A Sweet Tooth

Lately, I've been craving apple pie so I purchased a few small apples last week in anticipation of making it.  Today I noticed the apples were going a bit soft and as I wasn't up to making pie crust, I decided to make some apple crumble instead.

This was my first attempt at making this dish though I have eaten it from time to time. I knew before hand that it is not too difficult to make so I googled a diabetic recipe.  The following recipe came up but somehow I don't think it is that diabetic friendly. I'll have to look for another one but in the meantime, this one will be eaten.  I did reduce the sugar and the oil and increased the oats so that will help a bit.

Recipe from IFood

Ingredients

* 4 large cooking apples

* 4 tbsp olive oil

* Zest and juice of 1 large lemon

* 3/4 cups of sugar (any kind will do). I like brown.

* 2 pinches of ground cinnamon

* 1/2 cup of cold unsalted butter

* 1 cup plain flour (I increased this slightly by about 1/4 cup)

* 5/8 cup sugar (I reduced this to about 1/2 cup)

* 1/8 cup porridge oats (I increased this slightly). 

Directions

1. Peel and core the apples and cut into large chunks.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the lemon zest and juice, sugar, cinnamon and then add the apples. Cook for 5 mins to soften slightly.
3. Tip into a large baking dish.
4. Place the cold butter and flour into a food processor and pulse until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.
5. Tip into a bowl and stir through the extra sugar (1/2) carefully. Spoon over the top of the stewed apples and sprinkle over the oats.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 mins or until well-browned. Serve your apple crumble plain or with custard or ice cream.  Today we had French vanilla ice cream to go with the crumble.

This dish was delicious and I highly recommend it. It was made special by the addition of the lemon juice and lemon rind which really enhanced the overall flavour of the dish. 

Bon appetit!

Driving to Marigat

I know I've posted some scenes about this drive before but I didn't think it would hurt to post some again as I re-start my travel series about my Kenyan travels.

My travelling companion and I are on our way to a mission station in Marigat, Kenya.  Marigat is a small town about 100 kilometres north of Nakuru.  Actually where we are going is off the highway a few hours east of Marigat.  However,  Marigat is the place that you can find on the map. We are going there because I first travelled there several years ago to see this very arid place and to learn about their need for water. I am travelling now to see the borehole that has been built and to learn about what progress has been made and the still outstanding need for water. I'll write more about that project later. For now I want to show you the countryside.  You can click on the maps and photos to make them larger.

Can you find Marigat? How about Lake Baringo and Bogoria as that is where I am headed after going to the village closer to Marigat.

I love the stretches of countryside. I noticed that the closer we got to Marigat which is a smaller town, the narrower the highways got. I assume this is for a few reasons.  One being that the road is less travelled to these less populous places.  Another possible reason is that the road is not new.  Since my first trip to Kenya several years ago I have noted that the highways are much improved and I'm sure that these improvements will continue.

I'm always struck by how many people are walking in places where it seems like no one lives. I know there are villages and habitations everywhere so I'm assuming that is where these people are headed. Many people in the villages of course cannot afford a car so they must walk or take matatu if they can afford the transport fees. A matatu is a small van which transports you for very little money. Sorry for the blurred photo but we were travelling quite fast.

We had to slow down for this little creature who decided to take a nap in the middle of the highway.

More open highway. I love the blue sky.

This is a typical scene along highways and roadways. You will come across signage pointing the way to schools and churches primarily. You will also come across stalls like these ones with the corrugated metal. There are usually stores in these stall but these ones don't look too busy that day.

Here we are driving through Marigat, Kenya. We will stop for refreshment before carrying on.

We are stopped at a restaurant that I've been to before. We usually have some stew and milk or tea here. People like to sit on this veranda and eat as well as people watch.

This is the view from the veranda/patio of the restaurant. From here you have a good vantage point as to the buses, the shops and the roadside market.

Here along the busy highway the woman sell produce of fruits and veggies. From what I understand, a lot of produce must be transported from elsewhere due to the arid nature of the land. However, there is now a major irrigation project, Perkerra Irrigation scheme.  I'm guessing that more of the produce needed in the area can now be grown. I did see the project as we drove further to the village eastwards.

Another street scene.

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