Banana Bread and Cherry Tomatoes

Ever since I tried out this recipe for Banana Bread a few weeks ago, we enjoyed it so much that I had to make it again. The first time I made it, I happened to have two bananas that were getting a little too ripe so had to use them right away. The recipe called for 2-1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas so it obviously wasn't enough and I just had to make do with whatever I had. The result was still delicious but the second time, it definitely was more moist as I added more bananas. Once I mashed the bananas (I think it was 4 or 5), it still didn't yield 2-1/3 cups so I can only suppose that the next time I make it with the correct amount of mashed bananas, it will taste even better. Dare I hope.

I've tried making jemput-jemput (banana fritters) with bananas that weren't getting eaten fast enough. Not too bad except that I'm the only one who eats them and they aren't exactly health food. I'm not sure how "healthy" this banana bread is but it isn't fried so that works for me.


Different food topic. Tomatoes. Yes, we have a tomato plant growing in our backyard once again. What we didn't know was that these were cherry tomatoes. Oops. I never used to like eating tomatoes, absolutely loathed them and I tolerated them. I liked tomato ketchup and spaghetti sauce but that was about it. Over the years, however, I've learned to enjoy tomatoes in salads and other dishes. Once I discovered how delicious they actually were fresh off the vine, I complained no more and looked forward to our own tomato plants. Vine-ripened tomatoes. I like those words. Another discovery was sun-dried tomatoes. Once I tasted it with pasta (either spaghetti or vermicelli), there was no looking back.









Oh yes, we also have a few herbs growing in the backyard as well. I don't have a green thumb, sad to say, and we've had better luck growing herbs than flowers. We have basil and greek oregano in the same pot but I only managed to get a decent shot of the basil.



And why not end with a good read even though it is totally unrelated: A priest reflects on his anniversary of ordination.