Bananas Uninvited.
Their first day in Melbourne, my mother bought five bananas from the supermarket.
Because it's good for their digestion, she said.
Because they wake up earlier, they need something to eat, she said as she blocked the bread, butter, milk, and 3-in-1 coffee sachets on the benchtop with her body.
Because Hana's staying over.
Because it's $2.95 per kg here, so cheap.
She said.
And then, on the last day of their stay, when I picked them up from their apartment, she brought another five bananas to our place.
Do we have a problem, mum? I asked.
This time, 95 cents per kg, organic from Vic Market.
Don't worry, now the bananas are $1.95 per kg.
She said.
I ignored the fact that she just used bananas to explain the 'averaging down' strategy used in stock market investment, as much as she ignored how I wasn't questioning the price of bananas, but rather the number of bananas in my home.
Don't worry, she said.
We eat bananas all the time.
We'll finish them by the time we're gone.
Well, we did not.
They left yesterday, on a jet plane, and I’m left with bananas looking like a poster of the United Colors of Benetton.
Enter the banana bread.
There are many recipes out there, substituting butter with coconut oil; normal flour with wholemeal flour or almond meal; sugar with toasted sugar, honey, maple syrup ...
I really do not care.
Banana bread is a giant pancake with mashed bananas, in the shape of a box.
I scream internally whenever I hear someone order it in a cafe, because, dude, that one slice is the cost of the whole loaf.
Just buy a hot dog bun and a banana, man.
In fact, when we taste banana bread, we're actually tasting cinnamon, sugar and the brown crumbly bits. After the oven, most of the banana-ness is gone. It could be apple, pineapple, or pear for all I care.
Do we really need a recipe here?
Heat up the oven to 160°C
Mash five bananas, around 500g
Half the amount of flour (250g) - plain, wholemeal, oatmeal, almond meal up to you
2 eggs
120ml of milk / yoghurt (I added leftover coconut cream - the other souvenir from my mum)
120g of butter or vegan oil of your choice
A squeeze of lemon juice (ignore if using yogurt)
1 tsp baking powder and/or baking soda
1 tsp of ground cinnamon (the good stuff, I grind half a stick with an old coffee grinder)
a pinch of salt
some personal touch like nuts or other spices - we sprinkled pearl sugar on top
Mix wet ingredients, and fold in dry ingredients, pour into a bread tin, bake for 60 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 95°C or a knife comes out clean, depending on how wet you like your banana bread
Rest in the tin for 15 minutes, remove and cool on a wire rack.
Keep in the fridge for a week.
Your mother enjoys the pleasure of retail therapy, your daughter enjoys the process of mashing bananas with a sense of achievement, and you look good to your neighbours by offering them fresh banana bread, and later question yourself if you’re baking to get rid of the bananas or to distract yourself from thinking about how little time left you have with your parents.
Happy Saturday.