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Every year, it gets harder and harder to find an awful looking, ugly tomato–the ones that are grown to taste good, not to look good.

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If you’re lucky enough to find one, don’t expect it to be bright red. Sometimes they’re more orange. And don’t bother to look for a perfect stem sticking out of its misshapen body, because there probably isn’t one.

If you’ve ever bent over and picked a tomato direct from the plant, you’ll know the minute you hold this ugly baby in the palm of your hand that it’s been sun-drenched and grown outside and maybe it hasn’t even been sprayed with “who knows what.”

So, the next time you pass the tomatoes in your supermarket, try to figure out why you don’t see those hideous looking tomatoes in the store anymore. Are we so enamored of beauty that our food has to look gorgeous, while real taste suffers?

Oh, well. Pretty is “in.”  So, I won’t even get started on our pretty, pretty red beef, or our pearly white eggs, or …

]]> http://francesellenspeaks.com/2011/08/11/tomato-tomahto/feed/ 0 http://francesellenspeaks.com/2011/02/03/10-men-i-like-a-lot/ http://francesellenspeaks.com/2011/02/03/10-men-i-like-a-lot/#comments Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:28:42 +0000 Frances Ellen http://francesellenspeaks.com/?p=1059 I haven’t listed any American presidents, politicians or religious leaders. That’s an entirely different list. My list is random. Although the names are numbered, no ranking is intended.

1. Prince William – He has done his mother proud.
2. Anwar Sadat – His death was a tragic loss to his country.
3. Joseph, Chief of the Nez Perce tribe – His ill-fated retreat of more than 1,000 miles from federal troops is legendary.
4. Martin Luther King – He had a dream. We’re still working at it.
5. George Carlin – He’s probably my all-time favorite comedian.
6. Paul Newman – A good man.
7. Danny Thomas – He was much more than met the eye. Visit the St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis to see what I mean.
8. John J. Audubon – I’m a birder, so Audubon makes my list. He spent 50 years painting and describing the birds of America.
9. Norman Rockwell - He shared the spirit of America through his paintings. I grew up enjoying his artistry on the covers of The Saturday Evening Post.
10. Thomas Edison - Every time there is a power outage, I wonder what people did before the light bulb.

These are the first ten names that popped into my mind. I probably missed a few of your favorites.

It appears even the panel of experts couldn’t agree:

The pain medications Darvon and Darvocet should be pulled off the market, according to a recommendation approved on a 14-12 vote by a panel of medical experts assembled by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

For those of us who suffer from chronic pain, this is a catastrophe. Anyone who uses Darvocet or its generic, propoxyphene, which is a mild drug, will attest to its effectiveness, and it doesn’t make you drowsy. In case you’re wondering how many people that is–in 2009, 10 million people depended upon propoxyphene to help make their life livable. Deaths linked to Darvocet annually – .0005%.

What I find so wrong about this is–I would like to be able to make my own choice. Give me the facts and let me decide whether the risk is worth the pain relief.

Here are some comments from Join Together. It appears a lot of people would like to make their own decisions.

According to an article on the link Darvocet should be banned.. 23 million prescriptions per year are issued, (for the last 50 years??) the article also mentions 2,100 deaths from 1981 to 1999 (18 years). This does not seem to be a high risk ratio to me. I can only conclude the people making these waves have never dealt with moderate to severe chronic pain.

Here’s another:

I hope that this medicine is NOT taken off the market. I am deathly allergic to ALL NSAIDS.

And another:

My wife had a stroke and none of the other drugs that she was given gave the relief for the nerve pain that she has. If it is taken off the market then what can she use? The other drugs are either more addictive or so strong that it causes her to sleep 24/7. What quality of life would she have without it? Darvocet seems to be the only drug that actually cuts down the pain to tolerable level.

I’m really, really tired of the government taking such good care of me.

Now, I’m in the process of trying out other drugs that might be able to take the place of Darvocet. If and when I find it, I can be sure it will cost a whole lot more than my 50-year-old medication.

I’m sure the pharmaceutical companies are happy with the FDA’s decision. They must be jumping up and down with joy.

A tear for Elizabeth

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I was so happy to see Michael Nouri (Caleb) join the cast. He’s been a favorite of mine for years. I hope the writers keep him on for a long time.

And it will be interesting to see if Vincent Irizarry (David) can rise from the dead. (As I understand it, this type of thing happens all the time on the soaps.)

What I’ve noticed lately is the ladies on this soap opera are withering away. It’s like watching skeletons walk across the screen.

Susan Lucci has always been petite, but now there seems to be a lot of slimming down going on. Alicia Minshew, who plays Kendall, is tall and painfully thin. Rebecca Budig (Greenlee) (where did they come up with that name?)  and Christina Bennett Lind (Bianca) aren’t far behind.

It was refreshing to see Jamie Luner’s character, Liza, in her underwear recently. She actually has a “real” woman’s body.

I hope the skeletal look doesn’t become a trend.

That said, here’s a little something on Scott Chandler’s character.

It’s my home page. I think you can find just about anything you could ever dream of on this page. It’s chock full of trivia and what’s new in the news. Some of the daily things you will find on this page are:

Site of the Day – Today it introduces you to  Free Ebooks and Texts Archive

Thought of the Day - It’s really a good one today, which is what prompted me to write about this site.    “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”
Abraham Maslow

This Day in History Today it’s about Narcotics Anonymous

Article of the Day Do you know what a Bonobo is? You will after reading this article.

Daily Diversions Games, Jokes, Stumble Upon, etc.

Today’s Potpourri Trivia, Science, Technology, Health

There are so many additional and varied resources, there is no possible way you could ever peruse every one of them. You’ll find all types of news, even “hold your hat now”–there’s even Positive, Good News. And expect the pictures from outer space to blow you away.

Don’t miss out on this site.

Drawing by John Darkow-Columbia Daily Tribune

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How sad! And the oil is still gushing. It’s like the Exxon Valdez all over again–only this time on a daily basis.

A lot of people and politicians are asking why the well can’t be blown up.

From Rep. Phil Gingrey

“For the life of me, I can’t understand why BP couldn’t go into the ocean floor, maybe 10 feet lateral to the — around the periphery — drill a few holes and put a little ammonium nitrate, some dynamite, in those holes and detonate that dynamite and seal that leak. And seal it permanently,” Rep. Phil Gingrey (Ga.) said earlier this month.

Could it be BP is more worried about their bottom line? Do you think they care nothing about people or nature?

Oh, forget I wrote that. No one could be that greedy.

I applaud all the people who love to jog, or love to go to the gym. I’m not one of them. However, I do like to listen to music, which brings me to disco dancing. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to sit and listen to disco music. That’s because it’s main appeal is it’s hard-to-ignore invitation to dance. The beat is perfect.

Therein lies the key that unlocks my exercise room. In my case, that’s my living room. I’ve been disco dancing (when no one is around). It’s fun. Finally! An exercise I can love.

You don’t need a partner, so let the gyrating begin.

Spread peanut butter on 2 lightly salted rice cakes. Slice a banana and lay the slices on top of the peanut butter.  Quick! Easy! Nutritious! Superb!

Remember to eat slow and chew well. It takes 20 minutes for your stomach to send a message to your brain that says, “Good! My stomach is full. You can stop eating now.”

And as far as that message that announces your stomach is full? Try listening to it when you’re half-way through a meal–any meal. You sometimes find that you don’t really want to clean your plate. Save what you don’t eat for a snack later in the day (when the message you’re receiving says, “I’m hungry. I need food and I need it now!”)