FORBIDDEN FRUIT
Mary Ann Appleton and her husband were excited to show off their new Albuquerque digs to relatives from Santa Barbara, California. The visitors planned to drive to town and stay in a vacation rental, so they asked Appleton to do a little grocery shopping before the visit. They would bring some food with them, they told her, but not apples. “Why not apples?” Appleton asked. “Won’t they take them away from us when we cross the border?” the relatives said. In point of fact, California won’t allow you to bring apples in from points east, because of agricultural pest-control regulations. Go ahead and take your apples out from Cali to New Mexico—which involves a few state lines but no international borders.
IT'S CHILE, BUT NOT CHILEAN
While perusing the frozen-food aisle at the Smith’s grocery store in Los Alamos, Sonia and Brendon Parsons discovered they were standing beneath a directional banner that read “International/Internacional,” which just so happened to hang next to a food case topped with another sign. That one proclaimed, in blazing letters, “I Am New Mexico Chile.” Inside the case? Tubs and tubs of yummy Bueno chile. Made in the USA, of course.
TO SERVE WITH CRUMPET
Jeanette Wolfe scored a deal on dinnerware that was posted on eBay by a person in Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey. When her package landed in Los Lunas, she spotted a large hot-pink label on top of it that read “Priority Flats & Parcels—International.” “International?” she exclaimed. Well, come to think of it, Jeanette, Avon-by-the-Sea does sound a trifle … British.
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