over to the library to look out the window. Well, just as luck would have it, my friend Rob read that post.
Just yesterday, Rob called me up and started talking about how much he likes Scotch whiskey. He asked what kind I prefer the most. I said, “I don’t.” “What do you mean? I thought you were going to drink Scotch after dinner on Christmas,” he replied. I said, “Yeah, I am, but I am not sure I have ever actually tasted Scotch.”
Now, don’t get me wrong, I have a long history tasting various types of whiskeys and I am sure I bumped into Scotch along the way, but for me to remember what I was actually drinking would be difficult. It’s been kind of a long ride. With that in mind, I thought it might be a good idea to study up on various whiskeys and even taste a few.
Today, Laura and I headed up to Whole Foods to get a bunch of delicious stuff to eat tonight. Oh man, we got sushi and various types of cheeses and all sorts of goodies. It’s going to be fun. When we finished shopping and loading the food into the car, Laura suggested that we cross the street and visit Glastonbury’s finest liquor store (or at least one of Glastonbury’s liquor stores). I agreed and we began walking across the street.
Upon taking two steps into the store, I was faced with two distinct boxes that had the name, “The Glenlivet” on them. I said, “Hey, that’s Rob’s favorite Scotch right there.” I was pretty surprised because I thought it would be a more challenging find. Guess not; I’m sure Christmas brings the expensive Scotch out front and center.
I picked up one of the boxes and started looking at it. Then, I picked up another brand that was resting close by. I kind of fell in love with the other brand because the bottle was in a really cool tube and it looked like an extremely clean piece of jewelry when I looked through it. It twinkled in my eye and was simply marvelous. I informed Laura that this bottle of Scotch was indeed the bottle that I intended to crack open when we got situated on the couch tonight. She jumped on board and walked with me to the counter to pay up.
When we reached the counter, I was forced into a quick decision making situation. Right behind the lady at the register was a whole shelf full of those little sample bottles of all different types of liquor. I thought, “Should I keep the one big bottle of Scotch that I had in my hand or should I get a few different types to try them out?” I especially needed to see if I liked them or not. I thought it would be a wise choice to put the big bottle back and grab a few of the little ones.
Here is what I bought…
Mini Scotch bottles
We walked back to the car and Laura could see the excitement on my face. It isn’t very often a man like me gets to find a new favorite thing to love. I was wondering if Scotch would be one of them.
When we got back to the house and after we unpacked the groceries, I couldn’t help but to stand the little bottles up on the counter next to each other. I did that and they looked really great. A few seconds later, I began thinking to myself that since they were all just standing there, they really should be opened for an official tasting. Laura is always right next to me for things like this. I believe she was just as curious.
I opened up all three bottles and picked up the Johnnie Walker Red. Now, Wikipedia tells me that this type of Scotch is meant for making mixed drinks. Oh well, because today it wasn’t going to be mixed. I brought the bottle close to my lips and when it was about an inch away, I immediately had a flashback. The flashback was of many, many moons ago. I won’t even got into it, but let me tell you that Johnnie Walked Red smells just like good ol’ Irish whiskey. Man, oh man.
I took a small sip and handed the bottle to Laura. I kind of shook my head a bit to get used to what I had just tasted. Laura took a sip and then we proceeded to try the Johnnie Walker Black and the Glenlivet. Laura immediately chose the Johnnie Walker Black as her favorite. I told her that I didn’t have a favorite because I really didn’t see myself continuing to drink any of them.
I don’t think Scotch is my drink. It reminds me way too much of whiskey, and whiskey was really never my thing. You might say, “Well Jay, Scotch is whiskey you idiot.” I might respond, “Yes I know that, but thank you for pointing out the obvious.”
We both gave the bottles another round and I informed Laura that if I had to choose a favorite, it would be a toss up between Johnnie Walker Black and the Glenlivet. They both seem to have more of a distinct taste and both offer different advantages.
We agreed that if we were to relax at an inn with a few good friends, Scotch would be perfect. If we were planning on staying over and were allowed to let the liquor work its wonders, Scotch would definitely bring us to the place we needed to be. I say this while recognizing that I am simply a boy who performed a very small Scotch taste test this afternoon.
I would like some feedback. I am sure there are many people reading this right now who have some pretty strong opinions on liquor, one way or another. Please fill me in on your favorites and what you choose to avoid. I am sincerely interested. I have come to embrace the fact that I am a sweet liquor kind of guy. I have a bottle of blackberry Brandy on the kitchen counter that has been serving me well. I love after dinner drinks, so I guess I will stick to what I like.
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Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
We took the leap. The leap to Costco (finally) up in Enfield, CT…near the border of MA. We have been meaning to do this for a very long time, but never got around to it.
Back at our old house, we were members of Sam’s Club, which is just an extension of Wal-Mart. We got pretty sick of it and didn’t renew our yearly plan. It seemed like there was some sort of stagnation with its stock. My father kept telling me that Costco is much better. I remember Costco from the Danbury location and it was pretty good. My father and I are a little different when it comes to shopping at Costco though. He likes to look at tools and equipment, while I like to look at the heads of lettuce.
One of the main things I was looking for was high quality food, mainly produce, and a big store. We visited BJs in Willimantic earlier in the week and were disappointed. It seemed like an older store and was much smaller than the others. I like to feel like I am in a stadium.
The Enfield Cosco was built in 2004, which means it has all the latest perks, groceries, tire changes, pharmacy, etc…and for those people who need to have dessert while they go food shopping, there is a fast food place. It’s almost sad.
Anyway, membership is $50 and good for a year, so we did it.
Yes, that is the actual Enfield store.
We filled our cart up last night and made out like bandits. I got a 2 1/2 pound bag of spinach and a huge box of veggie burgers, among other things. The prices were pretty good, but you can never really tell. On some stuff, they are definitely better. On other stuff, it’s a little tricky. The good thing is that we don’t need to keep running out to the grocery store for every little thing, like we used to. Now, we just load up the trunk and that’s that. Of course, we are still going to have to go to the regular grocery store for some stuff, but this place helps out a bunch.
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