Citrus

A typical day in November (and presumably December, January and February) sees me making a crucial decision on the farm.  That crucial decision is in what order should I eat citrus.  This is important because too many acidic fruit and my teeth will fall out.  I end up choosing two or three a day.  And I don't mean two or three oranges or two or three grapefruit, I mean different varieties of citrus.  I compare my burgeoning citrus snobbery to my cheese snobbery I developed in Italy.  The farm grows dozens of varieties most of which aren't found in normal grocery stores.  I fully plan on making disparaging remarks about store-bought grapefruit and navel oranges when I leave ECHO.

It'll sound something like this:  "Oh, this grapefruit is ok, but I prefer the Duncan variety.  It has more seeds but the flavour is exquisite."  I'll say 'flavour' in such a way that people will KNOW I'm spelling it f-l-a-v-o-u-r.  Or it might sound something like, "This Tropicana orange juice is not bad, but I prefer a 50-50 blend of calamondin and ambersweet.  The combination is to DIE for."

People will know I'm smart and hip if I degrade their citrus.

Seriously though,  here are some varieties I've tried in the last month as things have begun to ripen:
1. Ambersweet orange
2. Pineapple orange
3. Red navel orange
4. Navel orange
5. HB Pummelo
6. Giant pummelo
7. Ponderosa lemon
8. Lem-n-lime
9. Key lime (I made a pie and it was outstanding)
10. Flame grapefruit
11. Ruby red grapefruit
12. Page tangor
13. Wekiwa
14. Valencia orange
15. Calamondin

There are about 10 more I can't remember the names of.  How is it that I keep ending up in places where I have access to amazing food?

New experiences in the last month:
1. Incubated and hatched my very first duckling 'from scratch.'

Arnold may be Arnoldina in a few months...

2. Made coffee cake for the first time ever.

I haven't even tasted it yet.

3. Ate snowy potatoes (it's when you add potato flakes to your cream cheese/sour cream/butter mix)
4. Shot a raccoon.  (He was messing with my plants)
5. Saw a Harry Potter movie in the theater. (My imagination is better)
6. Cooked a full 20 lb ham. (It takes longer than you'd think)
7. Missed my final opportunity to take advantage of chain restaurants' gratitude toward service-members by giving them free food.  (I'll miss you, free bloomin' onion)
8. Made a key lime pie from scratch.
9. Saw mountains of sugar cane bagasse.

Is it bad that enormous machinery makes my heart flutter in the same way as when I see my girlfriend after a long absence?