The things we do for produce

Chapel Hill basically has only one chain grocery store, Harris Teeter. They do have a few Food Lions, but no one over the age of 25 and income of, oh, 20k shops there. There are nice Food Lions in other parts of the world, but in Chapel Hill they're skanky (apologies to any Chapel Hillians who DO shop there!)

Anyway, there's a Harris Teeter about 2 miles from my house, and also one near my work. I generally do my weekly shopping at the one near my house....but I really don't like it.

I don't know what's happened to that store in the past couple of years, but it's become a real challenge to find good produce there. The squash is battered, the green beans spotty, the peppers squishy, the tomatoes go bad within about two days. The carrots, potatoes and onions are typically OK, but those are not particularly fragile veggies.

So, I've been known to drive ALL the way across town (which, granted, is not very far!) to the HT near my office to do my shopping. But I always felt kinda silly; it's not as if the produce is rotted, it's just a little....blemished.

Well, today as I was going to HT to buy things for my lunch, I saw my neighbor coming out, grocery cart loaded with bags! Apparently I'm NOT the only one who will drive across town for better produce!