Bananarama

You might be looking at this photo and having the same reaction I did when this object first entered my life. WTF?!

But look closer, dear readers, and you will see that the object is not, as you might have first suspected, some fresh spawn of dread Cthulhu. It is simply a cluster of bananas, from my friend Joey's backyard banana tree. Luke brought it over the other day, hefting all 25 pounds of it onto my kitchen counter even as I protested. A gift from Joey, he said, putting the kibosh on my plan to throw them out immediately.

It was a bad start to the week. A conundrum of the worst kind: Pitting my desire to be thrifty and grateful against my inclination toward avoiding the unknown. 

These were bananas, yes. But there were about 15 of them. And they didn't look like store-bought bananas. They were thicker, denser. And Luke paused just slightly when asked how they tasted. Just enough to make me panic. Who needs 15 thick, wild bananas that don't taste right sitting on the kitchen counter?

And then my biggest fear: What about the tarantulas?

So I did what I normally do in these situations. I ignored them for as long as I could, which is not easy since they took up a lot of precious counter space. Meanwhile, my intentions did battle. I knew I should regard this as a bonanza and launch into a frenzy of banana-related baking. That's what Sarah or Kelli would do, surely. But writing them for recipes and then devoting a day or two to baking would take too many precious brain cells and motivation I didn't have. Not to mention the resulting surplus of baked goods I would then have to find people to eat. My kids like bananas but not that much.

In the end, I baked three loaves of Molly's banana bread with chocolate chips. They freeze well, and are a proven hit. And although I apparently forgot to include the butter and cooked the loaves a tad too long, resulting in fairly dry bread, nobody noticed. And indeed, two of my three loaves are already gone.

And so I only had to throw eleven wild bananas out in the end. Bad Julie. Bad home cook.

Comments

[Bobbi]

ours look like that; we use them when the skins are black for banana bread, and bananas foster. Ours are tastier and tangier than Chiquita bananas. Next time he has a bunch, tell him you can only use about 5 or so. Then freeze them, and dip in chocolate and freeze again. Yumm.

[ATriana]

Your split second reference to Cthulhu was exacting -extreme horror indeed! Since they were placed on your kitchen counter, you might check for other wayward creatures behind your coffee maker.