This is a recipe of circumstance. I had three overripe bananas on the counter that I didn’t want to toss or add to the freezer collection. Enter: Brown Butter Banana Bread with Cinnamon Crumble Topping, a blend of several existing recipes. Keep in mind, I’m just a homebaker puttering around the kitchen. I am sure the recipe could be improved, so feel free to make adjustments as needed. I just wanted to stop looking at those three bananas.

Lazy Baker Requirements

I wanted something I could make with a spoon and two bowls — no mixer required. I wanted to use three bananas without worrying about their size. The grams in the recipe are standard bananas, but my bananas were 30 grams heavier, and it was fine! I also wanted to use melted butter because it’s faster than waiting for butter to soften. I imagine you could use a light oil, such as canola or avocado, but all I had at the time was extra-virgin olive oil, and I am recently off an olive oil cake bender (in two weeks, I made orange and lemon olive oil cakes and marjoram scones), so I am over olive oil in baked goods. Plus, it’s banana bread; limits are what make a decent society.

Enjoy!

Print

Easy Banana Bread with Brown Butter and Cinnamon Crumble

Just an unfancy way to get rid of those overripe bananas

Course Quick Breads

Keyword Banana, Breakfast, Snacking Cakes

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author Jules

Ingredients

For the banana bread

• 115 g unsalted butter
• 3 ripe bananas mashed (approx. 300g peeled)
• 150 g brown sugar or 100g if you prefer less sweet
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract about 5 ml
• 190 g all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda about 5g
• 1/2 tsp salt about 3g
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• Optional: 75g chopped walnuts or chocolate chips

For the cinnamon crumble (optional but amazing):

• 30 g unsalted butter softened
• 30 g brown sugar
• 30 g all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9×5 inch (23×13 cm) loaf pan or line with parchment paper.
• Brown the butter: Melt the 115g of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until it foams, turns golden, and smells nutty (about 5–7 minutes). Set aside to cool slightly.
• In a large bowl, whisk together mashed bananas, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and the browned butter.
• In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
• Stir the dry ingredients into the wet just until combined. Fold in optional walnuts or chocolate chips.
• Make the crumble: Use a fork to mix butter, sugar, flour, and cinnamon until crumbly.
• Pour batter into the pan, then sprinkle the crumble on top.
• Bake for 50–60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Let cool 10–15 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack.

Notes

You can just use melted butter or a light flavored oil in place of the brown butter. The crumble will lose its crispiness overnight, but is still delicious.

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In 1845, a Victorian Arctic explorer by the name of Graham Gore, along with 128 men under the command of Sir John Franklin, set out on what history would call the Franklin Expedition: two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, in search of the Northwest Passage. Their ships reached the Canadian Arctic and stayed afloat but shipwrecked by crushing ice for almost two years. Weakened by scurvy, tuberculosis, and a host of other maladies, the survivors began walking the 800 miles back to the mainland. They froze, starved, and, as scattered bones later discovered suggest, resorted to cannibalism. All of this is true–as true as historical records, archeological discoveries, and Inuit testimonies can be.

Also true: 200 years and countless documentaries later, during the height of the pandemic, a British-Cambodian editor would develop a mild but persistent fixation on the expedition, and in particular, Graham Gore and his dimples. The Ministry of Time is the result of staring at the lone daguerreotype of Gore for longer than is, perhaps, reasonable.

An unnamed British civil servant accepts a position as “Bridge” in a newly formed department–The Ministry of Time. Time travel is new, and the department is gathering “expats” from across history to establish its safety and efficacy for humans and the space-time continuum. Bridges serve as one-year companions to the newly arrived expats from history, and our civil servant is assigned to, who else, Commander Graham Gore. Over one year, they address the past, navigate the present, and confront a future contrary to what was promised.

My first book of 2025 is a genre-bending book that involves time travel, love, found family, destruction, and global responsibility–and it was a pretty great way to start the year. Bonus: I didn’t have to say goodbye on the last page. The BBC is adapting “The Ministry of Time” into a six-part series and A24 Films will produce it. Until we meet again, Commander Gore.

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History of the Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet was inspired by devouring Reddit, reading blog posts, listening to podcasts, and reading an obscene number of books on the subject back when Mikey was getting ready to apply to college (he’s a junior in college as of October 2024). This spreadsheet is not my creation (remember, I’m an excellent data aggregator), so I don’t feel good about selling it as many suggested. College planning is expensive enough as it is! Instead, I will share my spreadsheet and all my resources, briefly explaining each. But first, if you are new to college planning or unfamiliar with the culture surrounding college planning and recruitment, let’s talk about setting expectations.

College Planning Coach (a warning)

My husband works for a global company, and part of his benefits include college planning services with a large, respected college coaching organization. We signed up excited to hear what we already knew: our firstborn son was incredible. The best! The brightest! The most talented! The whitest, purest snowflake!

Then, our expectations were set for us with our son on the call. Despite being ranked 3rd in the class with a 4.6+ GPA, a 1480 SAT/34 ACT, 4-year participation in varsity sports, and 4-year involvement in a college symphony, Mikey was told he was an “ordinary, uninspiring applicant” who should consider “mid-tier colleges for his reach schools.” It was agonizing to watch our son (one who already struggled with confidence) slowly deflate over a long, painful phone call.

But you know what? They were right: he was not a top-tier applicant. Spend a minute on A2C Reddit and see what kids need to do these days to stand out on an application. If that is a game you and your child are willing to play, have at it. I pass. It goes against our parenting ethos and has a free-market ick factor that feels dystopian. I will be forever grateful for that phone call with those lousy people! It exposed me to the game I didn’t know we were playing and completely changed the trajectory of our college planning and search. We are more focused on getting our kids to Heaven than Harvard.

Resources: Books

I read around ten books on college planning, college tuition and scholarships, and college success. There are only three that I recommend regularly, and one has a website solid enough that you could skip the book.

• Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges
  This is a great place to start if you want a college that offers more than football, Greek life, prestige, and lazy rivers. You could skip the book altogether and use the website. I own the book because I prefer to have a rat’s nest of data surround me in towering piles as I obsessively overthink.
• The College Conversation: A Practical Companion for Parents to Guide Their Children Along the Path to Higher Education
  This is the book you want to buy!!! I have bought it more than once because I keep giving away my copies. It inspired my spreadsheet the most and was instrumental in finding the right fit college for my eldest. The book walks you through 13 activities to do with your child as you research colleges, and the spreadsheet is a blend of several of those activities. Do the activities as outlined in the book–they are great! Do not rely solely on the spreadsheet!
• The Stressed Years of Their Lives: Helping Your Kid Survive and Thrive During Their College Years
  This book is part guide, part memoir, focusing on college student mental health. It was one of the excellent books referenced in The College Conversation (the book I said you have to buy). The internet isn’t big enough to hold all my thoughts on the demands we put on young adults to perform at levels that were not expected of us a short twenty years ago.

Resources: Websites

These are the websites I use most often.

• r/A2C Reddit
  This link should have a mental health warning, but it is helpful overall. Most of the kids on this forum want to get into T20 schools and will do anything to achieve that goal.
• r/SAT Reddit and r/ACT Reddit
  Redditors are intense! Yet again, another mental health warning, but so helpful! Just filter out the intensity and take the tips on study plans, programs, and other resources.
• College Data
  What I love most about this website is the College Search feature. I use it for the information provided on each college, particularly under the Admissions tab. It gives me all the data I need for my spreadsheet plus a selection factor scale for admission. For some colleges, class rank is everything (Very Important). For others, it’s not (Not Considered). Here is a link to UCLA’s Admission Criteria to see what I mean. Scroll down to “Selection of Students.”
  • A note about the Admission Rates colleges publish. The Admission Rate of a college usually pops up when you google the college’s name. You will find it on College Data under the Overview tab. Use math sense when you consider that number, please. The lower a college’s admission rate is, the higher in rank they are on lists like US News and World Report, Forbes, and other well known publications. It is in the best interest of a college to get that number as low as possible. Admission rate numbers are a bit of a trap and can be misleading. A school with an 84% acceptance rate is not always easier to get into that a school with a 35% acceptance rate.
• The Newman Guide
  This is a niche resource, but if you are looking to send your child to an authentically Catholic college, you need to reference this list. There are over 200 Catholic colleges in the US, but only 12 made this list.
• Campus Safety
  The Clery Act requires all colleges and universities participating in aid programs to publish campus crime statistics and security policies. The easiest way to access this information is to type out the name of the college followed by “Clery Act.” (example: USC Clery Act) Look for the crime and fire log. Sometimes, it’s right there; sometimes, it’s buried in an infinite scroll of policies and procedures.

Resources: The Spreadsheet

Here is a link to the spreadsheet. It is free for you to enjoy, but if you feel inclined, you can buy me a coffee! You will only have viewer access; in order to use it you first need to make a copy of it. Once you do that, it is yours to use for personal use only. Do not be the person who takes someone’s work product, runs it through Canva, and then sells it as their own.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, I am happy to answer them or direct you to a source who can!

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Welcome to Book Week! Also known as The Week Before 31 Days of William Morris Starts! Also known as I Have 4 Days Left to Organize a Small Children’s Library! Also known as I Have Nothing To Write About Until I Start Living My Own Life Again!

S.O.L. for short.

The countdown is on, and it hasn’t escaped my notice that the day one huge endeavor ends, another one begins.

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On Friday night, I put down the un-frivolous, unread library book everyone has gone on about for almost the last ten years, and opened up my Kindle Unlimited account for work. The first advertising banner I saw at the top said: “BookTok Reads.” Exactly what I hate and precisely what I need. I created three more shelves on Goodreads to keep track of these reads: Bookstagram, BookTok, and Kindle Unlimited.

The Review

I finished my first book, The Housemaid, about five hours after opening Kindle Unlimited.

The Housemaid is fine. On Goodreads, I gave it 2-stars, which means “it was okay.” Millie is young woman with a past. She is desperate for employment, and can’t believe her luck when lands the job as the live-in maid for the Winchesters, a picture-perfect family of incredible means. It does not take Millie long to discover that her job isn’t what it seemed, and neither are the Winchesters.

If you are looking for a compelling psychological thriller, look elsewhere. Despite all the glowing reviews that suggest otherwise, The Housemaid does not have twists and turns. It is incredibly predictable. If you read regularly or have ever seen an episode of Law and Order, you will know how the story ends by the end of the first chapter. If you are looking for a true psychological thriller, check out Lisa Jewell or Gillian Sharp. But! If you are looking for entertainment and a frivolous book to read, it will do.

What’s Next

Low-star review notwithstanding, I’m excited about my frivolous reads! I have a tendency to work until burnout. Giving myself a break with something fun that I normally wouldn’t read will be good for me. I know I sound like a grumbly dowager in most of my book reivews. I am so jaded from reading for a living! I’m going to think about how to reevalute my rating system for these types of books so that I don’t sound so much like Violet Crawley at her finest.

My next book is a “cozy, gentle late-age romance” that is the “perfect autumnal read.” We shall see about that (said in my best dowager voice).

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Many of the books are ones I buy. Others are donations from school families looking to declutter their own home libraries. I never feel guilty about buying or accepting a book marked for children. Nor do I feel guilty about the number of books cluttering my home or the number of books I donate yearly. I am happy to be the conduit that puts the right book in the right kid’s hands. I wish I read books faster (less closely) and did a better job reading new titles. There is always something to work on!

Here is this librarian’s ever-growing stack of books for 2023! I had fourteen bags of books remaining after a 4th-grade teacher from another school took two dozen bags for her classroom library. I hope her students like their new books, especially the personal favorites I couldn’t resist pushing.

Every other year I also do a huge weed of the library. I put out two long folding tables outside the library and stack them with books that aren’t circulating. The kids in summer school benefit from taking home books for the summer. There is no charge, of course. The books are free to whoever would like to take them home.

I had to make several trips to The Goodwill, but it was worth it. Doing this tiny William Morris Project installment not only cleared out my home and my library. It also allowed me to strike another item off the list that a few months ago felt impossible!

It’s great to feel better. Now I’m off to clean out my closet!

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I bought Hollow Kingdom for Mikey years ago during the height of the pandemic. The book, an environmental parable featuring a domesticated crow reentering the natural world following an apocalyptic event, seemed the right blend of quirky, gruesome, and thought-provoking.

“Perfect to read during a pandemic,” I quipped as I handed him the book wrapped in plastic and carrying the subtle scent of sanitizer. “Just don’t focus too much on the extinction of the human species.” I was right. Mikey loved it and encouraged me to read it, which I did almost three years later. Hollow Kingdom won some awards but was mainly quietly enjoyed, which makes me love it only more. The gatekeeping hipster in me ages but never dies.

Here is where I dispense my usual disclaimers. My taste in books hasn’t changed. I am the same reader who loved Bones and All and Suffer the Children, the only book to ever give me nightmares. I wrote about my tastes in books here, and I stand by the results of my navel-gazing. Philosophical horror succinctly describes what I like to read. If you liked Bones and All (despite the new movie cover), you will like Hollow Kingdom. (Oh, and All the Light We Cannot See did get better, but Cloud Cuckoo Land was a masterpiece.)

The gore in Hollow Kingdom is there but infrequent for an apocalyptic book; it plays a secondary part. True zombie-fiction fans will be disappointed. S.T. is a foul-mouthed crow and has the name to prove it. At first, the language felt a little forced, but after the first few chapters, I either stopped noticing it, or the plot and dialogue among the characters took over. I suspect it’s the latter. You can watch a trailer for the book here, or listen to an excerpt below. It’s not how S.T.’s voice sounds in my head, but I don’t hate it, either. Give my latest five-star books a chance. Who knows when I will read another one? Enjoy!

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My list fell by the wayside. I slipped into melancholy, thinking about everything I didn’t get done. I thought about coming here and updating the list and explaining my absence, but I disliked facing my failure. Yes, a list of unchecked tasks is a failure to someone like me who thrives on purpose and routine. I had hoped my list was something I could control during a time that felt very much up to whim.

My gloomy mood didn’t last forever. I knew I did the tinsel on the tree and the ottoman covers, so I decided to strike those off the list. Something is better than nothing. I worked up the nerve to come on here and look at the list with eyes partially closed to avoid the glare of defeat.

Lists

• Put tinsel on a tree for the first time
• Decorate the mantel for Christmas; maybe battery-operated candles this year?
• Dried citrus for kitchen
• Clean off ottoman
• Buy baskets for the media console
• Buy baskets for bookcases
• Buy lights for bookcases
• Decorate tops of bookcases?
• Source vintage landscape or art for home library
• Clear off white cabinet in home library
• Wrap all presents
• Take pictures for Christmas cards
• Send out Christmas cards
• Clean first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth bookcases
• Put covers on ottomans
• Schedule OBGYN appointment
• Bring books to donate to the school library
• Clear out the TBR school pile
• Buy and install wallpaper
• Decide on pictures for the gallery wall; print
• Hang pictures
• Replant urns outside
• Mulch for kitchen planters
• Clean out the glass/tea cabinet in the kitchen
• Clean out the toaster oven
• Read my 100th book for the year
• More updates as they come to mind

I did more than I thought. How predictable.

Failures

Women, by and large, operate under an illusory sense of failure. On any given day, we believe we are frauds who have failed at work, parenting, and homemaking. It doesn’t help that we usually try to do all three at once. Refusing to multitask doesn’t absolve us of guilt, however. If you relish your work, you are only that much worse as a mother or homemaker. Women who are childless by choice are immediately suspect. If you find joy in homemaking and have a gaggle of children, you are, as a law professor told me, “a disappointment to me and all the women who worked so hard to give you opportunities.” This, all of this, is nonsense.

Mentors

The other day an online friend called me a mother mentor. This is laughable, but I understand the sentiment. I’m older, and my children are older. It’s nice to watch someone travel the road a few miles ahead of you so you can get the lay of the land and avoid a few of the more considerable pitfalls. I do this often and am a huge fan of crowdsourcing advice. Some people learn by experience and resent advice, of course. To each their own. If you like a mentor, here is what I see from my spot on the road.

Most things are the same. The road still has uneven spots, holes, cracks, and hills and valleys that sometimes feel insurmountable. Thanks to my developed endurance (50 years!), the good news is that the journey feels easier. I’ve come to realize that cracks happen and don’t extend forever. They are not fissures; even if they were, most fissures can be repaired. I am getting better at accepting the imperfect.

How I feel on the road has become much more important than how I look on the road. This could go without saying.

I have become far less interested or invested in what’s happening on the other roads. This stretch feels fantastic. I put up weird wallpaper and wear comfortable shoes. I buy quality items I plan to keep for years, if not forever, and don’t worry about whether or not they are in style. I still feel like a fraud every now and then and wince at my to-do list, but only for a little bit. It doesn’t take me as long to remember that everyone is a fraud and that list is just a list.

The road doesn’t go on forever. Memento mori! This is sobering and something I am only just now realizing as I get more and more reminders. It feels less fantastic than wallpaper and shoes, but far more important. There is more road to travel.

Wherever you are on the journey, hi, I see you. I hope you are doing well.

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I don’t know how I ended up here, writing after so long. One minute I was applying museum wax to the bottom corners of a picture frame, mentally cataloging all the small projects I wanted to finish, and then the next minute, I was grabbing my laptop, and putting my list down in writing for easy reference. Procrastination or overwhelm or both, I suppose.

A new year is looming (birthday and the calendar year); I am feeling the pressure to reflect on a more accomplished 12 months. I haven’t done much following an intestinal revolt in June that didn’t resolve as quickly as the many other revolts I’ve endured over the decades. Age or stress or both, I suppose.

I spent the months since June in urgent cares, hospitals, and medical clinics. I have endured two CT scans, an abdominal ultrasound, a pelvic ultrasound, a small bowel follow-through, a colonoscopy, an endoscopy, a PillCam/capsule endoscopy, and countless biopsies and blood draws. My gastroenterologist promised me an answer soon, perhaps as early as next week. Whatever I have, it doesn’t appear to be cancer. There is plenty for which to be thankful.

Here is my countdown list of the odds and ends floating around in my head. My list centers mostly on personal projects. The last few months have been about showing up to work and doing my best despite feeling pretty awful, so I don’t feel the slightest bit guilty for reshifting my focus now that I am feeling stronger. I will not complete the list before the end of the year, but it would be nice to strike off a large swath of task items. Endless optimism or blind grit or both, I suppose.

The Countdown List

• Put tinsel on a tree for the first time
• Decorate the mantel for Christmas, maybe battery-operated candles this year?
• Dried citrus for kitchen
• Clean off ottoman
• Buy baskets for the media console
• Buy baskets for bookcases
• Buy lights for bookcases
• Decorate tops of bookcases?
• Source vintage landscape or art for home library
• Clear off white cabinet in home library
• Wrap all presents
• Take pictures for Christmas cards
• Send out Christmas cards
• Clean first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth bookcases
• Put covers on ottomans
• Schedule OBGYN appointment
• Bring books to donate to the school library
• Clear out TBR school pile
• Buy and install wallpaper
• Decide on pictures for the gallery wall; print
• Hang pictures
• Replant urns outside
• Mulch for kitchen planters
• Clean out the glass/tea cabinet in the kitchen
• Clean out the toaster oven
• Read my 100th book for the year
• More updates as they come to mind

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