Testing Grapes

Okay. I'll admit it. I'm a thief. But it took me years to come to this point. It all has to do with grapes. There are moments in my life I crave grapes more than chocolate or sunshine. So I stuff a bag full of the lovely looking treats and pay for them, only to discover when I get home they are practically inedible, and I end up tossing out the lot.

Grape tastes vary. And in today's modern world, we can have grapes year round, flown in during the winter months from Africa and South America. We Americans provide income for the field workers, and we get grape treats year round.

I still only buy grapes one or two times a year, so that's one or two grapes I've stolen per year. If they taste heavenly, I buy lots. If they taste mediocre, I buy some. If I want to spit out my sample grape, I move my cart down the aisle.

After hearing my confession of grape-stealing, my daughter-in-law noted, "It's not like you're taste-testing, say, a melon... which is always a gamble."

She's right... about the melon tastes varying. So why can't I get the picture out of my mind of me in a grocery store, biting through a cantaloupe rind?