The state of my entertainment media, and a tasty treat

I'm not glued to movies every evening but for the longest time all I had was radio, and being able to play CDs and watch movies again has spoiled me. Last week I sent a panicked email cry for help because I loaded up a DVD and the sound was at whisper level. I was sure I had not touched any significant buttons, but advice from the Florida and DC Media Experts indicated that I must have turned on the surround sound. I guess I did. There were all sorts of tiny icons lit on the amplifier’s CD/DVD display. I got out the booket and tried (understanding and) following the directions. Something worked. Life is back to normal.  

Now for the Tasty Treat Announcement: First there were home-made Ben & Jerry ice cream cakes ...

Now I present: Home-made Chunky Monkey ice cream.  You need

• pecan halves
• chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate (think Ghirardelli)
• fully ripe but not overripe bananas
• eggnog ice cream

Because eggnog ice cream is only available between Thanksgiving and New Year's, this is a seasonal treat. (Hood and Breyer's are good.  Edy's Slow-Churned is only good when used in home-made Chunky Monkey.)

In the oven or in a frying pan, toast some pecan halves gently (until you can just smell them), let them cool and chop them coarsely. (Don't use already-chopped pecans.) 

If you're not using chocolate chips, break the dark chocolate into B&J chunk-size pieces.

Serve out reasonable amounts of eggnog ice cream in dishes (the extras need room!). Let the ice cream sit to soften just a little.  While you're waiting on the ice cream, slice bananas lengthwise into quarters and then slice crossways into pieces.

Fold bananas, chocolate chips/pieces, and pecans into the ice cream.  Yum, yum!!
And obviously you can make this one dish at a time (heh heh).

If your bananas are too ripe for Chunky Monkey, use them to make Alice's or Danielle's outstanding banana bread ...