Ordinary life is extraordinary...you just have to know what you are looking for

Friday, October 12, 2012

Mirror Image


Have you ever used Face Time?  Although I have never personally used Skype, I imagine that Face Time is the Apple equivalent of Skype. (If I am wrong on this I am truly sorry and beg your forgiveness.  It's not my fault that I am technologically challenged.  Don't hold this against me.)

My description of Face Time? Basically, you hit the little "Face Time Icon" on your computer and a screen pops up allowing you immediately see your own image standing there.  If you are like me, you instantly forget who you were going to call.  Once your brain begins working again, and before "calling" your desired contact, you can fix your hair, check your teeth and throw any of the mess you can see behind you off to one side giving your "contact" the notion that you and your home always look fab-u-lous, darling.  Then you select the contact you want to..well...contact, and then you wait for the person(s) to hear you "calling" at their end, check their hair, teeth and background view and eventually accept your call.  The screen image of yourself now minimizes and you are looking straight into the beady loving eyes of your friend/family member.

I have mentioned before that my sister lives many many miles away in a far off land.  (Not really, just the good ole' US of A)  So, since we both have made the switch to Apple we make very good use of the Face Time app available to us and it's just grand.  My sister is younger and thinner and cuter than me but in the right light people say we look a lot alike.  Which leads me into my story.

I hear the "Face Time" alert and go skipping with joy to the computer because I know that somebody loves me today.  I smooth back a few stray hairs from my pony tail, check my teeth and see it's my beloved sister calling for a chat, and realizing I have no time to clean up the view of colouring books and crayons behind me, I angle my computer so I have a plain wall behind.  Then I hit the "accept call" button and wait.  And wait, and wait.  Some thing's not right.  I look to see if I hit the wrong button - no.  The girl staring back at me looks lovely...it HAS to be me, right?  Then I see that darned stray hair and go to smooth it back, but now I really start to freak out because the "me" on the screen is not doing what the "me" in real life is doing.  So after the Twilight Zone music (think TV program from the 60's, not Vampire vs Werewolf) subsides, I realize that I am in fact looking at my sister, who is, in fact, looking at me and we are basically both idiots who obviously maintain on too little sleep.

The End.


PS - as I have been fighting a terrible cold for going on 3 weeks, I will admit that my cooking has taken a bit of a backseat, and my poor beloved family have been eating a steady, and somewhat unimaginative diet of noodles, soup, sandwiches and cereal.  Thank the good Lord for Thanksgiving and the care packages sent home to fill in where I, the supreme ruler of my family's kitchen have been terribly neglectful.  Here's hoping to a weekend of recovery and a fresh start in the kitchen next week....I hope I remember where my frying pan is.

xo

Jen

Monday, October 1, 2012

Sour Cream Banana Bread

My baby boy loves banana bread....but only if it's in the shape of a loaf (or so I thought).  Apparently a regular loaf pan-made banana bread is COMPLETELY different than the same banana bread recipe in a muffin tin.  It also does not make the grade in these cute mini-loaf pans.  So sorry.  What was I thinking?  No need to cry, now.... So for now, three of our happy family are, well, happy.  And one is longing for the days when banana bread came in it's originally presented format.  

Mashed banana, anyone?
Swirly batter.....
The key to this super moist, yummy recipe is sour cream...oooohhhh, aahhhhhh!
Cute mini pans, right?
They look "loafy" to me...
Loafly....I mean..lovely!
I loave taking pics of my loaves....
Yum.
Double yum! 
One of my cousins was staying with us for a few days and I thought I'd get up early and make a delicious banana loaf - hopefully drawing everyone out of bed to the wonderful scent coming from the kitchen.  My recipe box was hidden somewhere in the back of the pantry way behind all kinds of things that would have made a racket if touched, and that wasn't exactly the kind of wake up call I was going for so I desperately leafed through a couple of handy cook books I had access to and found this one.  We've never gone back.  It's from the "Breast Wishes from Breast Friends - Women working together for a cure" cook book and is now my new favourite one to make.

Sour Cream Banana Bread


  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar (I use organic coconut palm sugar, and about 3/4 cup instead of a full cup)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp Real Vanilla Extract
  • 1 1/2 cup flour (I use Organic Whole Wheat flour)
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
  • 1 cup Bananas, mashed
  • 1/2 cup Nuts, chopped (I don't add these as my family prefers it without plus the nut-free version can be taken to our nut-free school)
  • 1/2 Sour Cream (I have sometimes used Plain Yogurt)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  2. Cream butter with sugar
  3. Beat in eggs and vanilla
  4. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt
  5. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix 
  6. Mix in bananas, nuts (if you are using them), and sour cream, 
  7. Pour into a greased loaf pan
  8. Bake for 1 hour
  9. Enjoy!
xo

Jen