Friday, January 11, 2008

Grapefruit and the Absurdity of Devotion


If you spend just a moment and stare at this image, I insist that you will begin to experience an olfactory halluciation. Focus now. Can you smell the acrid grapefuit peel? And the sweet acidic flesh? Is your mouth beginning to pucker?
I put this here because it was the sole fruit specimen of a little tree I have been arduously nursing in a big blue pot beneath the trellis for the past year. I really thought it was an orange. And now I have no recollection of where it came from.
When I figure in man hours how much time I spent watering it, and singing to it, only to see every floret drop off but one, and then to look outside the other day in a rain storm to see my orange - er grapefuit - on the brick patio. Ugh. There's my thousand dollar citrus fruit!
Of course it was the best grapefruit I had ever tasted, fragrant and luscious - I peeled it carefully to preserve the zest and separated each segment from the membranes. And let the little golden beads sit on my tongue until I crushed them one by one, like caviar.
I gave a piece to my 10 year old son, who grimaced, promptly spit it out. And ran to the sink to wash his mouth out.
But I swear, as I'm sitting here writing this in my office, I can smell the grapefruit still.
Or maybe I'm just exhausted after a week of writing.
Happy Nude Year!!

5 comments:

emilym said...

Yes, absolutely! Those virgin grapefruit esters are still swirling about the room.

kryssie's daily photo said...

Ah! the grapefruit. I'm afraid I don't like to eat it unless it is covered in sugar, but it is one of my favorite bouquets. I at this moment have Grapefruit shampoo and soap. I wish I could enjoy the tartness of it!

The Old Foodie said...

Maybe it was the singing ..... (right voice, wrong song ... or just wrong song ??). Are you going to candy the peel?
Janet

Ken Albala said...

Christina, C'e un altro cose che noi abbiamio insieme. La shampoo di pomplemo. "Origins" e il mio favorito.

ethanalbala said...

it is very cool and i wish i could eat it