Falling in love again. (Even if it is just with a grocery store.)

No, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I live in anything that even remotely resembles a food desert.

There’a Whole Foods that’s about a ten minute walk away, and it’s where I do most of my grocery shopping.

On the way to Whole Foods, I pass the Boston branch of Savenor’s. Yesteryear’s foodies may recall that Savenor’s in Cambridge was where Julia Child shopped. I rarely go to Savenor’s, as it’s more butcher shop than grocer. But I have occasionally gone in for bread, fruit, or veggies. (All fresh. As I said, Beacon Hill is not exactly a food desert.)

There’s a Star Market – big local grocery store chain now owned by Albertson’s – maybe a 15 minute walk away. It’s where I go for normal people stuff you can’t find at Whole. Stuff like Cain’s Kosher Dills and Polar Orange Dry.

I used to get my normal people stuff from Pea Pod, Stop & Shop’s home delivery service. But Pea Pod was my husband’s thing, and I haven’t had the heart to use it since he died. (One thing he did with Pea Pod was buy in bulk, including toiletries. The other day I finally gave away the five cans of Gillette shaving cream he’d gotten. My brother Rick was just super-thrilled.)

On the corner opposite the State House – a five minute walk – there’s a fairly well stocked convenience store. Not much by way of fresh fruit and veg, but an okay place for a loaf of bread or some yogurt.

There are enough CVS stores and Walgreen’s around so that, as long as you’re fine with canned or frozen, you won’t starve to death.

Then there’s DeLuca’s, which is about 30 seconds out my door, but which, for a number of reasons (expired cheeses, limp produce, bad vibes) I am loath to patronize. I go there only during an emergency. As when, just before one of our many Saturday blizzards, I realized that the garlic I’d gotten at Whole was in real life a shallot. I threw the shallot in to the dish I was making, but I really did need that garlic, and I didn’t want to tromp all the way back over to Whole while I had something on the stove…

So, while I have been pretty well served by grocery stores, the situation wasn’t perfect.

And then the Roche Brothers decided to open up shop in what used to be Filene’s Basement – an eight to ten minute walk across the Boston Common.

When I worked in the ‘burbs, I had done my grocery shopping at Roche, which I loved. Boston’s answer to Wegman’s – although not as over the top – Roche Brothers has wonderful prepared foods, excellent produce and meats, and normal people stuff. Plus the folks who work there are, in my experience, invariably pleasant. And the Roche family – the eponymous Brothers, Pat and Buddy, both died within the last couple of years – are tremendously philanthropic.

What’s not to like, or even love.

Roche Brothers downtown was supposed to open in February, but there were numerous delays due largely to the weather.

But, as of April 29th, I have my grocery store.

So far, I’ve just popped in for a couple of things – white grapes, milk. The store is on my way to the gym, which couldn’t be any more convenient. My next major grocery shop will be there.

I’m trying to decide whether to use backpack and two tote bags, or splurge out and bring my old lady grocery cart.

Spring is in the air. Roche Brothers has opened a short walk away.

Ah, falling in love again! Even if it is just with a grocery store!