Dear Seattle,

Once again, you gave me a wonderful visit! The rain stopped, skies cleared and lo and behold there were the Olympic Mountains (yes! I saw them). Elliott Bay was gorgeous as blue as the sky.

I am not a coffee drinker, but still the first, original Starbucks is kinda awesome. Pike Place market always shows me new things. This trip, I met Alan at a produce stand and we talked Honey Crisp and Pink Ladies apples – their origins — hybrids from ag schools who still earn royalties for every tree planted and apple harvested; growing, best time to eat them – organic v not. And THEN he introduced me to Sumo Citrus. An amazing orange varietal with a great story and taste!

In the 1970’s a citrus grower from the Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan set out to develop a fruit which would combine the best of the easy-to-peel Japanese Satsuma with the big, juicy, sweet oranges from California. Although he saw promise in an obscure tangerine-orange hybrid, this new fruit was challenging to grow. It took over 30 years but his hard work was rewarded when recently, this new variety became the most prized citrus fruit in Japan and Korea. Now this legendary fruit, which is called Dekopon in Japan and Hallabong in Korea, is finally available for the enjoyment of consumers here in America.

I had the great opportunity to meet with my public radio colleagues! at KUOW, KPLU and KEXP! Which was the purpose of the trip. You got mad radio in Seattle!