"Sweet Endings Part Two," or "Bread today, Gone Tomorrow"

Finally! Good Hair! I found my usual stylist, groveled and begged, and got a better haircut.

I'm no Eva Longoria, but this is the best celebrity-depiction I could find:

It's shorter than Eva's, parted a little less deeply as well, but truth told it was the best way to salvage the bad haircut.

That, and banana bread.  I became inspired by America's Test Kitchen and their "ultimate banana bread," as it was a new way to make something I've always made (truly, other than a from-scratch cake, it was one of the first things I can remember baking).








First, the recipe wanted ripe but not black bananas, and wanted me to microwave them.  The former to get sweeter bananas, and the second to get them to release liquid. Not only that, but then I had to strain the juice out of them, boil that juice, and use it again in the recipe later.  "It really infuses it with a great banana flavor," stated chef Julia Collin-Davison.  This step is not depicted, as the bananas looked about as unappetizing as toe-jam on a piece of hairy toast.  They smelled amazing, however, as did the kitchen! (Noted, in the video on the link above, they mention this idea, and they were not wrong)

Second, the recipe didn't want me to blend too much. The idea of leaving "streaks of flour," was not in my comfort zone but I complied.  Similarly, I didn't blend the wet and dry ingredients vigorously or with a stand-mixer, as I was told by a patient of mine that the best banana bread is folded.

Finally, a quick set into the pan, and a layer of sugar and bananas sliced by J:

One hour and ten minutes later, the results:

The step of adding sugar before baking was a great little trick to learn--there is a lovely crusty outer layer that adds a special bite.  However, I feel like something was missing from the final product, and I can't quite put my finger on it.  I used walnuts, and J mentioned that the recipe called for toasted walnuts, a step I omitted.  Why did I omit it? Call it culinary decision making or call it laziness, but I didn't think when we were mixing that it mattered a whole hill of beans.  Apparently, it did. A big hill of beans.

Not to say that the final product is bad. With or without walnuts it is a great recipe, and culinary-ily challenging as well!

To quote J: "Maybe you should get bad haircuts more often?"