March 7, 2020. Madison, Mississippi. Tangerines.

Your memory for a taste is interesting. I can still recall the taste of the tangerines that we ate in Japan. We were staying in Time Shares so we were able to buy groceries at the local grocery stores. It is always interesting to buy contaners of food that you do not know what it is but by asking and looking at pictures we were able to buy what we wanted. Our routine was to eat breakfasts and supper at home and eat our main meal at restaurants where Andrew would translate the menu. Often he would just order for us which made life easy. The first day of the three weeks in Japan we bought tangerines. They were sold in small bags. At that time, the stores were all small but now I am told that they have the same large stores that are similar to ours. I bought one bag. As there were four of us, we finished eating them immediately. We had never tasted such tangerines. They were big and juicy and sweet. From then on, I bought two bags, one for breakfast and one with supper. And we were able to buy them in the three different places we were living. We asked about the type and were told that they do not export them because the crop is small. We were lucky to be there at the exact time that they had turned ripe. That was many years ago but every time I eat a tangerine I recall the taste of those Japanese tangerines. I am happy to eat these tangerines that I buy in the grocery store but I always wish I could eat those big juicy Japanese tangerines. And I am grateful for the memory of taste in my brain.