So many bananas, so little time.

Sheila bought bananas. Then she completely forgot about them, apparently, because all of the sudden we had a whole bunch of brown bananas chilling on our counter and just begging to be baked into something glorious. So I've been experimenting with different banana breads.

In addition to good old fashioned banana bread, which is always a winner, I also decided to give these two lovelies a try:

Browned butter strawberry banana bread. Heavenly.

And chocolate chocolate chip banana bread. Super yum.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I've got a confession. We dug into these babies well before I got to/thought to take a decent picture. But can you blame us? They'd been baking for almost an hour each, so our whole kitchen smelled awesome. Self control went out the window. I'm surprised I even got the chance to turn them out onto the cooling racks. 

Anywho, moral of the story: Try these recipes. They're delish.

 

Special delivery.

When I heard the buzzer this morning, I did not want to get up to answer the door. I had pretty much decided not to, but them something in me said, "Stop being lazy. Go check."

And, boy, am I glad I did.

The nice postman handed me a parcel that was actually for me! Hannah's usually the one who gets mail, so this was a big deal. And inside? Well it was an even bigger deal.

Remember when I told y'all how I feel about cookbooks? How I hadn't ever considered buying one till I saw that Joy from Joy the Baker wrote one? Well guess what...

It's an early birthday present from my momma (she obviously loves me)! And it's gorgeous, filled with pretty photography and recipes that look ah-mazing. Plus, I totally trust this girl -- I've used so many of her recipes, and they've all turned out wonderfully. (I actually just made her browned butter strawberry banana bread the other day, but I'll tell you about that later.) 

Anyway, here's a sneak peak at what's inside:

Isn't it fantastic? I'm so excited. There's only one problem: What should I bake first??

 

Pass the Ben & Jerry's.

Baylor lost and I'm in mourning. Somebody pass the Ben & Jerry's before I have a meltdown...

This girl could really use some Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz right about now.

Yeah. We lost hard. The highlight of the game, though, was Heslip's lone three to cut the deficit to thirteen (yes, thirteen). My British, formerly-non-basketball-enthusiast-turned-super-fan flatmate and I both completely FREAKED OUT when he hit that shot. So good.

But apart from that, there weren't too many bright spots Baylor this time. Bummer.

At least the women are still in it. 

Go, Lady Bears, go!

 

Fancy a knockaround?

I played tennis all through high school, and there are days when I really miss it. Today was one of those days. Luckily, one of the girls in my building used to play, too. There's some courts a short walk away, so today, since it was perfect tennis weather, we decided to go hit. Except here, people use the term "knockaround," which sounds way cooler.

Anyway, there were four of us, but we only had two racquets. We were all ready to just rotate through, but a group of guys who we met at the courts let us borrow two of theirs. So nice of them.

We didn't actually play -- just rallied a little -- but it felt great to be out there hitting again, even though I was pretty rusty.

So hopefully we'll get a few more racquets and go again soon.
  

German pancakes.

What's your favorite kind of food? Mexican? Italian? Ice cream? I'd say mine is breakfast...anything breakfast. Which is probably why I keep posting recipes for muffins and pancakes. Today is no exception. Here's another of my favorite breakfast recipes. I love it because it doesn't require any fancy ingredients or any hard work, but it still tastes awesome and looks pretty. Two very important qualities. It's German pancakes.

German pancakes are kind of like crepes, except fluffier and you bake them. While they're in the oven, they bubble up and form a little nest for whatever delicious toppings you like best. I chose strawberries, chocolate chips and powdered sugar. Yum.

Let's do this.

German pancakes

(As an aside, I really hate 3-pronged forks. They do nothing for me.)

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup milk

1 tbsp butter, softened

dash of vanilla (optional, but why ever not?)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F (about 200 C). Grease a round cake pan, and set aside.

Using a hand mixer, blend eggs till they're a soft yellow color. Add all remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. 

Pour into pan and bake on a center rack for 15 minutes. (Don't be like me and put the pan too close to the heating element, or you'll end up with a little too much crispiness on top.) Then reduce heat to 350 F (175 C) and bake another 5-10 minutes till the sides have puffed up and it's golden brown.

Serve hot, right out of the oven, and topped with whatever goodness you like! This recipe is easily doubled, if you've got someone to share with.

 

Wednesday randoms.

More happenings and observations for you!

The whole floor numbering system in the UK is different than in the US. Here, when something is located on the first floor, they don't mean the first floor. They mean the second floor. Because, here, the actual first floor is called the ground floor. This is particularly unsettling when you're faced with a stairway. At home, if I need to get to the second floor, I climb up one flight of stairs. Here, I've got to climb up a bonus one too. Yay for cardio, I suppose.

We spent St. Patrick's Day in a pub in Twickenham, watching rugby, and I learned a very important lesson: I don't know anything about rugby. Which was really frustrating, because I'm used to being the only, or at least one of very few girls who actually knows what's going on at sporting events. But not this time. Not even close. 

It's March Madness -- one of my favorite times of the year. Unfortunately, there's a 6 hour time difference between home and here, so the games don't start till like 11pm. And now that I've found a shady website that streams most of them (I tried to pay for the CBS service, but no...), I start watching about the time I should be going to bed, and before I know it, I'm up at 4am watching Kansas beat Detroit. Did I mention I still have classes to attend? Madness, indeed.

I mailed my first letters home! I sent my mom and Kim their birthday cards on Friday. I was told it'd take 5-6 business days, so I was expecting them to arrive around Thursday. But no! My mom got hers on Monday! Which was such a relief, as that was her actual birthday. Thanks, Royal Mail.

Honey Loops are not as good as Honey Nut Cherrios. Sorry, England.

I've mentioned that queuing is all the rage here. But it also can incite rage. I went to the bank the other day to exchange some dollars. At my bank, the tellers are all in a row, with the travel services window at the far left. There was a queue when I walked in, but I didn't need a teller. I needed the travel services window, which had just become available. So I walked right up. And then I got yelled at. "EXCUSE ME. THERE'S A QUEUE HERE," shouted a very large, imposing man from the middle of the line. Now, there's something you should know about me. I hate conflict. I hate being the center of attention. My heart freaks out when people stare at me. And people were staring. I felt like an idiot. I looked up, startled, and pointed to the sign above the teller. "Travel services," I said in my foreign accent. "I need to exchange some currency." He went red, mumbled an apology, and turned away, embarrassed. Now, he was the idiot. So that situation ended up being both panic-inducing, and extremely gratifying.

And now, back to being studious. These essays won't write themselves...unfortunately.

Tuesdays are my favorite.

I don't have class on Tuesdays, so naturally they're my favorite. Today was so sunny that Hannah and I decided we absolutely could not spend it indoors. We grabbed coffees and sat down by the Thames, watching people and swans, and feeling wonderfully content. The best kind of afternoon.