Food glorious food

I find myself compelled, yet again, to write about going to the grocery store. I can't explain my obsession with shopping at The Great, yet I find myself there one, if not TWO times per day. I can feel the dumb grin creep on to my face as I turn down Queensway Boulevard. I quicken my pace as I pass Agnes B. I feel complete elation as I descend down the escalator in Seibu to get to the store. I am not exaggerating here. I am nuts. Come to think of it, imagine having to take an escalator up and down to get to your local Safeway? How would you do it with your cart? They don't even HAVE carts there. You can get a basket and put it on a little wheelie thing, but that's it.

I think the lack of carts is directly conducive to how they want you to shop. Frequently. I think it's more of a social thing, at least for me. It's become much more than just getting food to survive ... these people have become my family and friends!

Last night I somehow got a free vegetarian egg roll. Maybe because she recognized me from getting the samosas the night before? I'm starting to feel self-conscious about this. The tea lady already now consistently flags me down and suckers me into buying another HKD$88 box of loose-leaf tea. "The ginger will make you feel all warm inside, Sir." I somehow forget that it's 75 degrees outside so feeling warm inside too probably isn't a good thing. I think the checkers recognize me too. As I approach in the "queue" I say to myself, "Not the one with glasses ... not the one with glasses .... damn!" It's like playing the slots. The sandwich guy knows that I always want my sandwich cut in half! The gay boy at the coffee bar visually undresses me as I awkwardly avert my eyes while standing in line! It's like Cheers, and I'm Norm.

I love the care they take just putting the food into bags. I've seen them un-do and re-do my bag just to get everything in there just right. Like a little game of Tetris. On the walk home, they are always nicely balanced and no arm gets more tired than the other. It's the little things, I'm telling ya.

Today, for some inexplicable reason, they were playing Christmas music. Not sure why that was, but it was if they somehow knew that I just love Christmas!

Now if I could understand why they only have one flavor of Yoplait yogurt ... key lime pie. There must be some cultural significance, but for me I just think of AC, and how I have to get him to eat healthy food by finding things that taste like candy ...