5 observations and orange banana bread

such a handsome fellow

1. I think the greatest pleasure we get from our cats is watching them sleep. A day does not go by without one of us exclaiming at the decadent, sprawled repose of one the cats.
2. I've practiced driving, I'm enrolled in a course (a prerequisite for getting a licence here in Panama) I have a car. This is really going to happen people!
3. We have been having terrible mosquitos at night. Our house is quite open so it's difficult to escape them. The city has fumigated several times but it hasn't helped that much. There is standing water somewhere nearby and it's not being dealt with. This is frustrating.
4. An iguana fell out of the big tree in our yard yesterday. It made such a thunk when it hit the ground. Thankfully the cat did not chase it into the house this time. I prefer not to have large iguanas hiding behind the fridge.
5. The big music news this week (well if you're me) was that Fiona Apple debuted some songs from her new album at SXSW. I am super excited about this. Have you seen the title for her new album? She totally wins. There's footage from SXSW on youtube, but  I'm going to post the video for "Not About Love" from Extraordinary Machine because it has Zach Galifianakis in it, and I certainly had no idea who he was when this video came out, and now he's probably more famous than Fiona herself. Also it's pretty funny:

I make a lot of banana bread. We are banana bread people; we eat it for breakfast and with coffee in the afternoon and my daughter takes it for lunch. I have already posted my standard recipe, but I've been messing around with a new recipe. This recipe is bigger--it makes a bundt pan.

Orange Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter
1-1/2 cups sugar--a combination of brown and white is nice
3 whole Eggs
1-1/2 cup Mashed Ripe Bananas
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 cup All-purpose Flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1-1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
3/4 cup pulpy fresh squeezed orange juice
3/4 cup coconut milk (not sweetened)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour bundt pan.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating for a few seconds after each addition. Beat in mashed bananas and orange rind.

Add dry ingredients and juice and coconut milk alternately to the mixing bowl. Beat until all combined.

Pour into bundt pan and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.