Ozzy and This Post Are Bananas!

Ozzy Osborne? Almost. Crazy? Definitely. The basement dweller who lives below me is a spitting image of Ozzy Osborne. He has long black hair, little purple glasses, plays the guitar and is just creepy. I’ve previously mentioned my struggles with The Landlord here and here and now it’s time for you to hear about one of the other nut cases that I deal with on a regular basis: Ozzy.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Ozzy is bananas. But not in the good and tasty way like banana bread, white chocolate banana muffins or caramel pecan upside down banana cake. No, Ozzy is bananas in the sense that he’s crazy. He doesn’t seem to have any concept of time either, as he’s woken me up on numerous occasions at 4am by playing his electric guitar with the amp plugged in and turned up. Scares the bejesus out of me. He also shows up randomly at my door and the worst part is that I can’t hide from him because he knows when I’m home! He can hear me walking around, turning the tap on, cooking and ugh, showering, (as one friend pointed out, to my absolute horror, he knows when I’m naked).

So I answer the door and try to be polite and think of an excuse of why I can’t go drink beer with him, (his usual request). Sometimes I pretend to be on the phone, but he’s persistent and will show up first at my front door and then 20 minutes later at my back door. Other times I’ve ignored the knocking, which is hard to do with someone so persistent, but I don’t always have the patience to deal with him. When I see him outside the apartment I hurry to get my keys and rush inside before he has time to strike up a conversation.

Between avoiding him and The Landlord, it’s an ongoing mad dash to get in and out of my apartment without being seen. Perhaps the best part of all of this is that The Landlord constantly tells me to stay away from Ozzy because he says he has brain damage from all the alcohol and drugs and Ozzy tells me to stay away from the crazy Landlord who’s always in everyone’s business. I think they’re both nuts.

I’m currently involved in a battle of the bass with Ozzy. I think he’s winning. His bass shakes my floor and therefore everything in my apartment. The only card I hold to best him with is the scent of freshly baked cookies. On quite a few occasions I’ve heard him come home when I’m baking and comment on the smell. I contemplate bringing him some in the hopes that he’ll knock off the bass, but I think it will have the opposite effect and just make him come visit me more often, which I’m trying to avoid. So to drive him crazy and to keep me sane, I keep on baking. I find bananas to make especially fragrant baked goods and I’ve been on a banana binge lately, turning them into cakes and muffins and smoothies, but not taking nearly enough pictures. Sometimes I feel like one banana muffins looks like all the others but that doesn’t stop me from baking them. I’ve made Peanut Butter Banana Muffins from Pittsburgh Needs Eated, Banana Walnut Whole Grain Muffins from the Wellfed Network and Banana Bran and Raisin Muffins from Cookie Baker Lynn but I don’t have pictures to show for any of these. Shame on me. Ironically, the one picture of muffins that I do have is my White Chocolate Chunk Banana Muffins that I don’t have a recipe for because I made it up. The thing is, I wrote it down, but when I made it a second time it wasn’t as good so I’ll have to play around with that one for a bit before I post it for real. I’ve also made Cooking Light’s Classic Banana Bread which I found on Twin Tables Banana Bread Bake Off. This is a pretty nice post that features 6 different banana bread recipes that you should definitely check out. Oh and I've also made tons of variations of David Lebovitz's Easiest Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe Ever, (chocolate, bananas and Bailey's? Yes please!).

And finally, I made Bon Appetit’s Caramel Walnut Upside Down Banana Cake I was convinced I had already posted about this cake. So when I saw Deb of Smitten Kitchen make it I made some comment about how great it was when I made it with pecans, blah blah blah, then I checked my blog to see exactly when I posted about it and I found out that it was at about a quarter to never. Good job self. I’ve got a brain like a sieve. Don’t worry though, I won’t forget to post about the raspberry ice cream I made at the same time as that cake, (which was ages ago). It’s a Ben and Jerry’s recipe that I was inspired to make after my mom made their kiwi ice cream, and it was phenomenal, (and she is phemomenal).

Ben & Jerry's Raspberry Ice Cream (From the Ben and Jerry Ice Cream Book)

Compared to other fresh fruit, fresh raspberries are intensely flavorful and very tart, so to make ice cream you need less fruit and more sugar. If you prefer a chunkier raspberry ice cream, return the raspberries to the refrigerator after pouring off the juice. After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it's done), add the whole raspberries, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

Makes generous 1 quart

1 pint fresh raspberries

1½ cups sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

2 large eggs

2 cups heavy or whipping cream

1 cup milk

Procedure

Toss the raspberries, ¾ cup of the sugar, and the lemon juice together in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the remaining ¾ cup sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the heavy cream and milk and whisk to blend.

Drain the juice from the raspberries into the cream mixture and blend. Mash the raspberries until pureed and stir them into the cream mixture.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

Technorati Tags:

Bananas + Cake + Muffins + Raspberries + Ice Cream