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Good Sunday: Bananas and Mushrooms

I’d had some depression problems lately, but this week I started to cook and bake again.  Banana bread with whole wheat flour and lots of nuts, spaghetti with tons of onions and mushrooms and oregano, stroganoff and chili and brownies (with lots of nuts) and . . . basically, comfort food all over the place.  I’d forgotten how soothing it was to cook and bake, and how rewarding it was to eat food I loved that  I didn’t have to feel guilty about (okay, there were some chocolate chips in there, there’s a limit to everything).  Good food is a good thing.

What goodness did you encounter this week?

65 Responses

  1. More home made pizza. Surely eventually I will get the crust to satisfy me. (I like a thin crust, and it keeps rising too much.)
    Spring. Spring keeps teasing me with warmth and flowers and then giving me frost, like this morning. Off to work now.

    2. Re: Spring… Lucy, Charlie Brown, and the football. At least in upstate NY, winter ain’t nearly over.

  2. Jenny, very sorry to hear that you had to battle depression, but very glad to hear you’re cooking and baking! Food, especially some foods, can raise our seritonin – comfort food is beneficial!
    Not much elevating stuff to report apart from kiddo arriving safely in Firenze for a 2 week language course with the bff. Very nice pictures of the city in early morning and their nice breakfast.
    Talking of comfort food: we’re heading to a street food festival soon – looking forward to trying all sorts of international dishes to share aming the three of us left at home.

    1. Just back from the VERY disappointing Street Food Festival. We used to have very good ones with a great variety of food. Ate my first poutine there. Kid #1 introduced us to Senegalese and Korean dishes.
      At the site today it was mainly burgers and a few African vendors. We trued the Reuben and gosh, was that dusappointing!! Ever since Nell and Gabe ate it in Fast Women, it’s a staple in our kitchen – thanks, Jenny!!
      But this one – nope. Fatty, salty, they didn’t use the right bread and too little Sauerkraut. We couldn’t evfn finish it off (hubby and me and one sub of a Reuben).
      So the happy will have to come from eating a fruit salat as palate cleanser.

  3. Dark chocolate is health food. I’ll die on that hill.

    Went to a No Kings rally yesterday. Lots of people out in our small town (thousands), and only one heckler driving up and down the street blasting music while driving in a (ironically pink, don’t ask me) truck with a massive flag. More laughable than anything, and other than the brutal cold, the rest of the event was good. Nice to gather with sane people.

    Couldn’t get back to sleep after I woke up at 5am this morning, and figured about a big chunk of the end of the magical cozy. Hopefully enough to finish off the rest of the synopsis so I can send it to my agent. I’m still missing a chunk in the middle of the book, but I feel more optimistic about my ability to figure it out.

    Spring is here, which is a mixed blessing. 70 one day, 20 the next, means huge fibro flare with ridiculous pain levels. Still, the birds are everywhere, and this too shall pass. Nothing but good times ahead.

    2. I buy bittersweet dark chocolate chips and melt them in the microwave in 30 second increments until they are barely melted. Then I mix in roasted, salted hazelnuts that I buy at Costco. Using a large fork, they are spread out on a piece of parchment paper on the counter to wait for the chocolate to firm up again. Then it gets broken up into pieces and put in the refrigerator and I have a mostly healthy snack . It goes really well with a nice Oregon Pinot noir – well, you can’t be totally virtuous.

      1. I stayed with friends in Oregon who had a tree that produced Filberts, which is what they called hazelnuts, there. I could not get used to the odd taste. They have health benefits, though.

  4. Spring is still making me happy – and the clocks went forward last night, so more light to enjoy. First flowers opening on my plum tree, so I draped it with bird-scarer fluttering ribbons yesterday. Making plans for a couple of future celebrations with friends (we’re all going to be 70 shortly), and getting everything sorted for my trip to Italy in a couple of weeks. Meeting up with several friends next week, too: lots to look forward to. And I tried dancing round my living room this morning and enjoyed it – think it should be a better alternative than a gym session when bad weather puts me off walking or gardening.

    1. Bonus good thing: just discovered €91 stashed in a couple of different places – I’m rich! And don’t need to buy any currency before I go.

  5. Had a good day yesterday. A local bookstore had their penny a page sale for their used books. Picked up 5 trade paperbacks (5 was the limit) for a little over $3 per book including a beautiful UK edition of The Good, The Bad and the History by Jodi Taylor. That one was the most expensive at $5.09.

    Then I went to a talk given by a birds of prey sanctuary and got to see gorgeous owls and hawks up close. All the ones they had were unable to be released back into the wild for various reasons but they had video of ones they’ve rehabbed and released.

  6. I’d been looking forward to No Kings 3, and yesterday’s protest rewarded my expectations. I like the local crowd in Greenfield, MA, where I’ve seen friends and neighbors at earlier No Kings. Although I didn’t recognize anyone this time, I was recognized by someone yesterday evening at my husband’s model railroad club’s spaghetti dinner in Gardner, MA. She had been a teacher and mom in Suffield, CT, 30 years ago when our daughters were friends. Talk about a small world.

    1. It was nice to see mentions of Western MA. I grew up in Palmer and moved to Springfield after marriage. We moved to Tennessee in 1997 but I still miss things about MA…mostly the variety of foods.

      1. I grew up in Amherst MAand that was a great place to grow up but not very much like real life …

  7. I saw a good and beautiful thing on the news. Firefighters in Jurupa Valley, California, rescued four unconscious cats from an apartment fire and used CPR and oxygen masks to successfully revive all four cats!

  8. Saw Pillion last night. Alexandor Skarsgard is the sexiest person on the planet. Nevertheless, although the sex is character revealing it is not sexy. A surprisingly (given the BDSM theme) funny and sweet movie. But also some sad’s.

    1. I think it’s totally unfair (and also swoonworthy) that one person (Alexander Skarsgaard) can be so gorgeous, talented, AND (by all accounts) a genuinely kind and funny person. I’ve seen a few snippets of the interview he did with his father (interviewing each other) and it was so good I almost subscribed to whatever streamer had the full thing (except I got distracted and didn’t).

        1. Glad you enjoyed it. In the bits I saw, they were both so dryly funny, not at all what one would expect if one only knew their professional reputations.

  9. I planted seeds! I still have 2+feet of snow in the yard, but I started some seeds. I even started some seeds in pots outdoors because they supposedly enjoy a good cold stratification. I watered them by piling snow on top–it will melt a bit during the day.

    I didn’t do any baking, but I did spring clean the baking cupboard, and since I’m donating 80% of my cookie cutters, it’s looking empty.

    Mom has requested a cheesecake for her birthday, so I will be baking next weekend.

    It was the last week of spring break, so another week of not having to rush kids out the door, just myself. And I took Friday off.

    I had a lovely brunch with a friend for her birthday.

    I got our taxes done, plus two other couples’ returns, so I feel good about my productivity this weekend.

  10. I baked brownies because I needed some chocolate. Nothing vaguely healthy about them, just a choice to have something good.

    I only realized a week ago the all-day writing workshop I’d already paid for was yesterday and I wouldn’t make the No Kings demonstrations, so I missed it this time. But it was a good writing workshop!

  11. Even though it is still cold, we have sun that makes it feel like spring.

    Next Sunday a group of us are doing a ridiculously expensive brunch. I have good small chocolate eggs to hand out at Jazzercise, and to anyone I interact with at shops etc who won’t be freaked out by it. Happy whatever spring events you have coming up, or recently celebrated.

    I continue to experience great happiness over buying, owning, and doing “diamond art” projects (faceted plastic craft is more accurate, but you can see why they went for the more enticing name). I don’t know why it is so satisfying, and all I am going to do is stick finished ones in a binder, to be seldom seen again, but then, I also enjoy looking at coloring books I’ve done, so maybe not so strange.

  12. When I got back from Arizona, I had the work done so the dentist can install a replacement bridge for the one that broke off its moorings and came out. She had to pull a broken tooth, and her office is walking distance from a grocery, so I had planned to reward myself with Tapioca Pudding. The store did not have my favorite brand of it, so I got the stuff in little cups, and it just tastes like vanilla pudding. Sigh. I took two Ubers for the adventure and they both arrived on time. The one after the dentist said to be “at the meeting place” for the grocery, which appeared as a tiny blob on an unnamed street on my phone. Geesh. We managed to meet up, as I just stood at the front of the store, holding my bags.

    The third house I bid on seems to be going forward. It has some carpet, which will have to go, and the seller decided to keep her fridge, and washer and dryer after all, and she wants all the curtain rods and curtains, too. I was not upset by this, as her taste is abominable. Black drapes, everywhere? The fridge is ancient, and I was planning to replace it, anyway. I want to choose my own laundry equipment. But that will mean more expense until things are as they should be. Speaking of expense, the inspector found hail damage to my roof, here, and I have a very high deductible on my insurance.

    I added another small pod to my order so we can pack my bed, chair, and other assorted furniture and boxes when it’s time to leave here. I also ordered a small dumpster for all the leftover junk, and the boxes I had saved for this move. My two sons will help with the last pod packing. The Arizona son bought his own ticket to fly here to help, and to drive my truck back to Arizona with me in the front seat, and the two cats and dog in crates in the back seat.

    The Kansas son found a house in Salt Lake, and he and his wife are happy with it, and that their bid was taken. It’s a seller’s market, and that makes for anxiety.

    I know there are motels that are pet friendly. Have any of you had good experiences with one of these? We’ll have to stop overnight at least once on the trip to AZ. I booked one on the trip to move here with a different set of pets, and it was OK, but not great.

    2. Our cross-country-move hotels were Quality Inns, Comfort Inns, and La Quintas – we had no issues anywhere with our cat. The nicest hotel was a La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham (what a mouthful, eh?) in Tucumcari, NM. 🙂 They had a pretty decent hot breakfast included, too.

    4. I scrolled down while I was trying to think of the chain that, last I knew, advertised heavily that it was dog-friendly, and then I saw that Chacha1 mentioned it: La Quinta! I stayed at one in Texas, no dogs of my own, but I saw a few while I was there.

  13. Last night we went to see Tony DeSare with the Brevard Philharmonic, thanks to a friend of my sibling’s, who’d bought an excess of tickets. The four of us had a great time and I came home with two of DeSare’s CDs. He’s a Sinatra-adjacent singer but also a songwriter and quite an interesting jazz pianist.

    Yesterday I wrote four more chapters of the latest foothills novelette.

    After a couple of very hot days, the weather got normal again. Today the high is projected to be 61, perfect for a walk.

    DH is downstairs commencing to cook breakfast.

    All these things are good. 🙂

  14. oh, and I got my newsletter out, plus posted the reading recap, plus sent some links to my sibling+ spouse regarding theater kid summer camps I’d like to send their granddaughter to.

    1. Both my kids went to Traveling Players in VA and I loved it so much I was on the Board for six years (nonprofit) . It’s now a sleep away camp but the director is still there and I bet it’s as good as it was. It’s classic theater (Shakespeare, Moliere) rehearsed and performed outdoors. Camping tours. Grades 1-5 day camp and 3-12 sleep away.
      https://www.travelingplayers.org/

  15. After many months of thinking I’d try overnight oats, I’ve tried them and now make them for every morning. It’s so nice to hit the kitchen a little bleary eyed, open the mason jar, microwave it for 1 minute and chow down. No measuring cups before caffeine. It feels like comfort food. It helps that it’s warm and there’s sunflower seeds and peanut butter in it.
    I and my husband went to our local No Kings rally. Lots of good protest signs I recognized from No Kings 1 & 2. I think the best ones are short and use wordplay. There were a few inflatable costumes and a guy who used a trumpet to vocalize the crowd response part of the call-and-response chanting, like Harpo Mark. Pretty fun.
    Sorry about the depression. You’re in good company. I’ve felt that too, and thankfully I’m on meds that help.
    I’m glad to hear the things you’re doing are helping you. ❤️

  16. I’m so sorry you’ve been depressed. That’s very rough. Goodness knows you’ve been through a lot lately.
    I hope your mood lightens soon, and if it doesn’t, that you find good care,
    (I do think both cooking up a storm and eating chocolate chocolate are good treatments for depression.)

  17. I had appointments with the endodontist and pre-op appointment for cataracts. All scheduled for mid-April. I decided on sedation for the dental procedure. I’ll still get freezing but I won’t be awake to notice. Glad to have this all organized.

    I’m in Victoria, BC with one of my closest friends. There’s no snow and flowers. We visited a friend of mine from undergrad yesterday – I haven’t seen her in 45 years. She’s lead a very interesting life and lived all over the world. It was lovely to spend a couple of hours either her. Today we’re going to visit a garden and drive to a little town called Bowser. We’re staying a couple of nights with my friend’s friend in a granny suite with ocean views.

  18. I’m not much of a housekeeper (in other words: I’m a slob) and don’t generally care, because I live alone (except for cats, who are also slobs, notwithstanding their reputation for cleanliness), so the dirty floors and cobwebs don’t bother anyone. But my old vacuum died and I got a new one, and it inspired me to get rid of several layers of the accumulated winter dirt (anything that could be vacuumed), which also inspired me to do some other puttering to move stuff out of the way of the vac. I was pleasantly surprised by how little it took for the house to go from horrific (even by my standards) to livable (by my standards), and how much that change lifted my winter depression.

  19. I hope you continue to feel better in mind, Jenny, and that cooking, baking, and spring all contribute to that end. I’m making good progress on my annual paper purge, which makes me happy. And I’ve got company coming in a few weeks, which puts good pressure on me to clean. Like Gin, I consider myself an indifferent housekeeper, which is fine because the cats don’t mind. But winter doldrums really contributed to the lack of home care.

  20. First, just let me say how much drool your post caused. Fortunately, I have spare keyboards. To manage the drool, I’m going to have hash. It’s canned, and I have four varieties to choose from (corned beef hash, roast beef hash, breakfast sausage hash, and southwest style hash), I’m thinking Breakfast sausage hash because it’s the greesiest and slides right out of the can instead of having to dig it out. That and a couple of eggs and toast and maybe a glass of chocolate milk. Food. Comfort. *sigh*

    Second, I’m going to have to disassemble/reassemble a gardening shelving unit to accommodate more hydroponic units. The current count of active units is six Harvests and thirteen Sprouts. Inactive units include QYO and Lyko and iDOO and mason jars. Also click & Grow smart gardens. I have ripe or ripening cherry tomatoes and Jalapeños and chili peppers. All my lettuce has been harvested and eaten. This hobby does NOT save a penny compared to gardening outside or buying from the grocery store. It saves a pile compared to a therapist for my mental health.

    Third, my cellular phone died, bless its heart. I requested the dotter handle burial and replacement, and a new phone is on the way. She promised to set it up for me, too.

    Finally, there is the Chocolate Station. For background, there are Pepperidge Farm “Milano” Dark Chocolate cookies. I have a subscription from Amazon – I get a new cube of twenty packs of two cookies every month, which I do not share. The point is that the cubes are reusable for storage, and I have twenty or thirty. Now picture nine of them on a microwave cart stacked 3×3. Contents are as follows: 1 – Hershey Dark Chocolate Nuggets with almonds. 2 – Hershey Milk Chocolate Nuggets with Almonds. 3 – Hershey Milk Chocolate Truffle Nuggets. 4 – Hershey Milk Chocolate Nuggets with taffy. 5 – Snickers Minis. 6 – Reeses Peanut Butter cups. 7 – Almond Joy minis. 8 – KitKat bars. 9 – Assorted chocolate bars in smaller sizes than minis. Bite-size. The dark chocolate is mine. Everything else is for the grandkinder (the dotter has raided the Almond Joys once or twice). Lately, Liam has been getting greedy.

    2. Talking about hash, Gary, this week I was reading a book that had promise but soon descended into meh range. Two sisters were talking about when they were younger and there wasn’t much to eat and reminisced about baloney hash one sister invented. It reminded me of spaghetti with ketchup.

  21. My roommate is rehanging pictures in my bedroom, a task impossible to do on my own and thus I am truly thankful to have someone around to help me. That he is my former husband who moved into my office upstairs two years ago to recuperate after hospital is weird but still oddly comforting (circles). That we could do this without any acrimony [after 40 years) is also serendipitous. Meanwhile, outside spring hovers at my door, the poop in my yard softens and my flower catalogues. I think of you Jenny and hope your spirits continue to lighten.

  22. Good food is a good thing. Last week I finally tried making cottage pie with ground turkey (good but not fabulous), an Ottolenghi chicken recipe with lemons and onions and spices and pine nits (excellent but given how much time it took a good thing we got several meals out of it), an Ottolenghi cabbage recipe (good and less time consuming). Yesterday I pulled a mini banana bread out of the freezer for a visiting nephew. I am trying to bake and freeze so we can enjoy goodies even though it’s only two of us without overdoing it. And today breakfast was a raspberry jam bismarck. Tomorrow night will be baked skillet ready gnocchi with sausage which is infinitely preferable in my view to boiled gnocchi.

    Also I cut some giant snowdrops daffodils and narcissus for a spring bouquet which is very cheering.

    I went to a local church No Kings (cold still bothers my healing hip and this way I could take warming breaks in the car) and we had a DJ! And saw several friends.

    DD and partner went to his parents for his dads 80th birthday party and DD just texted me this which delights me:

    “Not to gossip, but I feel Karen and Steve, Karen especially vastly underestimated how many people would come to this party. She kept saying things like well but they’re all very old so surely they won’t come but all these old people while certainly very old are very enthusiastically here to listen to live music eat pizza and drink champagne.”

    The taxes are sufficiently done that the accountant can at least prepare an extension and I’m thrilled that DD pretty much did her own! It has worried me that she had a mental block on them because I won’t be able to help her in – decade or two.

    Kaori and Yuma both skated gorgeously and I was after all glad that Yuma skated first in the last group because they showed his charming excitement each time another man skated well. Also Kevin Aymoz was out of his mind with excitement when Yuma skated. This skating season shows how much more mutually supportive the skaters are than in the past and it’s truly lovely.

    It’s been a good week all in all.

  23. All taxes are in the mail. My contribution spread sheet is created and brought up to date for 2026. I will create the medical one some time this week, my ironing is in process with only one sheet to go. I cleaned out my linen cabinet and have a bunch of towels I no longer use ready to donate. I am just oozing virtue (except for the flower beds which I have not weeded in a year and now look like an unmoved extension of the lawn).

  24. I like the sound of spaghetti with onion, mushrooms and oregano. Might experiment with that.
    The hour changed here, which probably should have meant less time in bed, but in the end I probably had more.
    I didn’t set any alarm and let myself sleep as long as I could. Then I walked the dog who was prepared to go out in the wind and rain (the other stayed at home) and, after that, indulged myself by going back to bed with a pot of tea, and finished my book. So nice!

  25. I haven’t done a whole lot this week, which is pretty great. A friend of mine offered to “rescue me” to get me out of the house to a protest, so that was very relaxing.

  26. Thinking about good things first on the list is Rocky Road by Bob Mayer. I am now going to consider Rocky Start 4 books for reread purposes.
    Another good is the support I’m finding in Bright Line Eating. So helpful.
    And depression sucks and lies Jenny. Sorry you experienced that. I went most of my life not experiencing it. Now with the state of this country- USA – and all the people who are taking permission from the inhabitant of the white house to be the WORST version of themselves, I experience a measure of depression every day.
    Ending on a positive note forest bathing helps. I will put a link in comments to my latest Instagram from this mornings tree I sat under.

  27. I missed No Kings. This one was the first time I wasn’t scheduled to work so I was planning to go to one in the next county (not the Big City county where I work.) I needed to leave not long after nine and by nine I was feeling not too good and decided not to go. By one I had gone to bed, so pushing myself to go would not have been wise. Today I worked and felt fine.

  28. I delivered a stack of books to a friend for her grandson’s birthday. I had saved the last 2 weeks of Sunday Comics to use as wrapping paper and it came out perfectly. I usually take these things over to my friend Dave’s store and get them gift wrapped there, but I didn’t want to haul this stack of books across town multiple times. But Carol informed me that this form of wrapping is the birthday boy’s favorite so once again I am gaining an unjustified reputation of knowing what the “good stuff” is. The truth is that I shop at the same thrift shop where his grandma shops and I ask his mother for advice. He is getting to the age where I really don’t remember what I liked to read. I hope that at least one of my choices will be a hit.
    One of the books in the pile was a read aloud for the family to share. I was furiously trying to finish it on my way out to the suburbs today, but I didn’t quite make it in time. So now I have to remember the title for another week or 2 until I can get to the library and read the end.

  29. Went to No Kings 3. There was a nice crowd, bigger than last time and next to no counter protest (a few people driving by and flipping the bird). Great signs, a few costumes and a dj. About a dozen of us went out for pizza afterwards. I had a very good time.

    Another easy week to look forward to.

  30. My boyfriend was in town for a week, which was mostly lovely and only occasionally aggravating (two very independent, normally single people = some growing pains when coupled up). For a while I thought we were going to be in a holding pattern as long as we were long distance. Getting to know people is just easier when you can get to be part of each other’s ordinary, in-person, life. But we seem to have broken through to the goofy in love stage, anyway. Laughing so hard you have to sit down on the floor, flirting in front of other people just for the fun of it, quiet, sincere talks about more serious things–all the good stuff. When I was younger, I remember thinking that being in love felt like a day with blissful weather. It doesn’t solve any of your normal life problems, but it sure does put you in a better mood. I feel like I got lots of gorgeous weather this week, in more ways then one. I am very much looking forward to summer when he moves back for good.

    And! I’m getting a little better at plugging away at the things that are good for me (working on the book, exercise time, occasionally going to mass) even when the guy is in town. I’m not quite where I want to be yet, but the therapy is definitely helping. Here’s to small steps in a better direction.

  31. Hope you continue to feel better, Jenny.

    For book club, my husband and I chose “The Code of the Woosters,” so of course I need a cow creamer. Turns out silver ones get real expensive real quick–but I found a perfect white ceramic one for less than $15 total.

  33. Depression is a funny beast. I don’t usually notice that I am swimming in it until it slaps me in the face. I get so stuck in “I’m fine” and I actually believe it, that I ignore all the signs. Sigh.

    My dad got a stomach bug which was The End of the World as We Know It. Yes, I am singing REM to myself now. Unfortunately this was the first weekend we were trying without an afternoon shift of in-home care, so I was there all weekend. Ugh. He is of course, dying again.

    I did manage to get the taxes done last night in a fit of manic defiance. Now they just need mailed off. And because my father eats up so much of my free time, I have not been out thrifting. An unintentional no-buy period, which is fine because rummage and yard sales haven’t started yet and I am finally making a dent in all the scarcity mode buying I did last year and then was too tired or depressed to photograph and list. Small progress, but progress nonetheless. DH is working on tidying as well. After an intense month of cleaning up my father’s accumulation and mess we are both having a hard time with our excess stuff. Hopefully I will start gardening soon too.

    And I just got an email that a piece I submitted has been excepted in a local juried exhibition! I didn’t make it in the last time, so I am pretty happy about that.

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.

Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com

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