Miss October!

Our Employee of the Month for October was Leandra Cate, who joined us in February of this year. She has proven to be a lucky find! She is smart, funny, efficient, always interesting, and has the biggest laugh in Eugene. Everyone really enjoys Leandra around here. She makes each day just that much more fun.

At the same time she is taking care of business at her computer, on the phone, in the processing room, in the order room, and on and on. On top of all of this she is also the one responsible for the Studio Sale - great job, Leandra!



She is full of opinions which I, personally, appreciate. Meek and timid just don't cut it around here! Sometimes an opinion gets overridden, but at least we have a discussion going.

Each month I make a poster about our Employee of the Month on which we all post compliments. Here was one of my favorites:

"You're the female version of Mr. Bob Dylan.. that means "You Rock!". (Leandra is a HUGE Bob Dylan fan.)

The poster also includes a few fun questions and answers.

What are 3 foods you cannot live without?

-bananas, oats, tomatoes

What would your dream road trip be?

-a Winnebago drive across the length of South America

What do you like best about Oregon? (She moved here from New Orleans so it's all pretty new to Leandra out here.)

-the moutains, hiking, groovy landscape

Since she admits that she cannot live without bananas, I figured a Banana Cream Pie would be the obvious Birthday Treat for her. Fortunately, I have a really good recipe - thanks to Epicurious.com. Last year when we celebrated two family birthdays at home, I made a Banana Cream Pie and a really rich Chocolate Cheese Cake. I was sure that the Chocolate dessert would be the more popular. But there was NO competition. I think even I preferred the Pie and I would normally never choose anything over chocolate.

So, if you are looking to make a great dessert...look no further! (Unfortunately, I neglected to photograph Leandra's pie so I must thank the Food Network for this image. I will say that my pie actually had little black specks here and there - from the tiny Vanilla Bean seeds that you scrape into the pie.)



Banana Cream Pie
Crust
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 large egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 pounds total), peeled, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and mashed banana in large bowl to blend. Add unsalted butter and stir to moisten evenly. Press onto bottom and up sides of 10-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

Bake crust until set and pale golden, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

For filling:
Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt in heavy medium saucepan to blend. Gradually whisk in whipping cream and whole milk, then egg yolks. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add vanilla bean. Whisk over medium-high heat until custard thickens and boils, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in unsalted butter and vanilla extract. Discard vanilla bean. Transfer custard to large bowl; cool completely, whisking occasionally, about 1 hour.

Stir custard to loosen, if necessary. Spread 1 cup custard over bottom of prepared crust. Top with half of sliced bananas, then 1 cup custard, covering bananas completely. Repeat layering with remaining bananas and remaining custard. Chill banana cream pie until filling is set and crust softens slightly, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day. Cut pie into wedges and serve.

Note: I embellished the top with lots of slightly sweetened whipped cream.