Friday, August 23, 2013

Tomato Stems


Mark came home from the hospital today, and so did I, sort of!  I spent the entire day and night Wednesday, sleeping on a hard fold out chair and wearing my contact lens'!  I took my glasses and solution with me in the morning, but on a quick trip home I removed the bag that it was in, returning to the hospital without either.  I came home Thursday at 5:30am to train until around 7:30, off to Palo Alto for a couple of privates and straight back to the hospital until late evening.  I fell into bed last night for a few hours and back to the gym by 6:00am, and again, straight back to the hospital until Mark was discharged after lunchtime.

Why does it seem as if I have been away from home for days and days?  Well, it could be all the food I had sitting in the fridge, not being eaten or prepared, starting to go bad!  I've got a counter full of fresh garden grown tomatoes, 10 lbs of peaches, two roasted chickens, and lots of other stuff that needs attention.


I cam home and made a quinoa salad from some grains I cooked on Tuesday.  Using the tomatoes and peaches I made a salsa by adding hot peppers, roasted corn, white onion, cilantro and lime, salt and a drizzle of honey....I think that's it.  Diced up some chicken and I had to stop myself from making another plateful!  (I know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow!)

As I was dicing the tomatoes I realized that I don't bother sorting out the stem part anymore, I just dice it up and throw it in with everything else.  I mean, as long as it's not some big 'ol honkin' thick and gritty thing!  But there used to be a day when I would carefully cut around them, pick them out and throw them away, kind of like when you're a kid and you want the crust cut off of your bread!  Although a tomato stem doesn't taste as good as bread crust, I guess I'm just taking note  how much more relaxed I am, and less picky when it comes to certain things about food prep.  Or is it just being lazy?  I mean, I've never heard of anybody getting sick from eating a tomato stem!

But why was I so hung up on not eating the stem of a tomato?  It's the same with any fruit or veg, isn't it?  Some people eat entire apples, seeds and all!  Now I'm not crazy like that!  Oh, and I just had dinner with someone that took the lemon wedge out of his water and ate the entire thing, including the peel!


How much do you cut off of your fruits and veggies?  What about tomatoes?  Have you gotten over eating the stem end?



PS If I ever serve you my salsa, I'll make sure and make a batch without stem ends!  Okay?

7 comments:

vicky said...

Hi Tracey that made me giggle as I now after 20+ years of being picky about food prep and wasting shocking amounts by just being selective am also eating the tomato stems amongst other things. The other day i had some bread with a tiny little bit of mold on i just picked it off and toasted the good bits! Im still alive :)
I dont know why I have changed my attitude but Im pleased I have.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Vicky,

Pinching mold off of bread from a former picky eater! Now that's coming a long way! Lord only knows how far we'll take it from here!

Now, the other question is, do you mix your food together? If I serve myself two or three different dishes I mix them all up into one big pile!

beverly said...

Ha! I guess I eat the core in tiny tomatoes but I am still cutting out the stems the size of the ones in your photograph. I found out about tomato sharks this summer. I bought mine for a $1.50 at an outlet store and it is the most economical useful thing I have bought in a long time. I can some tomatoes and really process through a lot of them in the summer so there you have it.

http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-5281-Tomato-Core-It/dp/B0000VLPMG/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1377363193&sr=8-7&keywords=tomato+shark

Diana said...

Sometimes it's harder on the family member of a patient than other's think!
The worrying, the lack of sleep, lack of eating, driving back and forth, etc.....it can be draining if allowed! Take care of yourself as well as Mark!
Oh yeah~I don't do stems! I did back in the 70's but that was a different stem! LOL!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Beverly,

I forgot about tomato sharks! I used to work in a gourmet kitchen store and I'm sure I owned one or two! They work great on strawberries too. I'm surprised you wouldn't leave the core/stem if you were canning, that's a lot of work!

I know when I make tomato soup I leave everything on because I pass it all through the food mill when it's done. So I'm sure the mill would keep it out of the finished product.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Diana,

No, I could see it! All of the back and forth, the worry, the helplessness, etc. It was much harder than I anticipated. But like I said, I'm not complaining, I'm just explaining!

(that's my new phrase by the way! do you like it?)

Diana said...

Love it!
Mine is: Turning my mess into my message!