Banana Bread

We got a big box of very ripe bananas from the grocery store for a really low price and then we had to figure out what to do with the bananas. We froze a bunch and cut up chunks and ate a few and a few whole bananas got packed to go to the lake. The day was pretty warm but cooled off a lot in the evening so I decided it was okay to use the oven without overheating the cottage. Banana bread for breakfast! Yum! I like baking at the cottage. It is a comfortable space to work in, I love having the propane/ gas stove for baking and I have lots of equipment for baking and uninterrupted time. The only issues really are summer temperatures and a lack of air conditioning but if it really is too hot we can do surprisingly complicated baking in the Gas BBQ or over an open fire. Thirty years as a Girl Guide Leader and having the cottage all these years have taught us to be resourceful.  We also need to work with the lack of a real fridge. We do have a plugin cooler that would work with 12 volt or automotive type power so that is not too bad for the essentials like eggs and milk. We use a lot of canned and dry ingredients and we make a lot of food out there so it will be fresh. 

This Banana Bread Recipe is Easy!

Ingredients

• 3 Bananas
• 1 Egg
• 1/3 cup melted Butter
  
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 cups Flour
• 14 tsp Salt
  
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Instructions 

1.  preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2.  mash bananas in a bowl with a fork, add eggs, vanilla and butter and continue mixing by hand.
3. add the flour, salt and baking soda and mix until combined.
4.  pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
   
5. bake for about 50 minutes or until a knife poked in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
6. let rest on a cooling rack for a while before removing from the pan.
7. I suggest letting it cool completely before slicing but we don't have that much patience!
   

 

June’s Wildflowers

 

 “Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it.” 

– Ralph Waldo Emmerson

After the Storm

We had a torrential rainstorm this past week and Jasper left his toys outside. 

I've never hung doggie toys on a line before. awww

  

Chillin’ with Jasper

Be like Jasper and just enjoy life at the Lake!

Sunset View from the Cottage Shoreline

Never waste any amount of time doing anything important when there is a sunset outside that you should be sitting under! 

                                                                   ~C. JoyBell C

.

Stepping Stone Mosaic

I have had a stepping stone kit kicking around for years and I am not even sure where I got it from but I am pretty confident that I got it for free. 

The thing with cement is that you have to work on it for a few days in a row and it shouldn't be too hot or too cold. Finally, I decided this is as good as it is going to get and went for it. Basically, you get a small bag of dry cement, a stirring stick like you would use for paint and a flimsy plastic form. It included a bunch of nice pieces of glass like you would use for stained glass projects. It also included a few pattern choices and I went with the dragonfly design.  I thought I would use their pattern this time and learn the fundamentals of this type of craft and get creative with designs when I am not worried about exactly how do we do this.  The dragonfly choice was natural because last weekend we suddenly had 1000's of dragonflies appear around our dock. We have also had a lot of mosquitoes lately so the dragonflies swooping around catching the mosquitoes felt like heroes. 

First, you pour the concrete mix into a pail or container. You really need to move carefully to avoid having a cloud of concrete dust flying up at you. Mix in the water completely and then put it into the mould. Next, we get to place the glass pieces into the concrete and it is a little harder than I imagined

When you are done with your design the cement is already getting very firm but it needs to sit for about 24 hours before the pieces are held securely in the cement. You can then work on polishing the surface of the mosaic pieces and clean bits of stray concrete off of them.

Bob and Jasper kept me company while I was working on the stepping stone.

When you are finished polishing off all your pieces or like in my case you decide that is all the polishing you can stand you put the piece to the side to cure for about a week before removing it from the mould. That will allow it time to cure and be strong enough to walk on. Next time out at the lake I will see how it turned out and find a little home for it.

Flower Blossoms for June

We have not been at the cottage this early for many years and we are loving all these spring blossoms!

Wild Strawberries cover a walkway.

Bees are buzzing from blossom to blossom on the plum trees.

Many plum trees in full bloom.

Saskatoon berries for the future we hope