Barter Loaf

The Prof is working exceedingly hard at the moment.
He's often up hours before dawn beavering away at his office desk.
As me and the dogs are snoring away in our beds
To oil the cogs somewhat, I have a tendency to feed.
I am a feeder.
In my mind nothing helps a bout of overworking tiredness than a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake.
It's the food that won the war.
I'm out later , so thought that the Prof may appreciate a cake to come home to.
I thought I had all of the ingredients so greased a loaf tin, preheated the oven and measured out the butter.
The new girls 

I suddenly realised that we were short of eggs ( the new girls are still somewhat stressed by their recent move and are stubbornly keeping their egg ducts closed) so I traipsed around to animal helper Pat and borrowed some .
Then I realised that I had run out of self raising flour ! So went around to another neighbour to blag a cupful. The price of the trade was me to give  some health advice for her husband later in the week.
It's useful being a nurse sometimes.
Luckily I had all of the other ingredients to hand, but I bet I could have bartered more ingredients if I needed to......talk about frugal living
In 30 minutes I had banged out a loaf as Mary and George slept off a mornings' play fighting.

Banana cake

Mary & George




33 comments:

  1. Can't quite make out where Mary ends and George begins.

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  2. A blog friend sent me a book for my grands entitled "The Little Red Hen Makes A Pizza."
    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/877779.The_Little_Red_Hen_Makes_a_Pizza
    Your cake story rather reminds me of that. It is a delightful book and I'm sure you'll never read it but her pizza ends up as pretty as your cake.

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  3. Love the Barter Loaf title . . .
    Love the thought of Banana Cake . . .
    Love Mary and George in cuddle . . .
    Love!

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  4. My, what lovely hens!
    Nice looking loaf. I hope he likes it.
    Cute George and Mary shot!

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  5. Anonymous3:43 pm

    Those look like lovely chickens...hope they release and drop soon for you.

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  6. Ooh,cake looks yummy!Love a bit of bartering and would love to see more of it still happening these days, Nessa xxx

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  7. What a good husband you are!

    Love the new chooks!

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  8. Cake looks wonderful. Seems little Mary has a new found respect for George. that's good. You're chickens are beautiful. what kind are they. I have wyandotts and plymouth rocks. No eggs yet.

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  9. talk about farm to table.

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  10. What beautiful chickens, several different kinds. Do any lay blue eggs ?
    The cake looks wonderful perfect with a cup of tea.
    thehamish loved to rest his head on Watson and fall asleep.

    cheers, parsnip and thehamish

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  11. I'm always nipping across the road for an onion... in return they get to share our old cat.

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  12. Since I've moved here, no one has stopped in to ask for an egg or cup of flour. It didn't happen often at my last location, either. Although when my lawn mower was on the fritz and needed repairing, my next door neighbours let me borrow theirs. I topped off the petrol when I was done so returned their mower with a full tank and also gave them about a quart of raspberries, as they were bearing quite heavily.

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  13. Well done you! :) Love your new hens....my darling aunties from the Highlands called all of us hens...I miss them.

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  14. Lovely pic of Mary and George together. Lovely cake too, hope you put it well out of Winnie's way.

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  15. That does look good, John. I have an apple cake in the oven as I type this. Your banana bread looks scrumpdillyishus. :)

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  16. Bartering health advice. Now there's a thought! x

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  17. Bartering health advice. Now there's a thought! x

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  18. I will bake you a cake, you have to barter me a pup .. either one.

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  19. That dish your bananas are in - we have one just the same! I guess that means we are fashionable too.

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  20. You are a top husband.

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  21. Anonymous7:46 pm

    Silly question of the day - do the eggs get backed up if they don't let them out?
    Had a funny image of a chicken doing an impression of a semi-automatic grenade launcher when it relaxes.....

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  22. The Professor is beavering........ with that eyebrow???

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  23. The last lot of bananas i bought were left on the table when it was covered with a drop sheet, by the time i remembered them they were only good for banana bread!

    I'm a feeder too

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  24. I would absolutely love a slice of homemade cake and a cup of tea, especially if someone else made it for me. No one ever cooks for me. Chris is lucky.

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  25. Oh, to have neighbors who love you and you love. And it is also wonderful have the hens and their eggs (when they want to give you some.)

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  26. Yum! That looks wonderful. And so nice to have neighbors to trade with!

    Cat

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  27. damn, john, you sure can bake! and the girls look so cute; wonder what their eggs will be coloured?

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  28. What a lovely mixed batch of chookies!

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  29. So where is Van Damme in that photo? Or did you have to shut him away to take it safely?!

    Love the snap of Mary and George - it must be comfortable for both of them or they wouldn't do it.

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  30. John, in a pinch you can sub. 1 Tablespoon cornstarch + 3 Tablespoons water for each egg called for. Since I don't often use recipes that use self-rising flour I just make my own as needed. That way the baking powder won't lose it's ability to give baked goods rise. All you need for each cup of self-rising flour is 1 cup AP flour+ 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder+ 1/2 tsp. salt (combine well with whisk). The only difference between regular flour & self-rising is the baking powder & salt.
    Your banana loaf looks picture perfect. What a treat for the Professor to come home to. A slice with a cup of tea should sooth his overtaxed mind. I love it when your Mary Barry side come out & bakes. Maybe you should consider entering this lovely cake this years Flower Show. Glad to see that Mary isn't always fighting with the other dogs. Hope the new hens get over their move & decide to re-open their egg ducts for business soon.

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  31. I so admire you. All my ingredients come in the same box; it's called cake mix. And even still, I can't remember the last time I mixed up a cake.

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  32. Ha .... I made a Banana Loaf on Thursday as well ... only all the ingredients were in the cupboards, so I didn't need to trawl the hillside knocking on doors, and we DO have eggs ... bloody hundreds of them. If you need some and you're close by for any reason call in :-)

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