You Just Know, The Way You Know About a Good Melon

So, since forever I have loved the movie "When Harry Met Sally," and if it is true that men and women cannot in fact be just friends, then I'm afraid I have lost 90% of my friendship circle. The part I love the most about that film is how they interview 'couples' who have been together a long time and they all seem to fit together like an old worn pair of tennis shoes. There is one couple in particular that I've always thought about: the woman that says she knew her husband was"the one" because she just knew, "the way you know about a good melon."

This makes me panic, because I can't seem to master picking out a good melon, and it may be carrying over to the men I pick. Yesterday, I was at Whole Foods, and since summer has arrived it seemed the perfect time to pick a melon of the honeydew or cantaloupe nature. The problem is, how can you ever really tell what a good melon looks like?

I've heard all the tips: smell it, knock on it and listen, look it over, shake it. But after doing all these things it seems I still do not have an eye for the perfect melon. I got my honeydew home, cut it open, and much to my dismay it was the perfect amount of unripe for my liking. I guess I'll just have to keep trying, to keep knocking on melons and cutting them open and maybe one of these days I'll find the perfect balance of sweetness and summer that I'm looking for in a melon, much like that lovely lady in "When Harry Met Sally" spoke of. And when I find that perfect melon maybe I'll be able to enjoy it like Meg Ryan enjoyed her salad in that infamous diner scene.

Watch that movie again, it only gets better with age. And if you're like me, keep buying pre-cut melon, that way you can already see what's inside, an advantage that we have only for melon, not so much for the men. The problem is I always think I know what's inside, but alas when I get to the core and scoop out the seeds there I am eating my semi-sweet or semi-mushy melon thinking: huh, maybe I'll just stick to strawberries...but then where's the fun in that? ;)