I feel like a whole person only when I have curry simmer sauce, black beans, Quaker Oatmeal Squares, and a freezer full of frozen vegetables. Thank God, therefore, for Trader Joe's.
Grocery shopping in DC is not pleasant. The lack of legitimate grocery stores, the bewildering likelihood that Safeway has sold out of sandwich meat, 15 minute checkout lines and a lack of basic produce has thus far been the source of my ever-present, cavewoman-like anxiety about basic survival. My friend checked two stores on Sunday -- no mint! Who doesn't have organic fresh mint, I ask you? How in the hell do people make mojitos??
I therefore am all the more quick to count my blessings due to the proximity of a Trader Joe's (I think seven blocks away or so; pretty much nothing unless you buy both laundry detergent and wine -- then it feels much farther). Food is important. A quality diet is even more importanter. I finally have my shallots, my multigrain pilaf, my rose salami and apriums. Such good stuff!
Even more exciting is trying to fit all of this into a dorm mini-fridge! The top of my clothes-filled dresser has converted itself into my TJ pantry. I have been "marketed like a bitch," as Chris would say (thanks, Chris). But tomorrow I get to have a spinach salad with feta vinagrette, as well as apple smoked chardonnary sausage, for lunch, and I'm going to sleep better for it.
That said, I guess I'll grant that high-quality, plentiful food is truly a shining gem in Oregon's crown, and hardly something I would have expected to have to scramble for in the nation's capital. The Safeway located in the Watergate's basement (yes, The Watergate) feels like a trip to a nihilistic third world nation. Trader Joe's is a beacon of affordable normality.
That's all I'll say about food for now. :)
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