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To be fair, it was my fault. To be honest, he should have known better.

Most evenings my kitchen is filled with 20 or more people cooking a meal together. Cooking by the Book is a leader in culinary team building, so we have firms from around the world coming to learn and laugh and dine. Now, for that many people, I don’t shop. I order. And the orders arrive in the morning for that night’s meal.

I time the orders to arrive when I am here. And on Friday, they were to come after 10AM — because I was at the gym. [Once you find a great spinning instructor, life determines new priorities!]

It was only 9AM, the buzzer rang, the food delivery arrived, and only my husband Brian was here. I had ordered a, that is one, pineapple. He accepted delivery of a case of pineapples. A case.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he apologized.

“How are you going to do that?” I asked.

“One pineapple at a time,” he said. There was confidence in his voice and a bottle of 99 proof banana liquor in his hand. Clearly, he intended to drug me into calmness.

He succeeded. This drink is really not too boozy, although you can control that to your pleasure. This frozen beverage is thick, flavorful and quite capable of decreasing your anxiety. One pineapple at a time.

Brian’s Frozen Banana Pineapple Calmer

Yield: drinks for 4

Ingredients:

  • 2 ripe [but not overripe] bananas, sliced
  • 1 cup freshly diced pineapple [about ¼ of a whole pineapple]
  • ½ cup sugar syrup
  • ½ cup banana liquor [or simply use rum]
  • 2 cups of medium size ice cubes

Preparation:

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process for 1-2 minutes. Add ice to achieve the thickness you desire.

You can start with less sugar syrup and adjust to your taste. The driver here is the bananas: no matter how yellow, they can demand more or less sweetness to complete the beverage.

Source Brian O’Rourke