Coconut Cinnamon Bread

2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup sour cream
1.5 cups flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In one bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Beat in oil and then sugar slowly, then sour cream. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, and mix gently.

3. Pour half of batter into loaf pan. Mix together remaining ingredients in a bowl, and sprinkle half of the resulting coconut mixture on top of the batter in the pan. Add the rest of the batter to the loaf pan, and use the remaining coconut mixture to coat the top of the batter. Swirl with a knife to marble.

4. Bake for about an hour, and remove from pan after about ten minutes of cooling.

I like technology. I wish that genetically-modified organisms were labeled at the grocery store, because I would like to buy them - I think they're cool. I can't wait until Google is connected to my brain.

So, when I saw the silicone bakeware begin to appear in stores, I was very excited. I was also engaged to be married, and registered for a bunch of it. Some very thoughtful people ended up giving it to us, and at first I was thrilled. However, I have come to believe it's not nearly as badass as it looks. First of all, anything like a loaf pan will not hold its shape, so when you lift the pan out of the oven, your baked goods can crack or your super-hot food can spill all over you. Secondly, they're hardly as nonstick as advertised.

Also, they're not kidding when they mention the upper temperature limit on the label. My previous oven (Why did I get a new oven? Just wait.) was an old, unreliable thing that had unpredictable of pockets of heat and coldness. I was baking some corn bread to go with a nice, big pot of chili sitting on the stove. The recipe I used gave a pretty high baking temperature, but one below the upper limit of my bakeware.

Still. Several minutes later, my kitchen was filled with smoke...and flames...leaping out of the oven. I proceeded to act like a Sim does when its oven catches fire, but Andy was good enough to remember we have a fire extinguisher, and use it for its intended purpose. Unfortunately, fire-extinguisher gunk got all over the kitchen - including in the pot of chili - and we spent the evening cleaning up the kitchen.

We ate cheese and wine for dinner that night, and the landlords replaced the oven.

I'm baking this bread in my silicone loaf pan, and 45 minutes into baking, so far so good, but I'll wait until it comes out of the oven to uncross my fingers.