Well, I happen to have several thoughts today. None of them really go together, so just keep reading and maybe at least one thing will peak your interest.

I saw a sticker on an Escalade that passed in front of me at the Commissary. It said "Escalady". The woman's car was tattoed with a few other over-sized messages. These sorts of things give me the silent, inside laughter.

Once I was inside the store I started to notice that I wasn't having to squeeze down aisles past other people and desert my cart to walk to a section that was overcrowded to get something. "This is really nice," I thought to myself. The other thing I began to realize was that because I wasn't so rushed and squashed I had time to do a little price comparing. I usually try to do this with each shopping trip anyway, but sometimes it is easier to accomplish than others. So, this is my recommendation: if you have the flexibility and leisure in your schedule to grocery shop at different times during the weekday, take advantage of it. The more time you have, the more money you will save. Also, if the agitation of an overcrowded aisle is not biting away at your patience, you are more likely to remember what you came for, find the best deal, and get the item into your cart instead of giving up and saying, "Oh, forget about it. I'll just come back later".

When you get home with your groceries, it is the perfect time to do dual duty and clean out the fridge as well. Pull your trashcan over and rid yourself of those week-old leftovers while making space for the new things at the same time. Today I found three old bananas in the fruit basket that I just could not bare to throw away. They were in the perfect condition for banana bread, and I have such a simple and delicious recipe for it. The recipe is from Paula Deen, and I want to share it with you here in hopes of giving a second life to old bananas everywhere. You don't even need an electric mixer!

The recipe yields 1 loaf

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar; mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour the batter in the pan and bake for 50 minutes.

This is from "The Lady and Sons, Too" cookbook which has many other simple and delightful recipes.

Unrelated to baking, and maybe will make you not want to eat anything at all, is a thought about a smell. I was getting wafts of it from a man the other day while giving flu shots. After thinking about it for a moment, I almost opened up my mouth to ask him, "Do you have cats at home?" but then thought better of it because how could I explain why I asked that question? Short of saying, "Well I just thought I could smell it," what would I do? So, I kept myself quiet and decided that you probably shouldn't ask a person that question...ever.