Oranges, Smoranges

I love oranges. Hands-down, an orange is my favorite fruit. The problem is that for the last twenty years or so I’ve rarely been able to find a good one. I used to eat them all the time when I was a child — just regular grocery store oranges that were sweet but had a hint of tartness. Something changed, though, and for years now every time I try to buy a grocery store orange it’s tasteless and chewy, or dry and chewy, or juicy but bland. Faced with such oranges, my children didn’t even understand why I wanted to eat one.

I was beginning to think that my tastes had simply changed (I used to love some pretty godawful breakfast cereals and candy, after all) until I had an orange in Hawaii and, oddly enough, a really good one in a hospital cafeteria.  I then knew that good oranges hadn’t been a figment of my imagination and the challenge was to find how to get ahold of the good ones.

Anyway, a few months back I finally discovered a brand named Earthbound Farms Organic that consistently gives me the taste I desire. It costs a dollar more a bag for them than the other oranges carried by the local grocers, but they’re completely worth it. I may sound like an infomercial, but the product pleases me mightily, and I will continue to give them my money so long as their oranges taste so very, very fine.

To celebrate, here’s a wonderful song about oranges.

Oh, in case anyone’s curious, my new writing project is really catching fire. Very happy with the fireworks that are happening now with Hearthstones.