Banana Bread and Roses

Nice combo, don’t you think? Banana bread and roses … really, twelve of the most beautiful roses I’ve seen in forever. Tera brought them home from school. They were presented to her at an assembly when she was brought forward and introduced as the junior track captain for this year.

The way she earned that position is a great story. She had to run a mile in under 6.20 minutes, and she had gotten close a couple of times, but couldn’t seem to get under 6.21. But one cold, rainy day last month when the class had opted to lift weights inside instead of running outside, Tera turned to the track captain, Jesse, on a whim and said, “Want to race me?”

He agreed. So the three of them–Tera, Jesse, and the coach–headed out to the track. Tera said Jesse (who is a senior, btw) burst ahead of her for the first three laps, but on the fourth, she poured it on. She crept closer, and closer, and closer, and then caught him. They ran shoulder-to-shoulder toward the finish line, and at the very last second, she thrust her foot forward so far she said she almost did the splits.

“She can’t do that!” Jesse yelled to the coach. The coach laughed and informed him that she could. It wasn’t until they checked the film (yes, film. I was surprised too) that they saw with certainty that Tera had beat Jesse … and come in at 6.19. I’m not sure if he was more flustered to have been beaten by a girl (and a short one, at that) or by a sophomore. But either way, he had a new junior captain on his hands.

So that’s the story of the roses. And now for the banana bread. This is about the simplest recipe ever, but there’s no need to fancy it up. Just slather it in butter when it comes out of the oven and call it good.

I got this recipe from my trusty Sunset cookbook, which my Aunt Barb (who had just remarried a man who worked for Sunset) left on my doorstep one day about 21 years ago. Thanks again, Aunt Barb. 🙂

Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1 egg
4 TBSP melted butter (not hot)
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Mash the banana till creamy. Add the sugar, egg and melted butter and blend well.

Add dry ingredients. When well mixed, pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool before cutting.