Michigan is actually very agriculturally diverse and I live in the "fruit ridge", so I can easily get fruit and berries from apples to apricots, cherries to blueberries, beans, asparagus, raspberries, melons. I can't get/grow fresh Meyer lemons and figs, though, except on very rare occasions. My garden provides me with pretty much any vegetable I fancy, except cabbage and brussels sprouts because the groundhogs love them and get them far before they become mature. We have local dairies and so can get any cheese I want, I'm not much of a cheese fan and I did take that cheese making class so I can make mozzarella, feta, ricotta. Cheddar/swiss/provolone/etc can be had at Aldi and it's fine with me. Fortunately, I'm only an hour from Grand Rapids, where I can find Asian groceries, a Mediterranean market, Hispanic items, halal grocery stores, Trader Joe's, Penzey's. The Downtown Market has fresh seafood. The downside is that just because it's available doesn't mean it's affordable, or I'd be eating seafood every day. Somehow Michigan is quite a long way from the ocean, LOL. We also have The Cheese Lady with her 90+ varieties of cheese, many of which I cannot correctly pronounce. (grin) Unless I make that trip, though, my small town is very limited, having no independent or ethic grocers. I would love to get freshly made tortillas, like I did when I lived closer to the migrant centered groceries, and Meyer lemons don't store well, so having them more regularly available would be nice. I don't care about chilies at all, so that's not a problem, but avocados are usually not great, nor is citrus, something about shipping thousands of miles doesn't improve them. jakkom, it's funny about those black walnuts. Here I pick them up in 5 gallon buckets because they turn into missiles when hit with a lawn mower. I dump them in the back of the pasture and hope the squirrels take them. They're a devil to crack, though, I'm assuming you get the nutmeats already removed from the shell? My job used to be to sit on the porch with a hammer, drop a black walnut into a depression Dad made in a board, and whack it until it broke, then Dad would spend evenings picking the nutmeats from the shells and storing them in glass jars in the fridge. I never did like the darned things, too many times whacking my thumb. I probably should have eaten them in revenge! Annie

Olychick, that's a good example of what they do. The other day I bought one of those plastic containers of cherry tomatoes. The checker noticed one of the corners was open, so he had someone get me another one. He then put both containers of tomatoes in my bag and charged me for one. One of my favorite TJ stories was with my stepfather. He was elderly and realized he'd left home without his wallet as they were bagging his groceries. He just had one bag but it was full. The checker told him not to worry and to take the groceries. My mom went the next day to pay for them, and they wouldn't let her. I started shopping there in the late 70's when their one and only store was here in Pasadena. Lots of years of great service!

I lock my car simply because it pulls in the wing mirrors which I think helps the people parking next to me. Are car parking slots getting smaller? Sure seems that way! If I can help it, I do not carry a purse to the grocery. I put my drivers license and a credit card in one pocket of my pants and the key fob in the other pocket. The closest TJ to me is more than an hour and a half away. I might throw a cooler in the car and go twice a year or so. I’m like a kid in a candy store buying stuff I don’t need! I have 2 packages of the puff pastry in my freezer now. Bought it only because I had heard how good it was. I guess I need to find a use for it since I will soon be without a freezer. I’m giving it to DD and DSIL for the 1/2 cow they are buying. @ratherbesewing, regarding TJ cheese…at all costs avoid the low fat Brie! I somehow picked it up by mistake and didn’t notice until I got home. If you have an old rubber ball, just gnaw on it; same texture and taste!

True, but like decent French Plonk, Chuck is remarkably palateable. It's blended from wine lake, which is why it's so cheap, and by blending and tweaking they can make it it taste good. Not like fine wine, but as a pleasing punch to wash down your sandwich. I use it for cooking unless there will vpbe a reduction. The kind of cooking which wrecks the wine anyway. But unpalatable wine wrecks the cooking, so Chuck works just as well as name cheap wines double or triple the price. Speaking of, however, it comes to mind that I've gotten phenominal bargains on quality French champagnes at Tj's.