I’ve always thought the taste of fresh melon was sublime.  Really.  Not so much the everyday watermelon, but always the farm fresh cantaloupe.  Then my tastebuds were convinced I was correct and on to something when I tasted a mix that pushed the “sublime”-ness of cantaloupe even further.  While breakfasting at the Delano hotel in Miami Beach about 10 years ago (my default timeframe for everything that happened more than a year ago), I ordered the cantaloupe.  What I got was the most amazing concoction of up-scale fruit that I had ever seen.  It was shaved cantaloupe with slivered fresh basil drizzled with honey.  It was…really, REALLY sexy.  And delicious and sublime.  So please serve it to your family and watch them laugh at you and then positively melt!  

This post actually falls under the Local Sales and Bargains category aka Thrifty Thursdays.  But what I am about to write about is SOOOOO good that it dredged up sweet memories of when I actually could afford to stay at the Delano Hotel and could enjoy a late breakfast.  These days it’s all about bargain hunting for good food & trying not to eat country ham or o.d. on 32 ounce Big Gulps of Diet Coke.  Enter every locals fave discount store BIG LOTS who often has decent organic products, Seventh Generation recycled paper towels & tp and other “green” things available for Shepherdstonians to consume.  And it’s cheap.  My trip today was disappointing because I was unable to locate the organic Asian Sesame Annie’s Naturals Salad Dressing I had come to love since purchasing it for $.80 cents last week.  It had all been snagged so it was back out in the rain for me.  Until, that is, I spotted the 4 pack of Jones Soda in a flavor I had never encountered!  CRUSHED MELON.  Now I claim not to be a soda drinker but with a young daughter who is addicted to the Lost Dog’s Italian Sodas (lite on the syrup please!), I have come to finish my share of fruity, sparkling drinks so as not to see my three dollars go to waste on a tasty but let’s face it, designer soft drink for a three year old.  But Jones makes a darn good soda and when cut with some $.69 cent seltzer, Crushed Melon was really calling my name.  Plus the bottles had cute black and white photos of very darling puppies on them.  So $2.00 for a four pack later, I was smiling on the way home.  All I did was then add five perfect ice cubes (from bottled water) and a vintage glass, a splash of that seltzer and I had my little slice of heaven!

P.S. When I checked the Jones web site for product info, I was thrilled to find out that the Crushed Melon flavor is caffeine free! 

GET IT:  Jones Soda, made with pure cane sugar (gasp!) in Crushed Melon & Green Apple

SECRET LOCATION:  Big Lots, Martinsburg (by the ever popular Goodwill store)     1275 N. Queen St., Martinsburg, WV 25401 (304) 267-1505