The grocery stores, right now, are teaming with bags and crates of little clementine oranges. They are abundant and in-season and a staple in our house from December through March while they are at their peak. My favourites are the tiny sugar rock variety. You can eat those juicy orbs in one bite, but I still separate the whole and savour them one segment at a time, mindfully enjoying each almond-sized wedge. Mindful eating is a slow-down pleasure that improves the taste of your food and extends the enjoyment portion of your lunch program.
The sugar rock clementines are challenging to find and generally expensive when you do. Garden variety Maroc clementines are the type you find most often in stores this time of year. They are still small and generally juicy and sweet. You never pop just one in your lunch bag, your purse, your pocket, or the cup holder of your car. You always take along two or three to equate a satisfying serving of fruit.
Working with averages - a bag of Maroc clementines is bound to contain a dud - a lifeless, woody, not-so-juicy orange that lacks flavour and delight. Working with Murphy’s Law - I will always get this orange. Furthermore, it’s guaranteed always to be the last one I peel to eat. I’ll eat it anyway, and disappointment will snuff out the memory of the delicious clementines enjoyed just moments before.
I’ve come up with a hack to combat this orange disappointment. I rather like it - it’s the hack my grandfather would have imparted wisely to me when I was a child. He was very logical and clever, and I am not nearly as clear and logical a thinker, so you can understand that I’m proud of my hack - a little embarrassed that it took me so long to work out the logic, but proud nonetheless.
Peel all the clementines in your lunch at once. Eat the worst one first.
You’re welcome
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