Mumblings and Musings…

I am glad to be living in California, but, there are a couple of places in Austin that I have been missing terribly. It is funny, the things that you miss when you move away from home.

What I really miss….is the food! Now, this is not to say that I am not overjoyed with the multitude of fabulous restaurants and farm fresh produce in the Bay Area. But, it is not just the food that I am missing…it is the memories that go with the delectable fare, the atmosphere of the restaurant, the location, the overall sensory experience.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this post might turn into one of many similarly themed posts on Austin restaurants, however, here is one that I have been pining for recently:

Whole Foods. Now, I know what you are thinking. There is a Whole Foods in every state in the U.S. and it is a grocery store, for pete’s sake. This is true. But, you obviously haven’t been to the Whole Foods (world headquarters) in Austin. It is located right in the middle of downtown….it used to be a five minute walk from my house. It is massive. It puts all other ones I have seen to shame, especially the piddly little one where I live. There are several outdoor dining areas with vine covered trellises and even a babbling brook(natural looking, not cheesy). And inside, I am never sure what I want to do first. I could grocery shop, glide my cart along EVER so slowly from aisle to aisle until I have racked up a bill that could pay for a plane ticket home. I could just pretend to look at the miles of delectable and freshly made prepared foods while I actually checked out the astonishingly good looking people all around me. ( expensive healthy food sure draws expensive healthy looking people) I could also order a scrumptious sandwich, each one designed and named after a local Austin landmark, sit and order fresh pasta or seafood and a glass of wine from one of several little restaurants set up inside, or get some awesome sushi. The list goes on.

One of my favorite things to do on a weeknight, was to walk down to Whole Foods and meet a group of friends. Everyone would separate and wander the store, picking up objects of desire and we would all convene on the upstairs patio with our plunder. We would share wine, and whatever else we had gotten…usually, cheeses, bread, olives, and fresh fruits. We would then visit and eat until we were just stuffed enough that we could still go back down and get a freshly made gelato from the gelato bar. The night would end with another five minute walk(or more if so inspired) back to my house, under the twinkling night sky.

thanks to wordridden for the great photo…nice looking Whole Food’s sandwich!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.