Banana-nut Loaf

What to do with over-ripe bananas?

Bananas are not one of my favorite fruits.  I really don't like banana pudding, or banana splits, or bananas in sandwiches.  My daughters like banana-peanut butter-honey sandwiches, but over-ripe bananas just don't work in those.

So what to do with them? I turned to my trusty 1956 Betty Crocker recipe book.  I love this book.  It's actually falling apart and I don't know how to hold it together.  I've covered it with newspaper, like we used for our school books back in the 70s, but that doesn't seem to be helping.  The recipes are still amazing though.

The banana-nut loaf has always been a family favorite.  I can't stand it though.  Like I said, I only like mostly green bananas, and only as just plain bananas.  So I don't even taste the banana nut bread batter!  This recipe makes a lovely loaf, with the characteristic crack down the center, all golden brown and moist deliciousness.  Guaranteed a hit!

Mom's Banana Nut Bread
1 cup sugar
2 Tblsp soft shortening
1 egg

Mix thoroughly.  Stir in:

3/4 cup milk
1 cup mashed banana

Sift together and stir in:
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Blend in 3/4 cup chopped nuts (we're in Texas, so I tend to use pecans, but walnuts work equally well)

Pour into a well greased 9x5x3" loaf pan.  Let stand 20 minutes before baking.  Bake until toothpick stuck into center comes out clean. 

Temperature: 350 degrees
Time: Bake about 70 minutes

Cool for a little while in the pan, then turn out onto rack to cool completely.  Slice with a thin, sharp knife.

Betty Crocker has several varieties on the key recipe - orange-nut, apricot-nut, fig or date-nut, and maple nut.  There's even a prune-nut loaf, but I won't toy with your sensibilities by suggesting you try that one!  Enjoy!

Running Shoes and Snow

Running shoes aren't made for wet snow.  Especially not for days when the weather is snow/sleet/rain resulting in deceptive puddles of grey icy water.

Fortunately, my shoes dry out quickly and it was a worthy sploosh. 

I have been given the opportunity by my advisor to have a study week in Boston.  I am using the time to construct my dissertation proposal and all the paperwork that goes with it.  After all my procrastination, I finally completed all my qualifying exams (written exams at the end of 2012, oral comprehensive in January 2013).  My advisor and I agreed that I should capitalize on the momentum and get cracking (not her words, she's too classy) on my dissertation work.


Being away from campus, it's hard to have time to work on my project alone.  There are so many other distractions.  Aside from my own tendency to distract myself with Facebook and other nifty websites, there's my job and my family.  There isn't a library in Houston with the resources that I need.  You'd think in a city as big as Houston that they'd have everything...

I am alternatively confident and terrified at the prospect of my dissertation and research.  I don't want to have come this far to fail now, but it is intimidating to think that this will be my mark on the discipline - and it will open me up to criticism and argument.  Will I be able to face that with detachment or will I get all defensive?  What if the people I am studying hate what I have to say about their work? 

Is it perhaps easier to be distracted with work (I do love my church people) and preparing meals / caring for my family than facing my fears about my work?  It feels as though I've walked up to a grey icy puddle of research...and I know it's cold and messy, and now I'm not sure if I have the courage to step on in and walk on through.

A few years ago I took on training for a 5K because my daughters thought I could - and I didn't.  It took a couple months, but I did the training and completed that 5K.  Ran it three years in a row, actually.  And then started wearing my running shoes for everyday walking around.  Today I wore those shoes into an icy puddle.  Perhaps it's time to start running in them again, and to face my fears of both running and research.