Breaking a stem sucks - I once had a Control Tech stem break on my road bike, and not crashing was more about luck than rider skill. It turned out that the stem I'd bought from the LBS was under recall - this was before the Web was quite so useful, probably 1994 or so, so I had no idea.

If you miss the painted stem, check around for powder coating shops. For a few bucks, a local shop will powder coat anything you want (well, within reason!) for a few bucks in a rainbow of colors.