Grape Salad with Almonds & Cilantro

Even practiced frugal grocery shoppers suffer temptation.

The other day, my local grocery had big bunches of gorgeous-looking red grapes, one group for $1 a pound, another for $2. Closer inspection revealed that the more expensive grapes were seedless. I reached for them, almost unconsciously weighing the value of a dollar to the convenience of seedless grapes.

But if a penny saved is a penny earned, a dollar saved is a dollar earned, times a hundred. I picked the grapes with seeds.

Turns out, there were hardly any seeds in those $1 grapes. Turns out, the seeds were so soft, I didn’t even bother scooping them out. Turns out, they were some of the best grapes ever, fat the juicy and sweet and really really grape-y.

I saved $1 but learned a $100 lesson.

For something so simple, this salad is spectacular. I’ve made it six times in the past couple of weeks, once with fresh mango (gorgeous!), another time with chopped apple (very good!). Twice I’ve served it atop lightly dressed greens as a dinner salad, twice as a simple after-supper dessert and twice, well, a larger serving made for a luxurious, indulgent salad supper.