Fried banana and chicken hearts

Back in December, our apartment complex had a contest to see who could decorate their front door the best. I was in charge of lights while David went crazy with paper snowflakes. Needless to say, we totally kicked butt and won first place. (It didn't hurt either that the fountain in front of our apartment froze over about four feet tall, but they couldn't turn it off without having the pipes freeze and burst, so we had a huge living ice sculpture that some days looked like a sleepy volcano, other days like the Fortress of Solitude, it was awesome.)

Anyway, our prize was a $50 gift certificate to Tucano's, a Brazillian restaurant in town. We finally went tonight. It was meat, meat, and more meat. I'm hardly a vegetarian, but I definitely started to get a but queasy after the tenth different meat dish came to our table. I hate to say it, but it was probably the worst meal we've had in Albuquerque, even if it was totally fun. And, after all, it was free, so how much can I complain? Once we were both stuffed, the Texan guy next to us (I don't know that he was Texan, but the women in his party definitely had big Texan hair) turned to us and said "You're quitting already?" I'd actually quit several skewers previously, but I was still eating to make sure I got my money's worth. The pineapple with burnt brown sugar on it was good, and a few of the steak things. But my tummy can only handle so much meat at one sitting apparently.

The best part came at the end anyway. They served us some deep fried banana, which I thought was quite tasty. David and I are both weird about bananas. I like them firm and yellow, while he can eat them after they've started to turn brown. But these were mushy and slightly carmelized, and I thought they were delicious. After initial hesitation, he gamely tried to eat a bite, and a second after he put it in his mouth I saw utter panic in his eyes. If the Texans hadn't been so close he would've spit it out and run screaming from the table I'm sure. But he bravely swallowed with a violent shudder, and it was all I could do to stop crying from laughing at his pain. "It squirted when I bit down" he told me. Poor thing. But he gets points for trying. He had to wash it down with one last meat, chicken hearts. That's right, he ate a chicken heart to get the deep fried banana texture-memory out of his mouth. You gotta love that.