Got some bananas that are too mushy to eat? Got a hankerin’ for a hunk of bread that’s tasty and sweet? Well, how about some delicious yummy banana bread? It’s quick and easy and fun to eat!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

These are the most delicious homemade pancakes. Well, they really are not homemade because they come out of the Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pancake and Waffle Mix box. The pancakes are super easy to make and yummy as can be. You must serve with whip cream. Olivia loves ’em.

Project for this week:

At last years block party/yard sale I tried to buy some old wooden frames from this little old man. We threw a  fit and was  screaming at me because he didn’t want me to pay the 50 cents for the frames. He just wanted them out of his site. So a grabbed a bunch and took off.  Now 6 months later I’m finally going to fix these frames up.

Step 1: Buy Paint

This is difficult because you can’t buy this stuff in Chicago.

“In May 1992 Chicago decided to do something more: to lump spray paint and jumbo markers, the principal tools of the graffiti “artist,” with burglars’ tools and other crim- inal implements as contraband. An ordinance forbids the sale of spray paint and jumbo indelible markers (collective- ly spray paint) within the city limits.”

So I found this cute old time mom and pop store in Oak Park called Dressler’s. The isles are stuffed with boxes and products. They were super helpful and even carded me when I bought the spray paint which was obviously unnecessary since you only have to be 18 to purchase it. So, I thought that was a nice compliment.

I just added the jQuery module to my CMSMS for the easy slider and a simple slide show.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Download the jQueryTools module for CMSMS. It has a dependant module that you will need to install if you don’t have it (CGExtensions). You can also go to Module Manager in your CMSMS admin and install jQueryTools from there.

2. Upload the jQueryTools module into the modules folder on your web server. Skip this if you added jQueryTools through module manager in your CMSMS admin.

3. Download the slideshow and easyslide JavaScript below. The CMSMS jQuery module comes with some JavaScript for certain functions already, but I had to add these two JavaScript files to make these the easy slider and simple slideshow work:
http://gowright.org/modules/JQueryTools/lib/jquery.slideshow.js
http://gowright.org/modules/JQueryTools/lib/jquery.easyslide.js

4. After downloading the two files, upload them into the modules/jQueryTools/lib/ directory.

5. Then update the action.incjs.php (located in the jQueryTools folder) to call those files into your page. You will need to add these two lines of code around line 65:

$slideshow_files = array(‘main’=>’jquery.slideshow.js’);
$easyslide_files = array(‘main’=>’jquery.easyslide.js’);

You will also need to add the easyslide and slideshow keywords to the $all_lib array and $std_libs (newer JQuery module version) in this file at about line 45 and 46:
$all_libs = array(‘base’,’tablesorter’,’cluetip’,’form’,’fancybox’,’json’,’cgform’,’slideshow’,’easyslide’);
$std_libs = array(‘base’,’tablesorter’,’cluetip’,’form’,’fancybox’,’json’,’cgform’,’slideshow’,’easyslide’);

6. Add the following smarty tags in the head of your template to activate jQuery on your site:
{JQueryTools action=incjs}
{JQueryTools action=ready}

7. Add you html in your page. Here is a smaple:

<img class=”active” title=”Frank Lloyd Wright” src=”uploads/images/home/frank-lloyd-wright-home-and-studio.jpg” alt=”Frank Lloyd Wright” width=”537″ height=”245″ /><img class=”last” title=”Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House” src=”uploads/images/home/frank-lloyd-wright-robie-house.jpg” alt=”Frank Lloyd Wright” width=”537″ height=”245″ />

Note: the first image should have have a class “active” and the last “last.”

Voila! You have a working jQuery easy slider and simple slide show.

Here is the CSS for the slideshow (You will have to adjust the CSS tho to make it pretty):

#banner {
position:relative;
height: 262px;
width: 658px;
}

#banner IMG {
position:absolute;
top:0;
left:0;
z-index:8;
opacity:0.0;
}

#banner IMG.active {
z-index:10;
opacity:1.0;
}

#banner IMG.last-active {
z-index:9;
}

I have recently updated my sample because I needed to add links to the images.

Tried this recipe last Friday. Left some of the grounds in the grinder and had nutmeg, cinnamon coffee for the morning. Definitely a keeper.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

You Will Need
1/2 cup ground dark roast coffee
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
5 cups water
1 cup milk
1/3 cup chocolate syrup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped cream, optional

What to Do
1. In a small bowl, combine the coffee grounds, cinnamon and nutmeg; pour into a coffee filter of a drip coffeemaker. Add water; brew according to manufacturer’s directions.

2. In a large saucepan, combine the milk, chocolate syrup and brown sugar. Cook over low heat until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Stir in the vanilla and brewed coffee. Ladle into mugs; garnish with whipped cream if desired.

Serves 6