"The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play. So we sat in the house, all that cold, cold wet day."
~Theodor Seuss Geisel
Dr. Suess, The Cat in the Hat
When the skies open and the precipitation starts to fall, those are the words that come into my mind.
I remember all the rainy days spent with a child on my lap reading or looking for something creative to keep their minds occupied.
And when I consider... grin... I also think of all the times I spent with adults wondering what creative things we wanted to do with a rainy day.
When I am out and about, visiting friends or family, rainy days are spent playing table games or pulling out craft projects, or ordering pizza for a movie marathon. As long as we spend the time together filling the house with warm feelings, the activity doesn't matter.
When I am home and I open my eyes in the morning to the sound of rain on the roof (or the utter silence of a snowfall), I tend to think, "It's a baking day. So what shall I make today?"
It seems to me, it has always been so. Bad weather days mean baking. The heat of the oven dispels the dampness and the wonderful aroma of spices from pies or cakes or cookies. Exploding flavors when biting into goodies right out of the oven bring tastebuds to life. Yum.
This week, when the rains arrived, I looked in the freezer to see if we had any bananas. You know the type, bananas that sat on the counter just a day or two too long. So we pop them in the freezer with the intent of using them for baking. And on occasion... we realize the banana has been in the freezer a wee bit too long and they end up in the trash anyway.
I determined to save my old bananas from that ignoble fate. Rather, I searched them out and made some yummy banana bread.
The best recipes in old cookbooks have the dirtiest pages...
I received my (very own, not borrowed) first adult cookbook at the age of 18 when I went off to find my fortune in the wide world. The Joy of Cooking showed me how to do just about everything in the kitchen. And that battered old copy is still one of my go-to books for tried and true recipes. Banana bread falls into that category.
As I stirred the ingredients, happy memories of other rainy days filled my mind. Then considering the decision of adding nuts or not and who will eat the bread. Timing the end product to come out of the oven just at morning tea.
Mmmm...
I love curling up with a blanket and a warm beverage, near a fire, and spending the rest of the day with a good book and fresh baked goodness.