Baking Words and Banana Bread

I HAVE CELEBRATED THIS first day of autumn with baking and prose.

With the weather cool enough to make evening use of the oven possible without risking heat stroke, and two near-moldering bananas at hand, I broke out my copy of Bittman's How to Cook Everything and my baking gear for a mess of banana bread. The result is cooling (far too slowly, might I add) in the kitchen. I am surprised at how far the bread crowned up. It's nearly as tall as the pan in which it baked. I have butter and milk at hand for when it cools to the point where I can sample it.

It's really into fall and winter where I do a lot more cooking. With only one window wall, I have no cross-breeze, and so virtually all heat generated in here, stays here. I tend to celebrate Labor Day by making pasta sauce or chili in bulk. Once April rolls around, the party's over, and I have to mark the passing of decent weather by making extra supplies and packing the freezer full, sometimes resorting to my parents' freezer in the basement for auxiliary space.

I also joined Amy in starting a new 100 Words month. The entries will be listed under Schizohedron, but only after I complete a full 31 days. I'm hoping I can equal the other two months' worth I did back in (gasp) 2004, which brought a smile to my face when I reread them. I wasn't blogging back then, but it did get me to write every day, which is never bad.

Oh, I'm eating the banana bread now. Shaking some cinnamon into the mix was the smartest thing I did all day. This is quite lovely. Still hot enough to liquefy the butter, and richly fragrant. This will be a good week.