Do or Dye

It's Easter weekend, and the store shelves are bursting with marshmallow Peeps, Jellybeans, circus peanuts, Cadbury eggs, M&M's etc...in every color of the rainbow, and then some. The red candy can be repurposed from Christmas to Valentine's Day and any green stuff that wasn't branded for St Patty's Day is probably in there somewhere. All of this candy has absolutely nothing to do with the meaning of the holiday...but commercially, we are being forced to recognize that Spring has sprung.

Peeps!

I was in Trader Joe's today, and the cash register was finally in sight, after a 45 minute wait in a line that started at the front door, and circled the entire perimeter of the store! Creeping along in line, you are very likely to buy more than what was on your initial list...temptations abound. I went in JUST for champagne vinegar. Couldn't find it, so I got English Breakfast Tea. I also left with crabmeat, edamame hummus and cinammon raisin bread. They were not on the list, as I had no list.

They strategically place the flowers right there at the end of the line, to appeal to your "Spring is here!" and impulse buying sensors. The latter for me is spring-loaded, literally.

I saw, for the first time in my whole life, RED sunflowers! Deep saffron, really. A new hybrid? I've seen burgundy sunflowers in the farmer's market in autumn, but whoa, these were unusual and very pretty!

Must.Buy.Immediately! And only $4.99 for a big bunch.

Hmmmmm...turns out dyeing flowers has gone beyond the horrendously pedestrian blue and green carnations. Visions of well-meaning high school dates bearing corsages in plastic clamshells. Wrist or chest? There is no lesser, to these two evils.

Within a minute of these sunflowers being cut and put into a vase, the water turned a tacky pink.

The jig was up.

They're still pretty. If I see them again, I'd buy them again...but I'll be putting them in an opaque vase.

Speaking of things not being what they seem...remember Circus Peanuts?

They are oversized orange-colored-peanut-shaped marshmallows, that have a unique banana taste. Would love to see the notes from the focus group for this product.  They probably just knew that no one would eat beige marshmallows that taste like peanuts.