not to be confused with mie and kei
I avoided apples for a good portion of my adult life. Too many disappointments. Biting into yet another mealy Red Delicious was like kissing another damn frog or scratching another losing ticket or contracting yet another venereal disease (j/k!)
But these days, I have clamored back up on that apple bandwagon, elbowing a spot between a five-year-old kid and a pony (it’s okay; this bandwagon allows ponies). I finally realized there are lots of apples that are consistently yummy and of good quality. This city girl is blown away!
My favorite, favorite apple is the Pink Lady. Perfect name aside, it is exactly the way I wish perfume would taste like (oh yes, perfume-tasting was a popular childhood experiment). And this particular batch I have in my home, purchased from my humble Vons? Each bite of one of these apples evokes visions of old wooden fences, rust- and scarlet-leaved oak trees, the smell of fireplaces, thoughts of the holidays. I know! It’s crazy!
Actually, the crazy part is here: Pink Ladies are the only apples I will deign to consume whole; that is, bite into, Eve-style, and eat down to the core. All other apples, I must cut into pieces — preferably using an apple slicer.
I’d trot into the kitchen right now and take/post a pic of these magic Ladies. However, my camera is living in Glendale, CA right now (you shan’t ask and I shan’t tell), so the picture above has to suffice. The darker apples are Arkansas Blacks (beautiful to look at but this batch sucked), and the lighter, Pacific Roses — delicate and lovely and sweet). And that other thing is a grapefruit. Don’t get me started.
nablopomo 07 day 13
Living in the Northeast, you never found yourself in an apple orchard in Vermont or something? Now THOSE are apples! mmmm…
AND, if you’re feeling especially Laura Ingalls, then get thee up to Avila Valley Barn before they close at the end of December, pet some baby goats and ride upon a bale of hay out into the you-pick apple orchards. Those babies redefine “apple.”
Braeburns are my faves.
We are not supposed to taste perfume? (Noted.)
Pink lady= excellent. They should rightly have the word “delicious” in their name, and not those horrible glossy red mealy things. (huh. I did not realize that I had such animosity toward the Red Delicious.)