Adam and I started the day off by going to the gym , coming home and making lunch, picked up a chair off Kijiji then headed to Michaels with our home boy Ian. While home I was able to prepare a chocolate chip cinnamon swirl banana bread that left the house smelling delightful. This was my second attempt at this recipe. The first one turned out really well although it doesn't call for chocolate chips. It was a Pintrest "NAIL". I've started calling Pintrest attempts "Nail or Fail's". This time around I went easy on the cinnamon sugar and compensated with chocolate chips. Yummy.
^ ingredients ^ mixed in bowl ^ cinnamon sugar on top
I was really looking forward to our evening, and it panned out perfectly! At 5 o'clock Adam and I met up with 6 friends and went on a lovely sleigh ride. The sun was slowly starting to set so it made for a dramatic background as we entered the wooden trail. There were an abundant of horses on the farm and as we approached the trail there were two fox "horsing" around. They were rolling around chasing one another. It was pretty cute.
Our friends live a few houses away from the farm so we all headed back for some grub. April and Jason had two large pots filled to the brim with a meat chili and coconut curry soup. I revelled in the soup as I don't eat meat. I can't speak for Jason's chili, but April did a fantastic job on the soup. The crew was very eager to compliment the chefs. I could have easily had seconds or thirds but I knew I wanted to try the chocolate chip cinnamon swirl banana bread, so I held off on a second bowl.
Up next was the moment of truth ... everyone grabbed a piece of the bread and the result was "NAIL". I mentioned there might have been too many chocolate chips but that was quickly shut down. Days later I was still being told "that banana bread was great". So if you are in need of a simple banana bread recipe and need to please the masses check this one out.
* I wasn't able to get a picture of the bread sliced and ready as it was gobbled up to fast.
After dinner we played a number of games, some which included "Just dance" (Ian rocked this one), "Heads up" (we played girls vs guys and the winning reenactment was the guys giving "child birth" ... it was horrifying and hilarious), and "Cards against humanity" (were I crushed my opponents ... so does this make me a bad person or them because they picked my cards???).
One last game we amused ourselves with was "Bean Boozled". I bought two little packets of the Jelly Belly game from the Freak Lunchbox in Saint John. If you are unfamiliar with the bean boozed challenge you compare some of the tastiest flavours with some of the craziest ones. Examples: black liquorice looks exactly like skunk spray and buttered popcorn could actually be rotten eggs. Needless to say it is a wild ride for your tastebuds and a laugh and a half for your friends!
* Sidenote: while home in NB over New Years I brought the other package with me to play with our family. We have a niece and nephew who are 3 1/2 years old, born on the same day but not twins. Both of Adam's sisters had babies on the same day. Pretty freakin cool eh! Anyway, all the adults were having a hoot playing the challenge. A "booger" flavoured bean got spit out and our nephew Evan quickly grabbed it, ate it up and even replied "ummm yummy", We all laughed and gave him some "lawn clippings" which he was equally as satisfied with. We offered him one more, he started to chew and quickly made a face of disgust.
Last Saturday night we didn't dance on tabletops but at this point in my thirties a great homemade meal, outside adventure and board games enjoyed with super duped company is more my style. The best part was waking up the next morning and remembering all the shenanigans!
