I have never claimed to be a magnificent chef, and lately I have been doing so little cooking that I sometimes I wonder where my drive has gone. I have many friends that know the 'it' restaurants to go to, what is Keller's latest ongoings, which kind of salt is the best to use on steak, that pigeons are a delicacy as long as you get them before they can fly, and what langula is and how to prepare it and every other unwanted part of a lamb...all of which are new to me, but I take great interest in learning about.
BUT, I do take great pride in my baking skills and improv ability. My results are always terrific and I often surprise myself at how well my cookies, cakes and tarts turn out. Last night was close to becoming the biggest failure of my cooking adventures though, as I nonchalantly went about making banana bread. I can assuredly say now that this recipe is FOOL PROOF, the easiest thing to make and almost impossible to screw up.
I made the batter, stuck it in the oven and about 30 minutes into baking, as lovely banana smells were wafting around the apartment, I opened the oven to see that my banana bread was a banana swamp! I had completely forgotten to add flour to the batter and it had turned a swampy green color that was bubbling and spitting!
Hurriedly fumbling around to pull out my swamp monster, the pan that the batter was in slipped and half of the ooze spilled all down the kitchen wall and behind my oven! Despite all of this and thanks to a friend's urging, I added flour to the already cooked swamp batter, mixed it up and stuck it in the oven for another 7 minutes. I was thinking that I should have just thrown it out all together, but I don't like to give up.
I am really embarrassed to post a picture of my banana bread, but I will to humble myself...what makes me feel better is that my friend said that it was the best banana bread she had ever tried, and I have to agree, I can't remember eating a banana bread that tasted much better!
