Don't live in Az right now, Nativeblue. And I miss it. There's a privately owned chain of stores there called AJ's Fine Foods that I'd love to get to go back to, especially this time of year. Get this, every store has a sommelier (sp? wine steward). Geez... The things you mentioned, great choices. The Trader Joe's I went to was in town. Didn't have a sushi bar. They did sell pre-made sushi but even where I live now, a lot of the grocery stores offer that. That's another thing I miss - we had restaurants close by that offered those various cuisines you mentioned. Now I AM getting hungry!

erstwhile: Whenever I hit the stores in Lancaster, I head to the lebanon bologna, frizz beef, sweet bologna, and the snack food aisles. I tell you, I have NEVER seen ANYWHERE potato chip and pretzel aisles like you see in Lancaster! It's like Lancaster is the Snack Food Capital of the World! And of course, tasty-kakes, god love 'em. On their website they feature a raspberry tandy take (I guess they call those Kandy Kakes now) but I have never been able to find them on the shelves in any of the stores.

I have a brother who ships me Hammond's pretzels by the case, fresh from the bakery on West End Avenue. Ahhhhh, there is nothing finer than an extra salty, fresh Hammond's pretzel. The tasteless brown things that pass for pretzels anywhere else but southeastern PA are pitiful.

erst: I'm sitting here looking at my EMPTY green Hammond's can. Now I am really REALLY hungry! Hammond's are my favorite.

harv1: You can buy them online now, Hammonds has a website. But the pretzels are individually wrapped, which kind of riuns it for me. My Christmas party every year features a bowl of Hammond's exta salty next to a pot of melted bittersweet chocolate. Who knew that perfection could get more perfect?!

My wife and I do the same thing, making a trip to the TJs near King of Prussia every other month or so to stock up. The closest I can get to TJs around here is the back wall section at Stouffers of Kissel Hill in Lititz. The selection pales in comparison to TJs, but its somewhat better than nothing.

I very much long for a TJs, or whole foods, or some place that sells interesting food around here.

Later....Shawn