I eat a ridiculous amount of fruit - or, well, it seems like I do because on the whole most of us don't eat enough - around 4 to 5 portions a day (and then the same of veggies). I know I'm supposed to have more veggies than fruit, and I suspect I'll revert to that in the winter months, but right now there are nearly-almost-going-out-of-season cherries and strawberries, and just-going-exponentially-up-in-price mangos and grapes to be had. I may weep when cherries leave the shops for the winter, just sayin'.

I'm not made of money, though, and fruit, even in season, isn't super-cheap. Some fruits are cheaper than others - I always try to go for what's in season because it generally tastes better that way as well as being more economical but apples and bananas are usually consistently pretty affordable here.

Apples I'm avoiding for the moment, because they won't really be in season here for another month or more, so the fruit we currently have has been shipped in and chilled and mostly tastes like turnips. Cheap fruit is great, but I can't justify food miles on fruit that I'll do anything to avoid eating.

Bananas, however... Yes, they have horrendous food milage (I live in West central Scotland. Bananas are tropical. They don't swim here by themselves) but they are tremendously cheap, they're nutritious and I get fairtrade ones so that they're not screwing up the local economy where they're grown.

They're also delicious, when they're properly ripened, and the best way to do that is to buy them quite green (so they're firm enough to withstand transportation without bruising) and then hang them up.

I love my Banana Hanger - it keeps the ethylene gas out of my fruitbowl (so my other fruit doesn't over ripen in 20 seconds flat) and it allows the bananas to ripen evenly, with no dark patches where they've been resting. In fact, it lets them slowly turn that perfect, lightly freckled, yellow and they'll keep for around a week without getting too over-ripe. Perfect.


(Of course, if they do get over-ripe, and you do cakes, then just bung them in the freezer until you've got time to make banana loaf with them: 3 medium/2 large bananas, 150g (1 cup) Self-raising Flour(self rising), 150g (3/4 cup, if it's brown) some kind of sugar, 1 egg. Beat all ingredients bar the flour together, fold in the flour, stick in a lined 2lb loaf tin and bang in a 180C (350F/GM4) oven for about 25minutes (until a sharp knife comes out clean). Easy and delicious, but because of the lack of fat it doesn't keep terribly well. Darn. If you want small children to follow you about like the pied piper you can also chop up a mars bar and submerge it in the top of the mixture before you cook it.)

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I'm very much liking the results of a weekly facemask (my skin's never been better) and the hairmask I used last night (and the small scrunching of gel) has made my hair look really good and un-frizzy today, too. I think this may end up being a regular treat.

I've got curly hair and it can be a bit of a nightmare - when it's sitting well it looks brilliant, but it doesn't always sit well and I can't blow dry it to fix it (because then it expands to take over the universe) - but it has been a great deal better since I changed to the the curly girl method (if you're interested I suggest you get the book, it's not expensive and it goes into more detail - there's also a version with a DVD
although it's more expensive and new since I got my copy) and I also spend a lot less on hair products (I suspect that everyone with curly hair has a bathroom cabinet full of fairly expensive things that didn't really work). Conditioner and gel are more or less all I use now, and I'm adding in a hair mask as well when my hair's really suffering with the weather. The £1 microfibre turbie towels (thank you £land) are deeply brilliant at absorbing most of the water out of my hair without "roughing it up" and all whilst keeping it neatly tied up off of my face. I have 5 turbie towels of varying age that I use all the time (if it's cold I'll use several over the course of drying my hair so that my head doesn't get cold) and I've now discovered them in black, which is super useful for when I get my behind in gear and cover up the greys for a bit (else it looks like I've slaughtered someone and cleaned up using my hair towels).

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