A favorite grocery store is a very personal thing. First off, it depends upon whether one cooks or not, because priorities are different. When I lived on the “left coast” I had the luxury of a farm stand, Trader Joe’s and a major grocery chain a few feet away from each other. I’d start at the farm stand, move on to TJ’s and then the grocery chain store if needed.
I loved Trader Joe’s and miss them for the past five years we’ve been in Texas. Chowhound recently had a TJ’s forum and I didn’t write in. I must confess to taking 15 minutes at TJ’s while Mom was in hospice to buy French flat sponges, plastic dish scrubbies and a hunk of parmesan cheese. I didn’t really need the cheese but the others are staples in my kitchen.
At home, Central Market is a culinary mecca. I don’t get there often, perhaps six times per year. That’s where I go for exotic vegetables, any meat my heart desires, breads and cheeses. Also they sharpen 1-2 of my knives I can’t sharpen myself, the 10″ chef and 7″ Granton edge Santoku as the first is too big for me to use a stone and the second requires a specific and different angle.
Spec’s is a wonder in that it is a deli, specialty foods store and liquor and wine depot like no other. They also have esoteric beverages for Jim like original Dr. Pepper with Imperial sugar, or strange brands of root beer. This is where I buy many of our cheeses, pasta and vino. Over the holidays they sell fresh lebkuchen and it is marvelous, especially that no-one around me likes it so I get it all to myself.
A serious nod goes to Randall’s Midtown, my grocery store. The people are friendly, prices are lower than elsewhere and their produce and butchery people are fantastic. If I’m stuck in an aisle someone comes up and asks if I’m finding everything I’m looking for, when I’m having a “senior moment” and can’t remember the last item on my mental grocery list. The checkers are great and tell me that with my club card I’m entitled to 36 eggs for the price of 18 and I run back to get another. The manager deserves kudos for hiring and maintaining such a qualified team, and I haven’t yet gotten to the security guards! Or the florist. Kudos to all.
Wherever we end up in the next few weeks we would like to thank the people who put food on our table every day. Sometimes I mess it up. Rarely. I like to take good ingredients and treat them well with little muss or fuss. If this is our Texas farewell, we’d like to take all of you with us! Cheers, Dee
Cooking with Dee 
I just wrote TJ’s which showed up on the blog. Years ago when Jim was out of work in the dot-bomb era, he’d been working for a start-up and was last-hired, I shopped at TJ’s and the farm stand as he still had freshly-squeezed Valencia oranges every morning.
We ate on less than $10 per day including TJ cereal for breakfast. If there was a dollar left it went to ninety-nine cent daffodils for our kitchen table. Anything is possible with a good meal in one’s tummy and flowers on the table.