9.10.11

sweet potato coconut quickbread
sweet potato coconut quickbread
sweet potato coconut quickbread & marron glace tea

These are my confessions~
 
1. It's nearly mid-October, and I've only just started to buy warmer clothes. My first day of dressing for autumn, and it's ridiculously hot without a cloud in the sky. I'm a little bit offended by this, but not enough to put me off wearing dark purple tights and brown cord shorts. I look really cute, but I feel a little bit like a hobbit (it's the cordoroy).
 
2. Apparently, if given the opportunity, I will literally eat cereal, frozen banana, berries, peanut butter and soy milk for dinner every single day. I thought if I humoured myself, I'd get sick of it... I totally haven't got sick of it. I make a terrible adult.

3. I'm listening to Coldplay right now. Oh god, I really have turned into my mother. But who doesn't like 'Fix You'?

4. So this week, the IT teacher who has a crush on me wore a waistcoat to work, and I'm not kidding, his attractiveness SKYROCKETED. I was suddenly all over that, and I'm not even interested in clothes. HOT FLUSHES IN THE STAFF-ROOM.

5. I saw a cockroach in my bathroom last night. I was on the loo. I freaked out so hard I practically climbed down the toilet to get away. Classy, right? Um... what are you supposed to do about cockroaches? Beyond running away, I mean.

6. Every time I visit the International Food store in Nagasaki City, I get so overwhelmed with joy (and the prospect of buying peanut butter and pitta bread) that I could literally cry. Sometimes I have to go and stand in the condiment section and blink back happy tears at the sight of Earl Grey confiture. I don't get homesick for people or places... I get homesick for granola bars and medjool dates. Um... that's normal, right?
 
7. The rubbish/recycling system here (and practically everything is recycled) is more complicated than I ever imagined possible; when I first arrived it took me three days to get the gist of the sorting sheet, and then I realised it was last year's and all the pickup days had changed. I think you have to approach something like this with a certain amount of gusto, which means that three or four times a day I can be seen picking something up and going, 'I wonder if this is "combustible"? - THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO FIND OUT!' and experimentally setting things on fire with a cigarette lighter. When I'm at school and can't test things in this way, I'm totally baffled.
 
8. Today I bought a floppy burgundy felt hat, and je ne regrette rien. But I'm not gonna tell my mum how much it cost. Sometimes, floppy burgundy hats are just worth it.

9. In Starbucks, this morning, with my iced tea, watching families and groups of teenagers buying okonomiyaki-hashi  and candied strawberries at the Okunchi festival stalls; watching kids running around with sticky fingers and cartoon character masks; watching the bright blue sky and the flickering anime screens in the store windows; laden with awesome hat and fresh peanut butter supplies - I think perhaps I am happier than I've ever been in my life.

10. I made this sweet potato & coconut quickbread weeks ago. I tweeted about it... and then I totally didn't give you the recipe. No hate, questions or judgements, please? This crumbled a little - although I think this was mostly because I cut it while it was still warm - so I think I might try it with a flax egg with the wet ingredients next time; but if you don't have flaxmeal in your neck of the woods, it's still awesomely delicious and will work without (and you know there's gonna be a next time). And if you do have flaxmeal, try it, and let me know how it works out.


Sweet Potato & Coconut Quickbread

140g (1 c.) plain flour
90g (3/4c.) wholewheat flour
90g (3/4c.) brown sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of (baking) soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
30g (1/2c.) unsweetened dessicated coconut
225g (1c.) pureed sweet potato (I cooked mine in the microwave then blended the flesh, but you could mash it if it's soft enough)
120ml (1/2c.) coconut oil - you could sub any neutral oil
120ml (1/2c.) coconut milk
120ml (1/2c.) water

Preheat oven to 180C. 

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, bicarb, salt, cinnamon and coconut. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sweet potato puree, oil, coconut milk and water, then add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold in til combined.

Bake for around an hour in a 8x4 loaf pan, until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to rest in the pan before turning out to cool on a wire rack. Eat slightly warm with vegan margarine or butter, and marron glace tea.
 
Okay, so you know this is a judgement-free blog, right? What do you want to confess?

8 comments

  1. #2 is TOTALLY ME! haha i did that a lot this summer. a bowl of cold cereal feels so good when it's hot. no judgment at all. i also love #9, what a beautiful scene.

    definitely bookmarking this recipe! sweet potato and coconut, what a lovely marriage of flavors.

    my confession: i cannot go to bed without scooping many spoonfuls of almond butter into my mouth.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can totally understand why you would eat cereal for dinner as much as possible. Cereal is one of life's greatest joys. :D

    My confession: I find waistcoats unbearably attractive as well. Add in rolled-up sleeves...*thud*

    ReplyDelete
  3. Natalie - substitue almond butter for peanut butter (admittedly only because I can't get almond butter in this neck of the woods) and you've just described my life. I wish I was joking.

    Koci - ROLLED-UP SLEEVES. MOST ACCURATE THING I HAVE EVER HEARD. LAWSIE MERCY.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This looks really good! Must bookmark it.

    My Confession: I had to look up what a "waistcoat" was. We say "vest" here in the States :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I eat cereal for dessert like every night aha! :)

    my confession:

    And I hope I don't get like cyber-slapped in the face here lol BUT... I way rather sit down with a book in one hand and a toasty warm cup of coffee in the other than spend my time watching the NHL series in the winter.

    P.S. To all hockey fanatics, I didn't say I don't enjoy hockey, I merely said I prefer reading and sipping on coffee over it. :)

    -Anne

    ReplyDelete
  6. Purple tights and brown shorts actually sounds cute! And this bread sounds awesome!

    Confession? I just bought sweet potatoes and plan on making sweet potatoes fries just about everyday! Maybe I'll try this bread if I have some left :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. It looks delicious but I hadn't seen anything like that before 'cos isn't easy to find here, I had been asking about it and I couldn't find new answers... this blog has been doing and informative job, posting pictures and writing down recipes and instructions. It's an impressive work, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Looks so delicious, thanks for sharing the recipe.

    ReplyDelete

© papillon.Maira Gall