Baking and bananas

The weather was so lousy yesterday we didn't go to have a stroll down Mala Strana as planned. Instead, I armed myself with baking utensils and baked my first choco-chip cookies at home. I was so happy with the outcome. My cookies looked and smelled so good, and they tasted good, too! I baked them sans vanilla, as we couldn't find it at Insterspar. It didn't make any difference at all as the coconut gave the cookies a delicious smell.

I'm not a fan of chocolates so I went easy on them. That explains why they don't look too choco-chippy. When we baked them at school before, the dough was so sticky it was difficult to roll it in small balls. Good thing I found the solution to this-- put the dough in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

On to one of my most favorite fruits in the world-- bananas. Yes, I'm a certified member of the ape family as I just love eating bananas. But there's one kind that has eluded me in Prague no matter how many Vietnamese stores I raided in search for saba. The closest substitute I found is plantain. It's not commonly sold here, though. Only Interspar near our flat has a constant supply of it, one of the delights our new place offers.

Plantain is sold at Insterspar- Park Hostivař at 49Kč/kilo. It's the closest substitute for the elusive "saba."

Fried bananas remind me of days gone by in Surigao. I associate it with my childhood when bananas were growing wildly everywhere and we ate them boiled or fried all the time. I haven't tried boiling plantain and eating it. It doesn't sound so appealing. :) But maybe, I'll make "turon" one of these days. Now that's a thought.....