NaBloPoMo – Day 30
Here we are, my 30th post in 30 days. I’m pretty much out of ideas, so I am posting this meme that I saw somewhere. We can talk about that. We can talk about avocados and whether we love them or not. We can talk about other foods that are like this. We can talk about memes and how stupid and funny they can be sometimes. Whatever. I’ll start.
I adore avocados. I don’t actually find them to be as persnickety as this meme suggests, and I often find myself in possession of perfectly ripe avocados. We had quesadillas for dinner last night, and I diced a lovely avocado, and also opened a package of guacamole. I like the single serving containers from Wholly Guacamole, because it’s the perfect amount for me, and it doesn’t turn brown and go to waste, which does happen sometimes if I buy a larger container.
What I do find to be horribly persnickety is apricots. It is so difficult for me to find a perfect apricot that, in the spring when it is apricot season, I sometimes walk past them in the produce aisle, refusing to look at them head on. I feel like Ulysses, tethered to my mast, trying to avoid their siren song. The difference is, of course, that apricots are not attempting to lure me to my death. But it feels that way, when I come home with 3 or 4 apricots, and they are just a little too green, just a little too green, just a little to green…and then too ripe. Sigh. Even when I get them at the Farmers’ Market, I rarely get one that is just how I want it. I think I need to set an alarm for the middle of the night and try them then.
Another fruit that is maddening in this way is cantaloupe. I adore a good cantaloupe, but rarely can I find a good one. I’ve had the best luck by asking the farmers at the market to pick one for me, and telling them when I plan to eat it. This summer, a farmer at the market was cutting a rotten part out of a cantaloupe. I assume he was going to wrap the rest in plastic wrap and sell it at a discount, but when I offered to buy it from him (it looked perfect, rotten part be damned), he gave it to me for free. I went right home and ate it. It was amazing, and kind of restored my faith.
Are there any items that treat you this way? That are not ready until suddenly they ARE, but that moment is fleeting, and all too often they spoil?
5 Comments
nance
I play this game with avocados because I am the Primary Avocado Eater here, and I often make the mistake of buying four or five of them instead of just one or two. Then I panic and have to think of ways to use them up when they hit that Perfect Moment Of Ripeness. Often, Rick says, “I’ll leave the avocado for you” and then I’m really screwed.
The produce drawer in my fridge is unreliable and will sometimes freeze veg with high water content, like cucumbers. It’s so irritating. And cucumbers here are so prohibitively priced that I get stubborn and annoyed and refuse to pay such ransom. But once in a while, I relent, and get one anyway, and then I have to contend with a lone cucumber lounging around the top shelf of the fridge.
We don’t get fresh apricots here, even in season. But I understand your frustration. I try to remember the line from Seinfeld when Jerry says, “Fruit is a gamble. I know that going in.” I keep it in mind every time I buy a watermelon or raspberries or strawberries (two berries which also have a shockingly short window).
We get cantaloupe from the Amish farmer right near the lakehouse, and we’ve rarely gotten a poor one. They pick them at peak for the stand, unlike grocery stores. And I get apples from the orchard; they store them properly, so I don’t get mealy ones.
I am going to remember your Ulysses metaphor the next time I’m at the store and the avocados call out to me. I will remain tethered to my mast and resist their siren song, even if they are cheap.
J
We have the same problem with our fridge and the produce drawers. If I cut up some cucumber and put it on a plate, I am pretty much guaranteed to eat all of it, with or without a dip. I need to do that more often, because we do suffer from the frozen cucumber problem. Raspberries go moldy so fast, don’t they? It’s maddening. But at least they generally taste good when you buy them, so you don’t have to keep testing them out, you can just gobble them up, like me.
Who knew we would look to Seinfeld for wisdom? But in life, you have to take wisdom where you find it.
LA Paylor
I found your blog because of a google image surf! And it’s my kind of fun blog, so I’ll just have to remember to return. LeeAnna at not afraid of color (writing/painting/sewing/poodle/I Like Thursdays)
Ally Bean
The meme about avocados is spot on. They aren’t my favorite food to begin with, then add their whimsical ways of ripening– and I rarely buy them. Same here with cantaloupe. Who knows when they’re ready to eat, and for how long!
Congrats on completing NaBloPoMo. It’s a challenge that either makes or breaks a blogger. Well done.
J
Thanks Ally! It used to be so easy for me to do NaBloPoMo. Sometimes I would even post 2x a day. But now I’ve told all of my stories, and you all know me too well, so it’s more difficult to come up with something.