WELL PLAYED, WHOLE FOODS

I end up staying a little later at work today, then I run errands.  I'm trying to get myself ready for a family trip to North Carolina to see my eldest and his family for a celebration.  I need to organize myself, and I start texting my other two kiddos -- "Anyone around later?  Doing laundry?  Having dinner?"

Turns out that I have the evening alone.

This means I'm not cooking nor thinking about what to get for take-out, so after finishing my errands, I make a stop at my new favorite go-to place for food on the run:  Whole Foods.

I start at the seafood counter, but I decide I'm not really in the seafood mood.  I near the prepared food area, but I'm too lazy to make a decision.  I head over to the packaged prepared foods -- I am so incredibly predictable -- and grab my usual: single tuna salad wrap and a small Caesar salad.

I pass by the vegetable rolls with peanut sauce, to which I am strangely addicted, but the pizza grabs me.  I can barely believe that my quick escape is being thwarted by, of all things, Whole Foods pizza.  I mean, I'm a purist.  I like my pizza straight from the pizza parlor.

I see the pizza is now self-serve.  I don't even need to bother an employee to get at it.

I grab a triangular pizza box and eye the different concoctions.  So many choices, so little stomach.  My attention falls on a pizza I've never tried before.  The pizza has a white sauce on it and lots of cheese with broccoli and artichoke on top.  Not only does this sound like a great combination, but it looks and smells fabulous.

But, I already have tuna and a Caesar salad.  I even bought myself a block of Cabot cheese to start attacking.  But, nothing stops me.  I grab a huge slab of that pizza and secure the cardboard around it.  By the time I get my purchase out to the car, the smell of the pizza is making me salivate so badly that I am practically foaming at the mouth.

Yes, I scarf down that pizza, barely giving it time to zap in the microwave, though it's still warm from the store.  Yes, I can claim I need a quick meal to finish my packing for the NC trip.  Yes, I'd be lying.

Truth is I just want the pizza, and trying to rationalize my spur of the moment purchase doesn't change the fact that the slice I eat is some of the best damn pizza I've ever tasted.  Well played, Whole Foods.  Very well played.