Wednesday, September 8, 2010

but broccoli and cauliflower don't squish!

so today . . . i ate two tiny tomatoes.

i hate tomatoes! i think it might be a texture thing, but it is also a taste thing. which is weird, because i like tomato sauce and salsa. although i don't eat the chunks of tomato in the salsa--i just dip my chip into the juice. that gives my chip a nice zesty flavor without any of the icky tomatoes making their way into my mouth. so maybe it is just the texture. although that doesn't explain why i don't like ketchup. but i might just hate ketchup because i am never really sure if i should call it ketchup or catsup--i've seen it spelled both ways. i just can't bring myself to call it catsup. i'll bet you can guess why...

anyway, today i ate two tiny tomatoes. i have fallen so far off the healthy food wagon, that i have to go back to my own personal food boot camp to get myself back on the straight and narrow. that means eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch, meat and veggies for dinner, and nuts and cheese and sugar-free orange jello for snacking. (i have to keep it simple or i start sneaking contraband foods in--a little cracker with my cheese here, a french fry or two there...) when my lunch time rolled around today, i really wanted to go somewhere with a salad bar for lunch. i didn't really want a salad with meat in it--i wanted lettuce and eggs and peas and broccoli and garbonzo beans and shredded cheese and sunflower seeds. i wanted a salad from hometown buffet! but i only had half an hour today, and hometown buffet can get pretty busy. so i went to chick-fil-a instead. chick-fil-a has a really big side salad, and i was hungry. it has lettuce and broccoli and carrots and that shredded purple stuff. and sitting right on top, in the center, are two tiny tomatoes.

i hate tomatoes. but i have been thinking that i should learn to like them. they have lots of good, nutritious stuff in them, and i learned to like broccoli and cauliflower, so my next vegetable project is the tomato.

i thought the small ones would taste better. so when i saw those two tiny tomatoes looking up at me today, instead of giving them to rollie, i decided to eat them myself! a few bites into the salad seemed like a good time to eat one. i stabbed it with my plastic fork. i swirled it around in some ranch dressing. but tiny tomatoes are shiny and slick--the ranch dressing just slid right off! this was a problem. i was depending on that ranch dressing to disguise the disgusting thing. i gave it one last dip and popped it into my mouth...

...and sat there, not chewing. because now that it was in my mouth, i was having second thoughts about learning to like tomatoes. i knew i was going to have to bite it. and when i did, it was going to squish in my mouth. i hate it when things squish in my mouth! that is why it took me so long to learn to like grapes--the squish and squirt that happens when you bite into one. and don't even get me started on blueberries...

i finally decided i either needed to bite the stupid tomato or spit it out. as i said, i only had half an hour for lunch! so i did the brave thing and bit into it. and it squished. majorly!! it was too gross to spit out, so i started chewing. the ranch dressing deserted me quickly, and all i could taste was tomatoey yuckiness...

i ate a chicken nugget. (see, there i go sneaking in contraband. but it was chicken... and it only had a few breadcrumbs on the outside of it... and i had to go inside chick-fil-a to get my food today, and the smell of cross-cut fries almost pulled me over to the dark side...) then i continued to eat my salad, while the other tiny tomato mocked me from it's comfy bed of lettuce.

i don't like to be mocked. if there is any mocking going on, i want to be the one doing it, not the one to whom it is being done! (i used "whom." wow! i should be a writer!) so i had to eat the other tomato. i thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad if i ate it with some lettuce and carrots, and maybe that purple stuff (which i am not completely sure i like, either.) i stabbed the tomato (at least that was satisfying!) added some other salad ingredients (which helped to hold onto the ranch dressing,) opened wide and shoved it all in.

it still squished. but at least there were some other things in my mouth to temper the effect just a bit.

i am not sure i am going to be able to like tomatoes. i don't remember having this much trouble with broccoli and cauliflower. and since i have another chick-fil-a salad for my lunch tomorrow (yes, i bought two--it saves me a trip!) those evil little red orbs are going to be in my face again. i haven't yet decided how i am going to handle them.

maybe i should just start by eating the chunks in the salsa...

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Man Up or "Girl Up" and eat 'em first. Then you'll show them whom the boss is. Never let tiny red orbs get the best of you.

Carroll said...

So if you get two of the same comments, I'm having trouble seeing and think I lost it the first try.
The secret to the tomatoe issue is to cut the tiny little things up so the dressing sticks to them better and yes, eat them with the other stuff. Disguises them better and you'll make it as a lover of tomatoes yet! I think the purple stuff is probably cabbage and that too can be cut up so it's less obvious.
Love you!

Sherry Hunt said...

Can't think what would make a tomato enjoyable for you.
I grew up thinking tomatoes right off the vine were the best food possible ... with, maybe, the exception of just picked corn eaten off the cob. But Lynn hated tomatoes and wanted his fresh corn kernals cut off before he ate them. With him it was definitely a texture issue. I don't know that squishy or texture issues can be overcome. :-)
I enjoyed reading about your experience with the salad ... and I think the purple stuff is probably cabbage.
Love you, Sherry

mom said...

Tomatoes are so good for you. I'm sure they will "grow" on you. Another thing you can do is cut the tomato open and take out the seedy part (which is the "squishy" part) and then just eat the meaty part. I just ate my first tomato from my little garden yesterday...

Wendy said...

I agree with Dan! JUST MAN UP! I love you Julie!

Light said...

start of slowly by eating the tomatoes in salsa.....hahahahahaha

Sorry...that cracked me up!

Good luck with your tomato endeavors...I love them to deal and their mushy goodness is wonderful. My husband enjoys sprinkling some salt on them. Wonder if you would enjoy the same thing.

Jewelielyn said...

well, i ate two more today--but they were tinier. i smothered them in salad! i am thinking i need to back up and master chunky salsa first...