It was 88 outside (down from 91) and 81 in when Lilli
wanted to make a banana nut bread out of some woefully
aged fruit on hand but couldn't decide between that and
cranberry bread so made banana cranberry nut bread. I
asked whatever for, and she admitted that she'd made it
once before, and it hadn't turned out well, but she
still wanted to get rid of the half package of berries
left over from the holidays. Around halfway through the
baking I smelled dark burning smells from the kitchen
but left it all to her.

I retreated to my room to practice and could only do some
spots (double stops in the slow movement of the Brahms
sonata Op. 78) and a couple etudes and was totally wrung
out. Meanwhile, Lilli decided to make tacos, so I said,
fry me a tortilla, which she did after protesting that 
the bag said in big letters Soft Taco Size, and the
Mexicans must know what they're doing, but I insisted that I
wanted a crunchy dinner, not a soft one. She had to rummage
around for a while to find a skillet big enough to fry 
10" things; eventually she found a 10.5" but oddly didn't
see the Lumenflon 11" that she'd bought for me some time
ago. She heated Costco oil to smoking and threw my tortilla
in, which right away puffed nicely like a fry bread. She
was taken aback, not having planned on that at all and
apparently let it cook a while, while pondering what to
do with it, because when I got it it was really brown.
The ones she made for herself were more gently cooked,
so she must have turned down the heat before doing them.

She'd taken burger meat from the freezer and grayed it
over insufficient heat with some minced onion, garlic
powder, and that was about it, no herbs or other spices,
no cumin, salt, pepper, whatever. I strewed a little of
this and some Costco Mexican blend cheese on my 
dangerously crispy dark brown substrate, and with a few
drops of Manana's excellent, spicy, but dead salty salsa
it was just what the doctor ordered, or would have done
given any sense whatever. A half liter of Henninger went.

Her tacos (2) were just like Jack in the Box's (only bigger),
which is what she aspires to - crisp shells, bland meat,
shreds of onion, tomato, lettuce, and cheese. With blops of
Taco Loco beans and rice on the side and a splash of its
salsa (much milder than Manana's), it looked just like the
pictures on the fast-food joint menus but under a scope.
Probably better, too, though not having made or eaten it, I
wouldn't be the one to say.

The banana thing turned out less badly than I'd feared,
the very tart berries counteracting the very sweet
dough, an interesting effect, not displeasing but not
something to aim for either. What was disconcerting at
the very least was that during the baking some of the
cranberries had fought their way to the top of the loaf
and presented themselves bubonically black to the eye.
And burned cranberries taste bad, make a note of it.

Cranberry Banana Bread
categories: sweet breads
yield: 1 loaf

1 c sugar
1/2 c butter or margarine, softened
1 c mashed banana
1/4 c milk
2 eggs
2 c flour
2 ts baking powder
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1 1/2 c coarsely chopped cranberries

M's note - do not use whole cranberries.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2" loaf pan. Mix sugar
and butterin a medium mixing bowl until completely
blended. Add banana, milk and eggs, mixing well. Add
dry ingredients, mixing just until moist. Stir in nuts
and cranberries. Spread batter evenly in a loaf pan.

Bake for 70 min or until a toothpick inserted into
the center of the bread comes out clean. Remove from
pan and cool.

Ocean Spray Cranberries