Courgette/zucchini cake

A lady kindly gave us lots of courgettes.  Some of you call it zucchini.  Anyway we have been having lots of courgettes this week but there were still too many so we decided to make a courgette cake.  Yes, that's what I said a courgette cake!  Well carrot cake works so why not courgettes?

Some of my friends asked me for the recipe, so here it is.  The recipe I had would have fed the whole of the Arsenal team so I cut it down to the same proportions as I use for banana cake.  You need a 2 lb loaf tin for this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
125g/4oz of caster sugar (actually this was possibly a little too sweet so I might use less next time).
100g/4oz of melted margarine
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
200g/8oz of grated courgette (I left the skin on as it gave nice green flecks in the cake, but you could peel them if you wanted to)
200g/8oz of self-raising flour
100g/4oz ground nuts (I used almonds but you could grind any nuts for this in a food processor)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Mix up the eggs, margarine,vanilla and grated courgettes in a mixing bowl.
Mix the flour, ground nuts, baking powder and cinnamon in another bowl and gradually stir that into the mixture (actually I just dumped it in and stirred like crazy like I do with the banana cake).

Put the mixture in a greased loaf time and put it into a pre-heated oven:

180C
350F
Gas mark 4

Leave from one hour.  I tested mine after an hour and it was still quite wet so I turned the over up from 180 to 190C and left it for a further 10 minutes.  It was done then and had the added advantage of crisping up the top.

I left it to cool for ages and ages and then tested it.

It was a nice moist cake with pretty green flecks from the peel.  I think the experiment was a success because my people ate it all, every crumb.

Give it a try, it seems you can make cakes out of vegetables and they turn out nice.  Now what to do with the all the cucumbers we were given???  Cucumber cake anyone???  Well maybe not!!

June 2014 rehomings

Four baboons reached their new homes in June.  The first to arrive was Little Jim, who joined Jim with our friend @summerstormsmum.

 

 

Little Jim was welcomed by Jim (who he knew from Baboon HQ), Gracie and Fred.  He is very happy to join his friend Jim.  He had been at Baboon HQ for a while so he took souveniers with him.  I can see he is very happy in his new home.

 

The next to arrive was Oliver, who travelled all the way to New South Wales to join @pete_bear07 and @storm_bear_bill.  Oliver arrived to be given banana muffins, cuddles, pizzas and love.  Not sure about the Masn U shirt, but it could be worse.

 

 

 

 

 

I love this shirt!!





 

Then two baboons made their way to the US.  First to arrive was Beccie Beckham Baboon, who went to live with @Bea_Bells.

 

 

 

Beccie arrived and took up residence on the sofa.

 

 

 

She was obviously hungry!!  But not any more, she had lots of snacks and looks very happy.

 

Finally Boscoe arrived to live with @TiggyBean.

 

 



Boscoe looks happy in his new home.

 

So thank you to all of you for rehoming baboons and giving them happy loving homes.

 

Now further news.  I am sorry to say that the rehoming project is going to take a break.  There will be one further rehoming, in person, at the @IOWTweetUp in July.  But then we need to take a break.  However, this is not the end, so if you would like to adopt a baboon please let me know because I will make a list and get in touch with you as soon as we are back to rehoming.

 

Thank you to all rehomers and to everyone who has taken an interest in the rehomed baboons.  Beccie Beckham Baboon is baboon 100, which was my target, but it will be 102 by July.





Mini-Kolo's mini-break!!

You may remember that about thee years ago @leroy_sealion and his brother Henry went on a short visit to Sandwich in Kent, on the way to visit our grandma and grandpa in Deal.  Leroy and Henry thought it was an interesting place so we thought we would send Mini-Kolo back to investigate.

Mini-Kolo took the car ferry and then they drove all the way to Kent.  Which took a few hours and numerous stops for snacks at motorway services (truck stops)!!

When he got there he booked into the Bell Hotel in Sandwich.

Mini-Kolo was very happy with his view of the River Stour in Kent.  Then he tried out the bed to ensure it was suitable for him.

 Yes he was happy!  The Bell Hotel gets a very high baboon rating for the lovely staff, the food and everything about it, the breakfast is particularly recommended.  Mini-Kolo was particularly impressed with the advice they gave.

 

This notice was on the door.  For anyone who cannot quite read it it says that 'When leaving the room the door must be open'.  Mini-Kolo took this advice at all times.

 

I think the hotel people thought Mini-Kolo had rather more luggage than he had really taken with him.

 



Anyway, having booked in Mini-Kolo decided to explore the area.  As a baboon who lives on Baboon Island, he is quite used to hills, so the landscape of Kent came as a bit of a surprise to him.

He said it reminded him of the praries of Texas!!  Well he soon came to something else he wasn't expecting.

 Those of you who are interested in golf, and I know some of you are, will recognise the name of this golf course.  It is Royal St George's Golf Club.  That is where the British Open Golf Championship gets held sometimes.  We don't really understand golf but we know it is a links course, meaning it is by the sea.  Mini-Kolo knew that he could get to the sea by crossing the golf course so he found his way to Sandwich Bay.

In the evening Mini-Kolo was going to Deal, the next town to Sandwich, to see our grandma.  He also met up with rehomed baboon Russell.

We can see that Russell is very happy in his new home with our grandma.  The little chap with him is a lar gibbon from the Owl and Monkey Haven on Baboon Island.

They went out to dinner with grandma.  Mini-Kolo had a banana parfait with a peanut butter base.  It was yummy.  Just the sort of food that baboons like best!!

The next day, after a long walk, Mini-Kolo looked around the town to see the old buildings.  Sandwich is a mediaeval town so it has many beautiful old buildings.

 

 

This building puzzeled Mini-Kolo a bit, the sign says Sandwich Weavers, 1500.  Mini-Kolo knows that sandwiches are not woven now, so things must have changed since 1500.



Mini-Kolo had a lovely time with lots of walking and adventures.  He managed not to get knocked on the head by any golf balls  He got home tired but he had had a great time and seen lots of interestng things.  He represented his country well by wearing his England shirt during the world cup and he didn't let them down!!