Grocery shopping

I have friends who call it 'the food store'. While part of me revolts against the aural horror of that phrase, the logician in me finds it hard to argue. Which is why I say I 'have' friends, instead of using the past tense 'had'.

I tend to treat trips to the grocery store like visits to the red light district; I go late at night, hoping that no one will see me, that I'll be able to get in and out quickly, and that the goods will still be fresh after everyone else has picked through them earlier in the day. Last week - I think it was Thursday night on the way back from a meeting at church - I went to the Superfresh which is less than a mile from my new home. I hadn't been there yet, and while I was fairly certain it would be more expensive than the Food Lion I am accustomed to frequenting, it is close, so I figured I should check it out.

Well.
The boxes of clementines (ALWAYS CHECK THE BOXES!!) were labeled June 21st. And one didn't have to poke one's finger through the plastic mesh to tell that these clementines couldn't recall even the highlights of their better days. Yes, I did poke anyway. Also, their chicken (all sorts) was priced highly. They Did Not Have Grapefruit. The yogurt that I found was tagged at 1.09 apiece, unless you had a Special Card (or whatever they call them), in which case it was 40 cents. Great. They didn't even have no-brand bagged rice, which was a shame until I realized it was a good excuse to learn how to cook rice by measuring water. This was actually a success on Saturday when Gavin and Janet came over to eat Indian Food, so I guess that's just as well.

I was pretty disappointed, as you can tell. I'm not sure that I won't go back, but I sure would love to see 32oz bags of chicken nuggets that cost less than $4.50, in lieu of the $5, 280z ridiculousness they were trying to foist upon me on Thursday. No. Thank. You.