photo from piesandbass.wordpress.comLast week I found overripe bananas on sale for $.10/lb. I bought a dozen and Sarah Jane and I made a ginormous batch of banana bread to share with all the neighbors. My neighbor Jessica, who does not bake, raved about it and asked if I would teach her how to make it. Here was our conversation about what she would need.
J: What do I need?
F: Flour.
J: Okay, I think I have about 1/2 cup left from the same bag I've been using for 2 years. I only use it to bread fish. So I'll get more flour.
F: You also need sugar.
J: I don't use sugar. I just have those little packets for my coffee.
F: Okay, you need real sugar. And butter.
J: Can I use the kind in a tub?
F: No. Do you have a loaf pan?
J: I think....what does it look like?
Anyway, she came over with a new tiny bag of flour and her bananas and we made banana bread. She was so excited and interested and eager to learn and made me feel so good about myself and my vast knowledge of treat baking. As we cooked, she told me how her mom never baked and she grew up eating frozen dinners. I told her that I didn't know about those refrigerator slice & bake cookies until I was in high school. And now our worlds have collided.
I figured since the oven was on, I should make something too, so I made Great Harvest Pumpkin Bread. Jessica raised an eyebrow when I added chocolate chips to the pumpkin bread, then tentatively asked if she could add some to her banana bread. (Yes, by all means, yes!)
It was really fun to share a skill with a friend and I have thought all day about what a different person I would be if I never had flour, sugar or butter in my kitchen. I'm sure I'd be skinnier, but I don't think I'd be as happy. I get a lot of satisfaction and joy from baking, nourishing, sharing, and teaching. (Thanks to my amazing mom for her talents and inspiration in this area.)
**Probably my all-time favorite quote from my mother is, "Would you rather be fat and happy or skinny and neurotic?" NOT to say all skinny people are neurotic, and not to say I wouldn't like to be skinny...but I'm going to choose fat and happy for now, especially with the holiday baking season underway.
3 comments:
Oh boy, that's the mantra of our family. Too bad we're all fat and neurotic anyway :-)
Krista just pulled a hot loaf of wheat bread out of the oven so your post made me smile. She also made some tasty potato and asparagus soup last night for one of our sick friends and served it with her now famous Artisan bread.
I love that I married someone like you, Flori...someone who enjoys bringing people joy through their culinary creations (although I'm sure that Krista would argue that she's a far cry from you talentwise).
Keep up the great work.
Now, on to that wheat bread.
I am finding joy in baking lately. I can't say I'm happy all the time but I do feel like I'm growing fatter in the culinary craft, so to speak. I think that is so cute that woman didn't have much flour either. Sometimes I forget how differently we are and how we grow up. What a fun lesson to teach. I'm sure she loved it.
We all enjoy your baking as well :) And I have to say that if I really could be fat and happy, I'd probably take it, but it just doesn't ever seem to sit well with me, which is too bad since I also don't seem to be able to get back to skinny. Gotta work on my mindset.
And now I feel like baking pumpkin bread.
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