to fight the gloomy weather - balmy blithely banana bread

And, as I'm just about to prepare one, here's the recipe for my favourite banana bread (a sort of 'cooperation' by Nigella and me, if you wish) - guaranteed to make you happy (and some others too, if you're prepared to share it)

I'm not sure whether this is popular knowledge, but should you ever have too many bananas and feel unable to eat them all before they turn brown and yucky, you can stick them into the freezer and use them for banana bread (they'll be very very squishy when thawed, but have just the right sweetness and aroma) – very convenient!

Oh and never ever make the mistake of using old nuts - the mouldy flavour spoils the entire cake.

Anyhow, try this, even confirmed banana bread scoffers have been known to take a second piece...

INGREDIENTS

175g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

125g butter, melted

150g sugar

2 large eggs

about 5 or 6 small, very ripe bananas, mashed

60-80g chopped nuts, almonds, whatever you find (but not peanuts! bah!)

23 x 13 x 7cm loaf tin

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170ºCand get started. Put flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl and combine well.

In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar and beat until blended.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas.

Stir in the nuts.

Add the flour mixture, bit by bit, stirring well.

Scrape into the loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 1–1 1/4 hours. When it’s ready, an inserted skewer should come out cleanish.

Leave in the tin on a rack to cool, and make sure you eat a slice before someone else finds it...

Dear friend, foe or random reader,

Thanks. I have been dreaming about blogging for quite a while now and it's thanks to some very special people's gentle pushes that I'm actually doing it. The fact that you're reading this proves it hasn't been entirely useless. Please feel free to let me know what you think and to ask questions, comment, etc.

Enough polite banter, let's get started.

Considering this blog is supposed a travel blog as well as a food blog, I guess it's only fair to start it up in the air, on the flight to New York – and then to Bogota. I will do us all the pleasure of not commenting on the meals on Delta flights, but will directly move on to Colombian cuisine, which isoften almost ridiculously simple, yet surprisingly yummy at times. I recently invited a bunch of friends over to a “back from the jungle” lunch, dishing up the few vegetarian recipes I learned while travelling in Colombia. My friends were somewhat puzzled, I think, when I started the meal by proclaiming that this was indeed the way these dishes were supposed to taste, which might come over as a bit bland and almost boring. Colombian spice shelves tend to be as empty as a church on a weekday (which, as a matter of fact, is a simile not applicable to Colombia) – salt, pepper and Coriander is what gives food its flavour here. But this simplicity can be a good thing, as it gives the ingredients a chance to stand out on their own. Certainly amazing is the Changua, the traditional Colombian hangover cure, a soup made of only milk, water, old bread, salt, spring onion and eggs. A great dish to start this blog: simple yet delicious, uncommon yet with truly everyday ingredients.

Here's the recipe (Thanks, Mario!!) - this is for 4 hung-over people

600ml milk

300ml water

1 spring onion, chopped very finely

3-4 pieces of rusk or old bread

salt to taste

4 eggs

+ cheese (grated)

+ coriander (brrrrrr) or parsley (yum!)

Heat up milk and water in a large pot, add spring onion and salt. Break rusk in pieces, add to the soup. Bring to a boil, then carefully add eggs on at a time (they should be poached in the soup, therefore try to not break the yolk when opening them). Let boil for a minute or two, then slowly stir and serve (one egg per person). Add cheese and/or herb(s).

Enjoy!

Coming up next: my favourite banana bread (this is for you, Kasia!)