Warming up.

Warming up in the Northwest tip of the United States is tricky sometimes. And I'm not talking about Halloween Tricky. Yesterday we had our first itty bitty storm, and it piled a whole 1 foot of snow in front of our garage and on our new deck.

The cars wheezed through the day, trying not to freeze and this momma had to dig around for the telltale extension cord coming out of every car in town, like a little umbilicus, marking the beginning of winter. Come to think of it, it is sort of like an umbilical cord for our vehicles. It provides energy to the Block Heater and the Oil Pan Heater so when it's 40 degrees below zero our cars will still turn over and start. My umbilical cord is blue. And it lights up at the end. Fun.

The weather right now is prime for playing out without snowpants, or a face mask. It's pure winter, at it's finest. Apparently Mother Nature doesn't know this and she will continue to force feed us cold weather until May, when it warms up again.

Luckily for us though, the sun is still trying it's damnedest to provide a source of heat. I can almost feel it at around 3:00 p.m. Pretty quickly, the sun will just be a tease to us Eskimo's and we will go to work while it's dark, pick up the kids afterschool while it's dark and enjoy our evenings while it's dark. And eventually in late December, when Christmas is in full bloom, our days will increase by 1 minute, then by 2 minutes, then by 3, and our wonderful warm sun will return to us from his migration south for the winter, and all will be glorified again.

Until then though, we know how to warm up. Whether it's with sealskin slippers, or wolf mittens, or homemade hot chocolate, or something warm and Bready. We know how to warm up.

Especially when there's Banana Bread involved. Cause you can never have too much Banana Bread!

WARM-YOU-UP-BANANA Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl mix together:
3 eggs
1 3/4 C Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 C Oil
1 stick Butter (melted)
3/4 C milk
1 TBS Lemon Juice
3 Mashed Bananas (about 1 1/2 C)

In another bowl, sift together:
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3 C Flour

Mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients. It'll be a little soupy, but trust me, it works. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Sprinkle with about 1 tsp raw sugar on top. Bake for about an hour.

Enjoy with some coffee, or hot chocolate. Warm up. :)