The banana is dead. Long live the banana!

Have you ever witnessed the execution of royalty in real life? I have, many times. In fact, I have had the honor of serving as the executioner quite a few times. Last weekend, I made sure to take pictures to show you how we do it in my secret corner of the world.

The royal victim isn’t a person. It’s one of the two maturing banana fruit bunches that I had selected for a quick harvest, before a possible strong storm came in. I consider the banana as the king of tropical fruits, thus the reference to royalty.

I should clarify that after a banana “tree” (the trunk is not woody, it’s actually an overgrown soft-plant stalk) bears a single bunch of fruits, it starts to dry up and die. After the maturing bunch is harvested, what a farmer does is to cut down the useless trunk, and thus give way for small adjacent suckers to grow into a new banana “tree.”

Thus, the axiom “The king is dead, long live the king” applies to banana trees as well.

Image 1. The executioner sharpens the death weapon — a peasant’s
scythe — on a whetstone.

banana 1
Image 1. The executioner sharpens the death weapon -- a peasant's scythe -- on a whetstone.

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Werewolf’s recipe for fruitbat stew

In a parallel world and a parallel life, I’m a shapeshifter who turns into a werewolf during full moons, during which I retire into a cave and hunt baby panda bears, fruit bats, and other delectables in bamboo forests.

Into this parallel world I retreat now, but decide to forego my prowl. My favorite bamboo forest is so far away anyway. I don’t think my hunt will be successful tonight. Instead, I’ll just get a great fire going in my cave hearth, make myself some nice and thick fruitbat stew, and be friendly to visitors who want to admire my kitchen. I’ve been meaning to post the recipe here. This seems a good time to do exactly that.

Werewolf notice

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