Friday, September 22, 2006

In the corner of the pantry

We cleaned out Grandma's pantry. Old beans, canned beets, boxes of noodles.. it was well-stocked. The wooden sleves had marks where cans had slid into familiar rows over and over like consistent for decades. We cleaned it out. The expired lentils. The sprouting potatos. Even the long neglected sad-looking beets. In the back was a jar of Apple Cider jelly.

It looked like a jar of coal tar. It was black and fairly old. My cousin informed me that the orchard that made it no longer operated. I took it home for a taste. The blackness concerned me. It could have turned. The blackness might not be carmelized fructose but actually be black mold spores that could kill me.

I tasted it anyway. It was strong strong strong. The apple taste was so concentrated as to over power any mortal muffin, and simple pancake. Somehow in it's veractity it no longer tasted like apple as far as the image of apple allowed in my mind which made be debate why intensity would do such a thing to an idea. But it certainly did. and it did taste good. I tried diluting it in simple syrup but it was too mighty. It's in my pantry now calling me thru the cheap particle board facade. Nothing tastes like this but real apple cider jelly. Nothing. I haven't tried the phone number. I may yet see if they have a few left rollign around in their own pantry.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Apple related ephemera


What is there to say about a cheap immitation apple product. Only that it is a pale immitaiton or that it reminds you of all the good things in the absence of the real thing?

Stephen King said that
"Each life makes its own immitation of immortality."

The apple as an icon and as a metaphor is immortal and so it lives on beyond us and beyond the very disposable plasitic packaging.

The marketing Director of Pepsi, Mr. W Bill Monro said that "Imitation is the sincerest form of collective stupidity.” And in that view I wasted my four dollars, but is it valid or is he downgrading the value of mutual concensus? It's also been said wisely that mutual concensus is truth. If that is so, then he can be disregarded as he disagrees with us.

John Stuart Mill said that "All good things which exist are the fruits of originality. " Immitation is one of those fruits and on that topic he is heutral or mum. The oldest quote is that immitation is the sincerest form of flattery (or some phrase derivation thereof) If that is so, this cannot be so sincere as this slice of pie was mediocre and as Paramahansa Yogananda once said "Most people imitate others. You should be original, and whatever you do, do well. " In corollary poor imitation is an insult. Which seems to reccomend the real thing more than any other.