New York. Fruitcake. Me. I’m in New York. Again. I arrived via Paris a few days ago. Via Paris because if you had a choice to transit through a European city, you too would choose Paris over Frankfurt. Even over Amsterdam. Just for some great, if rubbery airplane bread. And wonderful cheeses. And Fromage Frais....
It was way down my list at 57, fondant. For very obvious reasons. Hard to make. For professionals only. Beautiful to look at (impossible for some home cooks…and on and on and on). But in the dead of that Friday night, I imagined I was Buddy, The ‘Cake Boss’, working in a small kitchen in Hoboken,...
….aka Banana bread, with white chocolate chips and pecans! It took me a while to figure out what to make for this stop of our Culinary Tour 2010, hosted by Joan of Foodalogue.. Eventually, I stumbled upon recipe after recipe for Banana bread…., and then it became very clear and apparent what exactly I had...
As soon as she opened the jar to show me what they looked like, I found myself breathing in the fragrance of my Nigerian childhood (while standing in a Parisian shop on a cold February day): hot, sweaty, scented days; all the intensity of my youth, captured in a few black Tonka beans.