Date & Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Sunday. It's such a bittersweet day. I love how lazy it is but I also hate the anxiety I feel creeping in come Sunday evening. I hate wishing away days that I'll never get back but I live for my peaceful Friday late afternoons and Saturday nights.

I went out dancing last night and had so much fun. It wasn't the original plan but we headed to this delightful establishment called the Dance Cave (when you picture delightful please envision darkness, people crammed shoulder to shoulder, beer all over the floors and your clothes, and sweaty people likely on a variety of recreational drugs). It's so much fun though. You can dance your little heart out and not feel self-conscious because everyone else is dancing like no one is watching as well. It's amazing.

I took John out for breakfast this morning but the poor fella wasn't feeling in top form. I had a grand slam breakfast of everything (pancake, sausages, bacon, rye bread, scrambled eggs and home fries.....cue salivation response a la Pavlov's dogs) so I enjoyed myself.

I thought today I would do some baking as I haven't done too much of it in awhile and I find it very therapeutic. I had a minor quarter-life crisis early Saturday night but my dear sister talked me through it. For all the annoying things she may do, I'd be lost without her. She often knows the advice I need. So Thank you Robin!

Back to baking!

I pulled out the bread machine and have a loaf of Challah rising (a sweet egg bread if you've never tried it, pronouned "hulla"). I also made some banana bread as we have a few that are starting to get dangerously brown. Plus dates were incredibly priced at Metro.

Today, I present to you,

Date & Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

For 1 loaf:

• Beat 1/4 cup butter with 3/4 cup sugar. Add in 1 egg and mix until combined.
• Mix in 2 medium bananas, 1 tbsp vanilla, 1/4 cup milk, and mix until smooth.
• Add in 1 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1 tsp salt.
• Mix in chocolate chips and chopped pitted dates (add as much or as little as you'd like)
• Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour then let cool, cut, and enjoy!

I ate both the ends of the loaf already and it's good. My love of end pieces is definitely inherited from my Mom. We both like the bum slices of bread on loaves and it's usually a race to see who eats it first. I've been known to reach my hand all the way down to the end of the bag to pull out the other end piece. My mom is not impressed haha. The whole bum-piece reminds me of the Olive Theory from How I Met Your Mother's first season. If you watch the show, you may recall that Lily and Marshall believed that they were so compatible because she loved olives and he hated them so the olives on salads, etc always got eaten. John doesn't like the end pieces and they're the first ones that I grab. It's our olive theory in action.

Well friends, I'm going to get back to the Jets vs Colts game. I forgot that Peyton Manning was the QB for the Colts. I like him. I think he was the Manning brother that hosted SNL one time so in terms of hilarity: Colts - 1, Jets & Sanches - 0. But Manning's arms are no where near as impressive as Sanchez's....I guess they're even.

P.S. Thanks, Mom, for being my spell check :)