Yeah, I know dessert is kind of a no-no on the weeknights, but with an advance copy of Adam Ried’s Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes on my counter, I decided to live a little and have ice cream on a Thursday. (Aren’t they saying Thursday’s the new Friday, anyway?)

The criteria for the perfect shake recipe was simple: all ingredients had to be in my house, and it needed to include booze (because really, if you’re going to have ice cream, why not just go the whole hog?)

The Bananas Foster Milkshake fit the bill and looked super-easy. A little butter in a skillet, followed by bananas, brown sugar, and flames! Then a quick whir in the blender with ice cream, milk, and more rum. The whole process took less than ten minutes. The recipe said I was supposed to let the bananas cool after I flambéed them, but I didn’t (sorry, Adam). Cooling time or not, the shake was awesome.

I didn’t have my camera at home (hence the abysmal photos), so I was trying to take pictures with the photobooth function on my laptop. Amid the chaos, the brown sugar got a little burnt, and I had to add more rum and re-light it to capture the flames on camera. But, I ended up loving the crispy little bits of “over-caramelized” brown sugar that added texture and interest to the shake, and well, the extra booze didn’t hurt either.

Good thing today is Friday, I’ve got all weekend to shake it up!