I went a little crazy at the south's premier gourmet food store last weekend.

They're having their annual inventory clearance. Everything (Yes! Everything!) is on sale.

I needed EVOO and red wine vinegar, having just exhausted my stock on a salad dressing for a potluck. I knew from the advertisements that their signature brand of olive oil would be half-off, and I knew from a previous search that Southern Season somehow seems to be the only local source for raspberry red wine vinegar, as opposed to raspberry balsamic vinegar, which seems to be all the rage in the local groceries. So off I went to take advantage of the savings.

Olive oil being one of those things for which you more or less get what you pay for, I figured investing in premiere oil at half-off means spending about the same amount I normally do at the supermarket, but getting twice the quality. With olive oil, it's definitely worth it.

(The problem is, olive oils are sort of like wines in having a variety of factors influencing their flavors -- so price alone is not a guarantee that you'll get something that suits your palette. But upon sampling it, I do like the the character of the Southern Season brand. I think I'll go back for more before the sale ends at the end of the month.)

Anyway. I went in for a bottle of olive oil and two bottles of vinegar. Should have gotten out of there for around $15, given the sale.

But oh, no.

Nasty trick: You have to run a gauntlet of heavenly-smelling fresh roasted coffee beans to get into the store. And of course they're discounted.

Then, you get to the vinegar and find it's even cheaper than you expected! So you have more money to play with than you thought...

Then, you find yourself wandering through the international food section, and recall some recipe suggestions for the Harry Potter party you're planning to throw for yourself in a month's time, which involve imported British foodstuffs...

Then, just when you're about to escape, you pass another shopper with a really interesting-looking cheese in his shopping basket, and realize you've completely missed the deli section...

So I wound up spending about three times what I had intended. But worth every penny.

P.S. orders on their website are also significantly discounted while the sale lasts. ;)