No, I didn’t bake the banana bread. But a neighbor did. And she brought it over and shared it with us in early 2020 when we were all feeling cooped up and alone and just generally going crazy. It was such a nice gesture and I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to return the favor? Except I’ve never baked anything other than a boxed cake mix for my wife’s birthday.
At the same time we’ve been watching loads of baking on TV–to the point that I could pretty accurately diagnose a stodgy cake or an under-proofed loaf. An off-hand remark about this to our kindly banana bread neighbor landed us a copy of Linda Collister’s “The Great British Bake-Off Big Book of Baking”. It’s time to start baking. I’m going to channel my inner Amy Adams in Julie & Julia and bake my way through each recipe one at a time on the quest for self enlightenment and the meaning of life.
Or semi-competence with an oven.
Cords and Crumbs by Andy 