Thursday, July 10, 2008

Life is a Bowl of This...


We're in the midst of cherry season and life is good. Call me opinionated, but I think the sweetest, plumpest cherries are grown here in the Northwest. Unfortunately, the harvest season is short (about 6 to 8 weeks), so we spend part of the year waiting for cherries, a few weeks enjoying them, and then the rest of the year moaning that we should have eaten more cherries when they were around.

My favorite is the Rainier cherry, which is a hybrid that is sweeter than most other varieties. Alas, it also requires optimal growing conditions and more careful handling, so it's usually in much shorter supply and, therefore, more expensive.

Today the kids and I were driving around and decided to visit a large produce stand in Seattle, where we found Rainier cherries being offered for a song ($2.99/lb., about a third of the usual price in supermarkets). I should have taken a photo of our stash before our family decimated it; what you see in the photo above is what's left, and I'm surprised there's any left at all.

They're so juicy and sweet like candy and I find the process of chewing on the tender-but-firm flesh and then spitting out the pit to be very therapeutic. Hey, we all have our fetishes.

3 comments:

Mokihana said...

I bet pit-spitting is therapeutic because you're aiming at someone. Heh heh.

Pomai said...

So spitting out cherry pits are a fetish of your, eh? lol

I actually find cracking the shell off of boiled peanuts therapeutic as well. lol

I like the the sweetened, bottled Maraschino cherries. Especially in a Roy Roger!

Unknown said...

oh, do I say this or not? Well, you know, cherries are considered to be one of the fruits in the "dirty dozen". I know, I'm a kill joy. Just drink more Dr. Pepper, kay?