Heathcliff and Banana Cakes

Here comes the sun . . . do do do do (The Beatles). Today I thought I may have felt the beginning of a virus coming on. But this virus I would happily contract any day of the year. Ah, SPRING FEVER!! The past two days I have been teased with the 55 degree weather and the clear blue sky housing the sun. Man oh man this makes me excited for the weather to warm up. Although I can’t complain too much because is it just me or has our winter been amazingly tame this year? I almost feel like I got jipped because this year I found myself loving the snow. Perhaps it’s my quest of continual optimism in life is to why I had this sudden love of winter but I feel like we didn’t get nearly as much snow as we have in the past few years.

Well this past Sunday at 11:49 PM I finished Wuthering Heights. I pretty much read all afternoon from 4 PM on. I am pretty proud of myself for sticking to my resolution of reading the classic books. All I have to say is that many of these characters in these classic books are a little messed up. In Wuthering Heights I found myself hating Heathcliff after feeling sorry for him for about 5 minutes. But I guess if you beat a tame dog enough times it’s going to get hostile and that’s exactly what happened to Heathcliff. The guy was in love with someone he could never ultimately have. And because of class structures and his bad timing in his quest to obtain Catherine he opted for the road labeled ‘ruination and revenge’. Thus began my hate relationship with the guy. I mean he went as far as having the lid of Catherine’s tomb lifted off 18 years after her death so that he could look at her face again. Yikes, I have never read in all the books I’ve read, which is a lot, some creepy romantic drama. But I loved it.

I am now reading a classic in conjunction with a regular read. I’m hoping this will lessen the feel of it being a chore. I started North and South yesterday by Elizabeth Gaskell and I think I’m going to like it. Her writing style is pretty modern given that the book was written in 1855.

Onto one of my favorite subjects . . . makeup. I’ve thought about starting a makeup only blog where I show techniques and how to achieve certain looks with certain brushes. I’ll take step by step pics and show what colors go where and how to use the brushes. When I get it up and going I’ll post it so everyone knows where they can find it. So if you have any requests on what you want to see . . . feel free to post it in the comments section and please share with your friends.

Alright . . . here's the recipe of the week. Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - aka yummness

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 cup mashed ripened bananas

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

2 sifted cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13x9 pan or use 2 9 inch round pans for layer cake. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Combine sugar, eggs, buttermilk, oil, bananas and vanilla and beat at medium speed until well combined. Beat in dry ingredients. Pour into your greased pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes. You will need to check it becuase everyone's ovens vary and you don't want to over cook the cakes. Set on rack and cool.

For icing, combine 16 oz. softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup softened butter and 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar. Combine until light and fluffy. Spread on your cake then cut a piece and enjoy with a nice glass of milk. Yummy!!