I had banana trees in my back yard here in Northern California.
25 to 30’ tall but the banana berries never matured. 
Sad to see the tiny finger sized babies when I cut the trees down.
I did use the leaves for cooking though.
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Telling the kids in my cooking classes that some people use banana leaves to cook food in always surprises them.
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oh yeah, i freeze bunches for smoothies. i got the (bread) recipe here:
sorry for the paywall, i seem to have forgotten the archive work-around. i did not use any cinnamon or nutmeg opting instead to use 1.5Tblsp cardamom. also reduced brown sugar to 1/4cup - the nanners are sweet enough. i used 10 of these little finger-sized bananas that had been a bit roughed up, bruised and verrry ripe! oh and yes, white miso!
@BakerB , @kentkb i am reminded of my travels throughout Central America and the Yucatan and all the fabulous tamales cooked in banana leaves. i love the extra grassy note it imparts over plain maize husk.
ETA: don’t forget the marmite on this bread. the flavors together are incredible!
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thank you!
i do hope some of y’all try this (with the cardamom! no cinnamon or nutmeg!) i can’t get over it and i don’t (usually) even like banana bread. this one called to me…
well, that and a dozen or so fallen nanners.
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Looks delicious!
I have a question. I see that the NYT recipe calls for
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
You say you used
instead. Assuming you mean ground cardamom, that, in my experience, would be a lot of cardamom. I can’t help wondering if you may have meant 1.5 teaspoons cardamom (i.e., simply substituting the same amount of cardamom for the cinnamon and nutmeg). Do you mind confirming how much you used?
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I noticed that, and assumed he meant “tsp” rather than “Tbs” as well. It matches up perfectly.
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nope, y’all, I meant as writ, 1.5
Tablespoons cardamom.
i likes me some cardamom!
howevs, it is -surprisingly - not overpowering.
try it!
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Thank you!
I likes me some cardamom, too. Favorite is homemade chocolate sauce with cardamom in it, over vanilla ice cream, sprinkled with a bit of salt 
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only a very good friend would share a catch like this: fresh cobia and spiny lobster! we were the lucky recipients of this from a fishing pal. cobia is highly prized and super protected. minimum size is 36 inches and bag limit is exactly one.
i grilled this bounty and served with grilled potatoes, peppers and onions. topped with my white wine/lemon caper sauce.
outstanding! if you ever get the chance to try cobia, do treat yourself!
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I’ve heard about cobia in fishing circles for years. When I spotted it at an Asian grocery out west here I could hardly believe it. It was delicious - like swordfish, but with a creamy flavor/texture.
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waaaay better than swordfish, IMO.
they are in high season right now gulfside and Atlantic waters all the way up to Carolinas.
firm, yet buttery. not a bit “fishy” (as if i cared about that! - some folks do, tho.)
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The kid and I made what were intended to be hand pies. Mistakes were made (by me), and the scale is a tad off. We are describing them as either blackberry calzones, or thigh pies.
It reminds me of the adage that any pizza is a personal pizza if you just believe in yourself.
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We’ve been adding some to our coffee every now and then. It adds a nice tone.
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Guess what time of year it is in our Polish house.
These are not homemade but they did come from a very old Polish bakery in Hamtramck, MI.
It’s been tradition for years to go down at 4am and stand in line for hours outside in the cold on Paczki Day (Fat Tuesday). It was a real event with local news coverage and the little bars opening early for the special day.
Covid put an end to that. The bakery now takes orders for pickup and only allows 4 people in the store at a time.
Our daughter went down early and picked some up for us.
In the past we would drop a couple hundred bucks and pass them out to friends and family. Now it’s just half a dozen for us.
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Huh? Isn’t Fat Tuesday on Feb. 23rd this year?
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It’s been tradition, the new tradition is go get some as soon as Paczki season opens which was this past weekend.
I might make a trip mid week when no one is around.
Might even swing into the Polish market and pick up some fresh kielbasa as long as I’m there.
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Cooked some duck breasts Sous vide and thought I’d do an orange sauce to go with, since mom had decided we needed a bag of a dozen oranges when she went to Trader Joe’s to get flowers. Alas, I’ve put off making duck stock because I couldn’t be arsed and I don’t have any little tubs of glacé du canard, so it was thin and unbalanced.
The duck was ok, and it went with the baked potato and sautéed broccoli and bok choy just fine with no sauce.
I have managed to hold off baking anything new this week! And I have time to make not only the duck stock but also shrimp stock on Thursday. They both get frozen in 4oz cubes and stored in a ziplock to use as wanted.
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Soooo … time got away from me with the limoncello as well as the preserved lemons (in the Gardening thread), but @anon33932455 ’s prompting for an update on those got me going today. I made the simple syrup and added the steeped grain alcohol/lemon peel. Recipe says to let it sit for 24 hours, then filter twice and bottle. I put foil (not in the pic) over the plastic wrap because it seems quite “volatile.”
Once I filter out the peel, I’ll have around a liter. The internet seems divided about whether to chill immediately after bottling or to let it sit at room temp for a few weeks before chilling and sampling.
ETA it looks unappetizingly like a medical sample
ETA2 … and it’s filtered, bottled and headed to the freezer
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