It is Friday. Hip hip hooray! Hope you're all looking forward to a weekend partying with friends, enjoying (hopefully) beautiful weather and the arrival of summer, or just relaxing if you are fortunate enough to have a job and are getting a break this weekend. I am sitting out on my deck right now, basking in a warm, breezy, sunny afternoon with my music and my calendars and my book.
Still no job. This is very frustrating. And it's really getting to be summertime, when I need to start having money available to go out and enjoy my city. I feel very lucky, though, that I am not a provider for my family or for anyone else. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be jobless and not just need it to build up your savings, but also to feed, clothe, and shelter others. So every time I start complaining about not having gotten any calls yet, I say a little prayer for those who need work a lot more than I actually do. On the bright side, a lady in my neighborhood has one little one, and another one due next week, who needs babysitting, so she'll be calling me once the next one has been born. She is also going to do me the favor of referring her sister and her busy family to me. So I am expecting a little money coming in soon. In the meantime, I'm just laying low, checking my email obsessively and praying for my phone to ring.
(It actually did ring for me today, but it was a collection agency asking about some old doctor's bill that hasn't been cleared up yet. Those dudes are scary! No worries; the bill just probably got lost in the shuffle of my parents' stuff. Anyways...)
I really miss having a desk and a planner and a space of my own to have as my home base and to keep things organized. My big mirror dresser and night stand are just not cutting it, nor are iCal and Stickies adequate replacements for my planner and its minimum three Post-It notes per day, and my wall calendar and planner calendars. I feel really disorganized. I have come to realize that I like having structure and a schedule. I am not motivated enough to just get stuff done unless there's a deadline.
But what you really wanna know about it is the food I've been making, right? Of course you do. Actually, the only thing I've made since I last posted was another batch of chocolate chip cookies and banana chocolate chip bread. I decided not to taunt you with more pictures of the cookies, because they were monster-sized and uber-gooey and deadly. After I baked them, my father specifically requested that I stop. Too bad, Daddy! I have lots more things to make this summer, and you're going to love all of it.
So I made banana chocolate chip bread yesterday. I was really craving something sweet to eat, and we had bananas that were getting really ripe and unappealing- really soft, very strong-smelling, black skins, etc. Those, my friends, are perfect bananas for variations of banana bread. I made banana chocolate chip bread. Just follow a basic recipe for banana bread and add chocolate chips to the batter. You can also add nuts. Or not have any chocolate at all and just nuts. Or no extras and just bananas. In that case, have some big bananas, because that will make it really sweet and soft and moist. I skimped a little bit on the sugar because bananas are incredibly starchy and sugary (the only downside to bananas; they're a serious superfood), and I figured they could probably make up for my sugar measurements being a little bit short.
Moment of panic: when I just threw all the ingredients in the bowl and started beating it with electric beaters, before stirring all the ingredients together first. It started getting all crumbly and doughy, and I knew that was very, very wrong, because I've made banana bread before, and the batter is usually pretty mushy and wet, like a brownie batter, almost. With quick breads and muffins, you have to be SUPER careful of overmixing, because that will kill the chemistry of the ingredients and make your product hard. Like a doorstop. That's what I was afraid of happening, plus I wouldn't know what the heck to do with banana dough, so I turned the beaters off and started mixing with a wooden spoon. Then I used the beaters for just a few seconds to smooth it out, folded the chocolate chips in, and baked it.
Result:
Mmm. Nice, crunchy crust, with sweet and chocolate-y insides. I always feel better about eating banana chocolate chip bread than other desserts because a) it's bread. Not cookies or cake or pie. Bread isn't dessert. ;) ; b) it has bananas in it. And bananas are really good for you. ; and c) you can eat it for breakfast. This wasn't the moistest banana chocolate chip bread I've made or had. It may have been the bananas. I used two medium-large ones, when you're really supposed to use three medium or two to three large. Also, it may have been the whole beating-before-mixing, overmixing thing I worried about. But as a whole, still perfectly edible, delicious, and bread-like.
Here's some of the music I listened to while baking:
Take On Me, a-ha
It's Five O' Clock Somewhere, Alan Jackson
We've Got It Goin' On, Backstreet Boys
Everyday, Dave Matthews Band
Drumming Song, Florence + The Machine (have I discussed how in love I am with her music?)
Dancing with Myself, Glee Cast Version
Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy, Glen Hansard (from the soundtrack to the movie Once)
Amigone, Goo Goo Dolls (which I strongly recommend to anyone who secretly likes the Goo Goo Dolls but prefers harder stuff: find their early albums and anything that Robby Takac sings lead on)
Save Me, San Francisco, Train
I have had a pretty disciplined week as far as eating and exercising go (thank goodness, considering I was out of town at a party and ate like crap for three days). I'm trying to eat cleaner, avoiding processed foods as much as possible, or choosing less processed options, and drinking lots of water and a cup of green tea in the morning to boost my metabolism and get extra antioxidants. Healthy food is expensive, though! I asked for whole grain bread, and it cost probably double what the regular white and wheat options are at the store. Really?? And then only way I can get berries is on sale. I may have to chip in for my foods this summer. People talk a big game about trying to eat healthily, but seriously, where do you get the money to feed a whole family organically? Just check out the cost of whole grain bread compared to store brand white bread, or the cost of a pound of vegetables to a couple bags of chips. There is clearly a problem with food pricing in this country. People don't necessarily eat what they want or what is good for them; they eat what they can afford. And I think that that is a very, very large part of the obesity problem plaguing the United States.
All right. Rant off. Back to happy things. My dad is going out of town next week, so my mom has allowed to make a few meals while he is gone. That's great, because I'm trying to play catch-up from last week when I did nothing new. I will be making:
Pasta (linguine) with sautéed shrimp, garlic, and oil
Beer can chicken
Burgers (simple, I know, but I have pretty much no experience with a grill whatsoever)
Oatmeal cookies
Cream cheese brownies
Probably some more cookies for various events
Assorted sides to accompany the meals
I promise that I will post photos.
Live it up this weekend! Be with people you like and who like you back. Get caught checking out a hot guy or girl and give them a smile. Break a sweat. Take a deep breath of fresh air. It's June!
Love,
Imara
US poet (1819 - 1892)
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