Ingredients

• 2 to 3 medium bananas, ripened (*see note)

• ⅓ cup salted butter, melted (*see note)

• ½ teaspoon baking soda (not baking powder)

• 1 pinch salt

• ¾ cup sugar

• 1 large egg, beaten (*see note)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

*To ripen bananas—Place bananas in a silver bowl and whisper to them all of your darkest secrets. Cover with a dish towel. Use when the skins are brown and oily. If any yellow remains, they are not ready. If the skins have gone thin and brittle, start over. Too many secrets will make the bread claggy and metallic.

*To melt butter—Hold the butter in your cupped palms and shout to it all of your deepest frustrations. It will soften slowly, but melt suddenly.

*To beat egg—Crack the egg into a crystal goblet and break the yolk with a tuning fork, then stir counter clockwise. Do not use a regular fork. If you do, the resulting bread will be missing an important note and will not rise properly.

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour an 8x4-inch loaf pan.

In your silver bowl, mash ripened bananas with your tuning fork. Do not peel. If ripened correctly, the peels will melt away at the first touch of the fork.

Stir in melted butter.

Add egg, vanilla, and sugar. Beat till smooth.

Place silver bowl on a sketch of your greatest desire. Cover with dishtowel and leave to rest.

Mix flour, salt, and baking soda in a Tupperware bowl purchased out of a sense of obligation.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet. Do not overmix.

At this point, reality should start to feel thin and slick, like you are encased in the sublimated banana peels.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Hold the crystal goblet over the pan. Sing of your happiest memory, favorite place, or most treasured love. As the last note lingers, smash the goblet with the tuning fork. (Again, do not use a regular fork for this step.) The goblet will shatter into a thousand motes of light and settle gently over the batter.

Bake for 55 to 65 minutes at 350°F, or until a toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for a few minutes. You should feel a humming in your bones. This will grow louder, till you hear a tone that matches the tuning fork. Remove the banana bread from the pan and let cool completely.

Wrapped well, the banana bread will keep at room temperature for 4 days. For longer storage, refrigerate the loaf up to 5 days.

This recipe is not recommended for freezing.

When you slice the bread, the world will shatter into a thousand motes of light.

When you take your first bite, the world will reform around you.

If the new world is not to your liking, you can always try again.