Topic: Happiness is...

[Kathy]

Eating a perfect, succulent Harry & David pear.

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

  $ 30 (+ $ 9 for shipping) for 5 - 10 pears  

For this price they'd better be the best pears I ever ate.

[Kathy]

My mom and send them to each other once a year. We usually wait until we get free shipping but even if we didn't they are worth the price.

They are the most delicious things in the world. You do need to wait until they are perfect - gently give when touched - but then....

You literally need to stand over the sink or go outside because they are so juicy. I was going to add a few more choice words but it started to sound dirty!  

Edit: How weird - I just opened my email and there was a Harry & David message for free delivery on a $49 order - it's a Mother's Day special promo.

[addicted2dvd]

I never had these... but there is nothing like a really good piece of fruit when you can find one. 

[Najemikon]

I'm confused. Is quality fresh fruit somewhat rare in the US? The price is rather expensive: knock shipping off, convert to British currency and you're looking at £2 a pear. Accounting for buying in weight, not number, I'd guess a pear from my local Co-Op supermarket would be about 60p. I can see ways of pushing the price up past a pound, but I can't imagine how a single pear could warrant twice the cost.

I don't deny your juicy(!) description, Kathy, but that's typical of what I'd expect from a Conference pear, the most common UK variety. In fact, I just did a quick Google, and I can't even find a specialist UK supplier of posh fruit, so I have to assume there's no market. Is it simply because we're spoilt here and you just don't get the same choice in the States?

[Kathy]

Of course we get excellent fruit in the US. Our local co-ops are fantastic.

But Royal Riviera pears are special, I think the trees they are from are quite rare, and I've never eaten a better pear in my life.

Of course whenever we send a package we always order the Moose Munch too.

[Tom]

Though from what I hear from friends who have been to the US in recent years, fruit is quite expensive in the supermarkets there and you have a hard time finding it among all the unhealthy stuff.

[Dragonfire]

Fruit can be pricey in grocery stores.  The weather can impact some of it.  The weather has been crazy this year..it was close to 90 in March and it has been frosting some this month.  Some fruit crops have been damaged already.  Probably other produce too.

[Jimmy]

The weather can impact some of it.

Sure it's a factor but the price aren't as high here and we are just north of you... I think it's more a case of high price to compensate for the high level of lost products because Americans doesn't eat well in general and will take a can of fruit before real fruits.

[Achim]

Seems then I am doing o.k. here in Taiwan. There is always some sort of fruit "in season", the stretches where just "the normal stuff" (apple, banana, etc.) is available are fairly short. It took me a few years to find that there is a strawberry season, it just is completely off from what I was used to (December to February instead of May/June).

My favortie fruits are pineapple (in peak season they are almost as sweet as canned ones) and mango.

Our pear season is in September. There is quite the range for pricing of those (nothign really cheap though), but I never had any as sweet as Kathy describes

[Halo2]

I can attest to everything Kathy has said, and not said, about the Royal Riviera Pears from Harry and David. While I can get very good pears from my local market and farmer's markets, nothing comes close to the size and taste of a Royal Riviera. I worked one holiday season at Harry and Davids in Medford, Or. after getting out of the military and finishing my college degree. I loved the samples that were placed out for us to try so we would be able to speak from experience as to the quality of the items offered. Their cheese cakes were the second best I've ever tasted, my wife making the best. She learned from an Italian bakery in Rome, New York (just east of Utica and about 40 miles east of Syracuse.

Harry and David cater to the high end holiday gift giving market. Their offerings are high end premium. (disclaimer) My direct knowledge is from the early 1990s. At that time, they were catering to high end and wealthy clients. I spoke with a number of well known actors, lawyers and politicians during my short, 3 month, stint taking order from them. I even had Clint Eastwood include me on an order that I had to turn over to a supervisor because of the conflict of interest. The man is a true gentleman. And I enjoyed the pears and cheese cake I had raved about.

[Macie Abby]

I like to eat any type of pears. The only thing I don't like about pears is they're so slobbery.

[Blair]

I can think of things that make me a lot happier, Kathy.


But, whatever floats your boat, I guess