Actually, I like them a lot.
Hello, Bellevue QFC
I am pretty much a creature of habit and for the last few years, on Tuesday mornings I get off the bus in Bellevue one stop early and walk to the QFC to pick up some snacks for work. The snacks are: 4 apples. 4 – 5 Larabars or Kind Bars. Sometimes a carton or two of yogurt. Sometimes Figs. Sometimes string cheese. The apples are pretty much the staple. I’ve tried other fruits or vegetables but either they don’t fill me up like I want to be filled up, or I forget or have no desire to eat snow peas and they go bad, etc. So, apples it is.
Here’s a tip: Shop at 7:30 on a Tuesday morning and you’ll be one of the only customers in the store.
For months they were always Fuji. Then I started doing Honeycrisp. A couple of weeks ago I tried this one, Junami and was like WOW. But then I went back and they were gone. And then I went back again this past week and they were there, so I picked them up but they weren’t as good as the first time. Don’t you hate that?
Anyway, this post is supposed to be about apples. About how, when I was growing up, it seemed like there were only a few kinds of apples. Red or Golden Delicious (which, let’s be honest, really weren’t all that delicious). Macintosh. Granny Smith (which if you bought by accident was too bad because they were too tart and supposed to only be for baking pies but that’s not necessarily something a Chinese family knows until the oldest daughter takes 7th grade Home Economics). Maybe there were others, but I do not remember what they were.
These days, the kid enjoys Opal. The husband, Honeycrisp (though he branches out and gets a Gala or Pinks Crisp every now and again). I’m partial to Fuji and Honeycrisp, but boy would I like to find another tasty Junami again.
So, tell me. Was it just a childhood memory that we had far fewer types of apples in little ol’ Connecticut? Did my parents not offer me the choice? Was it the same growing up in Washington? Or is something new, and indeed it has been a change over the past few decades that allows the consumer to try a different apple every week?
What’s your favorite?