Cooking Funemployment

Hello from your other Brooklyn Girl Cooking!

I, like many of us over the past year+, have been experiencing some ups and downs on the employment front. One of the benefits of not having to get up and go to work every day is having the time to play more with food and do some things I don't always have (or make) the time to do. Don't get me wrong, I always try to make time to cook, but I don't always make time to cook everything I have available. For example, a few days ago I took advantage of some over-ripe bananas, and made (an incredibly simple) blueberry banana bread (recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook), the last piece of which is pictured here. I can't even count the number of times I have allowed bananas to go beyond even banana bread ripeness, something I think happens to all of us. As my friend Julie who is currently living in Brazil with her family just wrote me about making her own blueberry banana bread: "Alyce, this... inspired me. I have a loaf in the oven right now. It's super special since the Brazilians are not a blueberry-eating people and they're hard to find. Plus, I usually let my bananas rot to the point that we have a major bug infestation before I think to make bread."



Another fun recent experiment came about because, as usual, when I go to the market, I buy potatos. One of my weird shopping quirks is that there are certain things I feel I should always have in my kitchen, but that I may not always use. Potatos are one of those items I feel are mandatory, but I don't often cook potatos, I am much more a rice girl. (I say that with trepidation, knowing Kitty's penchant for potatoes might result in a rice v potato post? ooh, i like that idea) But then here I am at home with time on my hands, chilly rain outside my door, a hankering for something starchy and salty, and potatos for the taking. So I went on epicurious.com and found a recipe for French Fries. They were baked, and called for a post-baking swim in parsley, garlic, and salt (cue: These are a few of my favorite things). The results were tasty, although I will definitely alter my cooking strategy the next time around: Having two layers of sheets of fries baking at the same time served to trap, and thus magnify, the heat on the lower oven tray, which made them cook faster. It wasn't necessarily bad in terms of taste, but a few of the thinner fries had 3rd degree burns and had to be laid to rest, unfortunately not in my stomach.