I returned from my two week trip to Santa Cruz, CA and Seattle a week ago (I'll cover that later) to a fridge empty but for the case of beer. Well, one can only survive on beer for so long so I finally made the trip to my "neighborhood" grocery store: Publix. To be honest, I had been dreading this trip, not only due to the lack of bicep strength required to carry those groceries upstairs, but also because I was afraid I had become spoiled by the beautiful Natural Food shops and the Oh So Incredible Trader Joe's that is one of the things I miss the most about home. Santa Cruz is filled with market's like New Leaf, that specializes in local and organic produce and goods. Their aisles are filled with exotic cheeses and olive bars and their produce displays resemble a sculpture garden of California's rainbow of fresh fruits and vegetables.
I walked into Publix ready to scoff at their pitiful offerings and return to write about how much better California stores will always be, when something happened: I started to see snippets of things I remembered from home. Product after product, though I had been to this store a hundred times before, I kept discovering my favorite foods, or at least acceptable substitutes.
Here's the "Natural Foods Section." Though it's only one aisle, it still has many of my favorite foods! Note the all "natural" Cheetos.
Santa Cruz! My home! I almost cried when i saw this!
Despite the fact that the vegetables are wrapped more securely than Christmas presents and are from exotic places like Chile and Belize, they have a good selection of fruits. I left Publix $100 poorer, but much much happier that I found so many things I love to eat. A small selection:
Included in these prize offerings are Cage Free eggs, 3 for $1 Kiwis (OMG!), sliced Papaya, organic lettuce and produce, a rotisserie chicken, fresh baked goods, amazing Spinach Nuggets, and of course, the most amazing Barefoot Sauvignon Blanc!
Half a rotisserie chicken, fresh salad with bakery croutons and (which may be apparent in this post) three glasses of wine later, I found myself writing this success story. My purchases at Publix made me believe that I can continue to live in Florida just a little bit longer, that I still have hope stores like Publix will keep carrying my favorite things and adding more, that maybe we'll keep getting produce that's up there with my lofty standards. I have adjusted to life here, but no matter how good Publix is, there is something about my organic, local, produce-filled markets from back home that will always be Dinstinctly Californian.
Strawberries from my old home Watsonville, CA and blueberries from my new one Winter Haven, FL.
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