Yesterday was my day off. When I returned from my errands, on the dining room table, on a paper napkin over which was an apple with one bite taken out of it, Lawrence had written: "Bow took bite of this, spit it out and said it was bad. Do you think others?"
He was referring to all the other apples that had come in that bag. If this was a bad apple, were all the other apples bad? I felt of the apple, and it was hard and unyielding. There was no indication to me that it was rotten. The only reason the part Bow had taken a bite of was brown was because of the normal oxidation process.
I went to the pen to ask Lawrence about it. Lawrence said he had asked Bow why he thought the apple was bad, but Bow, who is not good at answering questions that start with "why" had merely answered: "Because it is bad."
In the evening I made my own investigation. I cut open the apple, tried to remove the oxidated spots and bit into it. The apple tasted fine. I then took it into the pen with Bow, along with the napkin, to begin an inquiry of my own.
"Bow, do you know what it says here?" I asked him, brandishing the napkin. "What does it say?" "?אתה יודע מה כתוב כאן? מה כתוב כאן"
I then read him the napkin, word for word. While I was reading it out loud to him, Bow followed along on the napkin, pointing at the appropriate words. He can read. But when I was done he looked away, as if totally uninterested in the issue that the napkin's words addressed.
"Is it bad? Look, I am eating now," I said and took a bite of the apple. "Is it bad?"
"?האם זה רע? תסתכל' אני אוכלת את זה עכשיו. האם זה רע"
Bow picked up the apple and started eating it. He finished the whole thing. There was no more talk about the apple being bad.
Mind you, this was one of a bag of red delicious apples, which are the least tasty of all the apples in the store. Even the Wikipedia says they don't taste so good.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Delicious
But that's why they have the lowest price per pound from all the apples in the grocery store. Supply and demand. These are human grade apples, fit for eating. I eat them, too. I also let Bow have more expensive apples in moderation, but I can't have him turning up his nose on the red delicious as long as we are on a budget.
I think he understands. And, yes, he can read!
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You can turn these into apple sauce and improve the flavor. Or add the apples to a bit of oat meal. When I am on a budget I will sometimes buy red apples, but honestly, store bought apples have never been my favorites. My mom had several apple trees when we were growing up, and even now I have tons of apples during the fall and winter months. Those apples are so good, and make store bought apples just taste watery to me. I use apple sauce packs as a snack to stay hydrated when I am out and about because these are less bulky than water, but I have never been a fan of store bought apples.
ReplyDeleteHi, Julia. I find it really interesting and encouraging that you use apple sauce packets to stay hydrated, One of the reasons Bow and I eat so many apples is also for hydration, as they make less of a mess than water and are more satisfying.
DeleteI find that apples slake thirst better than water. It's great that we are on the same page about this. So many people are pure water fanatics.
And, yes, I agree that store bought apples are not as good as home grown, even though they look nicer.
Oh yes, water is heavy to carry, and I have a hard time drinking lots of it, unless it is sparkling water. I find the apple sauce packets are easy to carry, and great after a bike ride. You can make your own apple sauce, too. I would just blend the apples and add cinnamon. Some people want to add sugar, but I do not think it is necessary.
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