I had deep fried cow heart last Friday, and it was surprisingly good. Tasted like tender beef. One kid from Italy says that they have it all the time there, but it took us a few hours of calling delis and butchers to find one here which carried heart. It was cheap too, $.75 a pound.

The Pope and I have had a strong bond this week, as both of us were hospitalized due to the flu. Except, I have the flu and mono. I've had a temperature of over a hundred for over a week now and have been staying at the hospital (MIT Medical) since Friday. The day nurses have forgotten to refill the IV on time or give me my pills on time a few times and that frustrates me, so I keep pushing my little buzzer. The doctor is quite nice and one of the night nurses is great. This episode added with the cold which I had a couple of weeks ago and rounds out a health-tastic January!