B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

 I just returned from another one of those bittersweet 'mom-ventures'; school shopping with my Bean.  On Saturday we got the official word that Mikayla will be in Mrs. Porto's class (yay!!!!!!!!!!!) and with it came her school supply list.  She has to bring her supplies with her to her meeting next Tuesday, so off we went this evening.

When Noah started school Grant and I decided that we'd make school shopping a big deal.  It is a Mama and Kiddo solo outing where they get to go for a meal/treat, pick out a special outfit for the first day of school and get all the supplies on their list.  I loved both my trips with Noah as it was the perfect chance for me to spend some one on one time and let him know exactly how proud of him I am.  Going to school should be a big deal!  Something to celebrate.  Plus we discussed what going to school would be like, eased any fears and talked about the adventures he'd have.

So this evening Kayla and I headed out to do the same.  She told me she wanted a pink dress with butterflies for her first day outfit and because I'm super mom (hehe) we found it.  She's thrilled.  She also 'graduated' to getting her own personal hair brush and comb with a whole new box of hair supplies.  We also managed to check everything off her list and load up her book bag when we got home.  And because no celebration is complete without a treat, we stopped for slurpees on the way home :)

I discovered there is no fear in my baby girl about school she is just excited.  She already knows what is going on, when she needs to be there and exactly what she's going to learn.  I think she's ready!  I don't know if I'm ready, but she is.  And I'll get there, right?

In other news today, it is International Banana Lover's Day and National Pots de Creme Day.  I have had some bananas set aside for a few days to turn into my cake mix banana bread in muffin form.  (I had some cookies and cream cake mix that I'd be dying to use just for this purpose!)  I had just popped them in the oven yesterday afternoon when I got a post on facebook from my Mother In Law, Caren, with a picture of the most adorable monkey cupcakes.  Um, an actual banana lover in banana bread muffin/cupcake form - genius!  So I set aside a couple of muffins for breakfast, a few for Grant to share at work and turned three into some pretty darn cute cupcakes.  I had to improvise a bit supply wise, but I thought they came out pretty well.

I was also looking for an actual main dish to have for dinner tonight to celebrate the banana.  Ever heard of Chicken Maryland?  Yep, me neither until earlier this week.  So...

"Chicken a la Maryland is none other than famous fried chicken. This chicken Maryland recipe is a loosely adapted take on Escoffier's version in Ma Cuisine, in which he dredges the chicken in flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs, and then fries it in butter. Escoffier's version, and countless others, include some form of banana garnish, because bananas were one of Baltimore's prime imports around the time this dish became popularized.  Trivia: Chicken a la Maryland, presumably prepared with a decidedly French twist, was offered on the very last menu of the doomed Titanic voyage in 1912"  (http://frenchfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/Chicken-A-La-Maryland-Recipe.htm)

And now you know :)  I couldn't pass up trying it out and believe it or not, everyone here really enjoyed it.  I had to encourage the kids to "be brave" upon first bite, but it ended up disappearing all around without a single arguement.  I love using popular foods around here in a whole new way.  This was super easy and I think it'll become part of my menu arsenal.

And we did pots de creme, too.  This very rich (as Noah kept saying) chocolate desserts also disappeared in the blink of an eye around here.  I'm not a huge chocolate fan, so it was way  too much for me.  Bring on something vanilla.  Or cinnamon.  Or more of those banana cookies and cream muffins, hehehe

Cherry Turnovers tomorrow.  Not sure what else is on the agenda, though.  It's raining pretty hard here right now, but if it lets up I'm hoping to spend a good chunk of the morning at a park, maybe having a picnic.  Guess we'll have to play it by ear.  But until then...

Banana Cookies N' Cream Muffins

 That is one "Banana Lover" cupcake!

 I think I'll call them "Hear No, See No, Speak No"

 We went to a concert in Northville this morning

 I think I appreciated this concert much more than the kiddos as it was a guy that did a lot of folk music.  My favorite was "The Unicorn Song" which turned into quite the conversation on the way home about why there are no unicorns.  Or monsters.

 Chicken Maryland

 Pots de Creme

View from above