we've secretly replaced your blogger with a baker & new improved flavor crystals

So....what had happened was....I'm now baking?!?!  WTF????

Since I made my bundt cake for Mary the Food Librarian's National Bundt Day 2010, I have found myself baking....TWICE.  WITHIN ONE WEEK.  This is not a usual occurrence 'round this here parts.

The first was a cop-out.  I went to get bananas at my grocery store, and next to the bananas, they had a prepackaged mix for banana bread that calls for overripe bananas, plus an egg and water.  I swear, I'm such an impulse buyer.  I did want to make banana bread, but did not feel like searching up my old recipe (that LITERALLY could have taken me 90 seconds to pull out of a cookbook...jeez....) so I thought I'd give the mix a try.  It was quick, it was easy and I even threw in some chocolate chips.  We've been nibbling on it all week.  Yum.

The second will be in my next post.....stay tuned for that one.....

But a funny thing happened between my chocolate chip marble bundt and my banana bread.....an old friend called me to chat and catch up.  (I'll call him Brian....we change names here to protect the innocent....ha ha ha)

At the end of our talk, Brian told me that this was the happiest he had heard my voice in a while.  After I hung up, I did a mental review to see what had happened to me or what I had done different that might possibly have affected my mood....

• Had I lost weight?  Nope.  Probably gained....
• Had I been to the gym?  Only once....
• Had I resolved my stress regarding my job?  Not a chance.....it's worse now....
• Had I finished any of the projects around the house?  No....
• Had I unpacked any more boxes?  Errr.....uhhhhh....no....

The only thing different was that I was baking.  So to test my theory, I made my next recipe.

And even though, baking / cooking in my kitchen highlights EVERYTHING I HATE about my kitchen (it's too small....there is NO counter space....my oven is iffy and inconsistent....the lighting sucks.....I can't fit stuff in my dishwasher, which means I'm washing everything by hand....) which should, in turn, make me more uptight...I was having fun.  I was listening to Radio Margaritaville and singing and dancing around the kitchen.  I wasn't thinking about the house, the boxes, the diet, the weight, the job stress, the pending drive/visit to my M-I-L's for Thanksgiving.....

I was just baking.

Hey.  Check me out.