I had a Date with a Date: Apple Date Nut Bread

I have to be honest. Lately I’ve been having some trouble figuring out what day it is. From what I can tell, yesterday was Bakingday, today is Cleaningday, or to be more precise, Kitchencleaningday and tomorrow could be Gardeningday but I can’t say for sure. This is the best I can do at the moment and I’m guessing that many of you are feeling the same way. Especially those of you who, like me, have retired from the “daily grind” as we were wont to call it, even when some of us really liked what we were grinding. Let’s face it, this pandemic of ours, (that would be the royal “our”), has screwed up time for us. Things have become muddled. It’s hard enough to remember what month it is let alone what day of the week. Heck! If the deer hadn’t shown up to eat my tulips I’d still be wondering if Spring had sprung. On the one hand it seems that we have been locked up in our houses, not seeing family or friends for an incomprehensible amount of time and yet, each day is over before we know it. It’s confusing.

Take me for instance. I get up in the morning at what I consider to be a reasonable hour, given that I’m a bit of a night owl, eat breakfast, catch up on the morning news and the next thing I know someone comes bounding down the stairs to throw a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches on the fire and I start to worry about the prospect of getting crumbs on my pjs. Where did the morning go? And the rest of the day for that matter. Seems like when I eventually do get dressed, before I know it I’m putting those pjs back on, crumbs and all. Don’t even get me started on whatever a “week-end” might be. As far as I’m concerned, there are two days of the week that we don’t get mail and five that we do. Except for long week-ends of course. Those are special. No mail for three days. Beyond that, and I really hate to say this, right now one day is pretty much the same as the next.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and finally came to the conclusion that the problem is I no longer have any markers. My days have no real distinguishing features. It’s not that I was ever a social butterfly but I did some stuff. Like on Tuesday mornings. I always knew it was Tuesday because somehow I found myself washed, dressed and out the door at the rather ungodly hour of 8:30 (that’s am) so I could go walking with the walking ladies. And Thursday. Thursdays found me getting gussied up for my morning stint at the local museum where I spent much of my time chit chatting to visitors from almost everywhere in this great big world of ours. Now there’s no walking, no visitors, and a world that has gotten very much smaller for most of us. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. I know I’m very lucky to be where I am. Which doesn’t mean I can’t kvetch a little about how life has changed in the pandemic. Out loud.  

Anyway, with nothing else on the calendar, the other day I decided to make a date. With a date. Honestly, I never really liked dates (either kind) but this one turned out pretty well. My date brought along a couple of apples and some nuts. Nothing wrong with a few nuts (I substituted pecans for walnuts. Think Costco!) in the mix. And just in case things got a little boring, a little cinnamon was added just to spice things up. All in all I would say things worked out between me and my date. So much so that I’m thinking about calling back for a second date with my date. Not sure who the date will bring along next time but I’m always open to suggestions. As you can imagine, it’s hard for me to pinpoint the exact day when this might happen. But I’m sure that it will. And this time I might even get myself a little gussied up for the occasion. 

Apple Nut Date Bread

Recipe: Prep time: Quick. Apparently that’s why they call it a “quick bread”. Cook time: 50 – 60 minutes
Me: Not so quick. 42 minutes to get all of the stuff chopped, diced and mixed. Baked for 62 minutes. 
Favourite thing about this recipe: After all that I’ve just written I suppose I better say the date.
Least favourite thing about this recipe: It was still in the oven at coffee time.
What I learned: It’s great to have a date on Bakingday. That was one too many, wasn’t it!