More Writer Comfort Food: Baked Bananas

More writer comfort food!

I love all things banana. Bananas foster, banana bread, banana rum...you name it, I love it. I also try to keep my "writer" comfort food simple...things we can do when we're taking a brain break or a butt stretch for twenty minutes or less to get you back in that chair and producing words...glorious words!.

Baked Banana

1 large banana
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon (a few drops) vanilla or rum
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Ingredients are for 1 serving. Prepare 1 serving for each person.

Peel the banana (s), cut into halves lengthwise, and place in a baking dish.

Mix the melted butter, sugar, water, and lemon juice together; pour half of the mixture over the bananas and place in oven.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, using remaining mixture for basting. If bananas are not lightly browned, they may optionally be run under the broiler for a minute at this point.

Writerly Comfort Food: Milk Tea

I've never been to Hong Kong. (I think Bellows Falls, Vermont is the furthest East I've ever gone.) I've never had real Hong Kong Milk Tea.

But in my foodie obsession and ever-constant recipe searches lately, I found a recipe for this delicious, magical drink that's really become a mainstay of my writing routine.

I should rephrase that: It would become a mainstay of any writing routine I might happen to adopt someday.

But routines or not, I've been drinking this stuff by the boatload and it's quite literally kicked my addiction to those overpriced lattes I buy once or twice a day. (Up to ten bucks a day in my pocket for more books!)

Anyway, I don't understand the cultural significance of it by far...only what I read on the internets. But it seems like a mainstay in Hong Kong and there are plenty of vendors with their own secret recipes.

Here's the generic recipe that works for me. I have tons of loose tea (Darjeeling and Ceylon. Both work great, but the richer, bolder the tea, the better the experience.) This tea is smooth, flavorful, sweet...all that goodstuff.

Hong Kong Milk Tea

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp. black tealeaves (preferably a bold Ceylon tea)
• 1 small (14-ounce) can sweetened, condensed milk, or 14 ounces evaporated milk, plus sugar (to taste)

Preparation:

• Combine water and tealeaves and simmer about three to four minutes.
• Remove from heat and add milk (and sugar if desired.)
• Return to boil, simmer another two minutes.
• Strain. Serve.
  

Easy, right?

Happy writing. And eating! And drinking!