In a vain attempt to make myself look organized, I thought I'd undertake a three-day cleaning project in my kitchen. Day One would involve the reorganization of my spice collection and the cleaning of the stove and surrounding areas. Day Two would involve the cleaning of the rest of the counters.

(Implied: that I'd clean up, tidy, and put away the various messes that were ON said counters.)Day Three would be the tackling of the kitchen table.

So, here I am, ensconced in the middle of Day Two, and in between things like canisters and spare heads of garlic (how did I have three of them at once?) I discovered a recipe or two. Most of them I'm unwilling to share, but I do have this one that I haul out every now and then, kind of like a trusty old nag, and make when I've got some extra bananas around that need to be used before they spoil.

Banana Bread

2/3 cup vegetable oil
scant cup of sugar (that means almost, but not quite!)
1¼ cup mashed bananas (that's about 2 medium bananas)
2 eggs, separated, preferably at room temperature
1 rounded tsp. baking soda
1T lukewarm water
pinch salt
4T milk
1 tsp. vinegar (white or cider will do)
1 tsp. vanilla
1½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
spices (see below

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine oil and sugar. Mash the bananas, and add the egg yolks. Add the banana/egg mix to the oil/sugar mix. Mix the baking soda and water, and add to the main batter. Add salt. Add the vinegar to the milk (to sour it) and then add to the main batter. Add vanilla and flour, and mix until just moistened. Add nuts, if using, and fold in lightly. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff, and fold into the batter. Pour into a greased or nonstick loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour at 350° or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

The fun stuff:

Keep an eye on the top of the bread; you may find that you need to loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil so that the top doesn't become too brown.

Now, before you run off and start making this for the first time, read over the recipe and do a little bit of thinking, and you'll understand that there's one point in this recipe that requires you to be a little bit careful. The customary manner for making banana bread is one that uses only a small amount of leavener: the baking soda, and the loft provided by the whipped egg whites.

You know how your grandmother always told you to fold in egg whites gently, not to stir and mash them in like they were lumps in potatoes? She's not kidding. Smash the air out of the egg whites, and what you'll be baking is a banana brick, not banana bread, and trust me, it's not exceptionally tasty.

Next up—spices. There are a million different ways to handle spices in banana bread, and I can just about guarantee that I'm not going to do it in the same way that you are. You can make the recipe without the spices if you can come up with a really compelling reason to do so, but quite frankly, I like to rummage around in my spice cabinet and experiment just a little bit. Traditional 'baking spices'—ground nutmeg, cloves, mace, cinnamon—and maybe even a whispery hint of ginger work well in this dish. I tend to lean most heavily on nutmeg and cinnamon, but that's normally what I have in the house.

Try stirring somewhere up to a half-teaspoon of each into the batter, right after you've added the flour. Then do the best determination of all: swipe your finger into the batter and take a taste. Don't be afraid to experiment just a little; this is heavy, thick, sweet bread, and it's going to be quite forgiving if you over-spice it a bit.

If you ask me, it's one of the better reasons to go out to the store and buy a bunch of bananas.