MM

Now that you know a little bit about my new apartment, I want to tell you about one of my very favorite things about it, and that is it's close proximity to the most fantastic grocery store I have ever seen.


I would like to preface this entry with a note about how much I love grocery stores. I love grocery stores. I really do. I can spend tons of time just sort of wandering around in them, browsing and shopping when it's not too crowded (and when Seth isn't whining for me to hurry up already). I think it relaxes me. Maybe it has something to do with how I felt when I first started driving on my own, and being able to shop by myself for the first time. I used to love going to Brookshire's on Line Ave in Shreveport (the "good" Brookshire's, duh) and browse the ethnic foods and organic stuff no one else had. The most amazing Brookshire's ever was the one we shopped at in Tyler, Tx when we visited Amy and then made a huge dinner with her and her mom. It had kitchen stations set up in the deli where they gave cooking demonstrations, and sold local produce in a mini Farmers' Market out front of the store.


Then I moved to Seattle, and I discovered the QFC (Quality Food Center) in University Village by school (the swankiest suburban shopping center of all time, ever. It also changed my world, but that's another story.). It was where Mom and I shopped when we visited Seattle the first and only time I was here before moving up permanently, and it has a crazy impressive deli and produce section, and local beers. We bought pepperoni, blue cheese, french bread, wine, and a wine opener, and ate in our hotel room (and maybe the car). It was also expensive when I tried to shop there on my own after I moved here for school.


Luckily, there was a Trader Joe's within walking distance of my studio apartment, and that became my standard. I know it has kind of a cult following, but I'm not embarrassed by how much I love it. Organic everything, fabulous cheeses and hummus, and the cheapest and best wine anywhere, easily. I literally would not have survived grad school without it. A little over a year later, after Seth was here and we learned to make a food budget (still in progress) we adventured to Whole Foods. It totally blew Seth's mind, and we got amazing things, but the yuppie factor was a little unbearable (these are, after all, Seattle yuppies), and it's a little expensive for the trip, and we've only been a handful of times.


Then we moved to our new place, and discovered Metropolitan Market.


And seriously, I have no words.


After a long weekend of moving and unpacking and cleaning the first few days in our brand new apartment a few weeks ago, Seth and I were starving, and the fridge was totally empty. We weren't in the mood for pizza, and hadn't yet discovered the fish n chips shop down the street. So, we decided to make a quick run to MM, which we had noticed on our way to our new place.


We were in no way prepared for this experience.


I can almost promise you that when we walked into the store and looked around, Seth and I looked like two country bumpkins that had woken up after a long spell to realize they had been somehow transported to the Big City. I swear to god, we were gawking so hard at everything, people probably thought we had never been in a building with electricity or indoor plumbing before. 


It was UN-REAL.


Luckily, it was also not very crowded, and no one made fun of us for pointing at all the kinds of olives in the olive bar.


(I'll try to hit the high points so we aren't here all night.)

• They specialize in local and organic products. Probably 80% of the products in there are both. Local has become more important to me than organic, mostly because it's cheaper. Also, because I really miss shopping at the farmers' market in our old neighborhood (and how good it made me feel, lol).
• The produce is stacked impeccably. I know this to be true because I cause an avocado/onion/plum/tomato avalanche every time I'm in there.
• Everything is super high quality but not ridiculously expensive. Something about how they use what's ripe/in season and buy directly from farmers to sell directly to consumers. It's kind of like a farmers' market, I think.
• Local dairy products, in glass bottles!
• They also carry lots of normal foods, like Shake n Bake and Cheerios and Betty Crocker cake mix. So you don't get your weird expensive stuff home and go, "now the hell what do I do with this?" (This might just be me.)
• They carry Mario Batali's family's homemade local salami products. I've been dying to try it ever since Anthony Bourdain came here and ate some.
• WINE. (Not as cheap as Trader Joe's, but reasonable. And yummy.)
• Spinach artichoke jalepeno dip. Enough said.
• They carry Cupcake Royale cupcakes
• They carry $125 bottles of balsamic vinegar. (I know. Whaaat?)
• They carry more than one brand of locally made gelato, the proceeds from which go to help local community programs (What? Do you need a better reason to buy more gelato?) (It's also to die for.)

So, for our first night in our new place, we bought, cooked, and ate handmade cheese tortellini and a yummy sauce, bread, sushi, spinach artichoke jalapeño dip, and gelato. We don't go that often, and we try not to spend too much, but good lord almighty, I think I'm home.

I hope I didn't pump it up so much that when you come visit, and we go there, you're not all, "pssh this place isn't all that." But I promise to buy you whatever you want from there for dinner to make it up. As long as it isn't that expensive vinegar.

P.S. They also carry turducken. Just one, frozen. In a box that looks like it's been there for quite a while.