Grocery shopping? Or friend shopping?

Central Market. This popular Austin grocery store chain is home to a huge variety of organic and conventional produce and amazing food: pecan-crusted salmon, kuri squash, guacamole made to order, a huge salad bar and deli, Texas pralines, and gelato. The store also has an enormous wine selection, several coolers of cheese, a 34-variety olive bar, and...

...cart stealers?

I was wandering aimlessly around the produce section, trying to figure out whether I should buy the .79 per bunch cilantro from Colorado or the .99 organic cilantro from California, and slowly crossing items off my list. I'd just bagged (and price tagged) some jalapenos, when I turned around and... MY CART WAS GONE.

Dang! 20 minutes of hard work, navigating that huge produce section, and my spinach, arugula, bell peppers, carrots, and garlic had disappeared.

Quickly, I scanned the carts around me for my cherry tomatoes which, in their bright red netting, could serve as a beacon. I spotted a woman near the lettuce section pushing a cart that looked a lot like mine.

"Excuse me, I think you might have..." Then I spotted mushrooms. No. This couldn't be my cart. "Actually, sorry! Never mind..."

I told her I'd lost my cart, and she helped me scan the room again. Her friend quickly joined us to help in the search, and I joked about all the hard work that had gone into loading my cart as a Central Market first-timer.

It turns out, they were new, too! "J" has been here for a month and "A" has only been here a week! We all swapped our info and hope to connect soon. Of all the places to meet people -- a grocery store!

Then they turned back to their cart, ready to walk away, when what did I see but my cherry tomatoes! And my spinach, arugula, carrots... "That IS my cart!"

Cart stealers! Who knew they could be such nice people?