Shopping alone

I went shopping in the morning. You can't call it a proper shopping spree exactly but well, I had to go.I had downloaded a few dress patterns & didn't have good fabric to make them with. I saw this shop on Galle road with a nice name & it looked like they'd have a good stock of material. Guess what!! Big surprise! They didn't have anything good.

Well, not anything. I found a lovely crepe Georgette (I still don't know what I'm going to do with it) and bought silk in 2 colours. Maroonish brown & navy blue. I know exactly what I'm going to sew with them. So when I'm done I will post some pics in here. And guess for whom one of them is? 

You know how shopping is boring when done alone. You need a partner to go shopping with. In my case if I shop alone not only I tend to shop faster (Who wants that?) I scoot through everything so fast that Im not having half the fun I'd be having with another person. And when I'm alone I don't go to the same shop twice and don't back track. (Oh humanity!)

People I usually shop with.

1. My man
Awww.. He complains. Of course he does. But I think he likes to complain about my shopping & I like him complaining about it. What endears him to me most is when he sits in a shop while I'm parading  in front of him in different "costumes" (heh hee...) or browsing through all the shoes/clothes/fabric/paper/jewelry/etc/etc/etc (depending on what shop we are in) and manages to look so bored but answers all my questions in rapid succession, never missing a beat.
(Do you think I'm fat?- No darling, Are you sure?-yes of course, does this make me look fat?- No, maybe you should pick white)
One of the reasons I love him so...

2. Nangi

We have so much fun shopping together. We strategically don't whine about the things we can't have ("Oohh.. Isn't that a gorgeous top?" Look at the price tag "Nah.. The colour isn't all that flattering".
Something I've noticed, my sis & I manage to have the most philosophical conversations while we shop.(Contrary to the popular belief that shopping & deep thoughts don't go together). Sometimes we fight. But there's no argument that a good shopping spree can solve between the two of us.

3. My self (The topic being people I usually shop with, I shop with myself)
sigh...........



Moving on from shopping news, I've decided to have a craft resolution for every month. That's gotta be fun. This is apart from all  the sewing & what not.

And my craft resolution for this month?
I'm going to learn wire crochet. :)

Banana Chocolate chip cake

This is something very easy to whip up with a few easy to find ingredients at home. Although when one thinks about it, bananas & chocolates don't go together, this one turned out to be rather nice.

Ingredients

250 g plain flour
150 g white sugar (No need to be Castor sugar, granulated is just fine)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1tsp ground cinnamon (Or not, according to taste)
120 g caterer's chocolate, broken or cut into little chips/chunks. (The quantity of chocolate can be varied according to how chocolaty you want the cake to be)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (115 g) butter melted & cooled. (I actually used margarine) (And a little more for the baking tin)
3 ripe large bananas (approx 450 g) mashed well. ( The 1st time I made this I didn't mash them properly & the little chunks of banana in the cake weren't too bad either)

1 tsp vanilla extract
about 1tbs cocoa powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C
Grease the baking tin with butter & dust with cocoa powder
Mix all the dry ingredients except the cocoa powder together (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon & chocolate)
Mix all the liquid/wet ingredients together ( eggs, butter, bananas, vanilla)
Pour the liquid ingrient mixture into the dry ingredients & mix.
Pour into the baking tin & bake for 55 to 60 minutes.

Serve with chocolate melted with a bit of butter. (It gives a nutty taste)

Thats' all. :)

And, the pictures, courtesy of MiddleChild. (Who happily gulped down half of the cake)
http://rantsofamiddlechild.blogspot.com/