The Secret of the Temple of Food

Just two days after my first visit to Food Shrine, I found myself in need of another grocery trip. So, off I went with my youngest three in tow. It was every bit as crazy as before, if not more so, and I ended up parking in front of the old Great Falcon, wondering why it was again that I couldn't just shop there instead. The first step was to load the kids up for shopping. I found that the new Food Shrine carts have a little circle built into the handle area which can serve as a cup holder or a bouquet holder (as indicated by the words on the handle bar). Somehow I don't think it was designed with sippy cups for child passengers in mind.

We didn't have the cart for long, though, since one of the coveted "car" carts was waiting for us at the store, a big blue race car with side-by-side seats and steering wheels for my boys. It was nice for a while, but soon enough the true nature of the seating arrangement came out: "the better to hit you with, my dear [brother]." So, we wound our way through the store, squeezing through crowds of people surrounding sample tables in search of frozen chicken, vinegar, barbecue sauce, and other such mundane items for our lunch the next day, punctuating the buzz of foodies with periodic cries from battered brothers. While waiting at the check out line, two people sized us up and said, "Wow. Can't believe you came here with three kids!" Yeah. You and me both.

So, after all that, it was not surprising that I was less than excited this morning to find us out of milk and eggs. Since Dad took the car today (i.e. the one that actually goes more than one direction), my shopping options were rather limited. I made cinnamon toast for the kids' breakfast and schemed about how to squeak through as long as possible without milk. Finally, though, I gave up and headed off to the store with my youngest three, this time strollered and front-packed, as we were going after taking my oldest to school. Amazingly, things were quite a bit less hectic, at least in part of the building. And so it was that we discovered the secret of Food Shrine: they've got a regular grocery store hiding in the midst of all that gourmet stuff!

Yes, indeed they do, and while the gourmet and prepared food sections were still fairly crowded, the grocery section was actually not that much busier than on a typical day at the old Great Falcon. True, I didn't know any of the cashiers checking people out (I knew almost all of them before), but the lines were reasonable, and we came through the experience with minimal trauma. All we had to do was stay out of the gourmet stuff. So, if any visitors to my world should be interested in touring the Food Shrine, be sure to let me know so that I can show you the secret section, too. Amazing how they managed to fit a grocery store in there with everything else. I just might go there again sometime soon. :)