1. Bake Banana Bread
ANN CHRISTENSON, DINING EDITOR
A banana bread recipe has to be pretty spectacular to stand out. Plenty of recipes claim to be the “ultimate.” Smitten Kitchen blog dynamo Deb Perelman boldly uses that term for this bad boy. I am inclined to agree. Here are some of the things I really like about it – it uses all brown sugar (I prefer it to white sugar), the proportion of banana is ideal (2 cups, mashed) and the generous sprinkling of turbinado sugar on the top adds a gloriously crunchy touch This is a sweet, rich bread that calls for ½ cup butter and 2 eggs. With my addition of a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips – because this loaf was going to my teenage nephew – it probably qualifies as cake. And it was impressive. Very tender, rich and sweet but not over the top. It makes a big loaf and Perelman warns that you’ll fill a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan nearly to the brim. I didn’t do that. I held back a bit and used the remaining batter to, in addition, fill a mini loaf pan (5 ¾ by 3 ¼). A sweet little treat for me!
2. Go to the WI Humane Society to “Look”
BRIANNA SCHUBERT, ASSOCIATE DIGITAL EDITOR
So… I got a kitten over the weekend, and, admittedly, she’s all I can think about. As I type this, I’m counting down the minutes until I get to pet her again. Naturally, this means that the best thing I can recommend you do this week is to do what I did that led me to have Cleo in my life. Go to the Humane Society “just to look” – even though you already know going in there that you’re not leaving that place without a kitten. We went to the Milwaukee location (4500 W. Wisconsin Ave.), and everyone was friendly and it was overall a pretty easy process. If you are seriously thinking about adopting, you’ll want to check adoption hours and get on the daily waitlist immediately, or you may have to come back the next day. And if my recommendation isn’t convincing enough, here’s a picture of her napping to do the trick.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
3. Read The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft
ARCHER PARQUETTE, MANAGING EDITOR
If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I’m a weird little man. And as a weird little man, I like weird little stuff. And that most definitely includes the work of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, the preeminent writer of weird fiction, probably best known for creating monstrous Cthulhu, who awaits in sunken R’lyeh. Every autumn, as the weather starts to turn, I crack open a new volume of Lovecraft stories, and despite having read them before, they always entertain, enliven and, invariably, disturb. This season, my tome of choice is The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft edited by Leslie Klinger with an introduction by the one and only Alan Moore. This collection focuses mostly on Lovecraft’s Arkham stories and includes copious footnotes and annotations throughout, illuminating the writer’s life and influences. While the page count might be intimidating, it’s a worthy primer on Lovecraft and includes some of his all-time best work (“The Call of Cthulhu,” “At the Mountains of Madness”, “The Shadow over Innsmouth”). If you haven’t read Lovecraft, I highly recommend, and if you have, this edition is a great way to dive back into his weird world.
4. Listen to Chat Pile’s God’s Country
CHRIS DROSNER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Remember that metal show I recommended several weeks ago? Well, Mastodon and especially Gojira absolutely shredded my face. And it’s emboldened this blossoming metalhead to get even weirder. Chat Pile is a metal band (in the sludge or noise subgenres) from Oklahoma whose first LP-length album, God’s Country, will undoubtedly be at the top of Spotify most-played lists of 2023. The music is frequently creepy and unrelentingly bleak but, as weird as it sounds, always catchy. Much of it is like a good horror movie come to life, with Raygun Busch’s vocals telling these tales of depravity and madness in a delivery that alternates between earnest, entirely believable pleading and growling fury. If your first listen is a total turn-off, I get it. If you’re thirsty for more, Chat Pile is playing the Majestic Theatre in downtown Madison on Thursday night.
5. Order Pizza from Fixture
BRIANNA SCHUBERT, ASSOCIATE DIGITAL EDITOR
I love ordering pizza from takeout, and one go-to spot of mine is Fixture in Walker’s Point. The sausage, mushroom and onion is packed full of toppings and there is minimal cheese with a delicious, mildly spicy sauce. I picked some up last week when I had friends over for a book club, and it once again hit the spot.
