(this is annie)

One of the things I miss about living in New York is the ease of grocery shopping. It was so easy to just pop into a little fruit and vegetable store and pick up materials for a fresh dinner. In Chicago, however, the supermarket reigns supreme. Sure, there are corner delis in my neighborhood, but the produce isn't always fresh, and the closest one to my house smells like braunschweiger.

This is why I usually shop at either the independent grocery near my workplace, the Jewel at Ashland and Milwaukee, or the Cub Foods on Elston. Word on the street is that Jewel is the place to go if you want to pick up a hipster date along with your food; personally, when I think "grocery" I'm thinking about snacky goodness and nothing else—but if you're interested in making a love connection in the freezer aisle, Cub Foods is a better option. Why Cub Foods and not Jewel? Some ideas:

1. Geographic location near Target and between Logan Square and Wicker Park neighborhoods provides easy shopping; Jewel is part of a strip mall with awkward parking and a depressing K-mart. The choice is easy.

2. Despite its close proximity to indie-rock neighborhoods, the Ashland Jewel is often scummy; Cub Foods is generally clean and almost too brightly lit.

3. Cub Foods does not make its shoppers use "preferred cards" to get savings, which is bound to draw sexy politicos who don't want to give up their private information just to get a two-fer on Steak-Umms.

4. Jewel usually has two, tree (that's how they say it in Chicago) lanes open, tops. That has nothing to do with supermarket lovin', but it has everything to do with driving me up the wall.

Ugh, sorry, this is boring. See! See what happens when I force myself to write something every day?