It's fall. It's beautiful. It's cold. It's time (for banana bread).

About two months ago, I was feeling pretty blue. There were a lot of changes happening, not all of them great, but not all of them so terrible, either. Since then, I believe that I have nailed down what was going right and what was going wrong. Does anyone else feel like maybe you don't evaluate life choices often enough? I hadn't been. At work we have been making the transition in our training towards lists, therefore, I have also been making this transition in my personal life.

What was going wrong?
-Lack of sleep
-Lack of exercise
-Little time having fun & engaging in stress-reducing activities (i.e. cooking)
-Rarely seeing my friends
-Eating out instead of in

What was going right?
-Promotion
-Moving somewhere new (and awesome)
-Organizing and cleaning
-Listening to This American Life on my commute

Long story somewhat short, things have improved dramatically. I am in my smiley, happy place again. This past week I got fairly sick and had to take some days off of work (something that I fought hard against, but ultimately, my body won). The reevaluation has brought one important thing to light, which is this: I need to cook, and I need to share it. Whether that sharing be physically sharing a meal with Ian, making treats for my staff, or writing to all of you about my kitchen adventures. So, here I am.

I now live in Quincy, a suburb of Boston. Ian and I love that we live a 10 minute walk from the train, a 30 second walk from the grocery store, and a 15 minute walk from the woods. Many days a week I now get to do two things that I absolutely love: hike and cook. It's mostly thanks to this guy holding the lobster claw:

Since we can get there by foot, we mostly hike around Blue Hills Reservation.

(that's actually the Boston skyline in the background)

As I mentioned, I had virtually stopped cooking, blaming it on the extra hours I was working. To be honest though, it's just as important to my well-being that I am cooking for myself. Once Ian and I moved, we both made the switch to cooking at home pretty much exclusively. I can proudly say that we haven't had food delivered since moving in September. A sampler:

(pasta, fennel sausage, tomatoes, cheese, spinach)

(braised pork, ancho chipotle sauce, pickled cabbage, cilantro)

(sword fish, grilled tomatoes & peppers, wild rice & kale salad)

Absolute favorite song right now. I listen to it on all occasions.

Overripe Banana Cinnamon Bread

Beginning notes:

1. Use overripe bananas.

2. Decide what kind (if any) of  "chips" you want in your bread (chocolate, butterscotch, cinnamon?).

3. For my west-coasters: your oven will be on for a while, choose a cool time of day!

Yield: 1 cake-sized loaf

Difficulty: Easy

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

Banana Bread:

3 large overripe bananas

1 c sugar

1/2 c (1 stick) softened butter

3 eggs

1 1/2 c flour

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1 t vanilla extract

4 T plain yogurt (I used greek, I don't think that it matters)

1 c cinnamon chips (or another chip that you fancy)

Streusel Topping:

2 T melted butter

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

2 t cinnamon

Heat your oven to 325 F. This low temp is important to keep your bread super-duper moist. This is also a good time to grease your pan. I use butter for the extra deliciousness, but a spray will do just fine.

Mash your bananas in a large bowl. If you freeze your ever-overripening bananas, defrost them first. Add butter and sugar, mix until smooth (bananas may be chunky). Add eggs and completely incorporate them into the mixture. Now mix in the vanilla extract and yogurt.

In a separate bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg).

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated. Throw your chips in and mix.

Empty the banana bread batter into your pan. Now it's streusel time: mix the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. The sugars should be damp and easy to crumble over the bread batter. Cover the top of your bread. Place your pan on a middle rack in the oven for about 40 minutes (depending on your oven).

Let cool in the pan (but eat some warm because oh-my-all-joyous-things it's so perfect that way).

Ending notes:

1. You softened your butter - good job! Now, don't you dare add that butter to bananas just thawed from the freezer silly. It'll only re-harden that way :(

2. This stuff melts in your mouth. It's just crazy.

3. I have missed you.

Have a great rest of the week everybody. And for the love of Pete, please take care of yourselves out there (I promise to try along with you).