Saturday 18 May 2013

Conversations



"What do spirits look like?" asked my son the other day. My answer was I don't know, I guess they'd be transparent or more like smoke. He insisted I should have a better idea, I should think hard and imagine how spirits could look like, to be able to define them. I panicked, quickly reached out to my friends on whatsapp for a quick consult (I always do that when I am stuck with these kind of questions). Thankfully one friend saved me and I was ready to challenge my son. "What does light look like?" I asked. He went silent, thought about it and said: "Light is light, you can't define that in shape or texture"... "Exactly" (sighing in relief).

This type of conversation often runs at my house and it never gets  any easier, the questions only escalate in their sophistication as he grows older. He no longer likes it when someone refers to him as kid, he is a boy now. He wants to know and understand everything that happens in front of his eyes, every news that flashes around the house or things he hears at school from older students. Questions like: "Why is the dollar rate rising vs our Egyptian currency?" or "Why the bulletin boards on the ring-road keep changing?" Try to explain those to a 9-year old in a simplified manner.







Yet, the positive side of growing up is we get to share more activities together. I am a diver and have always been waiting for that day when he could join me. Last week we were on holidays and this was the perfect time for an intro dive for my son. He sat there with the diving instructor listening carefully, throwing in a piece of info here and there from what I previously explained. Then was the time to actually go in. Overall, he was excited and happy to dive with me, as much as I was ecstatic to dive with him. He did not like that much at the end thou, he had fear that the bottom of the sea was too far but we both concluded to try again next year when he is 10.




In the meanwhile, we can continue sharing our baking addiction. He is fond of baking, and always wants to help; he especially likes to crack the eggs open, not entirely sure why as I personally find it messy:) and he hates holding the hand mixer for prolonged times. In most cases we have fun in the kitchen and I try my best to minimize the amount of damage as a result to flying ingredients all over the floor and walls.





This time we made a healthy desert for a change; we made apple-walnut-raisins-spices&honey muffins... I wanted to try mixing oats with them but backed-up in fear of what the result might be. If anyone out there has tried a mix of wheat/oats in  muffins, please share with me how the result is like. Those muffins were denser than usual because of the honey used, but not too sweet as I cut down on the amount required. We used juice instead of milk because my adorable and the cutest ever nephew has cow-milk allergy, which meant omitting any cow related products from the recipe.


Apple-walnut-raisins-spices-honey muffins


Ingredients
4 medium size sweet apples, peeled, cored & diced
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup oil (I use safflower)
2 1/4 cups flour (half all purpose & half brown flour)
1 tbs baking soda
pinch of salt
cinnamon (as much or little as you like)
1/2 tbs freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tbs ginger
1/4 tbs cloves
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup apple juice
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Recipe
In a medium size bowl mix diced apples with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, honey and oil. Let stand for about 45 min.

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F), line muffin pan with papers or just spray with vegetable oil.

In a bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda, walnuts & raisins. Set aside. Stir lightly beaten egg & juice into the apples, then add the flour mixture and combine until well incorporated.

Spoon into the prepared pan, place in the oven for 18-20 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. The muffins are lovely when eaten warm, yet still remain nice for another 2 days in a tightly closed container.

Don't worry if the muffins brown too fast, this happens because of the honey.



2 comments:

  1. It is so good to see how you evolve as a photographer! and I need to bookmark this recipe.

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    Replies
    1. I was taught by the best:) let me know how u like it when you try it xoxo

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