To My Neighborhood Trader Joe's

Dear Trader Joe's,

Why are you so awesome?
It probably has to do with the fact that you sell me a bag of baby-spinach for $1.99 every week. Or maybe because I can find a quart of milk for a dollar? Or perhaps it's because you now stock both regular-rummy-vanilla and chocolate Canneles de Bordeaux?

(And who can forget the yogurt and hummus selections? There are just enough options to render me quite "Hamlet".)

Your array of chicken broth always makes my heart sing. (Actually, it makes me sing. And then I get stared at. And then I desperately attempt to look like I have just sneezed an incredible song-like sneeze. Yes, it would be very incredible.) Low-Sodium? Check. Organic and Gluten-free? Check, check. The-Regular-Discreetly-Named-WITH-SODIUM--style? Check, check, check!

And then there's your chocolate section......Let's not go there. Too much goodness in one aisle!

Oh and the cheese!
One of your very friendly employees introduced me to Saint André today and I think I have fallen quite madly in love. Who could resist such a wonderful triple-cream? (Actually, I was a bit skeptical when I first tasted it; but then I discovered that it is very similar to Brie, the god of all soft cheeses, and that made it quite all right.) Saint André triple-cream is taller than a Brie and has a very fun consistency: crumbly towards the middle and more spreadably soft nearer to the outer skin. (Perfect for those who enjoy the texture of goat cheese but not the flavor. Though I suppose I should learn to like the flavor of goat cheese...) It is an exceedingly rich cheese (75% milkfat?) that tastes oh-so-buttery and the tiniest bit tangy.
Mmm.
Trader Joe's, thank you for selling Saint Andrés triple-cream.
We enjoyed it with our Hobbity-supper this evening. (Crispy fried potato-bacon-thyme patties, anyone? Oh, and some of that spinach.)

Yes, Trader Joe's, I will admit that I often seek relief from end-of-the-term-stress by perusing your shelves and air-violining to whatever classical piece you have playing. (Great choice in music, by the way. Especially on a Saturday morning.) I probably frighten your Hawaiian-shirt-clad employees even though they are kind enough not to mention it.
Send them all a box of Joe's O's. (And a dollar to buy the accompanying milk.)

I will be seeing you again soon.
Very soon.

With much love,
-Miss P. McGillies