the completed kitchen (and banana bread)

As promised, here are a few shots of our new island in its correct place.  So far, I'm absolutely loving the extra work space, and the storage underneath is awesome as well.  It's the perfect place to keep my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer handy and ready to use.  We also got some hooks for the metal bars on the side so we can hang things.  Right now I have a couple of our smaller pots and pans that I use almost every day hanging on the hooks, mostly because it's so convenient to just grab them instead of digging through the cupboard.

And here's a shot of the entire kitchen, clutter, garbage can, and all.

To take the new island on its maiden voyage, I decided to whip up some banana bread.  I found a recipe awhile ago that I've been wanting to try, and since I had some bananas that were looking rather unappetizing it seemed like the logical choice.  The recipe I used is from the May 2011 issue of the Food Network Mag.  I absolutely love this magazine and it is hands down my favorite cooking/food-related magazine.  I probably get at least half of the recipes I try from it.

Anyways, this recipe has been in the back of my mind for a few months, probably because it has the option of adding chocolate chips.  What's not to love?

It came out pretty good!  It was very moist, almost too moist, but once it cooled all the way it stayed together well enough.  The chocolate chips made it richer than the average banana bread, but I'm not complaining.  If you're interested, the recipe can be found  here.  It's definitely a keeper!