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?