Daily Archives: November 15, 2013

Still Life with Recipe

"Still Life with Recipe," mixed media by Kerry McFall

“Still Life with Recipe,” mixed media by Kerry McFall

Tracy and I have been enjoying afternoon tea together for many years.  Since she no longer eats anything containing wheat (gluten), finding a suitable treat to go with the tea has become a challenge for me – mostly because I think that gluten-free translates to “tastes like bark mulch.”  However,  this week I had an inspiration – bananas!  I looked up Bananas Foster, but that requires rum, which meant a trip to the liquor store, and I didn’t have time.  So I did a little classic McFall Improvisation, which generally means eliminate all ingredients not already in the cupboard.  So the result is not quite “bananas flambe”, but it is warm and suitably gooey.  It’s also quick, it’s easy, and because it’s served warm it feels elegant.  Bonus – the ingredients gave me an opportunity to do a quick “still life” sketch – a win-win situation!

(What’s a “diagonal oval”?  It’s when you slice the banana not in rounds, but slant your knife diagonally against the long side of the banana… it’s the same cut used in Chinese cooking to get the celery in fried rice to look like it isn’t really celery at all but some exotic ingredient…)