Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Joy of a Banana Split

One of my favorite childhood memories is my mom taking me and my two younger sisters to Baskin Robbins after school. She would order one banana split and us four girls would share that one banana split. We never complained it was not enough or that we each wanted our own. Ha, I'd like to say at that age we knew that "sharing is caring" but I think it was more that we knew our mom was managing us on a tight budget so we didn't dare to be brats.

Yes, we would elbow over who got more chocolate ice cream or more banana, and of course, the ultimate prize was the cherry. Whose turn was it to eat that solitary cherry on the top this time? If my memory serves me correctly, my youngest sister often got the cherry because she was the youngest and cuter than a newborn puppy. She still is cuter than a newborn puppy.

Sometimes, we would even go to Farrell's, an old-fashioned ice cream parlour in Rosemead (closed years ago and is now Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant), for a late-night banana split when my father came home from his job as a chef. Can you imagine? Three kids up at midnight eating ice cream and watching cartoons for 25 cents at Farrell's. Only Chinese parents would not be concerned about kids hyped up on sugar and bouncing off the walls way past their bedtime. Love it!

Anyway, I was telling this story to a friend recently and she had no idea what a banana split was. As the HungryKat, I had to remedy that situation right away. The next day, we hosted a Banana Split Hour at work and I showed her how to make a Banana Split and invited our co-workers to make their own. It was a lovely and delicious Friday.

Notice how my Banana Split now has three cherries :)

That weekend, I went to my aunt's house for dinner and she has three young boys (12 and 10 and 10). I showed them this picture and told them about my Banana Split party and they said they've never had a Banana Split either! Hungry(cousin)Kat to the rescue. You should know how that ends.


HungryKat Banana Splits
  • Ripe Banana
  • Chocolate Ice Cream
  • Strawberry Ice Cream
  • Vanilla Ice Cream
  • Fudge (melted and no Hershey's syrup please)
  • Pineapple Topping (these toppings can be bought in jars at the market)
  • Strawberry Topping
  • Whipped Cream
  • Toasted crushed peanuts or pecans
  • Maraschino Cherries
First, gather friends.

Split a ripe banana lengthwise and place in a mid-size bowl (there are actually Banana Split glassware you can buy). Place one scoop of chocolate, one scoop of strawberry and one scoop of vanilla ice cream in between the split banana. Top the chocolate with fudge, the vanilla with the pineapple topping and the strawberry with strawberry topping. Then squirt a generous amount of whip cream on top of each mound of ice cream. Finish with the nuts and top with three Maraschino cherries; one for each ice cream.

Last step - Smile and enjoy with friends or loved ones.

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