Fruit

One of my goals this year is to eat more fruit. I'm thinking bottled fruit - like wine - does not count. But you never know.

While riding in a taxi in Dallas last week, the driver told us that eating fresh papaya helps people with back problems. The driver swore by the benefits of eating this fruit. Truthfully, I was not sure I'd ever eaten papaya in anything.

Since another of my pleasures is to buy fruits or vegetables I've never cooked before, getting a papaya fit right in. It qualifies under never been eaten, and possible relief for back pain. There are a couple issues though. Nebraska is not known for being the fresh fruit capital of the world. So I have no idea if the one I purchased if a good example of all a papaya can be. I was surprised at how much of the fruit consists of seeds compared to the actual fruit. Dang it, I don't like that ratio.

As to the flavor - may I just say what flavor? In the interest of Reno's back pain we consumed some papaya. Of course, we improvised. We took a spoonful of papaya and followed it up with a tequila shooter. Strictly for medicinal purposes. I figured either way there would be some relief involved. No, we're not huge drinkers - just creative drinkers.

Basically we figure the driver in Texas should not quit his day job and just peddle papaya's. It's too early to tell if the papaya will make our weary backs feel better. But we had fun with fruit. Maybe that's the key to consuming more of it.