My Favorite Banana Bread

This is my favorite Banana Bread recipe. I usually enhance it with a handful of chocolate chips or dried berries and nuts. It's not a healthy recipe, but it's GOOD! What's your favorite banana bread?

3 large, ripe bananas
1 C sugar
1 egg
4 T butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 t salt
1 t baking soda

Preheat oven to 325. Mash bananas. Beat in sugar, egg, then butter. Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Beat just until flour is moist. Pour into pan and bake 55-60 minutes.

Enjoy!
rmf

Morning Entertainment

Who needs "The Today Show" or "Regis and Kelly" when you have Gabe and Penny Lane?

One of their favorite games is called 'Antagonize Each Other.' Penny hides behind the curtains and bats at Gabe while Gabe tries to find her behind the curtains and bats at her.

Fun times.









Have a great day!
rmf

August Rush

What an unexpected, delightful suprise!

I haven't seen a movie that had musical integrity (some... still better than most), a great plot, talented actors, and a bit of fantasy all rolled into one in a long time. If ever.

This movie didn't appeal to me when I saw the previews. I'm just not into cheeseball "Mr. Holland's Opus"-y films. It looked like this would be another. Happily, it was a very wrong first impression.

One of my guitar students (who also happens to be our chaplain's wife) recommended the film to me a few weeks ago; that's what put the bug in my ear. The other night as I perused the rentals at the Shopette, I figured I would give it a try. I've always like Freddie Highmore, I think Keri Russell is gorgeous, and Jonathan Rhys-Myers makes a compelling leading man (especially now that he is my new "guilty pleasure" crush... I've gotten into the series "The Tudors" which will be a whole other post and he's King Henry). I was also attracted by the supporting cast: Terrance Howard (love him) and Robin Williams. Finally, I decided to rent a movie that I would be less likely to watch if Burr were home. So... August Rush.

My biggest critique is that the story is completely fanciful. But the film has such heart and sweetness to it (the good kind, not the kind that makes you want to gag!) that you can overlook the unlikeliness. And isn't that the job of a good story: To make you suspend your sense of disbelief.

Watch this movie. It is a delight. And the music is great! I love the play on harmonics throughout. Watch it, and let me know if you love it as much as I did!

"The music is all around us..."
-August Rush

rmf

Still Alive...

Is my latest report on the flowers! Here's a look at what I'm working with...


The Water Bottle is NOT Part of the herb garden!







My Furry Gardening Friends

Monday, Monday...

Well, my Monday is winding down. I have just gotten in from play practice and am about to hit the bed.

It has been a productive day. I swept, vacuumed, and mopped most of the floors before eight this morning, then was out the door by eight thirty for a run. I got to talk to Aunt Jane for half an hour and the "Marine Room" is now clean and organized and pictures are even on the wall! This occured before my 11:30 student came. I went to Base to check the mail (it was empty, bummer) then taught guitar students all afternoon. I celebrated Cinqo de Mayo with a traditional Mexican feast: Nachos Supreme from Taco Bell. Two hours of "Joseph" later and I'm home, writing to you!

Hope all is well and that your Monday has set you off on the right foot for the week. Stay tuned for later this week because I have a VERY FUNNY story to share from Friday morning.

OH - for those of you wondering about Burr... He is standing duty on his boat tonight. In his words he is "making sure that the chains don't fly loose from the Birds." I know I'll sleep better tonight knowing that he is doing this for my safety and freedom! : )
Seriously, he's doing great and getting in some good flying time. They should get to where they're going in the next couple of days.

Grace and Peace,
Rachel

Lunch

I forgot to mention in the last post that I made an AWESOME lunch today. I tried out a fried rice recipe and it was so easy and delicious!

To work the same wonders on a stovetop near you, here is what you need.

3-4 cups cooked rice
Chicken breast, cooked and in small pieces (I put salt, pepper, and ground ginger on mine, then stir-fried it)
2 eggs
onion, chopped
green onion, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
Oyster sauce
Soy sauce
Salt
Pepper
Sesame seed oil

Heat oil in pan.
Scramble your eggs and add salt, pepper and oyster sauce. Pour into hot pan or wok and cook. Set aside.

Saute onion and peas. Set aside.

Add more oil to pan if you need it. Reheat pan and add rice. Season rice to taste using salt, pepper, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. Add chicken, egg, and vegetables to the rice. Carefully toss to combine. When heated through, top with green onions and enjoy!

See why I'm so thirsty!?!

rmf

Feeling Playful

That's what Gabe would tell me he was feeling if he could use words right now. Instead, he is communicating with me by dropping his toys in my lap and standing by my side panting as I type. We have already been to the park twice today, checked out the flowers upstairs a couple of times and eaten. But I guess if I napped from 10am-3pm I'd feel pretty playful at 7pm too!

As for me, I'm trying to decide how to spend the rest of my day. Do I tackle the Marine Room? Do I do some real "work" to help get ready for my week? Do I start a book? Do I finish a book? Watch a movie? Play guitar? Do my Core workout? Soooo many choices on a Saturday night! I am definitely making plans with a girlfriend next weekend. This has just been too much time for introspection.

I think I might add a couple of other lists to the left side. Maybe one will be projects I want to do (you know, if I write them down, you'll hold me accountable and they might actually happen!), and the other will be books that I have in my house that I have not yet read. I have this habit of buying books that I'm really excited to read and them putting them off while I peruse a magazine or get something from the library or buy yet another book to read first!

For those of you wondering, I have heard from Burr on the boat and he is doing well. He has gotten to fly a couple of times already and has really enjoyed it. Sounds like the biggest bummer of the boat trip is that the AC is out in his room. So he is HOT!!! In retrospect, I remember someone advising us to get a little fan for his bunk to take the edge off, but we completely forgot that last weekend when doing the last minute errands. I suppose we will remember it next time!

Gabe has given up on me. He has gone to his chair and curled up in a little ball. He is gazing soulfully at me. Penny Lane is eating. Shocker.

I need a drink of water and a piece of chocolate. So I'm going to go. But it's been a good Saturday, in all and I'm looking forward to Sunday. It puts me one day closer to being back with BURR!!!

go play!
rachel

Commissary woes

You already know that at the end of the month I'll be in my first POPS production; "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." But it may come as news to some of you that my involvment in POPS (Pacific Okinawa Players) is already growing. I have been asked to be the music director on the first show of next season, which may or may not be... "RAGTIME!!!"

The director and I decided to get together yesterday for lunch to discuss some of the details of the production. How to run auditions, size of the cast, timeline for production, etc. Given the free time I've had lately, I invited her here so that I could try out a new pizza recipe (you guessed it, Julia Child strikes again) and selfishly, have a bit of company!

As my pizza dough finished rising I bopped over to Foster to run a few errands and pick up some last minute things at the commissary. I realized that I wouldn't have time to make the onion confit topping for the pizza and decided to just pick up some pesto instead and then top the pizza with artichokes, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, feta and mozzarella cheese. Easy enough, right? I got all of my veggies, then did another circle through the logical spots to find pesto. They had none. NO PESTO!! Am I crazy or isn't that a fairly standard ingredient?

Not to worry, I thought. I'll just get some spinach and pine nuts and make my own pesto. Easy enough, right? WRONG. Guess what?? NO Pine nuts either. grrrr. I wated so much time looking for all of these "obscure" "gourmet" ingredients that I was in quite a rush by the time I got home to finish the lunch. I did end up making my own pesto... it was kind of creative... but it worked.

I put a bag of spinach leaves and and feta cheese in the food processor and whirled them around a bit. Then I streamed in my olive oil to make it pesto-y. It really wasn't that bad, but I should have added some salt and pepper in at that point as well. Anyway, I spread my concoction over my HOMEMADE pizza crust and topped it with all the delicious veggies and ended up with a very tasty pizza. I will definitely repeat the crust - it was some of the best I've tasted!

But I digress from the original point of this post. The COMMISSARY. I gripe with a full understanding that because we are in a foreign country far from home we can't always have all of the products that we would find in a stateside grocery store. Really, I get it. I've gotten past the whole issue of the small (yet overpriced) produce selection and the frozen chicken and poultry selection. But still... where is a Publix or Ralph's or Trader Joe's when I need it!!?? I'm lucky to live in a place where I can have delicious fresh sushi and other wonderful dishes whenever I like, but sometimes I would like to be spoiled enough to be able to go to the grocery store and actually find what I'm looking for!!!

So, check the shopping list to the left... I'm adding Pine Nuts. Thank you all so much for reading and shopping and taking such good care of Burr and me. We really appreciate it.

And I'll do my part... I'll suck up the commissary and enjoy all of the conveniences I do have over here. And I'll even branch out and start shopping at the store out in town. At least then what I'll be getting is fresh!

Shop on...

rachel

Derby Day

Sort of...

It's already the first Saturday in May, here in Okinawa, but it doesn't do me that much good! The way I figure it, I will be fast asleep when the horses "run for the Roses" in Louisville on their Saturday afternoon. Bummer.

Last year we had a great Derby Party/Cinqo de Mayo Party at our house in Pensacola. Mom and Kristy were there as well as several of our friends in the area. We wore hats, we placed "bets," we drank mint juleps, margaritas, and ate enchiladas. Truly, a recipe for a great party.

So this year, on the first Saturday in May, the day looks quite different. Most of my friends are on the boat with Burr, and I can't stay up until the wee hours of morning to watch a two minute horse race. The big plans for the day are to finish planting the last of the flowers, go for a swim at Camp Foster, try out a new fried rice recipe, and make Julia Child's mixed starter bread.

Last night, in my Friday night boredom I went to the Exchange for a little while. I got some pictures to hang in our room, to finish out the decor. I also got the Showtime TV series "The Tudors" season one on DVD. It's a fanciful look at the early court of King Henry VIII. (You know, BEFORE he started dispatching his wives!) I've done pretty well with Burr's absence during the week... I guess because it's normal to have the house to myself during the daytime hours. But the weekend feels different. I'm not used to quite so much "Me" time. The challenge is to keep up my motivation for all these little projects I have in my head and not succumb to staring at the television for hours at a time or just taking a long nap to pass the hours. I can spend my time reading, hanging pictures, cleaning, organizing, doing lesson plans, reviewing scores, cooking... see... there's LOTS to do!!

Well, whenever you read this I hope that you have a wonderful Derby Day. Have a mint julep for me!

rmf

Good News!

The flowers made it through the night! Ok, this really won't seem like a big deal to you until you understand what I went through last night.

I went to bed at my normal, no Burr, time; 11pm. Around three in the morning I was awakened by the sound of rain on the roof. Normally, this would not be a problem for me - I love sleeping to the sound of rain falling. But last night, it had me concerned. I had planted my little flower pot garden... on the roof... where it is very windy... and unprotected from the elements... Suffice it to say that I spent the better part of the early morning hours listening to the wind and rain and imagining my flowers drowning in their pots or blowing away!

It took me until about mid-day to get up the courage to go upstairs to even check on the flowers and herbs. And I am happy to report that all is well in the rooftop flower-land!

Other than being sleep deprived and fighting a migraine all day, the rain did no damage! I'm tired now and headed to bed, but I knew you would all want to know the status of the flowers!

rmf