I love Stater Bros.

Stater Brothers is simply a superior grocery store, for a number of reasons. For one thing, they do not feel a need to collect all sorts of personal information before they can sell you groceries at a reasonable price. I guess I'm a little paranoid, but it disturbs me to no end to know the sheer weight of intelligence involved in the effort to lure me into overspending.

Moreover, their normal prices are usually substantially better than the spiffy Club Card prices elsewhere.

And their meat department is the best around. Real, live, knowledgable butchers are very nice things to have around, particularly if your cookbooks tend to call cuts by rather eccentric names.

But the biggest reason I like shopping at Stater Bros. is that the people there are so wonderful and friendly. Everybody knows us, says hi, asks about the rest of the family. The produce guy and I chat about our musical endeavors, and the folks at the bakery know of our penchant for poppy-seed bagels.

But Vons is just around the corner. And when you have three in diapers, convenience trumps all other considerations, at least where grocery shopping is concerned.

With the advent of the Doopah-Mobile, however, convenience is back on Stater Bros. side. Stater Bros. has shopping carts. Oh, Vons has shopping carts, too. And they're perfectly acceptable carts--- unlike the uncontrollable monstrosities that pass for carts at Trader Joes. But Stater Bros. has shopping carts. Spectacular, beautiful carts with cars in front, with room for two wuggies, and even two steering wheels. And we all know how much the wuggies like driving cars. (They love tipping Persephone's swing over so they can sit sideways in the seat, and use the mobile as a "steering wheel"...)

The boys were in rapures when I buckled them in, and they were happy and quiet the whole time I was shopping. I even forgot I had them with me for a moment while I contemplated the price of cream of tartar. (I've been doing a lot of recipes that call for it... but $3.50/oz. is just absurd!) I started to move my cart forward, deciding that my souffles seem to be surviving just fine without, thank you very much, and suddenly I saw a little hand grabbing at Kool-Aid...

...right under my cart.

I almost had a heart attack. I'd just run over a little kid in my shopping cart. The poor thing was going to be maimed for life, because I was too busy contemplating the structural integrity of cheese souffle and lemon merangue pie to notice where I was going.

Nope. Just Mr. Wuggidy, having the time of his life, and unobtrusively letting me get my shopping done.

The boys had fun, and I got my shopping done---at my favoritest grocery story no less. And everywhere we went, folks stopped stocking the shelves to reminisce about childhood memories of make-believe cars.

I'm so glad for my unbelievably real mini-van.