Banana Bread

My apartment in Japan has a nice oven,  which was a moving gift from a friend. I have been putting it to good use by baking on my days off.

After speaking with my mother on Skype, I decided to try Banana Bread. It's a simple, fairly healthy recipe and could be completed in less than an hour. I researched on the internet and found a great recipe from a bread enthusiast's website.

After mixing everything together by hand, and waiting 30 minutes for it to bake, I was very pleased with the final result!

My bread:

The inside:

One thing to note about baking in Japan -- I couldn't find baking soda here. The reason? It's written in kanji (Chinese characters). I had to ask a Japanese friend to point it out to me in the supermarket. For those ex-pats living in Japan and wondering what baking soda looks like, here is a photo...

baking soda in Japan:

Thanks to my friend for helping me! If you are living overseas and baking soda is hard to find, you can do two things:

1) Go to the pharmacist and ask for NaHCO3 (this is the chemical equivalent of bicarbonato, or baking soda) OR,

2)  Substitute 2 teaspoons of baking powder for every 0.5 teaspoon of baking soda.

Happy baking! ^_^

If you'd like to make this banana bread, visit HERE for the recipe.