Wowed by Wegmans

Another highlight of our road trip to Pennsylvania this past weekend was the visit (or visits, since we went three times in 24 hours) to Wegmans. That's right, a grocery store.

Topher and his parents were already huge fans and were looking forward to it the whole drive, but I'd never been before and wasn't sure what all the fuss was about - boy, was I impressed!

Wegmans isn't just any grocery store, as customers in the Northeast can attest. It has an amazing array of fresh vegetables, meats and seafood (whole red snapper! live lobster!), plus a café that offers pizza, subs, sushi, pasta, Chinese, Indian, and other hot dishes.

The deli counter tempted me with summer harvest pasta salad (corn & lima beans with either rotelle or fiori pasta) and curry chicken salad.

They had an entire alcove devoted to tea -- literally hundreds of different flavors and varieties.

They had pre-made cheese plates with walnuts and dried apricots & cranberries, and a full case of goat cheese & goat milk, both plain & chocolate!

And the Mediterranean bar featured olives I'd never even heard of: Cerignola, Maddelena, Mantequilla, Piccante, Picholilne, and Nicoise-Coquillo.

The bakery was our downfall: on Saturday my in-laws split a fruit tart, and I shared a chocolate croissant with Topher. On Sunday, we arrived just after they opened and picked up breakfast & snacks for our drive -- fresh baked glazed and sour cream donuts (still warm!), and low-fat blueberry, whole wheat bran, and whole wheat pumpkin muffins. I was eyeing the pretzel rolls and cheese rolls but decided they weren't really breakfast foods.

Too bad the closest Wegmans is in Fredericksburg (northern Virginia), almost three hours away. :(

Note: Both photos in this post are from here.