Joanne Weir, Someone I Admire

I am very fortunate to say that I am developing a relationship with an

amazing chef, Joanne Weir, who is not only a best-selling author, but has

had her own cooking show on PBS. Based in San Francisco, Joanne has

followers from everywhere, and I am one of them. For a school project, I

chose Joanne as someone who I admire and am inspired by. Here is my school

report...

Joanne Weir has a very compelling story to tell. She has led a very interesting life because she is a famous chef. She was inspired as a chef in many different ways. First off, she is a fourth generation chef. Her mom always loved to cook. She planned the menus at a private school. Her grandpa owned a beautiful big dairy farm called the Bryant Farm in the Berkshires. Her great grandma was the bread winner for the family since her husband had died at sea in a sailing accident. She had to feed the family so she went to work at restaurant at the turn of the century called Pilgrim’s Pantry.

Joanne’s fondest memory in the kitchen was when she was baking oatmeal raisin cookies with her mother. Instead of adding a teaspoon of baking soda, she put in a cup. Wow! As you can imagine, those cookies did not turn out as they were supposed to.

Over the years, Joanne has had cooking shows and has authored many cookbooks. She teaches a lot of cooking classes and has food tours. May I mention, she also has a fantastic blog -http://joanneweir.blogspot.com/.

In Joanne’s free time she likes to do a lot of things. She likes to hang out and cook for friends. She also likes to work on her blog, take photos, and watch movies. Along with that, she enjoys spending time in San Francisco. Most of all, she loves to travel! She has visited so many places it is hard to keep track of them all.

Now, Joanne Weir is a newlywed to Joe Ehrlich. They went on their honeymoon to Greece and it was beautiful. She lives in San Francisco with no pets.

If Joanne could have anything she wanted for dinner, it would be pretty tough to choose, but if she had to, she could do it. As an appetizer, she would have a delectable ravioli with ricotta, tomato, and basil as the filling. For the main course she would have spit roasted lamb with salsa verde. The side dishes would be potatoes with olive oil and rosemary along with string beans. For dessert there would be almond cake with roasted peaches inside and swiss buttercream.That’s the same cake she had when she got married!

Bananarama Bread Recipe

Here is a recipe for a sweet and decadent treat that includes bananas. Can you guess what it is? Yep. It's banana bread. I love this recipe because beginner chefs can make it mostly all by themselves. The only thing that requires help from a grown up is melting some butter and putting the bread in the oven (taking it out too). This recipe doesn't take a lot of time either. Actually, most recipes for "bread" use yeast but banana bread uses a different leavening agent. A leavening agent is a gas that causes dough to rise. Banana bread uses baking soda as its leavening agent. As a result, it is a quick bread and is baked as soon as the batter is mixed. By the way, national Banana Bread Day is February 23.


Bananarama Bread

3 bananas (ripe ones are the best)
1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons of melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup chocolate chips ( don't overdo or it'll taste too sweet)
1/2 cup walnut pieces (optional)


In addition to the ingredients listed above, here's what you will need to begin...

Measuring cups; 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/4 cup, 1 teaspoon

Mixing bowls; 1 large bowl, 2 medium sized bowls, 1 small bowl

1 masher

1 loaf pan


Let's make it easy, directions:

1. Have an adult preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Butter a loaf pan.

2. Take one of your medium sized bowls and mash the bananas in it until the bananas are mushy.

3. Put your dry ingredients (flour and baking soda) into another one of the medium sized bowls and mix together.

4. In the small bowl, beat the egg with a fork.

5. In your large bowl, stir the melted butter, the sugar and the egg together.

6. Pour the mashed bananas, and the dry ingredients into the butter, sugar and egg mixture. Incorporate it all together. Be careful not to overmix.

7. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts.

8. Finally, pour your mixture into the buttered loaf pan. If the bowl is too heavy for you to lift then use a measuring cup to scoop the batter out and into the loaf pan.

9. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Stick a toothpick into the center of the bread and if it comes out clean (no batter sticking to it), then your banana bread is ready!

Voila! You have successfully made banana bread.