fat

Friday morning, I used the Banana Bread recipe from SimplyRecipes.com, and then I added 2 cups of chocolate chips and about a tablespoon of cinnamon. I think this is what made it so dang good. And OF COURSE I used VERY ripe bananas. And... I doubled the batch.


Sadly, this is the last remaining piece, and I'm about to eat it. Yes, that means that Nate and I conquered two loaves in less than three days.

I promise we have been doing fun and interesting things, but fun things end up being list-type posts, and interesting things end up being too serious. For instance, the other night we went to ASU to watch a documentary put on by the International Law Society (Nate is Vice President). It was about the genocide in Rwanda, and there were ample pictures and video clips of people being killed or already dead. Some were severely injured - like a young girl who hid for over 40 days in a chapel amongst dead bodies. When they found her, she was skin and bone, her head had a huge gash, and the fingers on her right had been hacked off with a machete. You can't see things like that and not feel guilty for the comparatively easy life you live. This spurred on a conversation during the ride home about knowing how to live in moderation. Is it likely that we will give all of our excess to charities, the church, or the needy? Can we feel justified in buying a few things we want with the money we've earned? At what spiritual cost do we choose to maintain normalcy within the culture we live... when we know there are people who live with much, much less?

I visited a family yesterday after church who live in a mobile home with a floor that's sinking in. Two of the children have a disease that deteriorates their muscles and forces them to wheelchairs. The mom works with disabled children because she's "an expert," she said while nodding to her kids. Her dryer is broken, so she hangs her clothes outside... and it's been in the 40's recently. I could tell she cleaned up before we got there. I think everyone likes to make a good impression. Some people pay $60 to get their hair done, and others vacuum their sunken, stained floors.

I'm sure Nate and I will be trying to figure out how to balance our knowledge and our lifestyle for the rest of our lives. We've made some decisions here and there: switching from cell phones to land line, not having cable, selling our second car. Sure we've saved money, but we also trimmed the fat. So far, I can only define fat insofar as it relates to health. And that brings me full circle... 2 loaves of banana bread in 3 days is the fat of both varieties. A piece of banana bread is divine, but I wish I had a recipe for peace of mind.