» mish-mash shim-sham AKA Abraham Bacoln

August 7, 2007, 10:51 pm
Filed under: tidbit

Nothing much hot and funderful going on as of late. I’ve been back at work for a week now and it’s the same as before which means pretty much every day involves one incident of laughing ’till my sides hurt. It’s wonderful to work with people who share my differently-oriented sense of humor.

When writing an email to someone right before I left work the other day I wished for an adventure on the way home. I got it in the tiniest possible way. When I was driving down Freeze St. I saw a pair of old person sunglasses right on the yellow line. You know that type of sunglasses, right? The huge ones with no frames, they’re just all solid black plastic, and they’re big enough to fit over your regular glasses. Old people sunglasses.

I should take a picture of them.

Anyway, I whipped my car around in the neatest u-turn known to man and drove up, slowed down, opened the door, and snatched them right up. I closed the door just in time to see some young guy on the sidewalk giving me the thumb-and-pinky-extended hang-ten sign. He was emphatic, he was waggling it like crazy and if ever there was a facial expression that said, “I WANT TO SAY KICKASS IN A PSEUDO-IRONIC WAY BUT YOU CAN’T HEAR ME” he was wearing it.

Alas, the old people sunglasses are a little too small. If you need ’em or if you have an old person of your own let me know.

Today I drove past a tandem bike in a sidewalk sale – only $50. I got excited before I realized that the only person with whom I’ve ever discussed riding a tandem bike isn’t around anymore.

My most recent major accomplishment was the creation of bananacakes. It’s a new thing. A new thing to eat. For those of you not keeping score, I do not create in the kitchen. I am a recipe follower. I can follow any recipe. I believe I can make ANYTHING as long as you give me the recipe. However, if you stuck my kitchen in the middle of Kroger with no recipe books I’d probably end up eating cold cereal. I’m just not a creator.

That’s why it was awesome when I woke up the other morning kind of still dreaming but kind of actively thinking of bananacakes. Then I got up the nerve to make them exactly as my dream presented to me and they were delicious and not only that but they tasted exactly as I imagined.

Not … you know, not that they’re complex but it was still gratifying.

I present to you

Bananacakes:

This recipe is for two peoples or one really hungry people. You may easily expand the recipe as it is based around the banana measurement, not something else. Basing it around something else would be silly.

1 banana
3 sheets (12 crackers) of cinnamon graham crackers
1/2 tsp lemon juice
couple dashes of cinnamon

also needed: butter, honey

1.) Mash that banana! Mash it good! Okay, I don’t actually mash mine – I throw it in a bowl and attack it with butter knives until it’s into very tiny chunks.
2.) Mix lemon juice over bananas. I don’t know if it keeps them from turning brown but it does give it a little more zing.
3.) Crumble the graham crackes into very tiny bits. You could use a food processor or stick them in a bag and beat them with a leg of lamb or whatever you want. I crumble by hand because I’m not very smart and I like taking too long to do simple tasks.
4.) Mix the graham crackers and the bananas. You’re looking for a vaguely doughy consistency. Not dry, no, but dry enough that you can form a patty, a soft delicious patty. You don’t want the inside to dry out too much while frying.
5.) Mix in a couple dashes of cinnamon. I don’t use a whole lot. I guess you could put a little nutmeg if you were feeling crazy.

ALSO, we agreed that the recipe could use a dash of salt to balance it out. However, I’ve not yet experimented with the salt. Add at your own risk.

ALSO, one of the best desserts I ever had was cayenne caramel toast at the Delachaise in New Orleans. This dessert would support a dash of cayenne pepper very well. Don’t knock the idea until you’ve tried it.

6.) Once you’re all mixed and at the right consistency heat your skillet on medium and melt some butter in there.
7.) One banana divides into two patties very nicely, or three if you’re making tiny ones. Fry in butter on one side until solid and browned, then flip.
8.) When plating I dusted each one with a smidge of cinnamon and then drizzled lightly with honey.
9.) Mmmmmm. Bananacakes.
10.) Seriously.

I’ve gone back to wearing big headphones for music listening. It’s the way to go, I’m telling you. I forget why I ever stopped.

Oh hey speaking of forgetting I forgot to tell you that I finally shot my first wedding this weekend. I had wondered for a long time if wedding photography was something I could do, and by ‘could do’ I mean ‘could stomach doing for money’. I really really enjoyed this weekend’s shoot for one reason: now I know the answer is NO.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time there, I think I took some great photos, I like the bride and groom, etc. Later that night, though, after the wedding when I was getting ready to go out with friends I picked up my camera bag and it was just this disgusting heavy mass, this iron weight. I didn’t even want to look at it and that made me sad. Then editing the photos has been a chore – not bad, no, but just not something I want to do with my time. So that’s good! Now I won’t have any question about whether or not saying ‘no’ to a potential wedding gig is the right or wrong idea.

I still have several kinds of photography jobs in my head that I think would give me pleasure, let me exercise my creativity, and not hate my camera at the end of the day. Weddings just aren’t one of them.

Finally, I’ve not done anything interesting today except to pretend to tattoo myself which I can totally recommend as a hobby. You should try it. All the cool kids are doing it.

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I’m sorry the sunglasses were too awesome for you… You should go give them to the “hang ten” kid that saw you snatch them up

Comment by Kyla August 7, 2007 @ 11:47 pm

Fake? FAKE? You disappoint me, son.

Comment by Dan August 8, 2007 @ 12:22 am

love your banana cakes

Comment by s August 8, 2007 @ 1:18 am

i’m a big believer in salt.

Comment by walter biffle August 8, 2007 @ 4:13 pm

There was a girl who used to draw a rather elaborate henna-like tattoo on one side of her face everyday, with a bic pen as I recall. We used to make fun of her, too.

Comment by Jason C August 9, 2007 @ 3:09 pm