So,
if you happened upon my previous article, you will have found me
full of chirpy suggestions for making the most of a yucky day indoors. Well as it turned out, having merrily
expounded, on Friday evening, the virtues of entertaining pre-schoolers inside,
just a few days later Sunday saw me stuck indoors on a rainy, cold day in the
middle of moving house. Just to keep
things really interesting, Miss Nearly-5 had been up all night with a terrible
cough, so was in absolutely rotten shape.
No problem, I thought, let’s start the day with
pikelets. Good start, much sifting,
stirring and beating was enjoyed by all, along with the fruits of our
labours. The kitchen was not quite
cleaned up when some sort of altercation occurred outside involving two
pre-schoolers and some chopsticks (I had turned a blind eye to the escapees
into the Antarctic conditions in the hope of getting on top of the kitchen
mess) so I lured everyone inside with the promise of playdough making. Fantastic, so two batches of playdough later
(one pink, one yellow – shortly to be melded into a highly attractive
yink/pillow) all is well at the kitchen table for some time. Playdough morphs into play school which
involves mat time complete with news (which must be presided over by the adult
who has to pretend to be the teacher, of course) kai time (didn’t we just have
breakfast?) more news, ballet lessons, an attempt at a board game involving
some sort of 3-year old melt down, a desperate call for lunch - soooo when the
man of the house walked through the door at just after 1 pm I announced that we
absolutely had to get out of the house, poked the kids in front of a DVD and
slunk off for a shower. Hence the theme
of this article...
Sometimes you just absolutely must view life beyond your
own four walls, regardless of what the weather is doing. Here are some ideas when another coffee date
in an over-crowded café just doesn’t appeal to the mind or the wallet.
Rug up and go for a walk Get all your
winter gear on, get out there, get wet and wild and come home, throw everyone
in the bath and snuggle up warm. Whether
it’s a trip to the park, a walk on the beach, Gray’s Bush or in the arboretum,
sometimes everyone benefits from getting wet and muddy and wind-blown. There’s something smugness-inducing about
getting out there on a yucky day, and nothing better than getting warm
afterwards.
Invite yourself to a friend’s for lunch If you’re craving
company, hit the supermarket or the bakery and then head around to a friend’s
house for a bit of a BYO lunch. It’s
often easier and cheaper than the café variety, and you all benefit from some
company other than your own.
Do the supermarket shopping For me this is a
bit like cooking. To be enjoyed as a
parent-child activity, the parent must not be under any time pressure – allow
the shopping to be the only thing that you really need to get done and let the
kids get involved in choosing things for the trolley and putting things away at
home and lo and behold the morning is filled and the shopping is done. To be fair though, this one can go either way
– if it all turns to custard buy a packet of ice-blocks or lollipops and give
them one each on the way to the checkout…
If you’re wondering what wholesome family activity we
engaged in during our escape from the indoors that memorable Sunday, well we
actually went shopping for a new duvet cover for Miss 3 who had finally decided
to sleep in her own bed. And that’s
another story…
Banana Cake
• 115g
butter • ½ cups
flour
• ¾ cup
caster sugar • 1 tsp
baking powder
• 1
egg • 1 tsp
baking soda
• 2
ripe bananas • ¼ cup
milk
• 1 tsp coffee essence
Getting ready:
Soften the butter and
take the egg out of the fridge. Grease
an 18cm square tin with butter, and line the base with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Peel the bananas and mash them well with a
fork.
Mixing and baking:
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg,
followed by the mashed bananas and the coffee essence.
Sift together the flour and baking powder, and dissolve the baking soda in the milk.
Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk and baking soda,
and combine everything together. Bake
for about 45 min.
When the cake is cooked it will have shrunk slightly away from the sides
of the tin and when you press the centre gently with your finger, it will
spring back.
Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.
Ice when cool and store airtight.
No comments:
Post a Comment