So I thought it would be nice to stay cozy at home, having some of that cheese with a nice glass of red wine, watching a movie while the weather outside ran wild. But then I also thought that I didn't have any such Brie at home that day, so I would have to put my warm clothes back on again and then drive under that stormy weather down to Trader Joe’s in Santa Barbara to get it.

That last thought didn't sound very appealing, so I said, "Nah. I'm not going anywhere. The Camembert I have in the fridge should do the trick." I always had some wine at home during those days, so I wouldn't have any problem enjoying my cheese with a nice glass of red.

But when I thought of going to the kitchen to slice the Camembert, the thought of having some fruit-stuffed Brie en Croute came rushing back into my mind again, this time in a much more vivid manner. The fact is I really used to like that kind of cheese at the time and I knew that the only place I could get it was at Trader Joe’s in Santa Barbara. "Oh, come on Sal," I said to myself, "there is a big difference between the Camembert you have in the fridge and the fruit-stuffed Brie en Croute you have in mind. Come on man! Go get it!" 

I looked again outside my window at the trees shaking and the fence bending under the force of the wind and said to myself one more time "Nah! I'm not going anywhere." Still, when I thought again about the Camembert in the fridge I couldn't help but to picture how good it would be to have a nice warmed-up Brie en Croute instead. This time I even imagined quite clearly how good that Brie en Croute would taste. So I said to myself once again "Come on man! Go get that cheese!"

And there I stood, in the middle of my living room, looking outside my window, thinking about the Brie for a few moments, until I gave in and said: "OK. Enough of this, I'm going to go get that cheese right away." So I put my scarf, my jacket and my hat back on and headed out the door, leaving the lights and the TV on.

Trader Joe’s is rather close to Summerland, and winged by the wind it felt like I made it there in a whiff. Once at the store I grabbed a shopping basket, went directly to the cheese section and threw in a couple of Brie en Croute. But when I found myself standing basket-in-hand in the middle of the store, I decided to take a look around and see what other goodies they had that night that might be worth taking back home with me.

Trader Joe’s is a chain store quite famous in California for the different food products they import from around the world. They also have their own brand of canned foods which are almost always very good. In general, the products one finds at Trader Joe’s are of good quality, particularly when considering their relatively low prices.

So I threw a couple of bottles of French wine in the basket, some ice cream and a couple of other things and then decided it was time to go back home. Up to the moment when I stepped out of Trader Joe’s the whole shopping trip must have taken me some 30 minutes or so, including the time I stood in line at the cash register.