Adventures in Parenthood!

That's right, Baby Plattner is expected to be here November 2013!

*Now you know why there have not been so many posts lately... juggling the first trimester and a full work load is tougher than I thought! But don't worry, summer vacation is around the corner. :)

Edible Adventures: Keeping Bananas Yellow

Because I spend a tremendous (read: too much) time on Pinterest, I often find cool things that I would love to try. Most of the time, they stay on Pinterest and I do not have make the time to try them out. But this pin was so promising, I just had to try it.... plus bananas are so inexpensive at Costco, it would not take much work or money on my behalf.

The pin basically suggested that wrapping the stems of the bananas with foil would help them keep longer. Not seeing any side by side evidence, I decided I needed to test this out a little more scientifically .. well, as scientific as I get.

To begin, the husband and I bought two large bunches of bananas from Costco. (Seriously, their 'nanas are super cheap and tasty... so worth it if you can!) We tried to get two bunches that were alike in color and size. The unscientific part is that we ate some of the non-foiled bananas as we went. They were too delicious to resist, but I tried.

We then put both bunches of bananas in one place in the kitchen. One bunch we left untouched, the other bunch we wrapped foil tightly around the stems. (Note: in another trial we discover that the foil must be wrapped tightly around the stems or it does not work.)  We took a photo every day around the same time. Here are our results:

Day 1: March 12

Day 2: March 13

Day 3: March 14

Day 4: March 15

Day 5: March 16

Day 6: March 17

Day 8: March 19

 Clearly, the foil bananas are faring much better than those with no foil... partially because they aren't getting eaten, but also because they have foil on them. For us, wrapping the stems with foil will prolong bananas for a few days. I will be honest, once they get as brown as the unwrapped ones in our Day 8 picture, I won't eat them --- but husband will. Of course, he forgets, which is why we probably have two dozen brown bananas in our freezer. Yum, chocolate chip banana muffins... but that is a different post.

If you try out the "foil" method, let us know how it works for you! :)

2013 Photos: Week 9

This week I experienced a few beautiful sunrises on the way to work in the morning. I absolutely love watching the fog hover over the grass! 

We said goodbye to my old, comfy couches. They found their next home at my brother's house. Now we wait for OUR new couches. 

And we concluded the weekend doing work...I spent all of Sunday working on report cards, but I was all done by 11:00... pm. (Note the excessive caffeine usage!)