Banana Milk Drink

Priya took the MCAT last week — her test date was in June, a month before mine. She called me afterward and her voice was the voice of a person who has run a marathon and is not sure if they finished well but is sure they finished. She said the exam was harder than the practice tests. She said the passages in the Critical Analysis section were longer than expected. She said the Biology section had three questions she had never seen the concept for. She said all of this and then she said, "I think I did okay." From Priya, "okay" means good. From Priya, "good" means excellent. The score comes in four weeks. The waiting will be a masterclass in patience.

My MCAT is in three weeks. The studying has entered its final phase — not the learning phase but the review phase, the consolidation, the process of making sure that everything I have learned in four years is accessible, organized, retrievable under the pressure of a timed exam. I review the way MawMaw Shirley reviews a recipe before a big meal: not to learn it but to confirm it, to run through the steps mentally, to make sure the hands know what the mind knows and the mind knows what the books taught.

I drove to Baker Sunday. MawMaw Shirley made me sit at the table and she made me tea and she said, "Stop studying." I said I could not stop studying. She said, "For one hour, stop. Sit in this kitchen. Drink this tea. Be a person, not a student. The exam will wait. You will not melt if you stop for one hour." She is right. I stopped. I sat. I drank the tea. The tea was Earl Grey, which is not a Southern tea, but MawMaw Shirley drinks it because Grandpa Charles drank it, because Grandpa Charles's mother drank it, because somewhere in the Robinson history someone acquired a taste for Earl Grey that has persisted through four generations without anyone questioning it. Some traditions do not need explanations. They need teacups.

I made a simple dinner when I got home — scrambled eggs and toast, the meal of the exhausted, the meal that says "I am too tired to cook and also I love myself enough to eat." MawMaw Shirley would not consider this a meal. She would consider it a snack. I consider it survival, and survival is a valid culinary category when the MCAT is three weeks away.

MawMaw Shirley’s Earl Grey reminded me that nourishment does not have to be complicated — it just has to be intentional. Scrambled eggs and toast got me through that Sunday night, but what I kept coming back to all week was something even simpler: a cold banana milk drink I’ve been making since I was twelve, the one MawMaw Shirley used to set out for me after school before I had any idea what the MCAT even was. It takes five minutes, it asks nothing of you, and it is exactly the kind of thing you can make with one hand while reviewing biochemistry pathways with the other. Survival, as I said, is a valid culinary category.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 5 minutes | Servings: 2

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
2 cups whole milk (or 2% milk)
1 tablespoon honey or granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup ice cubes (optional, for a chilled drink)

Instructions

Prep the bananas. Peel and slice the bananas into rough chunks. For a colder, thicker drink, use bananas that have been frozen for at least two hours.
Combine ingredients. Add the banana slices, milk, honey (or sugar), vanilla extract, and cinnamon to a blender.
Blend until smooth. Blend on high speed for 30—45 seconds until the mixture is completely smooth and creamy with no banana chunks remaining.
Adjust sweetness. Taste and add a little more honey if you prefer it sweeter. Blend for another 5 seconds to incorporate.
Serve. Pour over ice if desired and serve immediately. Drink it slowly. Step away from your notes for five minutes. You have earned it.

Nutrition (per serving)

Banana Milk Drink — The Simple Comfort That Keeps You Going