There are a lot of good things about summer produce but one of the best is fresh cherries.
Maybe it's the fact that they aren't on the shelves for long so you have to enjoy them while you can. And for us, that's often. We've been buying two bags of them every week and devouring these juicy morsels at lunch every day. The fact that they leave our fingers stained red from handling the pits is a small price to pay for the sweet burst of flavor we get when we bite into them.
Or maybe it's because they don't grow anywhere close to here so summer is when they're plentiful enough to be reasonably priced. And they must have really been plentiful this year as not only does it seem they've been in the stores for longer than most years but at a cost lower than we remember too. They were $1.98 today, down from $2.28 last week. Each Saturday we keep expecting they'll either disappear from the shelf or shoot up in price as the season nears its end but so far that hasn't happened, much to the delight of my cherry-loving husband.
And just maybe it's because they make us think of happy places. We've vacationed both in Michigan and in Washington/Oregon in the heart of summer when cherries were available straight from the tree. We'd stop at roadside produce stands and pick up a container which later became a part of an impromptu picnic lunch at some scenic overlook or peaceful park. Our kitchen table doesn't offer quite the same ambience but we've had more than one conversation about those trips as we're munching on these little red orbs. The memories those conversations have triggered have brought smiles to our faces and while I'm loving the fresh cherries, I could go for a piece of cherry pie from The Cherry Hut just outside Traverse City...ala mode, of course.
Yep, summer and cherries go hand in hand. Around our house right now life isn't the pits...it's just a bowl of cherries.
I've been enjoying the cherries too. They seem to be especially sweet this year.
Posted by: Judy | July 23, 2012 at 03:06 PM