Cooking in Virginia

Slowly but surely I am getting used to living in a new state. Everything is different here, from the weather (one day it is 90, the next it pours), to the grocery stores, to what they carry IN the stores. I went to the Food Lion last night to discover that they did not carry dried herbs. I was looking for garam masala so that I could make tikka masala, but they didn't even have basil! Thankfully there are a couple international markets in town.

One thing I have been doing a lot of (other than unpacking) is cooking. I've only tried one southern recipe, and I had it long before I moved here. 

At my old office we used to have bake-offs. One time we did it for banana bread. I didn't compete, because not only do I not normally like banana bread but I didn't even have a recipe for it. My friend and co-worker, Sara, made the best banana bread I've ever tasted. The original recipe was from one of her old southern cookbooks, and has been adapted throughout the years. I tried it the other day (after making some of my own adaptations) and it was the simplest recipe ever.


Simple Banana Bread


Ingredients:
3 medium-size bananas (add juice from half a lemon)
1/2 cup cooking oil (I used vegetable oil.) 
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup pecans 


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a loaf pan with aluminum foil and grease. Combine all ingredients and pour into loaf pan. Bake for one hour and five minutes.


I love recipes that direct you to combine all ingredients into a bowl. Usually when cooking I do that anyways. I know sometimes you should mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients but usually I combine all wet ingredients, then add the dry ingredients in order of smallest amount to largest amount.

In other news, I'm now writing articles for the Examiner. Pretty much anyone can write and it isn't exactly special but there is the ability to make some money with advertisements so I figure why not. Anyone can apply, so go here if anyone else is interested: http://exm.nr/eSqvh5