9 posts from 2006

Char and Josh made us a banoffee pie for the advent season.  Best import out of the UK since 007.  I'm not sure if this is the recipe Char uses, but here's one I found online. 

Ingredients

• Tin (~400g) of condensed milk (need I say more?)
• Three large bananas
• One packet of McVities Chocolate Hob-Nobs 
  
• Half-pint of double cream, or whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons margarine (or butter)

Method

Crush the biscuits in a freezer bag with a rolling pin until they are reduced to crumbs. Gently heat some margarine in a saucepan until liquid (or just leave some out at room temperature to soften). Pour crumbs and liquid/soft margarine and mix in with the crumbs until they start to bind together. Transfer the biscuit crumbs to a round dish (a large Pyrex dish is good) and pat with a spoon so that they cover the base. Place in the fridge to set. Put the tin of condensed milk in a pan of boiling water (NB- don't open the tin first!) and allow to boil for 2 hours. You should put a lid on the pan to prevent all the water boiling off. When done, remove the tin and leave to cool a little (you could pour cold water on it to cool the outside). When cool enough to handle, open the tin carefully - the condensed milk will have caramelised and may well shoot out the opening. Pour/spoon the toffee from the tin onto the biscuit base of the Pyrex dish. Place back in the fridge to cool. Slice the bananas and arrange them on top of the toffee. Whip the cream until peaking, then fold on top and smooth out. Dust with chocolate powder for effect. Keep in the fridge until needed, covered with cling-film.

Tips

You may want to make the biscuit base with a lip (a bit like a flan or pavlova). Start the condensed milk boiling, then do the base. Have a rest for a while, then pour out the toffee and start on the cream and bananas. Serve cut into wedges in a bowl.

Who says the Brits can't cook?

Yesterday morning a jealous boyfriend ran his SUV into our neighbor's house.  He came back later that afternoon to try to light her lawn on fire.  He seems like a stable person with a good handle on his emotions.  We should hang out more with him.

Good thing we live directly next door. 

This just arrived from Amazon.  Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace for his concept of trust based banking to the poor.  After watching several of his speeches and interviews, I ordered the book.

This is the editorial review from Amazon:

It began with a simple $27 loan. After witnessing the cycle of poverty that kept many poor women enslaved to high-interest loan sharks in Bangladesh, Dr. Muhammad Yunus lent money to 42 women so they could purchase bamboo to make and sell stools. In a short time, the women were able to repay the loans while continuing to support themselves and their families. With that initial eye-opening success, the seeds of the Grameen Bank, and the concept of microcredit, were planted.

After earning a Ph.D. in economics at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Yunus returned to Bangladesh to settle into a life as a professor. But a famine in 1974 ravaged the country, leading Dr. Yunus to alter his thinking and his life profoundly: "What good were all my complex theories when people were dying of starvation on the sidewalks and porches across from my lecture hall?.... Nothing in the economic theories I taught reflected the life around me." Armed with little more than a lofty dream to end the suffering around him, he started an experimental microcredit enterprise in 1977; by 1983 the Grameen Bank was officially formed.

The idea behind the Grameen Bank is ingeniously simple: extend credit to poor people and they will help themselves. This concept strikes at the root of poverty by specifically targeting the poorest of the poor, providing small loans (usually less than $300) to those unable to obtain credit from traditional banks. At Grameen, loans are administered to groups of five people, with only two receiving their money up front. As soon as these two make a few regular payments, loans are gradually extended to the rest of the group. In this way, the program builds a sense of community as well as individual self-reliance. Most of the Grameen Bank's loans are to women, and since its inception, there has been an astonishing loan repayment rate of over 98 percent.

Banker to the Poor is an inspiring memoir of the birth of microcredit, written in a conversational tone that makes it both moving and enjoyable to read. The Grameen Bank is now a $2.5 billion banking enterprise in Bangladesh, while the microcredit model has spread to over 50 countries worldwide, from the U.S. to Papua New Guinea, Norway to Nepal. Ever optimistic, Yunus travels the globe spreading the belief that poverty can be eliminated: "...the poor, once economically empowered, are the most determined fighters in the battle to solve the population problem; end illiteracy; and live healthier, better lives. When policy makers finally realize that the poor are their partners, rather than bystanders or enemies, we will progress much faster that we do today." Dr. Yunus's efforts prove that hope is a global currency. --Shawn Carkonen

My sister Hannah and my niece and nephew are in town from Hong Kong.  This is our first Christmas together since 1999, when Joshua was the lone child.  Now we're outnumbered.  Kids bring a chaos to life that is rich and beautiful.