It was a warm, tranquil day in the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser and his Koopa clan hadn't attacked in quite a while, there wasn't any obvious threats looming over the kingdom at the moment, and the birds were singing tunes much more beautiful than ever before. Truly, this was going to be a good and peaceful day, through and through.
Mario had woken up somewhat later than he usually did that day, but there was still plenty enough time to do the things he wanted to do. Luigi, his brother, had left for a trip to Sarasaland a couple days back, and was returning that evening, so Mario wanted to prepare a special meal for the two of them to celebrate his return. After a bit of thinking, Mario decided to settle on an old favorite or theirs: Spaghetti Bolognese with alfredo sauce and meatballs. While he did have a large majority of the ingredients, he still needed a couple more, such as the ground beef for the meatballs, the bay leaf, and, most importantly, the pasta, which was a tiny bit odd to him, since they usually had at least some left over.
After getting ready, Mario walked out the door and began to wonder about which store to go to. Usually, he would go to the local Shroom Grocery located in Toad Town, but he ultimately decided to shake things up and go to a relatively store that had opened up in Coconut Mall about a month ago. The store was called Gree T.'s Groceries, and despite the items there being a bit pricey from what he had heard, the food from there was apparently really high quality. Also, Mario, again, just wanted to try something new. Of course, Coconut Mall was often used as a race course, but there wasn't any kart races scheduled for a while. Now, with goal in mind, Mario hopped into the Warp Pipe that would lead him to Toad Town, which, funnily enough, was the closest way to get to the place he had in mind. Of course, he would have to use a couple more Warp Pipes, but it didn't trouble him too much. Besides, this way, he could say more thorough hellos to the locals living here.
While walking through the community, he would always receive quite a lot of happy greetings, and sometimes would get stopped by one of the locals, whether it be to ask him questions about himself, give him a gift to show their gratitude, or simply to just see his renowned jump. While he certainly didn't mind the attention, it could get a bit overwhelming at times. It also irked him that while everyone seemed to know who he was, not many, if not anyone, ever seemed to remember his brother, and even when they did, they often were relatively apathetic towards him. Sure, Luigi wasn't as brave as him and the two didn't always go on the same adventures together, but at the end of the day, they were still brothers and they needed to look out for each other. Mario couldn't let this get him down, though. He still had things to do.
After receiving some friendly greetings here and there and traveling through a few more Warp Pipes, Mario was finally at Coconut Mall. He went inside, and to his surprise, the place wasn't too packed. Granted, the place had only opened up for the day about half and hour ago, but he contently obliged to this lucky occurrence. He gave himself two small fist pumps out of bliss and headed towards the grocery store.
A few minutes of searching later, he found the place he was looking for. Luckily, it wasn't too packed in there, either, which was a good thing. The sooner he could get out of there, the sooner he could get home and begin working on the meal he had in mind. He gave himself another small fist pump, grabbed a shopping basket, and got a move on. Searching through the aisles, he reviewed his shopping list, seeing which items were closest and working from there. Luckily, the only cold thing he needed to get was the beef, so he didn't have to worry too much.
Before he knew it, he was down to the last item (besides the beef), which happened to be garlic. However, even after scanning the aisles a second time, he still couldn't find the bulbous plant anywhere. He even began to wonder if Wario had heard about this store and bought all the garlic for himself, but at the same time, this idea seemed silly, what with the prices at this place being a bit high and what not. Regardless, this admittedly gave Mario a few chuckles at the thought.
Eventually, with the help of a kind worker showing him where it was, Mario had gathered all the materials he needed to make the dish. As he waited in line, his mind began to wander again. It wasn't too often he was on his own like this anymore. Oftentimes, he was recusing the oh-so beautiful Princess Peach and thwarting Bowser's plans yet again, hosting parties or sports tournaments, or simply spending quality time with those dear to him, such as his bro. Through all of ruminating, he didn't even realize it was his turn to check out until a friendly Koopa gave him a little push.
Soon enough, Mario was already exiting Coconut Mall and heading home. He had spent a bit more than he was planning, and while that was slightly troubling to him, he thought that as long as the food was as high quality as he had heard, it would be worth it. Besides, Luigi was going to be back at sundown, so he still had lots of time to prepare the meal. Firmly clenching the grocery bags, Mario moseyed on home, ready for whatever this tranquil day still had at hand.