Fading Away

     Holidays.  There are so many "Days" in the present time that little or no attention is paid to the old-time observances.  Christmas has become a commercial monstrosity with Halloween not far behind.  Yes, there was plenty of corned beef and cabbage for sale on St. Patrick's Day, but I didn't hear a single Irish song played anywhere. Truth is, now that I hardly drive anywhere I don't listen to the radio, so I'll have to accept that apparent omission.
   But outrage persists.  We're well into the Lenten season, and I can't find Hot Cross Buns.  Well, not the kind I'm looking for, which are Entenmann's, formerly Freihofer's Hot Cross Buns.  When I was a child, Freihofer's offered 2 versions, one with the dried fruit and the other with only the frosted cross on top, no fruit.  Then, I would only eat the plain version; if I had to partake of the other, I would pick the fruit out.  But time goes on, we grow up and our tastes change. Now I yearn for those raisins and candied fruit pieces embedded deep into a bun, and optimally iced generously with whiteness.
     It's not that I haven't tried.  My first attempt was Price Chopper's package of Hot Cross Buns.  The bun was quite dry with hardly any fruit, and very skimpily iced. I wouldn't buy them again, but guiltily confess I ate them anyway.  Then a mercy offering---a pack of buns straight from the bakery, a gift.  The buns were much better, but with few raisins and I can't even recall if they contained other fruit. Today, there was a display at Shop&Save.  The offering looked promising so I bought a package. That turned out to be the most disappointing of all.  The buns were heavy and the fruit seemed overly-dried, dried up even.  These buns were so unappealing that I may not even eat them.  That's how bad the situation has become.