April and Ryan

April is a pineapple. Most people are familiar with the canned version and that's the way they like it. The canned version is pretty versatile, comes in rings, chunks, and a crushed version which is particularly tasty in desserts and jello salads that are acceptable at church gatherings. The canned version is delicious and is hassle free but sometimes gets a little tasteless and is almost anemic looking if left out at a salad bar for too long. I am a big fan of fresh pineapple. I used to be afraid of the fresh version. I mean, just look at it! Where do you start? It looks so complicated but at the same time so very appealing. Before I knew much about pineapple I used to try to cut it up and usually boggled it up pretty bad. Now, I'm pretty good at it. You just whack off the top and bottom and then carefully try to remove the outer skin. The thing is, if you cut off too much of the skin you lose some of the best part of the fruit. Because of this, I will usually leave some of the thorny parts of the skin and just deal with it. I don't mind some of the thorns, it just reminds me that without that outside hide protecting the fruit, the inside could never be so tasty. Then there is the core of the pineapple. It's tough. There really is nothing you can do with the core of a pineapple (that I know of) except compost it. Maybe there is something I don't know yet about the pineapple, but I do know that without that tough core, the pineapple could not exist. That sweet, scrumptious, juicy fresh pineapple. I'll never go back to the canned version, unless I am absolutely desperate! In fact, when the pineapple is in abundance, I've even canned my own, leaving a few thorns just to remind me of her beauty and uniqueness. Here's what April added: "I died laughing, you were right on and truthful although you left out my background. The fact that I started out whole and someone cut the whole bottom of me off leaving only the shallow, unsure, delicate top to recreate roots and grow deep in the good earth. I struggled, but I think I'm as close to whole as I'm going to be for a while." I think that this shows you how great this particular pineapple is. She started as just a top a grew into a whole tree on her own, capable of creating more pineapples of her own.

Now Ryan, he's a coconut. Is a coconut even a fruit? I'm not sure, just like I'm not sure about Ryan. I don't have a clue what to do with a fresh coconut but I think they're pretty cool. I mostly want to knock a fresh coconut around and see if I can do any damage to it, sometimes peeling some of those funny hairs off the outside. If I had the right tools, I might just drill a whole in the coconut and shake the juice out. That would be fun. After that I'd split the coconut in half and try to figure out how to get the flesh of the coconut out. I think it's pretty tough and takes a skilled artist, so I might not do such a good job. The thing about a coconut is that after all is said and done, a coconut can be a lot of fun. You are left with two halves that you can clomp together and chase your kid around the house pretending you are a horse and mimicking crazy movies. For now, I'm OK with the flaked version of coconut that I can purchase at the store. I prefer the unsweetened version though because I don't like the fakeness associated with the sweetened kind. I almost forgot the part about how tough a coconut is. Do they ever go bad? This is a Sauer trait, no? They never stop, don't need sleep, and can work forever... definitely a coconut. I bet all those Sauer coconuts are a lot of fun rolling around together, knocking each other around, trying to break each other open. Ryan added this to the assessment: "I think I still have the coconut flesh in the refrigerator from our lone coconut purchase, because I as well wasn’t exactly sure what to do with it. Intriguing if nothing else." Intriguing? Ya think? Even Ryan doesn't know what to do with himself!

The best thing about pineapple and coconut is how well they go together. I think they are 2 very tropical and misunderstood fruits, but they were definitely meant to be together. Like I said, I know much more about pineapple, but when you add some coconut to it, it is so much better. Sometimes, in social gatherings of couples, the pineapple is quite pathetic if the coconut is not around. It's kind of like that sad, anemic looking, canned pineapple you get at a hospital salad bar. No fun, and you feel sort of sorry for it. Anyway, I look forward to figuring out what to do with a coconut and think I can have a little fun in the process. I'll always love pineapple and hope to understand that core a little better.