Morning Music and a Recipe

Every morning, or more accurately nearly every morning, I wake up with a song in my head. I have aphantasia, so for the most part, I can't see pictures in my head, but I can hear sounds, so these songs I wake up with are a rich part of my inner life. Sometimes I hear them so vividly that I actually think music is playing somewhere else in my house.

Today, the song was Hem of Her Dress, performed by First Aid Kit. It is one of the songs that I have listened to on countless play lists while I walked, walked, walked during lock down. I enjoy the catchy swing-like tune, the story-telling lyrics, and the rousing final chorus. It is a song about history repeating itself, and sadness for pasts we've lost, and the ubiquitous "I've been done wrong" plus "you've made a mistake" tropes. And it has that sarcastic "so what?" message that I love so much!

In delicious news, I currently have a some banana bread baking in the oven. Here is my recipe!

Chai-Spiced Chocolate-Studded Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 very ripe, medium-sized bananas, mashed well with a fork

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup pancake syrup

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon rum extract

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2  teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup dark chocolate morsels

1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Directions

Grease 9x5x3 loaf pan on sides and bottom. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Stir together the bananas, sugar, oil, syrup, eggs, vanilla, & rum extract in a large mixing bowl until the eggs are well incorporated.

In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.

Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined. Fold in the chocolate morsels.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 65 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Carefully remove from pan and continue cooling on wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.