Thank you, Ross

Between Christmas and New Year’s, our friend/neighbor/Zippie-sitter Ross was stricken with a terrible stomach flu. Being the generous neighbor that he is, he gave me some random produce that would have gone to waste in his refrigerator since he was watching what he was eating. Among that produce was a tomato, a head of cauliflower and a grapefruit. The tomato was put to good use in some sandwiches. The cauliflower was roasted and served with dinner one night (tasty enough for Eric, a self-proclaimed cauliflower hater, to eat seconds).

But the grapefruit…what to do with the grapefruit? That question plagued me for a week as the squat yellow-pinkish orb sat in our refrigerator, lonely and uneaten. It’s not that I had anything against grapefruit, I didn’t avoid it – it was just something that I never had the urge to seek out or buy. When I was a kid, my mother tried to feed it to me but I always thought that it was way too bitter (I remember spooning sugar over it to make it more palatable – a step that seems to just completely counteract the reason why you would eat grapefruit in the first place).

But, as the days passed, I actually started to feel bad for the grapefruit because I couldn’t come up with an interesting way to use it. I thought of various salads – maybe with arugula, almonds, onions, etc. – but they just seemed too contrived and unnecessary – especially since Eric actually does, in fact, hate grapefruit. So it just sat there…day after day…until finally, I could take it no longer. One morning, I decided to just ignore the years of eating grapefruit as a child and cut one open. I cut the flesh away from the membrane and dug in (sans sugar).

Since that day (five days ago), I’ve eaten at least two more grapefruits – for breakfast and snacks. I don’t know if it’s the chemo cravings or what; but I just can’t get enough of the beautiful pink fruit. So thank you, Ross, for re-introducing me to the wonderful world of grapefruit. I’m glad to be back.