Food in Real Time: Monday's breakfast

Kind of a pain-in-the-behind morning here. The day after the day after Daylight Savings Time is always the most brutal, plus I'm coming off a four-day college basketball bender. As I attempt to peel myself off the couch, a task that lies somewhere between daunting and insurmountable, I'm enjoying coffee and banana bread. But not just any coffee and banana bread.

 {Dancing Goats coffee and Tyler Florence's Banana Bread with Pecans. UK Wildcats coffee mug-- gift from my sister-in-law; dessert plate via Fiesta in the beloved and long-retired Rose hue.}

The coffee is Dancing Goats --   the best roast we've ever found. Seriously, y'all. We got hooked on this amazing roast when we lived in Nashville -- it was the house blend for an amazing cafe near our house--and now we bribe any and all Southbound friends to make a Smokey and the Bandit-style coffee run so that we can keep our bean habit alive. It's an amazing dark roast that can be used either for coffee or espresso. The first note you taste is of bittersweet or dark chocolate. The chocolatey note is followed by a very smooth, non-acidic body, uncommon in a roast this dark. The finish has a slightly citrus note -- too delicate to be orange; clementine, perhaps. Add some half-and-half, and it's heaven in a cup. On particularly brutal mornings, when I know we'll run through at least a pot, I grind the beans, then add about a teaspoon of cinnamon to the filter and stir so that the grounds are evenly coated. It gives a subtle, lovely flavor and cuts more acidity.

The banana nut bread is a variant of Tyler Florence's recipe. The texture is more like a banana pound cake than the usual quick bread, due to the inclusion of two eggs. I alter the recipe by mixing all the bananas into a banana cream with the Kitchenaid wisk attachment,  rather than leaving a few that were mashed; I don't care for the chunky texture of traditional banana bread. I also throw in about a teaspoon of cinnamon and about 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Oh, and I omitted the powdered sugar.

Cheers, y'all!

HCW