Today's post is a little about what I call the family of people. We all have our own family, but then there is other people outside of that. These are people that you interact with, either on a regular basis or randomly.
Sometimes I like to think about the random people. These are the people that are not part of your family and have no impact on your income, so there is nothing to gain. How you interact with these people can reveal a lot about yourself. Some people go through life very self centered and not focusing on the things or people around them. Others may use a chance meeting with strangers as a door to let them vent their frustrations.
Chance meetings are actually an opportunity. You get this one little opportunity to help someone, make them smile or make them laugh. If that happens it is a nice feeling. Today, for instance, in the produce section an older lady looked at the jackfruit on display and said, "My word, I have never seen such a thing!" I laughed and told her what it was and what it tasted like. Then she commented on how big each of these fruits were and that she would not be able to eat all of one. I responded by saying that once the big and tall shop closes their employees come in and buy them all. She gave me a funny look at first and then we both started laughing.
So, as you go about your day, take notice of the people around you and have a friendly interaction with them, you will be glad you did.
Now I bring you a recipe that has 2 elements that interact deliciously with one another-bananas and chocolate. This marbled loaf comes together easily and has a moist texture with a tender crumb. In each bite there is a hint of unique flavor that stems from the third element of nutmeg.
Chocolate Banana Loaf Cake
adapted from Baking from My Home to Yours
Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs rum
1/2 cup and 2 tbs butter
zest from 1/2 lemon
squirt of lemon juice
1 1/2 ripe bananas
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)
3 oz bittersweet chocolate (chopped)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
Prepare a 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 X 2 1/2 inch loaf pan by buttering the interior and dusting with flour. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Set up a double boiler and fill top pot with 2 tbs butter and chocolate. Let the water in the bottom pot come to a simmer. The chocolate and the butter should start to melt. Stir to blend and remove from heat and separate top pot from bottom once all is melted and blended.
Fill a medium sized bowl with the zest and lemon juice. Using a fork, mash the bananas until they have the consistency of applesauce. Then stir in the rum and set aside.
In a second bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set this bowl aside also.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle blade, beat the remaining butter (1/2 cup) at medium speed until light and smooth. This should take about 3 minutes. During this process, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides at intervals.
Continue mixing the butter and add both types of sugars. Follow the 3 minute process outlined in the previous paragraph. Then beat in each egg, one at a time. Add the extract and mix until distributed throughout the batter.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in 1/3 of the sifted ingredients. Stir in the milk and once blended with the batter, fold in the rest of the dry, sifted ingredients. Pour in the mashed bananas, mixing so there are no dry ingredients on the side of the bowl. The end result will be a lumpy, somewhat curdled-looking batter.
Separate out 1/3 of the batter to another bowl. Add the chocolate to this little bit of batter and mix until completely blended.
Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out some of the ivory batter and empty into one corner of the pan. Then take a scoop of chocolate and empty into pan, next to the ivory batter. Continue with this process, alternating the batters, so that all has been scooped into the pan.
Place loaf pan in oven and bake until tester comes out clean. This should take about 1 hour and 20-30 minutes. However, take a moment after baking for about 30 minutes to check for over-browning of the surface of the cake. If you find that it is getting too toasty, cover lightly with foil.
Once completely baked, remove from oven and place on cooling rack. After about 15 minutes invert pan onto cooling rack to empty out the cake. Then carefully flip the cake so the right side is up and let cool completely onto rack.
**LAST YEAR: Hummingbird Cookies**