Images From The Hood

I thought it would be fun to take a few photos while out on my errands.   It was about 5:30 p.m. and as you can see the darkness falls early at this time of year.

It was the warmest temperature on record today with a comfortable 14 degrees Celsius.  The next few days it will cool off by a few degrees each day until it hits a low of 4 degrees Celsius (a few degrees cooler than the norm) on Saturday/Sunday.

A garbage can and a recycling bin side by side and a girl waiting for her bus.  I don't know how often the can are emptied.  I think a lot  depends on the weather too & what people are eating/drinking as they walk along the streets.  In summer months the cans are overflowing.

I always like the look of a bike sitting against a post or a tree awaiting the return of it's rider.  In this case, I think he was in the  barber shop getting a hair cut.

 I snapped the tree and I'm surprised it turned out. In fact I'm surprised any of these photos turned out because I took them with my camera phone.  

I even got some fairly good shots of the moon. I plan to post them on Friday for Skywatch. Until next time, keep smiling!

Millet & 5 Grain Cereal Loaf

Hello friends,

Life continues to move along at a quick clip here on the west coast of Canada. I've been catching up to a lot of things and enjoying as much as I can.

A friend and I recently went to the newly released movie "12 Years a Slave". It is a heartbreaking story about a man, Solomon Northrup, a free black man who was captured and sold into slavery for 12 long years.  After he was freed and reunited with his wife and children, he wrote the story of his capture and enslavement and the movie is based on this first hand account.  It is not a pretty movie in terms of it's content but well worth watching for a glimpse into our sordid past as North Americans.

Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

George Santayana 

The idealist in me hopes that when we learn from our past mistakes we are less likely to repeat them. I know this isn't always true but one can have positive hopes for the future.  Slavery still goes on today (sex slaves, child labourers and others) and it is something we must be alert to and try to stamp out.

On a lighter note, I've been busily crafting and making crocheted hexagons for an afghan I'm making for Christmas. I'm also thinking of several small gifts for different people which I can make in a short time since my 3 larger gifts are taking quite a while to make. I will be making some crocheted snowflake ornaments for a few people and also some dishcloths. I started on 2 of my quilts back in September but haven't finished them off yet. I hope to do that after I've got my hexagons finished.

I haven't been baking for a long while, partly for health reasons and partly because I usually bake in the winter months when we have cool temperatures.  Well the cooler weather has definitely arrived so I've been getting the urge to bake.  I have had a bag of millet flour (Bob's Red Mill brand) that I purchased awhile back and wanted to use.  I have been experimenting with it.

Click here to learn more about millet flour. I know a number of people who eat gluten-free but so far none of them have mentioned millet flour. Instead they tend to use rice flour. When I've travelled to Kenya, I've eaten millet porridge which is rather tasty. Millet is high in antioxidants and can be helpful in controlling diabetes and inflammation. I think we will be hearing about and seeing a lot more millet flour on the North American grocery shelves in the not too distant future. Hopefully that means the price of it will also come down.  One of my pet peeves is how expensive everything is in Canada when it is "new" on the shelves and it then becomes a trendy or "yuppie" product which is not so accessible to the masses.

I baked a couple of items based on the ingredients I had on hand. I will post the results for the next 3 Sundays (including today).  I don't think this recipe is gluten free because the 5 grain cereals sometimes have wheat in them. I've long thrown out my bag so I can't be precise on the ingredients so please adapt as you need to if you are gluten intolerant.

This isn't like a regular loaf of bread. This is more like a corn meal bread type of consistency but isn't sweet. Sorry for the blurred photo but the night lighting isn't good in my home.

Ingredients

1 cup millet flour

1 1/4 cups of 5 grain cereal (use food processor to grind medium fine)

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt 

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons oil

1 cup milk

Directions

 
Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit.

Oil a loaf pan.
Sift all dry ingredients together. 

Beat eggs and add oil and milk.  Stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Do not over mix. Bake until golden brown.  

In my oven which is a little slow, it took 35 minutes to bake this loaf. You'll need to experiment with your oven.  I'd recommend starting with 20 minutes and increase the time as needed.

This loaf is a bit like corn bread without the sweetener.  Feel free to add a bit of sweetener if you prefer.

I had a slice with butter after cooling.  Yum!

I had better sign out now and carry on with my crafting. I've got so much to do to be ready in time for Christmas.  For that reason I'm always so thankful that we celebrate Thanksgiving in October where I live.

I'll be around to visit your blogs when I have a few moments in between crocheting.

I'm joining up with the lovely Hannapat at the Weekly Bake (click on the photo above).

                                                                Have a wonderful week!