Yes Sir, We have No Bananas

In an attempt to contribute to the Jumping Crow on Third Street I decided to put the bananas that were rotting on my counter to good use.  Straight out of bed earlier this week, following a run of nights, Jules and I hit the kitchen.  She was such an awesome help, even though she insists that she doesn't like banana loaf. 

For the loaves (I made 3) I used an amazing recipe given to me by my good friend Pam.  Instead of oil, shortening, or butter this recipe calls for mayonnaise resulting in extremely moist loaves of utterly heaven, melt-in-your-mouth sweet goodness.  No exaggeration. 

And now for some silliness. 

Something happened while Jules and I were baking that I've never seen happen before.  Brace yourselves.  I finished off an entire bottle of vanilla.  As I expect is fairly normal in a modern day household, I've had the same bottle of vanilla extract on the go now for many years.  I wouldn't say that I bake a lot, but I do think I bake as much as the next working mom - you know, from manic bursts of wanting to be a wholesome Mom to hasty preparation for those surprise birthdays that seem to come out of nowhere (your husband, your first born...).  And as I mentioned before we used to bake lots with Mom when we were children.
 

But I have never seen an empty vanilla bottle - let alone been the person to empty one.  I admit, it was a tad bit unsettling.  It was as though a piece of me was lost.  Like I could never go back.  Like a door had close and I was suddenly alone - yet strangely, free.  Who new??

Silly as this may seem, it surprised me to discover that I had reached the end of my vanilla.  So much so that I took a picture of the empty bottle.  This has nothing to do with the fact that we just bought a new camera...  I did this not so much to commemorate my beloved 'friend', but to show the world just what an empty bottle of vanilla looks like.  So that you can be prepared when this happens in your house.  Hopefully you'll be spared the shock that has befallen me.  It was borderline tragic.

Soon I will have to go on with my life, make my appointments and start working again.  Maybe this will mark a new chapter in my life, one where I won't limit myself according to a lingering baking essential.  Likely I'll just go to the store and by another bottle of No Name vanilla extract to serve the ongoing needs of my family.  But it will be a small bottle.  The smallest bottle of No Name vanilla I can find, so that its presence in my home - and in my heart - will not be for so long a duration that I feel its loss as a visceral assault.

In conclusion, I would like to revisit the statement I made at the beginning of the post: Jules was an awesome help.  If you look closely, you'll see that one of the pictures I included in the collage is of a sink full of clean dishes.  Rest assured - we are a family of normal sized people; the teeny colourful plates you see in this picture belong to Julia's kitchenette.  Not only did she help me make the banana loaf, she also helped me clean up the dishes - and some of her own that had to be cleaned up following an early morning tea party. 

She is so my daughter!