Chris kicked off his vacation on Friday night and we have the whole month of August together! I realize that a month of vacation may sound awesome, and it is… if you disregard the fact that he has this much time to use because he hasn’t taken a day off in a year, including most weekends! Yikes.

So we got the weekend started with drinks at Chris’ law firm’s rooftop bar. Have I told you there is a bar at his office? Again one of those things that sounds cool until you know that they basically are going to all costs to make sure you NEVER need to leave. Not even to socialize. Then we were off to Truck Stop London, a food truck festival to try everything from gourmet hot dogs to jerk chicken to… yup, that’s a massive skillet filled with mac and cheese.

And these are spicy caramelized pork buns from the food truck, Yum Bun, and yes, in fact, they were. My favorite bite of the night!

For Saturday, Chris’ first full day of freedom, after a pilates class we headed to a well earned brunch at Rotary Bar & Diner with a DIY bloody mary bar. Those always seem like such a fun idea, but then I end up feeling pressured not to screw it up. Rotary definitely had a great spread of choice ingredients though and in the end mine was quite tasty.

And why not make a perfect Sunday morning by cooking up a batch of these banana biscuits (as I have my eye on a overripe banana just waiting to be mashed bushed rolled and baked). Let’s talk about biscuits. I feel that I should clarify. The term biscuit usual describes cookies here in the UK, but I am talking about good ole southern style buttery flaky biscuits. Also these are not to be confused with scones. They are proper butter (and sure some banana) biscuits.

To make them, cut cold butter into the flour along with a mashed banana. It will become a bit grainy once it is fully mixed.

Once the banana and butter are well mixed, stir in the milk. Buttermilk would also work great if you had it on hand! As the dough comes together, add a bit more flour if necessary so that you can roll it out to a 1-inch thick disk. Cut biscuits into 2 inch rounds and bake.

After 12 minutes, you have an incredible quick and delicious breakfast treat.

Since we are in Belgium this week, I figured why not start the chocolate train rolling a bit early with nutella spread all over these amazing breakfast treats. Of course, they are also great with strawberry jam.

Banana Biscuits

Makes 6

2 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 Tbs. sugar

½ tsp salt

1 ripe banana

4 Tbs butter, chilled

½ cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

* Suggested: Nutella and Strawberry Jam for serving

Preheat oven to 450˚F.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Mash the banana and cut the butter into small pieces. Add to the flour mixture and blend, using a pastry cutter to mix evenly. Once the flour becomes crumbly, forming small beads, pour in the milk and vanilla. Stir until just blended.

On a floured surface, roll out to 1 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter or glass, cut into 3 inch rounds and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Remove from fridge and bake immediately for 12 minutes.