Especially when it came to money, my father would say, "it's not like it grows on trees!" Well some things do. Olives for example. I like olives, at times, some kinds of them I love. It is amazing the varieties, based on the variety of the tree, green or ripe, and how they are cured or pickled. I have read that raw off the tree olives are inedible, they require some kind of processing to be tasty.
I have only once seen Olives growing on trees. In Athens, I realized that Carole, and Kent and J were standing under an Olive tree, and the tree had ripe olives on it. Just after I took this photo, I shook the tree, and olives lightly rained down around them. I don't understand why, but I still smile when I think about that. Olives grow on trees, when they are ripe you can shake them out of the trees.
Olives are grown here, even in our own cooler climate. I was supposed to be dinner in Lisbon. We sat outside on the edge of a square in the old quarter. The waiter was handsome and engaging. We drank wine, ate olives and bread dipped in olive oil. We forgot about dinner, more wine, more olives, more bread. It was a lovely and memorable evening in Lisbon.
ReplyDeleteAdvice for olive lovers to protect your teeth: treat every olive like it has a pip until you discover otherwise.
wise advice. Lisbon sounds wonderful
DeleteI love so many kinds of olives, and they’re a constant presence here. Most restaurants serve an endless bowl of olives with a meal. Trees are everywhere in town and orchards everywhere outside town.
ReplyDeleteWe need to spend time there
DeleteI remember that, tee-hee. That was such a great trip!
ReplyDeleteWa great fun
DeleteThe town in California where I grew up used to be part of a large olive orchard and in our neighborhood, every single house had at least one olive tree. I still remember driveways and walkways stained with olives that had dropped to the ground and then been stepped on.
ReplyDeleteSo how do you cure them?
DeleteI love olives too, especially the big, fat Cerignola olives. Whole Foods has them every now and then. I see them growing on trees here all the time. Olive trees are very common here especially in the older neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteI knew they grew in warm dry places, I didn't know Arizona
DeleteGreat photos! I am not an olive fancier myself.
ReplyDeleteI can understand that,
DeleteI just heard a podcast all about the olive tree; a most fascinating tree indeed.
ReplyDelete