Banana Oat Bread (with a twist!)

I've been trying to find a way to get more oats into my diet without the milk. For reasons best known to itself, my stomach objects to milk in any form other than hot chocolate and baked goods. Yes, yes, I know... that sounds so convenient... Especially to the Samson family, I'm sure! The thing is, I love porridge, and am really quite sad that I can't eat it right now. But, enough rambling. Let's get on to my latest experiment!

I've tried replacing some of the flour in Banana Bread with oats before. I found that it tastes good, but is just a little dry. I've been Googling ways to make it moister and needless to say, there are a million ideas out there. Also needless to say, being unable to simply follow someone else's suggestion, I had to do a bit of experimentation!

One suggestion was to partly cook the oats before adding them to the batter. I did this, but I didn't cook them in water! I had some blackberry syrup left over and used this to cook the oats. (I must say that it tasted so nice as it was that I'm seriously considering it as an alternative to porridge another time!) I didn't, however, take into account that the quantity of oats would almost double in volume... so that my 3/4 cup became 1 1/2 cups.


"Never mind," I thought "The advantage of baking for one is that I don't need to impress anyone else!" As long as it tastes reasonably good, I know I'll eat it, so even if it doesn't turn out as planned, that's okay.



On to the banana bread batter. (I'll post the recipe when I've fine-tuned it.) Of course, as was to be expected the batter was much more liquid than it was supposed to be. The cooked oats meant that the tin was almost full to the brim. Which pretty much meant that I had to spend the first 20 minutes or so of baking time anxiously peering into the oven, feeling like a contestant on the Great British Bake-Off! (Have you noticed how much peering into ovens seems to go on there?)

Finally... 45 minutes later, it was done. The very liquid batter meant that the top was really brown by the time the middle was baked. Fortunately, that's just how I like it. But, as they say, the proof of the pudding's in the eating (or as some would have it: The proof is in the pudding! No, don't ask me what sense that makes; I don't know.)

A little while to cool down, and time to slice into it! Hmm... not exactly what I was hoping for... Apparently it thought that it was in fact supposed to be a pudding. (Speaking of which, why is it that I seem to be making pudding-y cakes and things of late?) Oh well, as long as it is cooked through, which it is. And it does smell good... I'd meant this for breakfast, but surely I can have some as dessert? Mmmm... it does taste good. I love the hint of blackberry I'm getting from the syrup. And the soft texture is actually offset by the walnuts, so I'm really enjoying this! Right — this calls for a cup of hot choc.!

Raspberry Ripple? Cake

Since berries were on offer at Sainsbury's, I ended up with a lot of blackberries and some raspberries. I'm planning to use the blackberries for jam, but I didn't know what to do with the raspberries. Now, as anyone who knows me can attest, when I find myself with a lot of extra fruit, there's only one thing to be done... bake!!

So, here's what I did. First, I macerated the raspberries. I never realised before that this can actually be used as a way to keep them longer.

Then, I puréed (Thank you for the blender, Divya!!) and strained them. This took way longer than I'd expected. I mean, I knew that raspberries were full of seeds, but seriously... it took forever to get it through the strainer. I did get there finally, though!



Now, what could I do with this? Hmm... sponge cake and raspberries... Sounds good, but how will it work. Oh well! Only one way to find out.

I tasted the purée, and it was still a little sour. I wanted a sponge cake with a zing, but not like this! I added in some brown sugar until it tasted right.




So, I made my trusty, old Hot Milk Sponge cake. Then, I added the raspberry pulp in drizzles (Oh, all right! Some of them looked more like blobs!) and mixed it up with a skewer. It looked pretty, so I popped it in the oven without further ado.

When it came out, this is what it looked like.

Verdict: The raspberry seems to have floated up to the top, and the cake is much softer than usual. The top is a bit sticky, almost like a pudding, but I actually quite like that. But, it tasted good! I'm definitely going to try this again, though next time I might try a drier sponge recipe.

Procrastination!

So much for my resolution to keep writing here!! I don't know whether it's because I've been so busy, or sheer laziness. I'm inclined to think it's the latter. I keep thinking of interesting things to say, but then putting it off until I forget all about them.

So, why am I doing this now? Obviously because I'm using it to put off doing something else! In this case, an essay which I have to submit in a few days time.

Hmm... maybe this is a technique I should use more often... use one of the things I generally put off to procrastinate over something else. I might actually get some work done that way!

Composition

My students have been working really hard in their Composition class... Just thought I'd share one of their efforts. These kids have only been exposed to English in school, so we have to start slowly. But once they get the basics, they can really 'take flight'!

A Bird in a Cage and a Crow

by Neha, age 11 (Spelling, grammar and layout have not been edited.)

*Once there in Hong Kong lived a king named Peter. He had a beautiful bird with yellow feathers. It was in a cage. She was never happy in the cage. One day when cage’s door was opened, she flew right away in an orchard. There was a crow playing with a small girl. The crow was nice and made friends with the bird.

Bird: Hey friend, can I live here?

Crow: Yes, you may. But where have you been living for months?

Bird: I was in the king’s palace and in a cage. But now was the time to escape. And now I am totally free. Who is that girl?

Crow: She is my best friend. Everyday her mother gives me food. We eat together. But now you’ll also eat with us. They are very nice.

Bird: How nice of you. You offered me your food also. You gave me house to live in.

Crow: If I do good to you, so God will also be happier. Come on we’ll go and have our lunch.

Bird: O’ yes. Let’s go!

*After the lunch had finished the bird and the crow flew away in the crow’s house.

Bird: What a nice food it was. I liked it very much. Are you fed of this food that aunt give you daily?

Crow: No, I like her food. Nice but I am not feeling well.

Bird: What happened to you

*Then the crow laughs a little bit.

Crow: I was just joking. Don’t be serious.

Bird: Are you gone mad? I was really afraid.

*When the evening came they were going to bed.

Crow: Good night little friend.

Bird: Good night. Have sweet dreams.

*In the morning when they woke up the bird was not there. The crow became serious. Then he went to search her. But he couldn’t find her. When the crow saw a river flowing down the tree, he saw the Bird, who was yelling for help.

Crow: Wait! I’ll help you by putting big stones like a dam.

*So he went to put big big stones. When they were put he helped her with his beak on her tail.

Bird: What a nice bird you are! Thanks for saving my life.

Crow: But where have you been?

Bird: I went to bring some food for us.

Crow: Never mind. Come on. We go home.

*One day when the crow was in the orchard, he got shooted by a man. He fell down. And when the bird saw this she came to him and called the aunt. He is already better now.

Crow: Thanks.

Bird: One good turn deserves another.

Movies!!

We seem to have been doing a lot of movie watching of late. The three older girls have just finished reading C.S.Lewis' 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' for their English class, and so they got to watch the movie. The younger children learnt 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' (yes, I just typed all that out!) and 'Spoonful of Sugar' in Singing class, so we thought it would be good for the children to see 'Mary Poppins'. Needless to say, the children love it, and we're thinking of showing them 'The Sound of Music' next.

Even in this short time, I can see so many benefits, that I wonder why movies aren't used more regularly in schools. The children's vocabulary has increased tremendously, they are learning new ways to phrase sentences, and their accents have improved. Since the kids I work with don't come from English-speaking homes, their only exposure to the language comes from school, so these are very important things.

Another aspect that struck me was the exposure to a different culture. Aside from the values that can be discussed after watching these movies, the children get a little more familiar with different cultures. So, when they come across stories from different places, for example, it's that much easier for them to understand.

Movies like 'Mary Poppins' and 'The Sound of Music' are known and talked about all over the world. It's nice to know that our students, who might otherwise never have even heard of them, will now also have things to say about them! Which brings me to the fun part of showing movies in school: Hearing what the children have to say about them.

My personal favourite was the time I overheard a conversation between two girls, which turned into quite a debate. The topic: "Who is prettier - Mary Poppins or the White Witch of Naria?"

Back to School!!

June is one of my favourite months. Because that's when the new school year starts! There's just so much energy in school :)

The kids come in full of beans after a long summer holiday, and then there's the excitement of new books, new classes and so on. And it's infectious. Somehow, I can't help but be excited too.

It's also true, of course, that there's nothing more tiring than school in June... for teachers, that is. Classes haven't been fully planned yet, new admissions come in late, the routine still has to be settled into. But for all that, it's a fun time. For me and for the kids!

Ancient Egypt

We're working on a project on Ancient Egypt in the Open School. I'm constantly amazed by the responses of these kids. Especially since the only exposure they have to this stuff is from school. No Discovery Channel programs, no picture books at home, no discussing it with their parents... the only input they get is from school. But they absorb information like a sponge and even though they're just 8 or 9 years old, they're already learning to think about what they learn and ask intelligent questions.

And as for creativity! We're making Egyptian style jewelery among many other things; and I taught them to make simple, round papier mache beads. Then I got them to work together to make more of the same. The next time I looked, they'd produced round, oval, oblong and even star-shaped beads! (I'll try to put up a picture tomorrow.)

We plan to present our project on Parents' Day and the kids are going to dress up like the Ancient Egyptians and wear the jewellery they've made and talk about what they've learnt. Needless to say, we're all looking forward to it!

Update: I'd completely forgotten all about the photographs for this. Sorry for the looooong delay, but anyway, here's a link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.486680480024.253281.663025024&type=1&l=50d23e044a