Reminded me of ortolan… yikes. I don’t think I’d have made it through - I’d have called some fake allergy or religious restriction or pretty much anything else.
1 Like
Hah! I hadn’t thought about the fact that you could use them as a serving vessel. That’d be fun.
The main reason I was thinking about diameter was 2 of my daughters had friends over Friday for a ladies’ night of watermelon-pineapple margaritas, games, movies, popcorn…
Anyway my daughter came home from Sprouts grocery with the melon and pineapple and the pineapple was kind of anemic looking (short and not nearly the diameter I’m used to seeing). Then she went to cut it and found it all mushy - I think it’d been frozen at some point. So I made a store run at the regular grocery and they were huge.
At the local Safeway they’re $3.99 each, so I always go for the biggest one possible (unless it’s mushy, wet on the bottom, or the crown is dried out). I’ve not really had an issue with waste on these with this device so long as you want perfectly prepped pineapple**.
**Sometimes I just keep a pineapple in the fridge in a zip-loc bag… and cut a thick slice for my morning smoothie, chopping it up with a knife. I don’t always get every bit of the hard spots out of it as the vitamix takes care of it. I may get an extra ounce or two out of it this way, but if you’re not gonna blend it I would actually say the corers are more efficient as they make round cuts (as opposed to the straight cuts you have to do with a knife.
This may be better on a separate thread about selecting fruits and vegetables, but I’m curious about size vs flavor.
When I buy cauliflower, I buy the biggest / freshest one I can fond, because they’re sold by the piece not by weight.
But my mom and some friends I trust buy the smallest ones they can find, because apparently the smaller ones have better flavor.
Curious if that’s true for pineapple, watermelon, and so on.
I’ve not noticed much of a flavor difference between large/small cauliflower and like you said, the cost is per-piece, so I’ll more often go for the big one. But when all the daughters are home the fridge gets stuffed with veggies so I’ll get a small just because of space considerations. The only real difference to me seems that the smaller ones are more tender and the flesh is maybe more moist.
That reminds me. I’ve chunked up the skin then blended it with a bit of extra pineapple juice to make meat tenderizer. Works pretty well on, say, cheap top round steaks.
1 Like
Can’t really speak to watermelon as it is something I rarely do (they’re big, don’t freeze well, and don’t stay all that great for long - so I usually only buy it in slices or cut up servings).
As for pineapples, medium to large is definitely better than small. Smaller ones are definitely less sweet and juicy when ripe, and don’t have that wonderfully deep thump when you tap them. Plus, the best of the best of them are all of the larger size.
Lot of meat on a northern. My son lives for fresh fish. Don’t worry, he helps clean the things.
I find nothing difficult or exasperating about cutting up a pineapple, but it’s also a favorite of mine, so I don’t mind the 5-7 min it takes me to cut it up into sweet, juicy, bite-size chunks 
2 Likes
There are so many varieties for watermelon, and the type usually determines size. I have grown Sugar Babies, which are bowling ball size, so they ripen sooner in a cooler climate.
The heat units and whether it rained too much/ was irrigated, have a bigger impact on sweetness.
I live in a part of Canada where local watermelon is only really good a couple weeks a year. Whereas, there are watermelon growing regions in Greece that are known for their quality watermelon all summer long.
Amazing watermelon in the Mediterranean.
Are there particular regions in a State known for its watermelon? Is there a Watermelon Capital?
1 Like
I don’t think of myself as a particularly patient or tolerant person, but none of these bother me at all. If I had to come up with a kitchen task I don’t like, it would probably be cleaning my cast iron grill pan, but I use it once every couple of months, so no big deal.
2 Likes
You know, I don’t really know the answer to this question but as a delinquent youth, my friends and I used to “raid” patches of watermelon all spring and summer long. This was in central Illinois and someone always had good stuff growing, it seemed, from late May through late July.
Sometimes we’d get a shot of salt buckshot at us for doing so.
Fun times.
I’m horrified now by how casual I was as a kid at stealing stuff from neighbors.
Oh, I’d give anything to find fresh black-eyed peas to shell reminds me of summer with my grandparents. I really do not look forward to cleaning up the gunk from a fat roast chicken.
1 Like
Luling, Texas.
1 Like
Sorry, missed the prior reference to the thump. Luling smells bad, but it is a fun little town. The barbecue is superb. The thump is a blast.
1 Like
We’d shell fresh green peas with my grandmother in the winter - the fun pet was eating all the tiny ones because she’d encourage us to, they were so sweet and tender!
We taught my nephew to shell them with us one year, and to his immense excitement he found a CATERPILLAR - highlight of the whole holiday 
2 Likes
Mopping my lousy vinyl floor . It came with the house . I have Mannington Adura Max waterproof plank to put down . I have to fix the subfloor first.
2 Likes
Hi RR, try scaling fish in a plastic bag in the sink. Just put the fish and your hands (and fore arms) in the bag and start scaling, that should work keeping out most of the scales.
Things I don’t like: washing big heavy pans, preparing live lobster and crab, cutting the heads of a rabbit and of poultry, taking out the innards of poultry. I don’t like doing these things but I will because I love eating well. Deveining shrimps is not so bad. For deep cleaning I have a help who comes around once a week or so.
2 Likes
Removing grease stains from fry pan exterior.
2 Likes
This is why we always rinse our plates thoroughly in hot water before placing them in the dishwasher.
