Midterms all done! Biostatistics was brutal but the others went well. I got a part-time student job with the federal government and the background checks and training are going slowly which, federal government so it's expected, but it's still very annoying. Partially my own fault I waited until after midterms to do most of it, but there's way more than there needs to be. But I might be eligible for a COVID booster because of it so that's sweet. That girl from a few weeks ago came back and said she felt ready to go on a date. We've been on a few now and they've been really fun. Haven't dated since pre-pandemic so it's nice to be doing that again. Also partook in a baking competition in a friend group, October's theme was pumpkin and I made pumpkin mousse and won. November's theme is pies. If anyone has good recipe ideas I'm all ears.
Banana cream pies can be elevated by putting a quarter-inch-thick layer of chocolate ganache between graham cracker crust and banana pudding. It's a seriously easy pie. Graham cracker crust (graham crackers'n'butter), chocolate ganache (dark chocolate chips, heavy cream), greenish banana slices laid down in a pseudo-grid, fill all with banana pudding, instant is fine. You can legit top it with reddi-whip. The recipe almost doesn't matter. Nobody "loves" banana cream pie. Throw a fuckton of ganache in it and suddenly they do. There's a lesson there.
...is the lesson that people like ganache and not pie? Is a pie still a pie once it's primarily ganache? Hm.
If you have access to a food processor, this pie crust recipe from Kenji is really good. I'll never use store bought pie crust ever again. It really elevates any pie filling you put inside.