Banana Muffins

From A:

Somehow we ended up with a lot of bananas last week.  Looking for a way to use them, I found a recipe online for banana muffins.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large bananas, mashed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Combine bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Scoop into muffin pans.

Bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.

I followed all the measurements and instructions in the recipe, with the exception of adding some chopped walnuts for texture.  The batter was easy to make and the muffins baked up perfectly.  I made large muffins and cooked them for 25 minutes.

J and I both LOVE them.  It's definitely a recipe to keep around for those times we end up with more bananas than we can eat before they become mushy.  And since the ingredients are things we usually keep in the fridge or pantry, it makes this a very practical recipe.

I might experiment a little the next time I make them, by either making mini muffins or by adding cinnamon and/or nutmeg.  But overall, I highly recommend this recipe!

The Ikea Experience

From A:

J and I went to Ikea for the first time this weekend.  This was no ordinary shopping trip, it was nothing less than an experience all its own.

The parking garage entrance.
We parked in row L.

Before we knew what we were getting ourselves into, we made our way to the garage entrance... then up a flight of stairs... then up an escalator... then to a lobby with a restaurant and kids' play area.

The main entrance.
Nobody actually uses this because it's really far from the parking garage.
Unless husbands use this entrance to drop off their wives and go watch football.

Once inside, we had a choice of whether to go to the "showroom" or the "marketplace."  Not knowing what we were doing, we walked into the showroom.  We apparently went the wrong way because everyone else in the store was walking towards us.  We were swimming upstream in a sea of home furnishings!

Anyway, the showroom has a bunch of rooms set up using all Ikea furnishings.

J liked this kitchen in the showroom.
I thought it looked a little small.

And no, the rooms aren't miniaturized.  The mini kitchen is meant to be a child play area.

We saw kitchens, bedrooms, closets, offices, living rooms, etc.  There were even bathrooms.  The main theme of the store is how to make the most of small living spaces.

How to fit enough stuff in a small bathroom to make it usable. 

This has to make you wonder if there's been problems in the past.

After we finished in the showroom, we went downstairs to check out the marketplace.  The marketplace is a huge, one-way store with racks and bins full of all the smaller items that were showcased in the showroom.  After walking forever through a ton of smaller items, you end up in a huge warehouse where all the bigger, assembly-required furniture is kept.

And then at the very end of the store is the checkout.  Thank goodness we didn't find anything to buy because we would have been waiting a very long time.  It's all self-checkout with the help of a few employees assigned to the area.

That was it - except for the refreshment area on the way back to the parking garage - brilliant!

Our condo is pretty well set up, so there wasn't really anything that we needed.  But we enjoyed looking through the store and getting the full Ikea experience.

flora

"Just because" flowers from J...

... the very best kind of flowers.

G'ville

From A:

Other than J's graduation, which was the reason for our trip back to Gainesville, we also had some time with our family.  We spent one evening on campus with J's brother and sister-in-law reliving our time as students.

The new Tim Tebow statue.
Next to the Steve Spurrier and Danny Wuerffel statues.
All are Heisman-winning Gator quarterbacks and sons of ministers.

On the field along with a bunch of other people
who ignored the "keep off field" sign.

Getting chomped!

Sorry, Chelsea - this was way too funny to keep to myself.

For J's graduation dinner we went to Blue Highway.  It has the best pizza in the universe.  In fact, my mouth started watering at the mere thought of the margherita pizza.

Since we went to the Blue Highway in Town of Tioga, we walked around a little after dinner.  It's such a nice place with the trees, sidewalks, and natural areas.

My parents are so cute.

What a great weekend!

Dr. J

From A:

J's PhD graduation from the University of Florida, in photos:

Zookies

From A:

I spent yesterday at the National Zoo with my good friend Colleen and her son Isaac.

We had a great day seeing nearly all the animals in the park, including the lions:

Most of these are cubs, although they're getting pretty big.
This looked like a real-life Lion King scene.

and the goats:

This is quite an elaborate goat playground.
Where did all the money come from to build it?

Oh.  Question answered.

Posing with Isaac in front of the goats.

I also learned several methods for reapplying sunscreen to a toddler:

1. Surprise attack.
Start spraying before the child knows what's going on.

2. Distraction.
Petting zoo animals work quite well.
Zookies (zoo cookies) might also work.

3. Speed.
If all else fails, spray while running after the child.