tumble, tumble, japan

Most friends can vouch for me that I am not a fan of vegetables. I don’t order them voluntarily, and if they appear in my meals, they were usually treated with polite disgust and they often ended up balanced perilously on the edge of my plate or in the company of other vegetables in an adjacent bowl (pick your friends wisely; they should complete, and not compete with, your food groups) To be fair, I don’t dislike the entire category; like with everything else, I pick favourites and those favoured ones enjoy the hospitality of my digestive system and beyond. To generalise, I am okay with the non-green vegetables. Like corn. Like cabbage. Like carrots. Etc etc. It is an aesthetic preference.

That said, I find myself turning over a new leaf (leaf! leaf!), albeit just slightly. Maybe a 15-degree flip rather than a complete turn. I find myself lingering in the veggies aisles longer than I used to, and I find new characters in my daily supermarket soap drama. Like tofu. I have never liked tofu. I like soya beancurd, almond beancurd et al (meaning I like tofus in desserts), but not in its most primitive state. But last week, just for the fun of it and also because there is a huge tofu section (let’s try not to get left out of the party), I tossed a packet of tofu in my basket before attacking the poultry area. Had them with soup on Saturday night and with udon this afternoon, and I must admit they weren’t half bad.

Seeing my reserved approval for tofu, you should have guessed by now that the main star of this entry is yet to be revealed (but, titles are so telling) and my unbridled affection must lie with some other deserving vegetable.

That is correct. The main star(s) are tomatoes. Tomatoes. Tomatoes! Especially these so-called ‘Snack Tomatoes’ that I bought during that same tofu trip. I tell you, those damn tomatoes are the loveliest things. Fresh, juicy and all the most wonderful adjectives you can think off. I ate one and wanted to build a tribute website for it; it was that good. The rest of its friends went quickly too, like the first, with no resistance at all; and I found myself looking forward to my next trip to the supermarket so I could get another dose of them lovelies. (I went yesterday; all gone, as of 20 minutes ago). There is bound to be an advisory against eating too many tomatoes, like there is with carrots, but I shall plead a case of no wifi (and therefore, no googling) in the room. I would buy tomatoes back for everyone if I could, but I guess some people would prefer teabags.

I think the veggies here in Hokkaido are up to something. My self identity as a meat eater is being chipped away more every day. It is kinda unnerving.

(no photo of the tomatoes because it is hard to hold the phone steady when all you want is to finish that yummy tomato)