Trader Joe's

One of the many aspects I love about living here in California is how kind, friendly, and easy-going the people are.  Complete strangers will strike up conversations with me at the parks, people in the store will make a fuss over my girls, drivers will wait patiently behind a car stalled at a green light.  It's basically the complete opposite of our experience in DC (sorry my easterner friends).

Nowhere do I feel this positive vibe more than at Trader Joe's.  This is the first time I've shopped at TJ's, and while I usually can't stand grocery shopping, I can't get enough of TJ's.  Everything is so easy to find, reasonably priced, and the people who work there (albeit somewhat hippyish) are so dang helpful.  Every time I turn around there is someone in front of me asking if they can help me find something, and I usually take them up on their offer.  Last time I was there an employee helped me look all over the store for my lost keys last seen in Caroline's hands.  He eventually found them out on the sidewalk.


And every time I go through the check-out the cashier finds some way to compliment me or make me feel better.  Today it was, "Your total is $52.65.  Well done!"  Like I just achieved something monumental.  He engaged me in conversation as he scanned my items.  "Are you a vegetarian?"  "No." I replied. But for some reason I felt flattered he would think that.  As he scanned my asparagus he told me about how just last night he made the most delicious asparagus and then proceeded to give me step-by-step instructions.  "First you cut the asparagus in one inch pieces.  Then you saute them in olive oil and garlic.  Next you steam them in chicken broth, but not for long because there is nothing worse than over-cooked asparagus."   He then saw that I was buying a tarte d'Alsace, a kind of flatbread pizza.  He asked, "Have you had these before?"  "Yes."  He was silent for a minute but I guess he couldn't resist the urge to offer his own two cents, "Can I just tell you?  Try baking it directly on the oven rack, and put a cookie sheet on the rack beneath it to catch the drippings.  The entire crust will turn out crispy.  The tarte needs to be properly ventilated and if it's baked on a cookie sheet, it will be brown on the edges, but soggy in the center.  And there's nothing worse than soggy pizza."  (Except  for over-cooked asparagus I suppose.)  He wasn't being weird, I swear, he was just being helpful.   


I am already mourning the day we will have to move from here, and leaving TJ's behind, or rather the people who work at TJ's behind, has something to do with that.  There is something to be said for those "dang hippies" after all.