Week of Blogging: Bananas & Banana Slugs

I declare this week The Week of Blogging!

Here at VE&T, I have a week's worth of blog posts, stored up in my brain, and I am eager to get them out! Do some spring cleaning in my brain, y'know?

So first, we begin with my Banana post. A while back, maybe sometime last year, I stopped buying bananas. I learned more about how they are grown, and also became more passionate about eating locally and seasonally. Here in Santa Cruz, we are so lucky to have two wonderful year-round farmers' markets, and I have no problem finding delicious, organic, local fruits all year long.

Still, from time to time, a girl wants a banana. So, last week, I bought a bunch of organic fair trade bananas for a special treat. Yum! My new banana policy is strictly limited to organic, fair trade nanners. Mr. VE&Ts buys regular bananas, which I like to derisively refer to as "blood bananas." As in, "How's your blood banana?" Luckily, he has recently discovered that his favorite gas station/pit stop actually sells organic bananas. !?

Anyhow, I put one of these bananas to use in a delicious and extremely rich dessert smoothie: 1 frozen banana, 1 Tbsp cocoa powder, 1 Tbsp peanut butter, 1 date (not pictured!), and a bunch of almond milk. Mmmmm. At first pass it was CRAZY rich, so I diluted it with more almond milk and enjoyed it very much!

While we are on the subject of bananas, I have been wanting to blog about my special friends the banana slugs for a while now. We have lots of banana slugs here in Santa Cruz, and they are even the official mascot of our local university. They are pretty big - this one was probably about 7 inches long - and they are so beautiful! Usually they are more like 5 inches long.

I really love banana slugs. Every time I see one it feels exciting and special. Walking in the woods, you don't usually see deer or bobcats or squirrels... all animals that we know are there, but are good at hiding from us. But the sweet little banana slugs are out sliming around, and reminding me that the forest is home to many unique critters. I feel very protective of the banana slugs, and always make sure that none of my dogs step on them. I also like to count them as I walk along. They like the moist forest floor, and the other day was some sort of peak banana slug condition - I saw 26 banana slugs in a 40 minute walk! Usually it's more like 2 or 3. Anyhow, I just wanted you to know about the giant yellow beauty that is Banana Slug!