Bena Mae’s Kitchen: It’s the little things that get us down

 We all worry about the big things over which we have no control…..the world situation, the economy, joblessness. But the most nagging worries are the ones we do have control over.

My number one worry is clutter, a constant reminder that my priorities lie in another direction. For example, I have piles of magazines I would hate to throw out because there may be an article in there  I might want to clip and save. (I have magazines that go back farther than the Titanic that I can’t bring myself to throw away.)

Lots of women have this problem. We save photos because one day we may want to “scrapbook them.” At present mine are in shoe boxes stuck away back in a closet.  If they are on display at the funeral home when I shuffle off this mortal coil, the shoe boxes will have to be passed around from mourner to mourner.

We save all kinds of stuff because we honestly want to do something with them. But we don’t. No one has that much time. Have you seen the best (or worst) example of this on A&E called “Hoarders?” It is a program  based on fact showing just how serious this problem can get. I’m not there yet. But given time…

Noting that I haven’t been able to solve this problem yet, I’ll move on to another little aggravation that pushes my irritation button, namely, paying for something I didn’t get. I had two bananas, neither of them over-ripe.  I peeled one to eat and it was rotten inside.  I peeled the other one and it was rotten, too. Eighty-nine cents shot to blazes. Sorry, no refund.

During the big snow last week, my phone was out for three days. I could have been at the North Pole except for my cell phone.  Will the phone company deduct this from my bill? Probably not.

But the biggie that raised my hackles occurred during the big snowfall last week.  As I told you, the city shoved a big pile of snow in my driveway that prevented me from getting out. On this day I had to go to the drugstore to get a prescription refilled, so I called the man in charge. Here is our conversation:

I told the man about my predicament and he proceeded to tell me how busy they were and that he could not send a crew just to clear my driveway. “But they caused the problem,” I told him.

“No ma’am, nature caused the problem  Nature caused the snow.”

“Nature didn’t make the big pile of snow in my driveway,” I fired back. “Your city crew did!”

“Can’t you get one of your neighbors to go to the drugstore for you?” he asked.

“My neighbors can’t get out of their driveways, either,” I shot back. “They’ve got a pile of snow as big as Mt. Everest in their driveways!” (I like to exaggerate when I get mad.)  “You scraped the street nice and clean and then made it impossible to drive on it by barricading our way to get to it. Where is the logic in that?”

To make a long story short, I got to the drugstore that day. But mostly on adrenaline.

The melding of banana, coconut and pecans give this cake a unique flavor. Best if made a day before serving.

Banana Nut Coconut Cake

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

3 ripe bananas, mashed

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 ripe banana, mashed

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup shredded coconut

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans or one 9×13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, cream together white sugar and 1/2 cup butter. Mix in eggs and 3 mashed bananas.

Sift together flour and baking soda in a separate bowl. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Blend in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Fold in 1 cup of pecans and 1 cup coconut. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool completely before frosting with Banana Nut Frosting.

To Make Frosting: Cream together 1/2 cup butter and 4 cups confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in 1 medium mashed banana, 1 cup pecans, 1 cup coconut and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Use to frost cake.