don't call the food network

With a rotation of fresh produce through my kitchen all season (berries to tomatoes to beans to pears to tomatoes again), I've battled and endured an ongoing infestation of fruit flies. I've set traps baited with apple cider vinegar. I've kept the garbage out of the house and the countertops vigilantly wiped clean. I've put all the fresh produce in the fridge, microwave or oven to keep it from luring more fruit flies. They're sneaky little bugs--hovering around the kitchen sink, resting next to the coffee maker, breeding like rabbits in the garbage.

The best defense is a good offense, so I've kept the entire kitchen food free except when cooking. And it's finally working. After 7 weeks, I have gained the upper hand in the battle and saw NO trace of the pesky insects. Even so, I don't trust this victory and I've cautiously kept bananas out of the house until this week. Bananas keep muscles from cramping, so I bought a bunch to help me through black belt candidate training. I set them in the oven, mentally patting myself on the back for keeping a step ahead of the enemy and then chuckled, imagining myself preheating the oven and forgetting I'd put them there. Heh.

Yesterday Mr. T had buddies coming over after school and I prepped spaghetti for supper and thought some cookie bars might be a nice after school snack for a gang of five hungry boys. I pulled a trusted recipe out of the cupboard, switched on the oven and started mixing ingredients.

You know where this is headed.

I pulled some clothes off the clothesline and watered the geraniums on the front porch while I waited for the oven to get hot. When I walked back inside, the smell of baking banana bread assaulted me. Mmm...that smells good. Wait a minute. Banana bread? But I'm baking cookie bars...

D'oh!

Sure enough. Inside the oven on the center rack were 4 bananas, plump and browning in the 350 degree heat. I pulled them out and considered them for a moment. Sometimes really great things come from mistakes--like cheese, wine, chocolate. Perhaps I was on the cusp of a brilliant culinary discovery. Had anyone baked a whole banana before? Maybe I'm the first!

I pried the peel back on one and took a bite.

Nope. Mushy and bitter. Baked bananas are NOT an undiscovered delicacy.

But the cookie bars turned out okay.

Posted in: Food