I was sorely tempted a few weeks ago by WalMart--my ex had some beautiful big apples on his kitchen table when I walked in to pick up the kids. I thought perhaps he'd been by a farmer's market somewhere, but no, he shops at WallyWorld. Big colorful crisp looking Gala and Braeburn and Fuju apples--mouthwatering! I resisted however and found some pretty good ones at a local competing supermarket.

I think we could use a little Southwestern chili pepper commentary here at the MOAB, not just us apple-eaters. The Hatch crop is in and I bet all of New Mexico smells like roasting peppers now--a smell like no other, the harbinger of fall in the desert, the essence of the Southwest. Mmmmmmm! They don't grow them here (at least not in any quantity) that I'm aware of and I don't know if anyone locally roasts them, but I've been in Albuquerque when the parks and parking lots are filled with chili roasters. I carried a hot fragrant box of chilis home for a friend one afternoon and was in heaven when the next day she made a batch of green chili stew.

Arizona may have a different fall crop, tunas and yucca and agave and who knows what else, but does it also have some peppers?