Contrasts

My mother often asks me what I am doing now that I am retired. At first I felt the need to quantify my newly found discretionary time as if my worth depended upon such things. Now, I just reply, "It's the same as summer." She'll nod her head and let it go at that. In reality, I am discovering that my retirement is not quite the same as summer. Certainly, summer for a teacher can be filled with more discretionary time but I know for a fact that a teacher preparing to go back in the ring the following fall is always plagued with getting-one-more-thing-done syndrome. There is a driven quality embedded in those summer hours and all too soon the calendar screams, "It's time."

What makes retirement different from summer for me, besides the obvious fact that I am not bound by contractual hours anymore, is that I am seeing things. Not in a psychedelic way, albeit I am a child of the 60's, but in a I'm-not-like-a-crazed-rat anymore. I find myself observing interesting juxtapositions around me and here are a couple I observed last week.

I spend a fair amount of time in the produce aisles at my local grocery store due to the perishability of such goods. Pre-retirement, I was dependent upon a rather surly produce guy who drew the short straw of working the early morning Saturday shift. I learned to fend for myself rather than elicit a grunt or two from him. Now, I have connected with an affable produce gentleman who immediately shares with me where the freshest spinach and such are stacked. Apparently, he has seen me rifle through my share of packages, squinting at the "Use by" dates all the way. A few feet away from the produce man is the tightly wound potato chip guy. He is a well-groomed upper-middle-aged man with a slim build and an I-just-want-to-retire vibe screeching from his being. He whips those Wavy chip bags around like they just killed his sister and I have yet to see him smile or say thank-you to one of his best customers. Surely, he is not going to guide me to the freshest date on his products. And surely, I'm not going to ask.

My favorite one-stop-shop pharmacy presented another interesting set of contrasts. Nestled in among the 70% off Christmas detritus is a newly set up garden seed display, beckoning folks with dreams of spring, never mind the fact that the wind chill is currently below zero, the snow continues to swirl, the ground is frozen solid and we are in a gardening zone of 4, on a good day. I suspect the serious gardeners with greenhouses and the tenacious science teachers doing seed experiments are always glad to see the seed displays set up early. I have no immediate need for seeds but the display still gave me a pleasant pause. Another pause was given to the calendar display nearby. Instead of the usual kitties, puppies and scenic themes, the prominent calendar was for the Walking Dead. Somehow, a calendar  filled with photos of zombies, ashen-faced beings and apocalyptic terror seems like a sullen way to march oneself through the days of the year.

 I'll stick with seed display, thank you.

Cosmic

There's a new kid in town and his name is Cosmic. His provenance is complicated but his creators believe his qualities are worth noting. He had a social media presence before being officially introduced to the world and now he is ready to work his way into our lives.

His official name is Cosmic Crisp Apple. And, yes, he is a fruit. He started blipping on our local radar about a month ago as his promotional wave hit the Midwest. One of our local grocery chains gave out samples and featured Cosmic as the latest and greatest apple on the scene. So, of course, I needed to know if all the hype was true.

First, a little background on Cosmic. Breeding for this fellow began in 1997 at Washington State University. His variety designation was WA 38 and his parents were Honeycrisp, a flavor darling for sure, and Enterprise, a disease resistant stalwart in the apple world. The goal was to produce an apple with the classic look of a red apple and the perfect balance of sweet and tart as a flavor profile. The ultimate goal of course is apple sales. Such an investment needs payback. And thus the reason Cosmic Crisp comes at a price.

I purchased a few Cosmic apples as well as another favorite, the Honeycrisp, with the intent of doing a side by side taste test. My husband is a die-hard Honeycrisp fan so he was very skeptical of the challenger. I enjoy a variety of apples so my allegiances run less deep. I cut both apples into slices so we had multiple opportunities to taste the differences between the two contenders.  Here are the results, non-scientific of course.

1) Crispness--Both apples had just the right snap to make them pleasurable on the texture front. There was no noticeable difference and quite frankly, an apple without a good crunch doesn't stand much of a marketing chance so no surprise in this category.

2) Sweetness--Here is where a subtle difference occurs. Honeycrisp has a mild sweetness. My husband likens it to a cucumber's freshness. Cosmic is more assertive. It is definitely sweet but has other notes at play so it tickles the taste buds in a different way.

3) Tartness--This is where the clear difference is evident. Cosmic gives a definite one-two punch in acidity. There is a bit of pucker power involved but not in a little-green-apple way. Honeycrisp is much more subtle and delicate. Sweet is definitely the defining note over acid in the Honeycrisp.

And the winner is (drum roll please)...neither!  My husband remained loyal to his beloved Honeycrisp. His sweet tooth finds the Honeycrisp a favorite with its sugar forward flavor. I loved Cosmic. The acid punch added a dimension that helped tone down the sweetness for me. In reality, the true test lies in the next question, "Which one makes a better pie?"

I hope your New Year is filled with a little sweet, a little acid and a few taste tests along the way. Enjoy!