Yesterday I was a bit frazzled, planning dinner for our visitng business
partners from Europe, six of us in all.

I had a few minutes and decided to make banana-pecan bread from a James
Beard recipe to salvage a few overripe bananas to make a breakfast bread.

I carefully measured all the ingredients into various containers and
proceeded to mix the bread and place it in the oven. I even remembered
to set the timer for 60 minutes, then went to the back yard where my
husband and one of our guests were having drinks.

A half hour later, I wandered into the kitchen to see through the oven
window if the bread was rising. The first thing I saw was the glass
measuring cup on the counter, holding the 1 1/2 cups of flour and baking
soda.

"Oh, sh*t!" was my reaction. Lars, who is staying at our house,
laughed and suggested "Just mix it in." I took the bread pan out of the
oven, poured the batter over the flour, mixed it and poured it back.,
baking for the addiitonal 30 minutes.

Ya know, it's not half bad, but I wouldn't suggest it as a quick bread
technique in general.

Dinner was a total success.

Pre-dinner: pickled herring, goat cheese, rolled mozzarella with
prosciutto and basil (bought)

Dinner: beef (a whole tenderloin grilled according to Cook'S Illustrated
recipe), oven-baked wedges of russet and sweet potato sprinkled with
homemade herb/spice mixture, asparagus with brown butter, a salad of
mixed baby greens with strawberries, blue cheese, red onion, with a
blush wine vinaigrette.

Dessert: choice of fresh Gold pineapple wedges (a really sweet one!)
with gingersnaps or angelfood cake with strawberries and cream

They're all going out to dinner tonight after they pick up the guy
coming from London. I'm going to a women's club meeting instead. Hooray!