Banana Bread and Burgees
Hello from the kitchen counter
June 21, 2024, 09:01
High 74ºF/ Low 55ºF, blue skies, pressure 1006 mb, full moon, menstrual
Happy Solstice, happy full moon!
I’m writing from the middle of a seventeen-day trip back to the Bay Area, our first visit since we sailed away three years ago. On our second night, we stood before friends, family, mentors, and strangers to share a 120-slide deck of photos and stories from our voyage. (If you and yours would like to hear it, be in touch!). On the drive over to Encinal Yacht Club, I found myself getting quite nervous. It’s one thing to write these posts and hit send in isolation, and another to speak truly about the experience in front of folks. It was feat to operate while awestruck, again and again, sometimes when our lives depended on it. The longer I live on land, the more I understand that we borrowed some energy from our future selves to perform in the moment.
So anyways, banana bread.
I used this recipe, the top result on Google. I bought the bananas last Friday and have been watching them ripen —they could go a little longer, but this morning is my banana bread window. I subbed in sour cream for yogurt and I borrowed brown sugar, vanilla, and the pan from our friends downstairs. I’m in love with this little loaf pan and have added it to our Keep list of things to thrift. More often than not, the items on that list turn up in the free piles left on the stoops in our neighborhood. Stay tuned!
I am used to traveling with my whole house with me, operating a bit like a snail or a hermit crab, able to retract into the familiar when the exterior becomes a bit too much.
I checked the banana bread and the knife came out with batter. More time.
Once the bread is done and my bag is packed, we’ll go sailing with friends and live on their boat for a few days.
Earlier this week, I sat down at a 70-year-old sewing machine and finished off 25 burgees for our informal yacht club. The screen-printing was done by some pals several weeks ago, and I had the delight of batch sewing a bunch of straight lines and creating something welcomes new members, or freshens up old members who have flown their flags to tatters. It’s been a delight to check in and lend a hand.
