Day 311: Banana Nut Muffin Treat

When I return from a vacation I usually come home to a fairly empty refrigerator. Fruits and vegetables tend to be scarce and in general it's slim pickins in the kitchen. We were really excited to see our kitty when we came home as well as do a bit of unpacking to admire the purchases we made in the US and because we were punch drunk tired we didn't think about food until we were well beyond having the amount of energy it would require to run to the store. Our friend who kitty and house sat for us while we were away left us the sweetest note welcoming us home and, as an added bonus, left us four incredibly delicious-looking banana nut muffins. Oh my goodness, are you serious? Of course I wanted to wolf one down right then but thinking ahead to the next morning and also considering all of the junk I ate while traveling I decided to hold off and save my share for today.

This also gave me something to look forward to for my first day back to work. Muffins for breakfast are a secret passion of mine. There was a time when I lived in LA when I made muffins at least once or twice a week. Back then I was really into baking all natural, if I wasn't using an all natural mix, and many of my recipes called for using honey, apple sauce or other fruits to sweeten them instead of sugar. Eating a muffin for breakfast is such a luxury for me. Oatmeal is always great and granola with yogurt and berries is fabulous but there is something extra special about taking a sip of strong dark roast coffee and then eating a bite of a muffin... and then another sip of coffee... and back to the muffin... and just hit repeat until they are both gone.

Nowadays I only drink half of cup of coffee per day and I prefer to have it in the morning while I am getting ready for work so I didn't take the time to sit and perform my muffin eating ritual today. Instead I rode my bike to work and took my muffins with me to enjoy as a special treat after riding up the mörderbacke (murderous hill, in Swedish). So I am sending out a big thank you to our friend for the tasty muffins! They really helped ease me back into work mode after such a lovely vacation. I ate one this morning for breakfast and had number two this afternoon as a pick-me-up. Simply delicious! I'll see if I can include the recipe later.

Don't you just want to reach out and take a nibble?

P.S. I didn't mention the election today but we did get the opportunity to participate in early voting while we were in Texas last week. It felt great and incredibly patriotic to cast our vote in person. While in Sweden we registered to vote from abroad and had our ballots to do so but when we realized we would be there during the early voting period we decided to vote in person. It was pretty cool!

A little blurry but you get the picture. It was also our anniversary! We reminisced about the fact that four years ago just after we got married we returned to Dallas from our honey moon on election day and went to vote together. It was my husband's first time to vote since becoming a US citizen. Afterward we had dinner with his sisters who were still in town visiting us after our wedding. This time  around we got to celebrate in the morning with my parents and then in the evening with some friends in Dallas. Nice memories surrounding election times. :-)