I feel like I've blown my wad in terms of what I have to say this week.  I even gave you pictures of this week's food box.  What that means is that a whole lot of potentially meaningless and definitely random thought paragraphs are coming right up...
I'm at the halfway point of my summer break.  I think that I've finally gotten work 90% out of the way and can spend the rest of the month without it eating away at the back of my brain.... mostly.  That helps me breath a little bit easier.
I realized the other night that I don't talk about myself very much at all.  There are very few people who I really talk to.  Mostly, I listen and offer my two cents worth of advice and/or perspective.  I wonder if people notice that I don't talk about me?  (They probably do) I wonder if it pisses them off that I don't talk more about myself. (don't know about that one) Most people seem perfectly happy to talk about themselves and don't return with terribly probing questions.  Definitely, no one has ever asked me about my lack of personal dishing, leading me to believe that no one notices.  It's not that I have nothing to say about myself, my life, my situation.  I do.  I feel like I have to be very careful about what I say because I'm kinda out there sometimes [a lot] and that doesn't always go over well.  Still, shouldn't I be looking for more people that I can really talk to... and I mean really.  Maybe it's not 'them' - Maybe it's me.
This blog is a place where I open up a whole lot more.  I think that the act of typing it out helps me work out what I'm truly thinking and feeling.  There have been many times when I've typed something out that I've gone back and deleted  - sometimes the whole thing and sometimes just significant portions.  This probably seems hard to believe because most of the time it reads like I don't even spell check.  [This, sadly, is true]

In other news:

We saw the Wolverine movie in the theatre yesterday and two hours later I had forgotten that I'd seen it.

I rented Trance the day before that and will never forget that I saw it.

Why is Blurred Lines so popular when this one exists - I must ask.

Lastly, please take a moment to be super impressed that I've posted three times in one week.  Three Times.


I took this very simple, very homey cake to a girls-night-in recently.  It was definitely one of those situations where I didn't say much about myself.  But I brought cake and that should cover my butt.  Besides, my friends had a lot to say.  The cake, despite it's humble appearance, has a lovely crumb, robust taste and comes together quickly and easily.



Banana Cardamom Cake adapted from 'Good to the Grain'
makes 1 9inch round cake

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup red fife or whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 ripe bananas (about 1 cup)
2 eggs
1/3 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream)

Grease and flour a 9 inch round cake pan.  Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a bowl, sift together the flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Set aside.
In another bowl combine the butter and sugar.  Beat until creamy (mine never quite got there).
Add the bananas and beat until well incorporated.
Add the eggs and beat until definitely creamy.
Add the yogurt and beat until well incorporated.
Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture.  Mix just until everything is wet and smooth.
Pour evenly into the prepared pan. Give it a little drop on the counter to get out the air bubbles.
Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes but check after 50 - tester should come out clean from the middle of the cake.
Cool.