December 09, 2003

• Maybe nature will help them. Also, I hate bananas (they're one of the few things I can smell, and it makes me feel sick) - does this mean I lose my monkey membership?
• Anyone a plantain eater?
• I would have plantains over dessert bananas anyday. Fried plantain, roasted plantain, plantain chips, mmm.... Also, found more info on banana diseases from Africa's first online Science Magazine here
• jb
• Apparently, "When the peel of a plantain is green to yellow, the flavor of the flesh is bland and its texture is starchy. As the peel changes to brown or black, the flesh has a sweeter flavor and more of a banana aroma, but still keeps its firm shape when cooked." Google is god.
• So how do you eat them? Green, brown, or black?
• I don't know - the deli on the corner has a hot buffet, and I get them there. Actually, it would explain why their fried plantain is so much sweeter than the one time I made it, if they are using fully ripe plantains. I deep-fried the plantains when they were yellow-green. Lovely and salty.
• bananas with peanut butter. yum.
• Okay, I've got something to admit here. I'm not actually a monkey. Sorry. Should I leave now?
• BBF, I'm banning your IP. Traitor. *leaps from limb to limb in fury*
• I like ducks.
• Ducks are good.
• I'm with jb- plantains are yummy. And yes, if you let the plantains get completely blackened with ripeness, they are very sweet, and if you slice them and fry them up when green, you can salt them for a savory treat. In NYC There's a little Cuban-Chinese restaurant called "La Dinastia" on W. 72nd Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus- it's a little dive-y, but cheap and very tasty. The old waiters are ethnic Chinese who left Cuba after the Revolution, and come and talk to you (if you speak Spanish, which you don't need to) in a Cuban accent. The menu is a mix of Cuban and Chinese, obviously, and has the best platanos maduros I have tasted outside of the Caribbean. Try the Ropa Vieja with 10 ingredients fried rice. mmmm, plantains....
• I'm sure plantains are delicious, but I can't help associating them with the smell of salted fish and general weirdness that saturates African markets. Especially when it's hot. (I'm more just commenting on brain stuff that gets built up over time
• I tried green platains fried at a flea market in San Jose (anyone else ever been to that massive market over east SJ-way?) along with jicama and various things I'd never had before. Loved them. I'm having trouble imagining a Chinese-Cuban food fusion...
• This anti-banana society could have saved the British taxpayer a few squid.
• banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana banana Orange you glad I didn't say banana again? Somebody peel a plantain for me, please.
• I'm glad to see, two years later, that this insidious society has not gotten to much further in their goals. I'm sure thanks go to all those noble monkeys in the years since, who have valiantly betwoed all sorts of bananas, real and virtual, upon fine folks the planet over. And with that, I can pause from the trek up the threads for the night. *makes base camp*
• So, I've always wanted to post that strange phrase: All your base are belong to us.
• *lights a bowl of dried bannana peel.
• Grilled Plantain Recipe: 1) Light grill 2) Throw ripe plantain onto grill 3) When plantain splits, remove from grill 4) Peel 5) Eat (butter or butter with lemon & ginger optional)
• "OH man... I got so high off those bannanas. Oh man. And then we actually tried some of Pete's plantains. God, I ate like 12 of them. And, I gotta tell you, this is probably too much detail, but 12 plantains? Turns your intestines into a SNAKE! I was on the toilet for like two hours."