Watermelon: a love letter
With summer quickly drawing to a close, watermelon quality is declining and prices are creeping up, which means I’ll soon be forced to cease my habit of eating 1-2 pounds (or more) of the stuff per day. There is little else more satisfying and refreshing to me than ripe, pink, juicy summer watermelon. As I work on lowering my consumption, I write this preemptive goodbye letter to the sweetest star in my culinary universe.
Dear Watermelon,
I snacked on a humongous tub of you all the way to Minneapolis in July. It was a joy to travel there with the love of my life, and Matt too.
I found the biggest, sweetest one of you all summer at the Overland Park farmers market (I posed you with a potato to show scale).
You yielded so much succulent flesh…
…that I couldn’t fit all of you in one photo.
When my local Whole Foods held a watermelon-eating contest, I jumped at the chance to feast on you for free…
…and to not be judged for how voraciously I gobbled you down.
(I came in 2nd place, by the way.)
Watermelon, my love…I’ve spent a small fortune on you this summer, as I have in summers past, but you made every penny worth it. Until we meet again in 2012, know that you have my undying devotion and affection, always. Farewell until next year, my sweet!
Love ,
Amber
QUESTION: What foods will you miss the most when summer slips away?
Almost Vegan 
This is a GREAT post. I laughed at your watermelon eating skills. You are too funny! Sigh… want watermelon during my labor as a snack…this is how wonderful it is. Yes.
Hehe! I have a video of the contest posted on my personal Facebook page if you want to really laugh. 😛
Aw, how touching! You really love watermelon! I might eat one or two little melons each summer, and (gasp) I usually don’t finish the whole thing before it goes bad. Sorry. I like cantaloupe way better though! But most of all, I miss tomatoes. I refuse to buy them in the winter (well, until about February when I always give in and buy the crappy ones), so I go sooooo long without a fresh tomato.
See, I can’t get into cantaloupe…though I do like honeydew. But nothing compares to watermelon.
I hear ya on the tomatoes!
I’m the same with cantaloupe. Cannot stand it, but now you are making me realise I SHOULD be buying some of those big watermelons sold on the side of the roads here by the bedouins!
Um, YEAH you should! Send me some? 😉
Love this!
You should start growing them, apparently they aren’t that hard to grow!!
Really? Someday when I have a house (with a backyard/garden), I will have to look into that!
That melon was huge! I guess for me, it’s not so much what I’ll miss from summer, but what I have to look forward to in autumn; butternut squash, apples, pumpkin. Sept-Dec is by far my favorite time of year. Great blog.
I AM looking forward to dirt-cheap sweet potatoes! 🙂
So true. Watermelon and sweet corn i will miss you so! What i regret most is how fast summer went and how I did not eat enough of you! I am so jealous of your ginormous watermelon…yummm. I have some in the fridge right now actually, must go grab some now!
No matter how much watermelon I eat, I feel like I haven’t eaten enough. You go enjoy that melon! 🙂
Haha! You really are quite the watermelon lover huh? I personally don’t enjoy melons of any kind all that much, a perfectly soft peach gets me every time though.
I don’t know if I’ve even ever eaten the perfect peach…I should put that on my to-do list.
Icy cold watermelon!
We’re in agreement there! 🙂
I will miss the crap out of fresh tomatoes. I go in to major mourning when they are no longer in season.
Yeah, the loss of tomatoes is a bummer too 😦
This is adorable! And reminds me, I need to take advantage of watermelon season, ASAP!
Indeed! Eat up before it’s all gone! 🙂
I love this post, so much! This summer I rediscovered my love for watermelon, too, after somehow forgetting about it last year. I seriously went through a whole melon in a week (by myself), just slicing away at it every day. So satisfying!
I think I’ll miss the watermelon, the corn on the cob and donut peaches the most. I love fall, but the end of our farmers markets is always a rough transition for me.
And your watermelon eating contest photo is adorable. 🙂
Hehe, thanks! Don’t you just love having a big, luscious, juicy watermelon in your fridge ready for the snacking any time you want? I do! Obviously 😛
Oh, goodness, I feel exactly the same way about watermelon! It will be such a shame when it’s no longer available in season (I live in LA, so I have a bit more time left), but I do believe I’ve eaten my weight (if not more) in watermelon this summer.
Oh, you’re so lucky you have more warm watermelony weather left! Can I come stay with you? 😉
I’m not a watermelon fan at all (we can still be friends, right?), but I will miss berries sorely, particularly strawberries. Not a week goes by in the summer when I don’t have strawberries in the fridge.
Haha, of course we can still be friends…as long as I can have your share of the world’s watermelon 😛 MMM, berries, yes…berries occupy the #2 spot on my Favorite Fruits list, particularly blackberries and raspberries. I’ve been too busy mourning the end of watermelon season to even think much about my beloved berries!
Congrats on your second place finish! Ha ha ha…that made ma laugh. I, too, have been eating watermelon like crazy this summer. My husband just commented the other day that I should start reducing my consumption so I don’t go into shock when the watermelons are all gone. I didn’t listen. But in my defense, I couldn’t hear him over my chewing and slurping 😉
Haha! That’s about how it works around here between me and Matt, too 😛
What a great ode-to-summer post! That watermelon looked soooo good. It literally made my mouth water (maybe that’s why it’s called “water” melon…har har).
You are right. There is truly nothing more refreshing than watermelon for the summer! Any watermelon recipes you have to share (pops, drinks, etc)?
The only watermelon recipe I’ve ever blogged is this watermelon agua fresca. I don’t tend to use watermelon in recipes that often, because I eat it all as-is! There will, however, be a chilled watermelon soup in my cookbook. 🙂
Love your watermelon face!
At one point, the Safeway up here was selling mid-sized seedless watermelons for $15 each!! They were a little over half that at the other two grocery stores that cater less to tourists (i.e. don’t gouge quite so much). Horrifying–I ate my weight in watermelon this summer too. I share your sentiments: the last one I had was mushy, so I froze it.
Two suggestions right there–freeze some for a winter treat, and also (I would never have thought of this)–dehydrated watermelon is incredible! It’s not the same thing at all (kind of like sundried versus fresh tomatoes) but it is another really good thing.
$15?! Heart attack! Glad you were able to find some more affordable than that!
I have never even considered dehydrating watermelon – how interesting! I’ll have to try that, though I’ll wait for the dismal winter melons instead of sacrificing any of the precious summer melon that’s left. 😉
Amber, not having been a fan of watermelon in the past, for some reason, this summer on those hot summer days, I was having thirst quenching cravings and watermelon came to mind. I bought some, LOVED it, especially after working out, and continued getting it throughout the summer…..notnear as much as you did, but I really enjoyed the fresh, pink, juicy refreshing bites!
I’m glad to hear you’ve been enjoying fruit, and watermelon in particular. I always felt Price Chopper had the best melon, until I got some from Hen House earlier this summer, and haven’t gone anywhere else for it (besides the farmers market) since.
Ah how awesome! That’s a lot of watermelon… great job though! Stuffing your face with delicious watermelon is fun… 😉
“A lot” is right! There was one 4-day stretch in June where I think I ate something like 15 pounds of it…crazy!
I’m with you Amber. I love watermelon! The worst part about summer ending is the end of watermelon season : ( I can’t wait until 2012!
It makes me sad to even think about having to live through the winter without it! In fact, I think I need to comfort myself right now with a few bites from the fridge… 😉
My dear, I’ve never been obsessed with watermelon, but in this single post you’ve made me ecstatic to know that Summer, and watermelon, are just around the corner for me. Wheeeee!
YOU ARE SO LUCKYYYY!!!!!!1!!!11zomg
and the watermelon would say “i love you right back” hehe mmmm ❤
Hehe, aw! I sure hope he would ;P
I now have the biggest craving for watermelon! 😛
Story of my life! 😉
Love your face after the watermelon contest! Quick question – have you ever noticed water retention when you eat a lot of watermelon? Someone told me about this last year and – maybe it’s just a coincidence – I’ve been eating it less and I haven’t had anything like the water retention problem I had last year.
Hmm, I’ve never noticed that, myself…in fact, since it’s so water-rich, watermelon actually tends to flush me out and decrease water retention.
You really rocked that ‘melon, girl!! I love H20-melon, as my dad used to call it and that’s what I’ll miss most when summer is gone. That plus peaches and basil.
Ooh, basil, good one. I regret not making more pesto this summer!
Too funny!!
I’m going to miss all those succulent organic strawberries and tangy golden kiwis.
Le sigh.
But hey… butternut squash and sweet potatoes. ‘Nuff said.
I’m going to miss the berries terribly too! I do love me some sweet potatoes, though…
How cute are you with your watermelon-face? I love it too! It’s been so cool this summer along the coast in California that we just started getting our watermelons. Wish I could send you one. 🙂
Lucky! I wish you could too 🙂
While we’re comforting ourselves with talk of what we will be enjoying soon….pomegranates! I cannot wait for the tell-tale stained fingers and juicy little pods!
You know, it’s been a long time since I’ve taken advantage of pomegranate season. When that terrible, sour juice got big a few years ago, I think it totally turned me off from the flavor of pomegranates. I should change that this year.
I feel the same way about pre-made juice. In-season fresh pomegranate is not the same beast, though! I’ll buy like 8 when they go on sale and the girls and I will have pomegranate hulling (is that the right word? hm) parties. That’ll give us a couple days’ worth anyway ;).
I wonder if there is a specific verb for the act of de-seeding a pomegranate! Surely…
How hilarious that you entered a watermelon eating contest! I would totally do that too! I eat copious amounts every summer. Congrats on the second place!
Hehe, thanks! 😛
Ah, I share your pain exactly! Watermelon are always the hardest for me to give up, too… And truth be told, I’m not above sneaking the random melon in once or twice come January, when the sadness of being without is too much to bear. Don’t call the seasonally correct police on me!
I do that every year too, only I always end up crushingly disappointed by the abysmal [lack of] flavor. Then I vow to wait more patiently until summer. 🙂
This has just made me realise I’ve let a whole summer go by without eating any watermelon!!!!!! Next year, I will make up for this massive failure!
Oh no! Snatch some up before it’s too late, and summer’s completely over!
This is a great post!!! A watermelon love note is super funny!!! I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the picture of you with watermelon mouth!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Haha! I’m not crazy about it, but I HAD to post it. 🙂
This post is so cute. My kids and I are going to miss watermelon, too. We’ve been eating it, and building with it, too (maybe I should post about that before all the melon is gone).
Congrats on coming in second place. Luv your watermelon smiling face 🙂
Aw, yes, you should totally post about it!
You totally convinced me to post about it. We just did today, and I gave you credit for the inspiration.
YAY! Going to go read it now. 🙂
one of my proudest moments as a kid was placing 2nd in a watermelon eating contest. i swallowed pits and everything!
Whoa! You are a badass 😛 Luckily, mine was seedless.
I have a solution my darling girl, come on down to Australia for the summer season down here – people follow the snow, surely you can follow the watermelon!!! 🙂 Loved the post! xxx
And then you and Matt can come visit us over here too! Love Brad and Rhi x
That is a brilliant solution, Rhi! And one I totally agree with 😀 Now, how to find cheap flights to Oz….
I SO want to visit you someday! ❤
Totally agree, Amber! Nothing satisfies like watermelon. I am taking some to work today with my salad for lunch. Yum! But, alas, this may be my last for the season as well. (However, I sampled this morning and this batch is still so sweet and tasty!)
I don’t often comment, but always enjoy your blog and facebook page! 🙂
Shawn
I’ve got a couple more sweet quarters left in my fridge, though those’ll only last me for a day or two…maybe this weekend in LA I’ll have to make it a point to find some good Cali watermelon!
Thanks always for reading! 🙂
Amber! We are watermelon TWINS! I do the exact same thing! I buy huge water melons, and cut them into big cubes and eats tons and tons of it every day. I even take giant tupperwares of it in the car with me. Twins!
Haha! We MUST be twins, then! Aw, I wanna take another road trip with my beloved watermelon… 😛
Um yea, watermelon is my summer favorit too! So fresh and good! This summer I drank watermelon smoothies/lemonade aaall the time- refreshing 🙂
Refreshing indeed! Sounds like a delicious concoction.
Hilarous! I love that you got 2nd place. Watermelon really is amazing. (Although I tried watermelon juice once and was surprised that I did not like it.)
Hehe, thanks! I like the taste of watermelon juice, but I much prefer to just eat the fruit.
Too funny!
I’ve been on an extended visit with my Dad in Georgia. I’m from Alaska. I’ve gorged my self on every fruit I could find all summer, especially watermelon. It’s been heavenly!! And yes the quality is beginning to decline. I’ll be so spoiled when I get back home. Something happens to it by the time it reaches Alaska.
I believe it! I’m glad you’ve been able to take advantage of Southern summer watermelon this year. 🙂
Ode to summer’s watermelon! What fun! We could eat it all day, every day, and we pretty much try to! I’ve had scrumdiddlyumptious wintertime watermelon. Just look for the pre-cut chunks so you can see the texture and redness.
Yep, I better go with pre-cut if I cave and buy watermelon again this winter – I just bought a dud of a mini-melon the other day! 😦 It’s just not the same when it’s cold out, hehe…