Banana Bread

Overnight guests are coming, and I am in full hostess mode.  Yeah, that's a lie.  I cleaned the bathroom, changed the sheets, and stocked the fridge with beer and hummus.  We're good to go.

Except for one thing:  the banana bread.  Nothing says home like banana bread.

I have been making banana bread for decades.  It's a simple recipe, one my mother gave me.  I usually have all the ingredients on hand.  During my kids' childhood, whenever there were a couple of over-ripe bananas on the counter, you could be sure that there would be banana bread the next morning.  Although I got a D- in Care Packages during their college years, I know there were a few times that banana bread arrived at their dorm rooms thanks to Mom.

With my kids gone, I have not made banana bread in awhile.  In fact, I'm pretty sure there are about a dozen very ripe bananas in the freezer at home, some sort of promise that I will produce bakery goods at some point in the future.  Right.

But company is coming!  I made a quick trip to Publix this morning to get everything I need.  Seems I forgot that my best banana bread contains miniature chocolate chips and coconut flakes; I did not put them in my shopping cart.  Worst of all, I didn't realize that I do not have any bread pans at this place!  But if you think that would inspire me to drive back to Publix on a Sunday afternoon, you do not know me very well.

There's a rectangular Corningware dish in the cabinet.  That will do.  (I think.)  And so I get to work, mashing those bananas, beating those eggs, folding in those dry ingredients.  The kitchen takes on an aroma . . . it smells like home.

It is not hard to fall in love with banana bread.  I've been doing it for decades.