31.1.10

Banana Bread--A perfect antidote to a cold, Canadian Sunday afternoon


It's been a couple of days now that the temperature hasn't budged much above -20 celcius. Dreaded Montreal winters subject your body to intolerable achiness, that goes right down to your bones. This chilly Sunday, I have vowed to stay in, and obviously bake. Soon, the sweet, comforting smell of baking banana bread permeated throughout the house, enveloping me with its warmth. Ok, maybe I'm slighty exaggerating the powers a banana loaf actually has, but let your imaginations get the better of you. Or just humour me.


This recipe was in the Life section of the Montreal Gazette on March 6, 2002. Gazette food critic Lesley Chesterman doesn't say where she got the recipe, but rest assured, it is delicious.



Banana Bread courtesy of The Montreal Gazette, March 6th, 2002

Makes one 9x5 inch loaf


1 ¾ cups white flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 large, or 3 small)


Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.


Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat the aggs and sugar until it doubles in volume. Pour in the oil. Alternately stir in the dry ingredients and the bananas.

Pour batter into pan and bake for 55 mins to 1 hour. Cool for 10 minutes.


Best eaten warm (either right out of the over, after it's cooled a bit, or heated up in the toaster oven or microwave).


Keep warm. Enjoy.

10.1.10

Mousse au chocolat, anyone?

At 22 it is safe to say that I don't know anything. I don't know what year the Korean war took place. I'm not too sure who owns the Habs team right now. But, I knew who Jacques Pepin was at age 8. I'm wondering if that's saying something.


You see, I'm a freshly brewed McGill graduate. If I can manage to get the paperwork done I should be a registered dietitian in no time. Career opportunities await. As my mother says: my world is my oyster. But after 3.5 years of "the finest Canadian education", I feel as empty and incompetent as ever. All I know, all I speak, is the language of food and drink.

Bread from a long line of Italians, eating is my birthright. My fondest childhood memories are tied to food: summer picnics of fresh pasta, grilled sausages, August-picked corn-on-the-cob, coming home from school and being greeted at the door with whiffs of apple streusel cake or chocolate muffins, Christmas Eve dinner at my great-aunt's house, with a table pregnant of every seafood and fish known to the oceans, either breaded, fried, pickled, baked or tossed. Oh, I can smell it all now!

I now find myself in a place that closely resembles an episode of 'Let's Make a Deal'; I'm surrounded by curtains, doors, boxes all housing possibilities, all of which I seem unknown and frightful. have many a things to figure out about myself. What I do know is that food kindles my curiosity and passion; it's what cradles my soul. I go to the kitchen to find my solace, to purge my emotions into carefully assembling a salmon Wellington, or whipping a chocolate mousse to its boozy perfection (c'mon, let's not pretend we don't take the Whiskey bottle out when making delectable desserts). I do pride myself in my broadened palate, my taste for delicacies like tripe and a good goat curry and my firm belief that one cannot have any kind of a proper day without a glass of wine.

So, I've finally realized that I need to start a food blog. I'm hoping it can be a channel in which for me to grow; by sharing my culinary experiences with all the devoted foodies out there. By becoming part of the great potluck of shared knowledge regarding food and all that it encompasses, I'm hoping to discover where my seat is at the table. Besides, I'm so addicted to food-blog surfing already, I might as well join the fun.

Food is so much more than sustenance, and I feel privileged to have realized that from a young age. I believe food is quite worthless if it is not shared. So, here commences my sharing with all of you: recipes, my favorite little gems to eat at, photos. Whatever I can.

Oh, and my favorite food quote of all time is, "The only time to eat diet food is when waiting for the steak to cook" (Julia Child). Thank you, Julia. And I undoubtedly agree.


Cheers