Dammit! Sean, I'm so sorry. What can I do? We don't leave until this afternoon, so let me know. Love you.

I have two quick baking questions:

1. If I added some cocoa powder to boxed mix for banana bread, would it mess up he way it bakes too much? I have a recipe for a chocolate banana bread here, but I don't really have the time or the energy to make something from scratch today.

2. If I use mini loaf pans instead of a regular size loaf pan, should I lower the cooking temperature? And approximately how much quicker should I expect them to bake?

I guess that is three question.

Also, more {{{{{Sean}}}}}} just because it sounds like you really need them right now.

Sean, I'm sorry too.

And now, with a link: Zahar: Hamas ready to renew Gaza truce based on previous conditions.

It is wonderful, though, if being honest, doesn't help the Strip in the long term. When it's "quiet" (read: 3 deaths per week, ~10 rockets per week), people tend to forget about it

Shir, hate to agree with Hamas about anything, but lifting or weakening the siege would be a good start. It is quite true that Israel denies Gazans food, milk, medicine, seed or fertilizer for agriculture. You (meaning Israel, not Shir) shoot fishers who try to take their boats out to fish. A further step would be to actually talk to Hamas. Talking is not some sort of reward you withold until your enemies move. It is a way to maybe find common ground, starting without it. And if talks don't work, it is not like Israel stops being the biggest military power on your continent, nor stops being the closest ally the biggest military power in the world has.

sj - I think usually you add cocoa powder as a sub for some flour. So, it might mess it up . . . but you might be able to rectify it by adding more liquid.

sj - I think usually you add cocoa powder as a sub for some flour. So, it might mess it up . . . but you might be able to rectify it by adding more liquid.

I usually add some ripe bananas to the mix, they add moisture, don't they?

You shoot fishers who try to take their boats out to fish.

I'm pretty certain that Shir isn't doing the shooting, so maybe this could be phrased differently.

I know I don't want to be made synonymous with my country's military actions.

I usually add some ripe bananas to the mix, they add moisture, don't they?

They do.

Also, don't lower the temperature. Just lessen the cooking time.

How mini are the pans? If they're say comparable to muffins, then find a muffin recipe and cook them about that length of time.

With the added bananas, I think you'll be fine adding cocoa.

Don't change the oven temperature, but change the cooking time to something approximating muffins -- if a loaf pan takes 45-50 minutes, I'd test after 20.

Thanks, everyone! Now, I'm off to the market. Wish me luck not killing anyone.

Typo, I agree with you 100% about that only talking can solve anything and it's stupid as hell the sides refuse to talk most of the time.

However, and I can't tell you how strange it is for me to take this side of the debate:

It is quite true that Israel denies Gazans food, milk, medicine, seed or fertilizer for agriculture.

Israel also provides Gaza this things. Not all, not 100%, but it controls the ways and gives Gaza fuel and all of these things.

lifting or weakening the siege would be a good start.

Seeing this would be wonderful. Seeing this and surviving the next months without being killed/seeing family and friends die would be Utopian.

You shoot fishers who try to take their boats out to fish

I agree it's not right, but, as information from my sis goes: fishermen who also, btw, collecting intelligence and information for upcoming actions.

Without any relation to the size of IDF, it's still can't protect from a lot of terror actions: suicide bombings, rocket launching. I would understand Hamas more if they would have direct their ammo against military (and when my sis is serving, it takes a lot from me to type these words), but the fact is that they are shooting civilians. And Both my sister and dad said more than once that if that were them on the other side of the border, they would have become Sha'iyds (terrorists; martyrs) long time ago. Also, the refusal to accept Israel as a legitimate country to exist probably doesn't help much either.

Edit:

I'm pretty certain that Shir isn't doing the shooting, so maybe this could be phrased differently.

Oh, I understood that part. And yes, I don't agree with a lot of my country is doing, but for the short term, it does protect me. For the long term, I question its logic, very very much.