Ancient Chinese Secret, huh?

Many years ago when I was first in my own place
with my own kitchen
and my own life and all that,
I wanted to make some banana bread one day.
I just picked up the nearest banana bread recipe because,
you know, what could be simpler than banana bread?
I probably thought there was just one recipe and the whole
world had it. How complicated could it be? I mean, banana bread. Anybody can make banana bread. I think that's how they discovered the intelligence of apes. They left them alone in a kitchen for a while and when they came back, they'd made banana bread. It's that basic.

But then my banana bread was never turning out
like I expected it to. So that was probably when I realized
that there was not one universal recipe. I tried out a couple
of different ones, but no, they weren't what I wanted.
So one day I asked my mother about this
and she got this look on her face---and I realized
that she was holding out on me. She'd been
letting me make all these other unworthy banana breads
while she sat at home in her comfy chair with the recipe
that I was looking for all along.
That woman!

I'm not saying that there's anything magical
or astounding about this recipe. It was just that it
was the banana bread I was used to. The kind
I ate growing up. It was the recipe I wanted.
So when I got it and made it, I was happy again and able
to move on to lead a well-adjusted, normal life.
That's all I'm saying.

So when I mentioned the other day that I made
"the best banana bread I had ever made,"
someone asked me for the recipe.
That's why ALL of (all 1.5 of you)
are having to suffer through this whether you want to or not.
I'm sharing it here.
And here it is:

Recipe for Banana Bread
that Bell's Mother Didn't Share With Her At First

1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups SR flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Crisco
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
Cream sugar and Crisco. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift flour and soda and mix with milk into mixture. Stir in bananas. Cook 30 minutes at 350°.

(I think of JP every time I type the temperature in a recipe.)

Now let me tell you what I did different that might have affected the taste this time, making this bread seem like a bright and shining star in the world of banana bread.

1. I didn't have any Crisco so I used coconut oil instead.
2. We have the fresh eggs from our chicks now---haven't always had that.
3. I bought Watkins double strength vanilla last time I bought vanilla....and I think I actually measured it when I made the bread this time instead of just pouring some in like I usually do.
4. I had about 5 bananas that were beyond the point of being ready to meet their Maker. But it is my opinion that the riper your bananas, the better they are for the bread. The blacker the better.

I didn't do it this time, but sometimes instead
of the vanilla, I put in almond flavoring and add
cinnamon and/or nutmeg.
I like nutmeg.
Nutmeg is my friend.

So everyone run out and buy some bananas and
wait for them to get old and gray....and then make my
mother's recipe that she selfishly hid until I demanded
that she hand it over. I think you'll like it.....as much
as any other banana bread.
Like I said before: it's banana bread, people.
Not rocket science.

you would not believe
how many times
and how many different ways
i misspelled
BANANA
while writing this