Days of Our Lives

I’ve been working in the kitchen these days, trying to finish up all the food in the pantry. It always seems that I am struck by the adventurous strike whenever we’re at a turnpike in our lives. When we were about to move to Georgia from Iowa, I stubbornly started making puff quilts, by hand, after all the packing was done. From Georgia to Ohio, I also made puff quilts, puff baby pillows for friends here and back home. And now, I seem to be wanting to do everything from crocheting to figuring out allergy free recipes of snacks for Baby Z, when I had all the time to do this before. Is it that I am grasping for a sense of control over what I have no control over? Or is it me trying to distract myself from the impending move? I don’t know, but my house right now is a mess because I’m in this mood. I might be subconsciously avoiding something.

So there I worked in my kitchen, with my newly bought flours; buckwheat, brown rice, and sweet potato starch trying to come up with an allergy free version of Jemput Jemput pisang for Baby Z and myself. The first try was a success! Alhamdulillah. Though the color was of course not like the normal Jemput Jemput, due to the color of the buckwheat flour. The taste was, well, I guess I had gotten used to non wheat flours by now, but even the kids approved of my allergy free concoctions.

Yesterday was a particularly rewarding day for me. I made a fluffy, soft, banana cake, without using eggs, butter, and all purpose flour. I had two tried the day before, but they were both disappointing. I decided to try again. This time, I utilized what I learned about the different types of flour and their respective properties, and also applied my baking know how in the mixing process.

The result; a squeal of delight from me, calling the kids to see my successful experiment, followed by nodding heads, mouth stuffed with the allergy free banana cake.

“I can’t believe this is allergy free, Ummi,” remarked one of them. In my glee, I no longer cared or remember who it was that said what.

It did lack sugar though, which is fine, but I made another one, and actually included sugar whereas I had omitted it in the first try). The result, slightly gummy, and it was later that I realized that it was probably due to me taking the cake out prematurely. My happiness was not rained upon by the gumminess of the second try, because I knew what went wrong, and I am sure that was what went wrong.

Overall, I am just grateful that I am doing what I am doing now of all times, because now I can provide Baby Z with a real cake, that he can actually eat. As for me, I no longer crave cakes and goodies as I did months back, alhamdulillah.