My sister Donna sent my Mom a basket of fresh Florida fruit (grapefruits and naval oranges). Actually the gift didn’t come in a basket but a humble box. We put the fruit out on the porch and it comes in cold as if we had put it in the ‘fridge. So this morning Mom got this distant look on her face and she said, "I remember how Aunt Louise used to cut the grapefruit and separate all the sections then broil it for us." "Oh I can do that for you!" I chortled gleefully, and set off to relive a distant memory. First you find the little crooked serated knife in the back of the knife drawer, then and you begin to dig down on every side of the little "units" of the fruit… cutting on each side of the membrane. By the beginning of the second half, I began to remember … "I remember when I learned how to do this… being cautioned by my Mom, ‘be sure to get on each side of the membrane or it won’t come out right,’" and indeed when attacked with a spoon, if it wasn’t "done right" the grapefruit section didn’t come out… So then I began to wonder if mothers today are teaching their children this humble art of "sectioning a grapefruit." Into the broiler went the halves. But Mom said, "Not the broiler, use the microwave!" … What? we didn’t have microwaves when I was little…. dissonance… dissonance… Enter the twenty-first century to jar my memory. When the grapefruit halves were warm I sprinkled sugar on the halves. My first bite made me shiver – whew! My puckering lips quivered! "Not enough sugar," I sputtered. So maybe today’s juice boxes full of sugary liquids have spoiled me… Is this another tradition that will fall victim to progress? Do you have a little crooked serated knife in your knife drawer?
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