banana bread

Baking banana bread is truly a labor of love, since I like neither banana nor - usually - cake (which is what banana bread is, when one thinks about the recipe).  That last remark deserves some qualification: I like cakes made of almond flour, hazelnut flour, chestnut flour, polenta, and possibly various other creative substitutes as well.  And when I was Very Young - like about eight or nine - I used to make an excellent, light, fly-away sponge that involved a great deal of whisking in a bowl suspended over boiling water on the stove, and that was basically mostly eggs.  I should resuscitate that recipe, the next time in Wimbledon.

But I digress.  Cooking/preparing food for someone undergoing chemo has its challenges ... they think they fancy something, maybe, just possibly - and then because all their taste and smell receptors are haywire it tastes wrong and horrible the minute it reaches their mouth.  And in any case, Alice suffers badly from nausea, which makes the very idea of eating a turn-off.  But this morning, she thought that she might fancy some banana bread (to be honest, after that thought, she decided she'd like some Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffee Cake - which I failed to find in local supermarkets, and now discover, on line, is a notoriously elusive gastro-commodity).  So this is my best shot, made with organic everything.  I tried a corner - frankly, I thought it was a bit dry, and tasted of banana, which I guess was inevitable - but Alice did, indeed, eat a slice and a bit.  I was so grateful.