Holy cow. I mean I know the virtues of home-grown produce and all. Food miles, organic, better flavor, that kind of thing. But I had an experience yesterday that made me say "Wow!" out loud. I bought some strawberry plants a couple of years ago and stuck them on the sunny side of the house and they've limped along for that time, but this year are full of flowers. Yesterday, I saw the first ripe strawberry. It must be strawberry season elsewhere, because I've bought them in the store for the past couple of weeks, and Mr W and I enjoy them a lot. So summery.
I spied this first strawberry of the season when I was letting the dog out to do her business after work and before we went off to the dog park. I leaned over, picked it up, dusted it off a little and bit into it and - well, just wow. I guess it's because I had had store-bought strawberries the day before, but the texture was incredible. It was so much more tender than a store bought berry. I know that varieties are selected in part for their ability to ship well, and although the flavor of the store bought berries was OK, the texture was like biting into a zucchini - yielding, but tough.
Don't tell the slugs and squirrels, but these berries are really something.
In other news, I am going to lunch with the new man on Monday. Fingers still crossed, but I've been pleased by the turnaround time for emails, and I felt comfortable talking to him on the phone the other day, so we'll see how this goes.
And other, other news, the seller of the VW campervan and I have settled on a price, and while he's looking for the title, I'll make arrangements for a loan and insurance. I'm nervous but excited. Mr W, who will now have parents who each have one of these vans, said mine was inherently less cool than his dad's because it didn't have a good stereo, and cool stickers. I thought this was interesting, but reminded him it's not a contest.
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post your mailing address and we'll all send you some awesome stickers for your van...and you're supposed to sing when you're camping, so the stereo...not such a big deal...hey, does it have 8 track?? now THAT would be way better than dad's van!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!! Life sounds good!
ReplyDeleteHow did I not know you had a blog too? Super happy to have a good one to follow. If I ever get a Boyles Family Farms sticker printed I'll send you one :)
ReplyDeleteHow fabulous for you and Mr. W to have strawberries in your yard. I purchased a basket of field-fresh strawberries on the way home from Hanford the other day; they were as sweet as sugar with a soft (but not mushy) texture - then this explosion of flavor. I love being back in California!
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience with homegrown broccoli last summer! Incredibly tender - even the stalks - no need to peel anything! Maybe someday I'll have room for strawberries!
ReplyDeleteOoohh... stickers! I don't want to post my mailing address here, but maybe I'll post my email - I'll think about it.
ReplyDeleteClaire, I would proudly display a BFF sticker on my van. I'm glad you found my blog :-)
It's funny, I found another berry for Mr W, and it wasn't as good. Same texture, not as sweet - we'll keep trying, though!