I am beginning an on-going cumulative list of things I have newly discovered which were once popular, went out of fashion, came back into fashion and are out again because that's how long it takes for me to get around to anything popular:

Bananas Foster. I don't know who Foster was, but I thank him for lending his name or his culinary savvy to this divine dessert for the Banana-inclined (of which, i think, there are sadly too few). Bananas have a perfumey, custard-ready quality that makes them perfect as a pudding. I think that's cinnamon sauce at the bottom, but I'm not sure, as I ate it faster than I could actually look at it. I may be the only person I know that bought the Banana Bubbalicious gum when it was made back in 1978 or some such. I think it was only on the shelves for a year or so, but I never forgot it.

Sex and the City. Okay, so you were all right! It's great, it really is. I'm glad though to be viewing it at an age where I don't have to wander into the kitchen and ask my mom what things are (apparently this was a problem when I was reading The Mists of Avalon at age ten--"Mom, what does 'his meaty manhood' mean?").

David Sedaris. Where HAVE I been? I mean, I have heard the occasional essay on NPR, but for one of my trips up to P-town I rented his book on CD: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and just about peed myself. Since then, I can't get enough of him. "Six to Eight Black Men" has got to be my all time favorite (In the Netherlands, we learn that Santa used to be the Bishop of Turkey..."Hold on. Santa didn't used to be anything..." and my personal favorite line beginning: "Dutch parents have a hairier tale to tell their children. Tonight you might want to pack a few of your belongings. The former Bishop of Turkey is coming...with six to eight black men. He might leave candy in your shoes...or he might beat you with a switch, or stuff you into a sack and take you to Spain. We don't know, but we just want to be prepared...") See, I'm laughing again!