Devil in a Purple Dress

What if there was a dress you really loved… you saw it more than six months ago, and it has been out of stock online pretty much all that time?  Then, just for shits and giggles, you bring up the website… and it’s ON SALE for 50% OFF.  And THEY HAVE YOUR SIZE.  One more thing, FREE SHIPPING!  I still liked the dress very much.  In fact, it made my throat catch when I looked at it again, even before I saw they had my size, and that it was half off, and free shipping.  It’s beautiful, and I’m not going to feel guilty about buying it.  It was a decision that I thought a lot about, and all the other factors fell into place as well.  I'm definitely glad I waited.  Now, I might be able to afford a delightful fascinator to wear with it at a friend's wedding!

I also went to the grocery store yesterday, and what struck me as really, really odd, and slightly off-putting (besides the fact that there were strawberries in the store, 5 months past prime season), was that the majority of the produce had been imported from Mexico.  I don’t have a problem with Mexico, but I do have a problem with my vegetables and fruit being grown in another country with less stringent laws about pesticides and GMO’s, and the fact they have to travel maybe 500 miles to get where I am.

I miss having a garden for this exact reason.  I know what I put into it, and what I get out of it.  The apple tree in our back yard is pesticide free and pretty organic – there is mulch from the compost pile put on it.  This past summer there were so many apples I was bringing them everywhere I went by the bagful – work, meetings, friend’s houses – parties we had over the summer, we literally told people to bring a shopping bag for the fruit.  Those apples were all a uniform size, they tasted amazing, and the only thing that was “wrong” with them is that there was a small brown hole near the top by the stem where an insect got in and took a little bite.  Virtually all of the apples had them; it didn’t stop me from eating them – I cut that bit off!  I think this is why farmers feel compelled to use pesticides – if the produce is not STUNNING and “perfect” we have been conditioned not to eat it.  When in the long run, the food is probably better for us because it has less chemicals, even though aesthetically it may not be as complete.  One of our organic-minded, vegetarian gardener couples we know told me that to get the nutrition today from the same peach ten or fifteen years ago you would have to eat more than a dozen today. 

Wouldn’t there be far less waste of food in the world if we stopped looking for “perfection” and made do with what we had?  When you’re starving, food looks good, no matter what little blemishes you have to cut away.  I remember being a kid, and come late June or early July, getting those first treats of luscious strawberries after Sunday dinner.  My mum would dust them with confectioner's sugar, lightly, and they were ripe, juicy and so much more satisfying with just a handful.  Now, even the farmer's market ones are mealy and tough.  Quality!  Not quantity!!  As Michael Pollan continuously espouses - moderation in all things.

On another holiday bloat note, I really have to start being austere with salt.  I feel like jerky.