Watermelon

Son #1's girly friend returned from an all girl beach trio the other day.  One thing that she brought back with her was the biggest striped watermelon that I'd  seen in quite some time!

I knew it was coming, as she sent me a text with a picture of it in her Mom's lap.  That sucker weighed in at over 40 pounds!  Not sure where she got it, but her Mom's lap will never be the same.

Once she walked in with it, I knew the anticipation was gonna kill us.  It was gonna take at least 2 days to put a good chill on that sucker!  Luckily there was enough room in our outside fridge for it to it.  The number one question was "could we wait"?

You have to wonder how do those guys know  when to pick'um.  I don't  know that I've ever seen an under ripe one.  The absolute worst  kind is one that is over ripe, the texture is nothing but mush! Nothing to do with these but toss it, and hope for better next time.

Well, this 40 pounder made it through the cooling stage, now time to cut!  There is no greater anticipation than waiting to hear that sound.  You take a knife, the longer the better, and stick it in, almost to the end of the handle.  As you slide the blade down the side of the melon, you listen for that snap and crackle of the melon beginning to split in two.  Yes!  You hear it! Oh man, it's gotta be the sweetest one of the season!

When the boys were young, I occasionally could get away with "cutting the heart out of it" for a quick tasty sample.  The spousal unit finally caught on, and now she is forever reminding me "don't you do it!"

My slice is officially on my plate.  The anticipation of that first bite is killing me!  My utensil of choice is a knife.  Just me, the melon slice and a knife!  Some go with a fork, and some even have a shaker of salt.  What's up with that???

The first cut for me is always the portion of the heart that makes it to the plate.  I always have my fingers crossed that there is enough of the heart to wet my appetite to get me through the next phase of attack.

I cannot stand watermelon seeds.  Some folks just cut off pieces, begin to chew, and spit the seeds out as they go.  Not me!  I use the knife blade to pick out as many seeds as I can.  The next challenge is to cut off as many pieces, preferably with no seeds at all.

If the melon is really sweet, you can't  get enough of it.  I'll  whittle that sucker all the way down to the white part of the rind.  Sometimes they are so good you have to go for another piece!

Man!  I've just made myself hungry for another slice of that bad boy. Now, I'm  glad the girly friend went for that forty pounder!