I love the color brown…all shades of brown.  And I love to eat treats that are brown…many many treats!  

Last weekend Brook had her friends over for a birthday sleepover party that included dinner, movies and a tasty breakfast with warm cinnamon buns before heading out for a day of fun at Coco Key Water Resort (indoor waterpark.)  During the sleepover,  Brook and her pals made their own sundaes.  Before Brook’s party, while we were shopping for supplies, I was surprised to discover Brook’s sundae topping choices.  With the vast multitude of toppings to choose from, somehow she ended up picking only brown-colored candies and such.   I suppose my personal taste might have rubbed off on her. 

Another treat that we enjoy making are these fire-roasted marshmallows.   It takes a lot of patience to get them to be this perfect shade of tan.  Bill taught me how to hold them just right (you have to slowly rotate them not too close and not too far from the fire.)  And when you do this just right, the outside gets crispy while the inside turns all gooey.  I never imagined that roasting marshmallows could be such an art.

Earlier this week Brook and I baked banana bread from scratch.  I’m not a big fan of baking since there’s too much careful measuring involved.  I much prefer to cook (mostly stir-fry or big pots of stew) since it allows more room for creativity and improvisation.   Being forced to follow exact recipes feels stifling to me. 

Although I don’t love to bake, I do enjoy the delicious result.  And BTW, this recipe calls for extra ripe bananas – this is a great way to use up the brown and spotted bananas that are past their prime.  Seriously, they can be WAAAAY past their prime – there’s almost no such thing as too old or too brown bananas for this recipe.

Okay, just one more brown treat to go.  This coffee ice cream is our favorite.  It contains just five ingredients and nothing weird or unrecognizable, just the simple basics that we’re all very familiar with.  I love this pared down approach.  Good doesn’t have to be complicated… good is just good.  

Last week  I received the loveliest package from my friend Lisa.  For no apparent reason except sheer kindness, Lisa sent me a whole slew of carefully chosen items for my art making habit.  I was so touched by her generous gesture,  and I was even more touched to find that each and every item that she picked out for me was exactly my style and what I love.  Within Lisa’s gorgeously arranged package I pulled aside these several pieces that immediately spoke to me.  And can you believe that they all happen to look great in brown or with brown?  Absolutely yummy!  I can’t wait to get going on creating something using these special ingredients.   What are your favorite ingredients?

Here is the banana bread recipe – it is one of our favorite and most scrumptious recipes.   Bill got it from his mother who originally got it from her friend, Ellen.  This recipe is fairly simple to make and it’s practically no-fail so you don’t have to measure everything exactly.  This I like!

Ellen’s Banana Bread
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup mashed banana (2 very ripe bananas)
1/2 cup sour cream

Combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla (beat well.)  Add rest of ingredients and mix well.  Bake for 1 hour at 350 in greased loaf pan.  Cool 15 minutes before removing from pan. 

I always double the recipe (1 loaf for my family, 1 loaf to give away.)  This simple-to-bake recipe makes it easy to share.

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