A Good Piece of Fruit

I've been so disappointed in grocery store produce this summer. You know, the advice is to always buy fruit "in season" because it's at its peak and tastes best. But most of the fruit I've gotten this season has been so bland, almost tasteless. I may as well be buying a watermelon in January! That's how bad the fruit has been. I bought a bag of red delicious apples the other day and bit into one I had peeled for the baby and almost spit it out it was so bland. There was absolutely no flavor to it. It's been that way with watermelons, cantelope, strawberries, peaches and even grapes.

However I did have a couple of mangoes the other day. They were on sale for like $.49 a piece and I bought a couple. I never buy them, but this time I'm so glad I did, they were just HEAVENLY! The flavor was vibrant, and they were juicy and sweet. YUM! And today, to my surprise, I had another heavenly piece of fruit. My neighbor has a pear tree. It took me a while and a closer look to discover that it was a pear, but that it was. My neighbors are NEVER outside and I would venture to guess that they don't even know they have a pear tree. That day I stepped into their backyard to sneak a peek, I was so sad to see the pears rotting right on the tree and so many of them were rotting and wasted on the ground. But I decided to snatch a few (I know..."thou shalt not steal" but I fully intend on telling them! ). They were hard as rock and definitely not edible. So I set them in the kitchen window and they've been there for about a week or more. Today I gave them a little squeeze and to my delight, they were soft! I peeled one and used my knife to slice myself a small shard. And it was DIVINE! By far one of the best pieces of fruit I've ever had! I quickly sliced off more and more until I had devoured the whole thing. Then I did the same to a second one! Who knew 2 tiny little pears from my neighbors poor little neglected tree could bring me so much joy and be so satisfying? But they were.



So, I peeked over again and noticed that most of the pears were gone...fallen off the tree or rotting. But there were a few left that looked promising. So, I'm just waiting to catch my neighbor out so I can ask if I can pick a few more!

How has your experience with grocery store fruit been this season? Do you love a good piece of fruit as much as I do?