Winging it at Wegman's

Instead of driving 20 minutes in the rain to downtown Leesburg to find the Ah!laska organic chocolate syrup my kids have gotten used to after I weaned them off Hershey’s, I thought I’d take a chance and check Wegman’s. I usually go to Wegman’s when I want something special or exotic, like foie gras, but I’m going to have to go there more often. Why? Let me count the ways:

1. WKids Fun Center: It took me about 5 minutes to fill out a form and register La Princesa to play in their playroom. It’s open to kids 3-8 years old, and you get an hour to shop whine-free. Pure bliss. They give you a pager like they give you at Panera in case your wee one needs the bathroom, and you each get a paper bracelet to ensure the right kid goes home with the right mom or dad. Which may not be helpful to you. But I digress; a final tip: make sure your kid has socks on, or else they won’t let her play on the playset. La Princesa, alas sockless, was mighty pouty about it when I picked her up.

2. More than 900 organic items in their Nature’s Marketplace. Their section isn’t as big as a Whole Foods, but bigger than Giant’s or Bloom (formerly Food Lion). Harris Teeter integrates their organic items into the general food population rather than keeping a separate section. And the one item that will ensure my return: Spectrum Children’s DHA for $9.99. That’s $5 less than at Whole Foods, the cheapest I’d found anywhere, including the Net.

3. The option to eat in, upstairs, which I haven’t tried yet. What makes this more attractive than the Whole Foods dining area is the huge food court, where you can get pizza, subs, sushi, Chinese food, kosher deli sandwiches and more

Overall, Wegman’s feels more trendy, more pop culture—to wit: the Cookie Cones, “As seen on Food Network!” in four flavors: Pretzel, Chocolate, Chocolate Chip and M&Ms Minis. It costs an outrageous 5 for $5.99 and the M&Ms version contains artificial colors and flavors. Did I get one anyway? Sure did, the M&M’s version! I’ll save it as a suspend-the-diet treat on a weekend or holiday.

Hanging out at Whole Foods

Gotta big ol' crush on Whole Foods, and it gets deeper every time we shop in the Reston store. By we, I mean me and the 4-year-old, who make up the 11 a.m. lunch crowd in their dine-in area. Yup, that's right, dine-in area. Sometimes we sit at the bar-style counter facing the walls, sometimes we sit at the tables, but it's become one of our weekly lunch spots. I feel like such the virtuous mom as she piles into a small tub of fruit and I chow down on a rosemary roll and French onion soup. The soup can be found at the salad bar, but I've also had the mushroom quesadilla from the cold section—all of which have been great. Have yet to try their sushi (still addicted to the take-out sushi from Harris Teeter) or anything from their prepared foods section (salmon, steak, chicken, you name it, they have it). The absolute highlight, though, is their dessert bar and display case. I've been in such awe that I haven't brought myself to buy much more than an oatmeal cookie.

I also couldn't resist getting one, OK two, of their new reusable bags, made of 80 percent recycled plastic bottles, for 99 cents each. I could never remember to bring the plain blue ones I got from Giant, but these are so bright and cheerful there's no way I'll forget them. As I reveled in my new grocery bags (yeah, simple things make me happy) while eating, I also noticed they provide pads so you can write down your grocery list, which seems backward to me because we eat after we shop. Anyhow, as we left the dine-in area, she picked up a free calendar that I can now use to teach her days of the week.