aqua profunda

Another re-post from doublejoint. Keeping the commentary this time :)

Dear anatsuno,

I hear you have some overripe bananas, so I'm sharing my banana cake recipe. It hales from my childhood--I think I had some at my friend's house (age 5? 6?), and Mum made sure to get the recipe, and it's been made hundreds of times since.

I made another one of my own last night, after finally purchasing a thermometer for my increasingly decrepit oven. The first time I tried to use the oven after I moved into this house, the temperature knob came off in my hand; another time when I opened the door the glass panel on the front fell right off (it's since been repaired).

At one point a few months ago I tried to cook a honey and spice cake, but within about 15 minutes of being in there the top had started to burn while the bottom remained liquid; by the time it was no longer raw I had to saw 2 inches of charcoal off the top of it.

So, upon installing the oven thermometer, I discovered that ~160°C on the thermometer = ~120° on the dial. Thus I was able to set it accordingly, and lo and behold, my banana cake turned out awesome. I forsee more baking in my future.

At any rate, here's the banana cake recipe. Measurements are Australian (I believe there's a slight difference in US/Aus cup & spoon sizes, I'm not sure how we compare to European measurements).

The cake itself is rather 'mild' for a cake, I suppose--leaning towards banana bread, but I think a bit too soft and sweet for that. But not too sweet for my tastes! It doesn't need to be iced--the browned top sort of caramelises deliciously, it really is just perfect as it is. But don't make the same mistake I did and take it out of the pan too soon--I ended up peeling the top and the bottom of the cake off because I didn't let it cool for long enough. (On plus side, it meant I got to eat all those delicious scrapings aaall at once.)

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Not long ago skud linked me to this photo of sticker graffiti that we were both very excited by. As far as duplicatable ideas go, it's a pretty straightforward one. A trip to officeworks and a play around with sticker templates later, and we have our own stash to stick around.

Obviously, the best places to stick them are on mirrors in women's bathrooms and in changing rooms. I personally reckon the best position is in a corner where a typical warning sticker would go - also that way it's less likely to be noticed/removed :)

If you'd like to duplicate it too, here are the templates and the specs: ( Read more... )