Thursday

While I am still concerned about the bruise-like browning on the back of the bananas, I am also greatly encouraged by the small brown spots seen here. These "flavor spots," as I call them, imply that the bananas are reaching their moment of maximum sweetness.

This makes me tear up a little bit. Oh, if you could have seen these bananas a week ago, friends. See, before the Banana Report started, these bananas were on my coworker's desk for a week, a full week, without ever seeing a glint of yellow. They were green and hard, and when my coworker tried to eat one, she could barely even get the tough skin off of the fruit inside. And why would she have wanted to? The banana at that point was hard and bitter -- and understanably so. Plucked from its sunny home, shipped in trucks and on boats, the bananas had been torn from the only home they knew.

But do you see what a little love and attention can do? Do you see these bananas, ready to shed their skins? Who would have believed that these ripe little fruits -- a little bruised, sure, but still sweet -- were once so green, so unforgiving?

Oh, yellow bananas. I am so proud of you.