The Great Coconut Caper.(Brief Article)(Editorial)

It was only a coconut.

A standard, ordinary $1.29 coconut. But for a solid week, it tormented me. While brainstorming ideas for this month's Food Matters column on summer desserts, we at Better Nutrition wanted to do something tropical, something using a coconut. But after buying one at the grocery store, we realized that none of us knew how to open it.

So I brought it to my house, where it sat perched, day after day, on my kitchen counter. The strange thing is, I quickly became intimidated by it. As I ate my cereal in the morning, it seemed to stare me down, silently taunting me, "Here I am, come get me." I'd come home from the office at night and there it would be, still in the same place, only now I imagined it with imaginary arms crossed, nose pointed haughtily to the sky, feeling ignored and uppity.

Finally I got tired of the intimidation and decided to confront the coconut dilemma head on. Hammer in one hand, screwdriver in the other, I silently chanted "I can do it! I can do it!" over and over in my mind. Using a combination of directions found on the Internet and advice from others, I set about the task at hand and--guess what? ...