I've been having a recurring dream. It is about a gorgeous, curvy, tasty creature. The creature is cheap, but in my dream certainly never nasty. The creature's name is Bonita.
Yes I have been dreaming about bananas. We haven't eaten them for months and are in serious banana withdrawal. I can now blame all my incompetencies, inadequacies and inefficiencies on being deficient in all the things I usually score from my banana intake.
Cyclone Yasi swung by in February and wiped out most of Queensland's banana crop and since then prices have gone up and up and up - just like they did a few years ago when Larry swung by. Apparently Australia does not import bananas though my deprived brain cannot come up with any good reasons for this. Today bananas were priced at $18.95 a kg at my local supermarket. After weighing one and doing some calculations I worked out that at the rate this household usually disposes of bananas that that would add at least another $80 to the weekly shop. Given that my weekly grocery bill is already almost double the number I used to spend in New Zealand, I yet again went home bananaless.
Well at least I have my dreams. Of banana cake, banana muffins, banana pikelets, banana fritters, banana and jam on toast, plain old emergency handbag banana .....
..... and of September when affordable bananas will apparently start making their way back into the shops.
Oh Wow! The formerly humble banana has reached luxury status. Yet here in NZ they still came back home from school battered, bruised and neglected in the lunch box. I enjoy your posts Deidre. We hardly knew each other before you left so I feel like a bit of a stalker having stumbled across your blog while surfing crafty stuff.
ReplyDeleteHi Jane, Well I feel like a stalker because I still get the school newsletter in my inbox! We have had great fun all year with the entertainment book the PTA gave me so thanks again, Deidre
ReplyDeleteThe one positive I've found about the increased banana prices here is that I've reduced my supermarket checkout chocolate treats in favour of a banana. I take the time to stop and enjoy eating it too rather than mindlessly munching one while doing something else which I realise now I often used to do. I've also started buying bananas as a wee 'thank you' gift for other people where I might otherwise have bought a chocolate treat - always well-received.They're usually around $12.95 a kilo here, cheapest I've seen in months is $9.95 a kilo.
ReplyDeleteLike the gift angle. We scored some cheap brown ones the other day and I made banana fritters from the Harbour Kitchens (Lyttelton) cookbook. Looked at all the now historical photos of Lyttelton which of course puts our banana dilema into perspective.
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