On our recent trip to California, we stopped at a Fresh & Easy neighborhood market to pick up a couple bottles of wine to bring to dinner.  We emerged with two bottles of wine, a twelve-pack of beer, a one-pound package of grapes, a bag of spinach artichoke tortilla chips, and an apple that CJ and Oliver fought over shared on the way to Hollywood.  All for about $20.

But Fresh & Easy has so much going for it that the prices are only a small part of the appeal.  Before our trip, I chatted with a couple friends here in Denver who’ve heard about Fresh & Easy from friends and family in LA, and I was surprised to hear that low prices didn’t top the list of reasons why they like to shop there.  Instead, it was the accessibility of the stores, Fresh & Easy’s community involvement, and the quality and simplicity of the selection that they cited.

Hear that, megastore-that-shall-remain-nameless?  Low prices aren’t everything.

The Fresh & Easy we visited in Glassell Park was austere, but well-stocked and immaculate.  It wasn’t large, but the aisles were wide, the shelves didn’t tower over me (I always hated how Manhattan groceries were jam-packed floor to ceiling), and I’ll reiterate how clean it was.  Cleanliness always makes a favorable impression on me.

The selection was very basic: a few name brands, plus the Fresh & Easy brand, for each type of item.  But here’s what struck me - I gravitated to the Fresh & Easy brands.  Simple packaging, with appealing descriptions and visible contents.  Plus, the prices were outstanding.  There were so many items I wanted to try, I wished I were shopping for my own pantry and refrigerator.

Did we like what we bought?  Definitely.  The wine was good - I chose a couple bottles bearing the “selected especially for Fresh & Easy” sticker, along with a $4 price tag - and the chips and grapes kept the kids happily satisfied and out of the minibar.  Kyle grumbled that the beer was bland, but the man drinks Natty Light every night - when did he get so picky?

I also noticed the diversity among our fellow shoppers.  Unlike some specialty groceries that seem to be populated exclusively by young white couples, I saw a wide variety of ages and ethnicities at Fresh & Easy.  Which made me smile, because eating healthfully should be important to everyone.

Fresh & Easy markets are currently located only in southern California, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, with planned expansion to northern California.  I realize that they’re working to get the model down pat before opening stores in other locations, but I can’t help being a bit impatient for them to get to Colorado.  Yes, I was that impressed.

Have you visited Fresh & Easy?  What did you think?

…well, you know.  It rhymes with “grass”.

I looove peanut butter.  I’ve always loved it in combination with chocolate, or in a PB&J sandwich - strawberry jam and soft white bread for me, please.  It’s good on crackers, and it helped me gag down celery sticks, forced upon me by my father who never believed my claims that celery makes my tongue numb.

Dad, I get at least ten Google search hits a day for “celery makes my tongue numb”.  It’s true!

Similar to my feelings for whipping cream and soft cheese, my love for peanut butter has only grown as I’ve gotten older, just like my posterior.  Now I like it in sauces and spreads and even straight from the jar.  At a time when my derriere can least afford my love for peanut butter, that love has reached an all time high, thanks to Maranatha peanut butter.

Regular peanut butter, the kind you find in mass quantities on the grocery shelves, is delicious, no doubt.  But Maranatha’s organic no-stir peanut butter blows the old stuff away.

It’s not nearly as sugary, which makes it ideal for cooking.  My kids still dig the Skippy, but their taste buds are unsophisticated, so they can’t appreciate taste variations the way that Kyle and I do.  When I tried the Maranatha, I could immediate taste the difference.

Not all foods that go by the same name are created equal.  For example, anything from 80/20 beef (or worse, those frozen JTM hockey pucks) to ground sirloin can be called a hamburger.  The same is true for peanut butter, and Maranatha is definitely at the ground sirloin end of the spectrum.

It’s expensive - I’ll get that out of the way right now.  A 16-ounce jar at Target cost me $4.99.  So unless the kids want to pay for it out of their allowance, I’m going to hoard my Maranatha for my own PB&J sandwiches, sharing it only with Kyle if he feels like cooking something with peanut butter.

Who am I kidding?  It doesn’t matter whether or not he feels like it; I’ve already started bookmarking recipes for him to try, because this peanut butter’s taste is so pure that it’s ideal for cooking.  Oh, and eating it straight from the jar too.

Want to try Maranatha peanut butter for yourself? I’ve got five coupons, each for a free jar (up to $4.99 value).  Get it at Whole Foods or Kroger or Target or wherever else you’ve already seen it - it’s popping up more and more.

Before midnight Sunday, leave a comment to tell me how you like your peanut butter - in cookies, on crackers, slathered on a celery stalk, smothering your chicken satay.  I’ll choose five commenters at random (US only, please).

There’s a lot of green stuff I don’t do.  At the risk of inciting outrage, I’ll make a few confessions: I don’t recycle, I don’t compost, and I absolutely adore Viva paper towels.  If Viva ever needs a spokesblogger, I’m their woman.

However, I’ll also toot my own horn on a few points of greenery: I drive a hybrid, I’m replacing burned out incandescent bulbs with CFLs, and I absolutely adore my Flip & Tumble reusable bags.

The lovely people at Stubby Pencil Studio sent me a set of four Flip & Tumble Loopt bags last Christmas - not for review, just as a gift - and I’m never without them.

That’s the first thing that I love about these bags; they roll up and secure with elastic, and they fit perfectly at the bottom of my handbag.  Unlike my big canvas totes, I don’t even have to think about bringing them to the grocery store with me.  They are simply always there.  When I unpack the groceries, I roll up the bags and pop them back in my handbag.

Yes, I suppose I could take my big canvas totes back out to the car after I’ve unpacked them, but that’s not always convenient.  Plus, for apartment-dwellers, it’s definitely not convenient to take the bags directly back out to the car.  Flip & Tumble eliminates that problem entirely.

I also love these bags because they’re so roomy and strong and lightweight.  They’re made from polyester, and I’m amazed by how much they’ll hold.  They’re also easily laundered in the event that one of your grocery items springs a leak or gets squashed.

Finally, I have to admit that I love the colors of these bags.  Sure, a store-brand reusable bag is functional and cheap, but it’s nowhere near as cute.  Think I’m being frivolous?  Fine.  But I’ll bet my bags are cuter than yours.

And since Stubby Pencil Studio is all about eco-friendly products, I suppose I can add my love for their store to the list of ways in which I’m actually pretty green after all.

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I may love my paper towels, but it helps that I prefer to use them with cleaners like Nature’s Source.  Want more ideas for living naturally?  Check out the posts at this week’s PBN Blog Blast!

Hi.  My name is Julie, and I’m addicted to cleaning.

Is that bad?  Do I need an intervention?

My ten year old self would be astounded at my thirty-seven year old self.  Not only do I have three kids and a husband, but I can’t stand messes.  My ten year old self was a champion messmaker with absolutely no attention to detail when forced to clean up those messes.

Who cares about crumbs?  There are books to read and bikes to ride!

I’m also getting to be quite picky about the cleaners I use, which is something that would astound even my thirty year old self.  No more Comet powder or Windex with ammonia or Clorox bleach.  I don’t care what the commercials say; that stuff is bad for you.  Bad to breathe, bad for your home, and bad for your nails.  Also, extremely bad if your kids get a hold of it.

So while I may be addicted to cleaning, I’m moving away from the hard stuff to a kinder, gentler clean that’s still just as clean.

The laundry liquid and pure oxygen whitener from Ecostore USA are great examples of that kinder, gentler clean.  The laundry liquid is made from plant-based ingredients like palm and coconut surfactants (the ingredients in detergent that allow water to clean away oil and dirt), plus eucalyptus oil which smells absolutely heavenly.  The oxygen whitener includes mineral salts, sodium percarbonate, and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).

I like that both of these products include ingredients that I understand, even without a degree in Chemical Engineering.  I love the eucalyptus scent that wafts out of my laundry room too.  There’s some debate online regarding the advantages of oleochemicals (the surfactants used in this laundry liquid) versus petrochemicals (the surfactants used in most laundry detergents), but as with most debates, there’s evidence on both sides.  Is my laundry cleaner?  Honestly, I don’t know.  I can’t say that I’ve noticed a difference either way, and since none of us have sensitive skin, I can’t make a judgment on that basis.

As with any household cleaning products, these should obviously be kept out of kids’ reach.  But on the flip side, I can be reassured that if my kids get a hold of Ecostore USA products, there really aren’t any nasty chemicals in there.

In fact, No Nasty Chemicals is their tagline.  While I can’t pronounce all the ingredients in each of their products, I have to commend them for listing the ingredients in full - something rarely seen on other household cleaning products.

Finally, their products are definitely pricey - $11 for one liter of laundry liquid - but they’re also concentrated so that a little goes a long way.  Personally, I’m impressed by how many loads of laundry I’ve been able to do in the last month, and both the laundry liquid and whitener are only about half gone.

Buy Ecostore USA products on their site!

Much of my undergraduate coursework focused on microbiology, and the two most unnerving classes I ever took were Human Parasitology and Food Microbiology.  While I was fairly disgusted by much of what I saw, it certainly did convince me to take precautions to protect myself - and now my family too - against germs.

That said, I hate anti-bac gel.  It smells funny, it feels funny, it dries out your hands, and it leaks.  And for Pete’s sake, would someone please explain why there are anti-bac gel dispensers alongside soap dispensers and sinks in restrooms?  A quick swipe of anti-bac gel does not absolve you of the responsibility to WASH your hands after using the restroom.  And if you’ve already washed thoroughly and you don’t aspire to create super-germs, then why do you need the gel?

We moved to Denver nearly two years ago, and we’re still adjusting to the aridity of the climate.  It’s especially hard on my girls’ skin, especially in the winter.  Anti-bac gel is out of the question; regular handwashing (with hand lotion applied afterward) is our routine.

But I took the girls - and some CleanWell hand sanitizer - to the zoo on Monday.  I love the zoo, but let’s be honest:  it’s gross.  Nearly everything is outside, so it’s covered in grime.  Kids cling to the guardrails and press their noses against the glass.  And when you do run across a restroom, you really don’t feel any cleaner even after you wash your hands.  Other than Disney World, I can’t really think of a better place to try out a new hand sanitizer.

I’ll admit it; I’ve been converted.  This stuff is great.

It doesn’t smell funny.  It doesn’t feel funny.  It doesn’t dry out your hands - ask my older daughter, whose hands get dry and itchy thanks to mere handwashing - and the pump spray bottle and sealed towelettes eliminate leaking entirely.

Count me in with the rest of the anti-bac crowd, because I truly don’t see any reason NOT to carry and use CleanWell.

Check out the rest of the CleanWell reviews, courtesy of our fantastic bloggers at The Parent Bloggers Network.