The monkey in me (and you too, perhaps?)
Dear friends,
I have a question for you: How do you peel your bananas?
From its stem or from its butt? (If you can't tell a stem from a butt, please see picture).
I had a little epiphany the other day at 6:21am. This sprang up from a conversation I had over breakfast (please don't ask why I was up at that time!). My friend asked if I knew how monkeys peel bananas and proceeded to show me.
My friend: (Start peeling from the banana butt that has the black spot)
See? Monkeys do it this way! Upside down!
Me: (Scratch, Scratch)
To my bewilderment, that's exactly the way I'd been peeling my bananas.
Until one day I noticed that it was done somewhat differently by
some
other
people -
they did it 'upside down'. I experimented with this other way and realized that this other people's way made things slightly simpler: you do not need to bite off the top bit of the banana and spit it out!! You could let it stay where it is supposed to be and throw it out with it still attached to the peel. Since then, I've been peeling bananas the 'human' way.
Now my question is: when and from whom did I come to that realization and made my evolution leap from being a monkey to a human? My friends in Hong Kong or when I was in England? Or do all Hongkongers peel bananas the 'monkey' way? I know for sure that my mom is the monkey. Is it yet another cultural difference? This brings me to a different question:
When do you take your shower? In the morning? In the evening? Both? Whenever before you go out?... Never?!
When my cousin Alex (pseudonym - to protect his anonymity) was visiting New York and crashing at my place, I realized that he showered twice - once in the AM and once in the PM, just like me and my brother. And my roommate Martha's comment:
'This showering habit seems to run in the family...'
By the way, Martha is not my roommate's real name. It's again a pseudonym. She wanted it to be Julia, but I decided that I like Martha better. Since she decided that I'm bossy, so I'll be bossy. Martha she is!
Dear friends,
I have a question for you: How do you peel your bananas?
From its stem or from its butt? (If you can't tell a stem from a butt, please see picture).
I had a little epiphany the other day at 6:21am. This sprang up from a conversation I had over breakfast (please don't ask why I was up at that time!). My friend asked if I knew how monkeys peel bananas and proceeded to show me.
My friend: (Start peeling from the banana butt that has the black spot)
See? Monkeys do it this way! Upside down!
Me: (Scratch, Scratch)
To my bewilderment, that's exactly the way I'd been peeling my bananas.
Until one day I noticed that it was done somewhat differently by
some
other
people -
they did it 'upside down'. I experimented with this other way and realized that this other people's way made things slightly simpler: you do not need to bite off the top bit of the banana and spit it out!! You could let it stay where it is supposed to be and throw it out with it still attached to the peel. Since then, I've been peeling bananas the 'human' way.
Now my question is: when and from whom did I come to that realization and made my evolution leap from being a monkey to a human? My friends in Hong Kong or when I was in England? Or do all Hongkongers peel bananas the 'monkey' way? I know for sure that my mom is the monkey. Is it yet another cultural difference? This brings me to a different question:
When do you take your shower? In the morning? In the evening? Both? Whenever before you go out?... Never?!
When my cousin Alex (pseudonym - to protect his anonymity) was visiting New York and crashing at my place, I realized that he showered twice - once in the AM and once in the PM, just like me and my brother. And my roommate Martha's comment:
'This showering habit seems to run in the family...'
By the way, Martha is not my roommate's real name. It's again a pseudonym. She wanted it to be Julia, but I decided that I like Martha better. Since she decided that I'm bossy, so I'll be bossy. Martha she is!
posted by amy la bonne vivante @ 7:09 PM
6 Comments:
At 9:48 PM,
Anonymous said…
I never knew you peel your bananas from the butt! And you have to bite off first too?! Go back and check the banana picture just for a sec--doesn't it seem a lot easier to peel a banana from the stem, my dear friend? No biting off is needed. And, no, don't think it is a HKer's thing. You are the only one I know who doesn't peel an banana from the stem (well, besides your mom).
p.s I still wanna know WHY you were up at 621am already?
At 12:37 AM,
amy la bonne vivante said…
Wait a mintue, queen of 107..., The answer to what the best way of peeling banana is is not at all straightforward! There is an entire article on the net debating what the 'better' way is:
http://www.slate.com/id/2067407/
At 1:24 AM,
Anonymous said…
Just want to confirm that this is not the way people in HK does it nor is it something that runs in the family...
At 4:29 AM,
Anonymous said…
My dear friend, thank you so much for digging out that article about what is the best way to peel an banana..but afterall, same question, why you would go bite off the bottom/top (according to that article) for the fruit when you can easily peel the skin off from the stem? HUH?
P.S You haven't answerd my second question on why you were up at 621am! WHY WHY WHY?
At 3:32 AM,
Anonymous said…
me, as a HKer peel banana from the stem ;)
At 4:29 PM,
Anonymous said…
i'm so very sorry to end the whole discussion about bananas peeling as i peel my bananas from the butt, too. Its all to do with hygiene as if you peel the banana from the butt, that means you can actually hold the banana by the stem while eating it without have to touch it with your 'god-knows-where-it's-been' hand. Aslo you hand wont be all sticky afterwards. Just think with a bit of logic guys... it's not that difficult!!
p.s. i want to know why you were up at 621am too!!!
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