Letitia wants beach? Letitia gets beach.
I got this old tablecloth from my mom, although I am guessing it came from her mother, Grandma Olive.
When I was a kid I watched my parents dust halves of grapefruit - the yellow variety - with sugar before eating. Then in adolescence I watched my red-headed sister Susan eat ruby red grapefruit from Florida without sugar, always exclaiming "It doesn't need sugar, it's so sweet!" To myself I said, "notta chance." I was pretty sure the real reason she liked them was that they were pink, her favorite color, which sadly she didn't wear for years because you weren't supposed to if you had red hair. Finally as an adult I tried the ruby, and all I can say is, what a shame all those wasted years. If you don't eat the pith, the fruit is scrumptiously sweet.
In April a few years ago Don and I arrived at my niece (Susan's daughter BTW) and her husband's house in Sarasota, Florida, for a few days, pulled into their driveway, opened the car door, and wham! Got smacked in the face with a soft pillow of the sweetest fragrance I'd smelled since jasmine in Pasadena. A blossoming grapefruit tree arches over their driveway. I kept trying to think of excuses to run to the store just so I could get in and out of the car and fill my head with that intoxication again.
I may live in a Winter Wonderland, but this time of year one of the sweetest treats is eating pink grapefruit from Florida.
Proper grapefruit utensils help build anticipation. With the grapefruit knife carve and separate the flesh from membranes and pith, first with the double blade end along straight sides, then with the curved blade along the round edge. Don gave me this knife for Christmas the year I remember as the best gift bonanza ever: all cool stuff for the kitchen.
When that's done a grapefruit spoon has a sharpish point that helps you scoop out any remaining attached flesh down in those triangular valleys so you can slurp the juicy fruit into your mouth. This one is from another Susie - my dad's sister, Auntie Sue.
Grapefruit has to be eaten in a bowl, then don't forget to squ- e - e -e -ze it out and drink the last drops of juice when you've dug out every morsel of fruit you can. Oops, don't choke on the seeds.
x o x o x o x o x
Today's ornaments:
Most years we picked up ornaments for Lesley and Peter that matched. They were pretty little when they got these stuffed nursery toys. Lesley's dolly has a lovely ivory porcelain face (and so does Lesley).
Post a Comment