Banana Bread

1 ¼ cups sugar
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 ½ cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 3-4 medium bananas)
½ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease bottom only of a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix sugar and butter. Add eggs, bananas, buttermilk and vanilla; beat with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt and nuts just until moistened. Pour batter into the pan.

Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from the pan to cooling rack. Cool about 1 hour before slicing.






I'm linking my banana bread to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

First Fruits of My Labor

My little garden provides me with herbs and green onions all year round, but today I harvested the first veggies for this year. This little bunch of radishes came from the pots in my garden.
Radishes are quite cheap to buy. Last week, for instance, they were sold at Lucky for only twenty cents a bunch. However, growing my own radishes is fun. My radishes are organic and I am sure more delicious than the store bought ones.
These little crispy balls will be a great addition to a spring salad.



Also today I planted tomato plants – four “Early Girls” and four “Better Boys”. I hope these will soon provide me with nice and tasty tomatoes.

New Rose in My Garden

Last autumn, my son and I went to the Rose Garden Park for a walk. I noticed that all the rose bushes were trimmed in preparation for winter. Big piles of trimmings were all around the park. From one of such piles, I picked three twigs, which I assumed came from the same rose bush.
When we got home, I stuck my twigs into the ground in my garden, and there they remained throughout the winter. In spring, however, my little rose twigs sent out leaves and rosebuds appeared soon too.
I wanted my new rose plant to grow big and strong, so I thought it would be a good idea to remove the buds for the first year. I removed all of them except one. I was too curious to see what color my new rose is. A few days ago, the rosebud opened up and now I know that my new rose is light pink.
That’s how I got a new beautiful rose for my garden for free.





I'm joining Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

Avocado And Egg Salad

I love avocados, and this is my favorite avocado and egg salad.

Ingredients:

avocados
boiled eggs
sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil (drained) 
salad greens of any choice
pine nuts
olives
salt, pepper
raspberry vinaigrette

Bon appétit

This time I'm joining my second blog party, which is called Foodie Friday and is hosted at Designs by Gollum. See you there.

A Present from Mom

Whenever my mom comes to visit me (she lives in a different city), she brings me some wonderful present that she made herself. For instance, I got a pair of soft knitted socks, a crocheted hat, and lovely doilies.
When she came to stay with us this month, she brought me something so beautiful that I couldn’t resist bragging about it on my blog. Isn’t this little pillow in a crocheted pillowcase lovely? So simple, yet so charming. What makes it even dearer to me is that it was made by my mom.
I placed it in the guest room as it is the most beautiful bedroom in my house and that’s exactly where this sweet little pillow belongs.




For the second time, I am joining Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home, and I am looking forward to checking out all the other entries this weekend as there are always tons of wonderful ideas there.