Banana Bread

"Oil and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan."

It's bad news when the first step of a recipe makes me pause! Can you tell I'm not much of a baker? I've been experimenting with cooking, but I don't have much experience with baking. All I've baked is a few batches of cookies. So, when I see "oil and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan," I think:

- how much oil?
- how much flour?
- how?

Not a great start to my banana bread!

Luckily, my boyfriend and I persevered, lol. (He has some more experience with baking than I do.)

We oiled and floured. We mixed and mixed and mixed. We poured. We baked. We checked. We baked some more. (After an hour, it wasn't quite done; nothing 10 more minutes in the oven couldn't fix.)

I should note: we did not use the cinnamon or the macadamia nuts. My boyfriend is allergic to cinnamon and I didn't want the nuts.

The end result was good. It's not my favorite banana bread ever. Parts of it are a little dry. Overall, though, the main portion of the bread is moist and flavorful. I expected disaster, but I'll totally eat this. I've already had two pieces!