What We Did This Weekend – African Snot Melon Edition

Sorry, no  pictures this time.  Camera batteries died, but we survived.  Piano recitals are now checked off the list!

Saturday (after Skating and the birthday party, but before the piano recital) we stopped off at Tacoma Boys to pick up some fun fruit and snack-type foods for the Game Night that I was hosting that evening.  They have amazing food – their produce, seafood and steaks can’t be beat.  Plus, you can find all sorts of strange things that make party hosting fun.  I bought a “Horned Melon” completely for the looks of it….

 It was adorable.  And that is what is important in food – its adorability, right?  They told me that the taste was somewhere between a cucumber and a kiwi fruit.  That was correct….but what they didn’t mention is the inside is a gelatinous mess of green slime and seeds and is pretty damn gross….

 They maybe should have called it the African Snot Melon.

Anyway….that is not what this post is about.

While we were at the checkout stand with our African Snot Melon and brick of Aged White Cheddar cheese, one of the employees came up and said, “Would you like a box of apples?  They are “scratch and dents” and I’ll give you the whole box for $7.”

First I said, “No, I don’t think so….”

But then I quickly said, “Well…sure!  We’ll take them, what a deal!”

And it was a deal.  They were beautiful apples.  Fujis, Cameos, Honeycrisps.  Hardly any damage, but they are well known for their PERFECT produce.  Only when I got home and carried the box inside did I realize that I had made a terrible mistake.  I HAD BOUGHT AN ENTIRE BOX OF APPLES.  A big box.  A box overflowing with apples.

Never in a million years could I use them in time. 

 Applesauce?  Great idea, but the girls don’t like it.  Its a texture thing.

Pies?  Sure!  I made 6 (SIX) apple pies yesterday and didn’t even get through the first layer.

I gave a bag each to 4 neighbors and there was still half a box left.  What to do?  What to do?

Then I thought of Freecycle.  I Freecycle (verb) quite a bit – giving away things mostly like the girls outgrown clothes and toys.  I always laugh at what people post on there, and how quickly these things are snatched up.  After Thanksgiving, for example, someone posted the remains of a cooked turkey and it was gone within 15 minutes.  I’m all about waste not, want not….but I’m not so sure about food.  Especially meat.  I have joked to my friends that I could post the remaining two  pickle chips left over from my hamburger at lunch and someone would come and get them. 

I swear.

I posted the apples and I have never received so many eager replies from any other Freecycle posting.  You would have thought they were gold.  I am very glad that someone can use them.  And I am glad that they are not meat.  That is just too weird.  But I did give the person that picked them up some other names to contact if the sheer number of apples proved to be too much for him, too.

You’ve gotta watch out for those “deals”.