" I haven't tasted any chalky, cardboard Fujis yet either." Neither have I, but Fuji is still a relatively new in its history of sport selection. I wasn't trying to draw a singular correlation between color and fruit quality. My point was that as long as selection pressure is based on packing criteria (i.e. size, color, etc.) sport selection has a strong potential to reduce eating quality in the long run. I agree there are some signs of hope the industry has learned its lesson, as witnessed by the significant decline of Red Delicious production relative to other, better tasting apples. Still the same flawed industry structure is still in place. Namely, the typical commercial grower is too many layers removed from the consumer and/or has little financial incentive to produce a highly flavorful product. It's the same system which encourages growers to apply too much N and water, also producing chalky flavorless fruit. At one time I knew a commercial catfish farmer in MS. Before he could ever harvest a pond, the buyer would send out a representative to taste the product. The rep would cast out line and reel in a fish. He would clean and pan fry over a small portable propane burner right there on the bank of the pond. If the fish didn't taste right (like too much algae flavor) the farmer would not be able to sell the fish until he killed the algae (i.e. algaecide) in hopes the fish flavor would improve enough to allow harvest. That may be a little much to ask of the apple industry, but surely we could at least have an official grading system based on more than just appearance.

I have a unknown from 10k south of bolonia that just past its third season and just gave me 1 ripe, all the rest fell off in similar way, they turned a dark reddish purple, started to shrivel and when just touched they fell 1 by 1. Late in season one swelled overnight and i said to myself this 1 is going to make it actually swelled unlike all the others i gave a couple more days and observed it as it turned purple and then i cut to see inside and ate it was sweet tasting but still to early to tell only 1 , so i think maybe some tree's might take longer , also the root system needs cutting bad with new soil , will see in its fourth season and post, here is a few pictures of the figs, the one ripe i anxiously ate last season before i could take a picture. Martin

The trip to the Italian Market was very, very awesome. I truly loved it and can't believe I never spent time there before (I live so close, it's ridiculous)! I didn't bring my camera!!! Sorry! (I had stupidly hurt my back two days before so was trying not to carry too much stuff.) I did buy cheeses from DiBruno Brothers. I LOVED that little store! A young member of the DiBruno clan (maybe 11 years old?) was handing out samples, and he knows more about cheese than I thought possible to know. I bought Parmeggiano Regiano and Peccorino Romano, plus some of their house-made garlic & chive cheese spread. All delicious. Best cheese I've ever had. Before DiBruno's, our first stop was Sarcone's Bakery, where they've been making bread the same way with the same recipes Luigi Sarcone brought from Italy in 1919. Around 8:30am we sampled the Italian bread with seeds (a long baguette-looking roll). It was hot out of the oven. To die for! They make only what they have time to make in the morning and it sells quick, usually by noon. Then they close for the day. We did indeed visit Fante's, and the owner told us a brief history of the Italian Market, as well as the Fante's store. Very interesting stuff. Fante's originally sold furniture, lamps, and crystal that Mr. Fante imported from Europe. His wife was always badgering him to get cookware. She was the innovator! ;-) Now they have every possible cooking gadget imaginable. Coffee machines everywhere! Every variety of Kitchen Aid mixer (and other brands) you want. I could have spent 4 hours in that store alone. (No more furniture or lamps, though,...good thinking, Mrs. Fante!) Esposito's meats was quite impressive. We got to go in the back and see where everything is butchered. We all wore ball caps because of FDA regulations. The inspector lives upstairs!!! I plan on going back in the future to buy their wonderful looking filet tips (half the price of the pretty filet rounds you buy in restaurants for the same meat). The highlight of the tour, though, was by far Termini's Bakery. The original location, with the tin ceiling and tile floor and refridgerator cases from the 30's is stunning. The pastries are beautiful and taste wonderful! Samples of cookies were generously given out. Mr. Termini told us the history of the bakery. His father's wedding pic, as well as the bakery's gold medal, is up on the wall. We went in the back and saw the 80 year old wooden pastry counters and huge mixers (as big as me!). Women were cutting biscotti. There were large tubs that looked like huge trash cans that held 800 of their cannoli shells a-piece. At Christmas time they go through 40 of those barrels of cannoli shells! Truly mind boggling. We saw one of the Termini sons decorate a wedding cake. One of our party said her parents got married in 1959 in Philadelphia and got their cake from Termini Brothers. For their 50'th wedding anniversary Termini's reproduced their wedding cake, with the help of a photo provided by the family. It was the original Mr. Termini's own design. Such a touching story! In addition to the samples (wow!), I walked out of there with a half pound of chocolate bing cherry biscotti. Delicious!!! My friend and I finished our day with lunch at La Lupe, one of the very favorably reviewed new Mexican restaurants in the market area. A fresh and delicious burrito containing chorizo, beans, cheese, rice, and topped with guacamole. That night dinner with my husband was my DiBruno's cheese plate, chianti, with Termini's biscotti for dessert. I can't wait to go back!!!

Plllog, I Googled your wine song. As I said earlier, the concept of folk songs is not French. Translating songs is not cultural appropriation. And with your Bottle of Wine song, you have confounded many concepts. Bottle of Wine is not considered a French folk song. A Kiwi, Graeme Allwright, who is considered a French folk singer by whom, I have no idea, because he translates Canadian and French folk songs into French, wrote this verse to the Bottle of Wine song and Tom Paxton sang it at a UK festival. Here, from http://www.mydfz.com/Paxton/lyrics/bow.htm: Tom sang a French verse to it in the Live in the UK album, which was written by French folksinger Graeme Allwright: Jolie bouteille, sacrée bouteille, Veux-tu me laisser tranquille? Je veux te quitter, je veux m'en aller, Je veux recommencer ma vie. [rough translation:] Happy Bottle, sacred bottle Will you let me be peaceful? I want to quit. I want to move on. I want to start my live over From Graeme Allwright's wiki: Graeme Allwright Graeme Allwright in 2012 Background informationBorn7 November 1926 Wellington, New ZealandDied16 February 2020(aged 93) Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames, FranceGenresContemporary folk music, protest songs, chanson, jazzOccupation(s)Singer, songwriterInstrumentsGuitarYears activeEarly 1960s–2020 Graeme Allwright (7 November 1926 – 16 February 2020) was a New Zealand-born French singer and songwriter. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s as a French language interpreter of the songs of American and Canadian songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Pete Seeger, and remained active into his nineties