Cheddar and apples

Why are Stayman Winesaps all around in the markets at this time of year?  Are they now shipping apples from Chile as well?  If they are, at least a well known New York apple from another country still goes well with cheddar cheese. If you can’t tell, I’m completely avoiding the concern over the Gulf.  But I will slip in this brief note.

My good thoughts and well wishes go out to the fish and wildlife living in the region.  Same to all the people involved in trying to do hands on help for the animals, waterways and well, everyone and everything in the Gulf area. Also, a deep bow to the dolphins that live in those waters. The turtles and whales that live and visit there too.  Imagine swimming through your world. Diving through the warm and cool currents. Riding the waves behind boats.  Looking at the sky from underneath the water.  No taxes, no retirement plans to worry about.  Just how you might play with the beams of light coming through the water or how you might jump out of your home and splash back in.  Dolphins represent what we think of as joy about as good as any living thing on this planet.  Far from that troubled area, because I can’t reach in and give a hand, I’d like to try to send a message of caring and concern.

I can’t remember if it was last year or the summer before that we saw a pod of dolphins swimming and jumping and churning the water right in front of us.  The water glistened on their bodies.  Then all of sudden we noticed that there were fish jumping straight out of the water too.  When we understood what was going on it just about was ending.  But clearly the dolphins were heading out to NYC for the day; decided to stop and gather a meal, and then continue on their j0urney. We saw them head back south later in the day.  But they just headed straight home.  Just about took the same exact route and distance from the beach as the last time.  Maybe they caught a good current. You have to wonder if their time back was an hour shorter than their time out to the city like the Vegas trip.  Ater a full day they just cruised along, easily slipping through the water going and coming back.  I wish my day’s energy were as even from stem to stern as theirs.  I just can’t get myself to eat fish.  That’s probably the answer but I can’t do it. 

I can manage some extra sharp cheddar with a really good apple though.  What a beautiful combination. You have to wonder who first discovered these great synergistic foods. Lettuce and tomato on toast with mayo. Was it the early Deliman?  Barely mentioned by anthropologists; hardly known through the fossil record. I mean, how well do you think toast lasts through the millenia anyway?  But Deliman certainly discovered the egg cream after a long day of making Woolly Mammouth Reubens for the whole tribe.  Apples and cheddar are a more modern invention. Lighter, less tools, no need for swirling deli counter chairs.  Portable and satisfying, the cheddar apple combination no doubt a product of a nomadic civilization.   Here’s hoping everyone’s journey, including the bay dolphins, be smooth and healthy.