Bush birthday banana cake and other self catering at Lorne

One of the reasons we went to Lorne last week was that I had decided I wanted to celebrate my birthday with a swim in the sea.  In my previous post about Lorne I wrote about our holiday but I wanted to have a separate post to reflect on self catering.  Before we had Sylvia we often stayed in B&Bs with no kitchen facilities.  Now we often stay in self catering apartments.  It is much easier with a young child.  As you can see in the above photo, I even self catered my birthday cake with Ricki's Banana Oat Bars.

So these days we pack food in the car.  The sort of things I took away on this trip were english muffins, teabags, milk, oats (for porridge), honey, promite, pancake mixture, maple syrup (did I really need two sweeteners?), vegie sausages, vegie burgers, tomato sauce, a stir through olive and tomato pasta sauce, ranch dressing, smoky potato salad dressing (did I need two salad dressings?) dried pasta, tins of beans, capsicum, corn on the cob, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, potatoes, cheeses, quince paste, dips, crackers, chips, roasted chickpeas, soda water, soda water with lime, butter, olive oil (never used it but what kitchen is complete without it), watermelon, grapes, nectarines, chocolate block, mini magnum icecreams, and banana oat slice.

Yes, I overcater.  We had plenty of food to take home and we haven't done much grocery shopping since the holiday.  Now isn't that better than leaving food on a plate at a restaurant!  I also took along some plastic bowls, cups, plates and cutlery for Sylvia, and a favourite chopping board and medium mixing bowl.  Just in case.  (Can you tell I was a girl guide - be prepared!)

Holidays mean more processed food than usual because it is easy and indulgent.  That is what holidays should be isn't it!  Especially when there is a birthday involved.  Sylvia loves to grab one of the bottles of pancake mix in the supermarket and usually I say no.  I was going to say yes on our pre-holiday shopping trip and then I spied the Pancake Parlour mixture.  I loved the Pancake Parlour as a kid and even once bought a packet of this stuff from the restaurant (though no one else in my family remembers it).

Pancakes from a packet are easy holiday breakfast.  And perfect birthday breakfast.  If you look carefully you will see the 1961 copy of a murder mystery set in Melbourne University that E found me in the Lorne op shop.  I also got a Church CD, a guide to veganism book, a healthy baking cookbook, a book of lyrics by Jarvis Cocker, a gorgeous plate, a bottle of good olive oil and a digital radio.  And my swim in the sea.  It really was a wonderful birthday.

It was also a birthday that seemed full of nostalgia.  Chocolates such as this caramel one are so tempting in the supermarket but I try not to get sucked in to trying every new flavour and brand.  I had never seen this one before or heard of the brand (Gran's).  But thought it was tooth-achingly sweet, I loved a little piece because it tasted like the fudge centre of one of my favourite chocolate bars in childhood - chokito.

Though I wanted to try lots of cafes and restaurants, I know that getting Sylvia to eat a decent dinner and sleep in the evening is a challenge.  We decided we would eat out for lunch and have dinner in the apartment at night.  I btought a long lots of vegetables partly so that I could make sure Sylvia ate them.  She eats too many chips when she eats out and I find it difficult find a healthy meal with enough vegetables to satisfy me in a cafe.

The first night we had a Smoky potato, bean and corn salad with vegies sausages.  I had made up the dressing at home and the rest was quite easy to make up in the kitchen of the apartment (which was quite well stocked).  On another night we had some pasta salad with vegies, beans and a low fat ranch dressing.  I also had a pasta sauce in case we wanted a quick pasta meal but that never eventuated.

For my birthday I had decided I wanted to plan a nice meal that we could make ourselves.  After much puzzling over this, I decided that I would take some nice cheeses.  We stopped at the supermarket in Geelong and bought jarlsberg, brie, smoked cheddar, vintage cheddar, and quince paste.  With some dips, chips and crackers it was an easy lunch to take into the bush for a picnic.

For the birthday cake, I had decided to make hedgehog.  I even took down the ingredients because they are quite simple.  Yet I ended up making a banana oat slice from Diet Dessert and Dogs before I left because we had two over-ripe bananas.  As you can see it didn't want to behave and cracked horribly when I tipped it out of the tin.  It was more cake than flapjack - quite moist and crumbly but wholesomely delicious, especially in warm weather when the choc chips were melty.  We had plenty of it on holiday so it seemed silly to make anything else.

You can see my banana oat slice above on a plate I bought from the op shop for 50c.  On the top photo you can see that I took along candles and matches for the cake but used the lid of the tub because I forgot a plate.  I had thought Sylvia would enjoy blowing out the candles but the wind got there first.  Below is the birthday cakes that my mum made for me when I dropped in to see my family on the way home.  All the kids had a turn blowing out those candles!  We also had a great tex mex feast that my mum had prepared.

Lastly I will leave you one of the funnier moments on our trip.  As we drove through Torquay on Australia Day, two surfer guys with long bleached hair ran over to our car as we stopped at a traffic light.  They gave us a few lamingtons and looked at Sylvia sleeping in the backseat in her blue and white t-shirt and gave us an Aussie flag, saying "this is for the little fella".  It gave us a laugh but we didn't put the flag on our car, as you know what they are saying about racism and people with flags on their car.  The guys' enthusiasm was infectious!  A hilarious moment in a great holiday!

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: CC Soba noodle salad
This time two years ago: My Camera Birthday Cake
This time three years ago: Apricot and Orange Glazed Tofu
This time four years ago: Muhammara by Moonlight

Banana Choc Chip Oat Slice
Adapted from Diet Dessert and Dogs

2 medium, very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup raw sugar (or other unrefined sugars such as coconut sugar)
1 tbsp finely ground linseeds (flax seeds)
1/4 cup milk (I think I used soy)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup dark choc chips (or dried fruit)
1, 1/2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/4 cup oat flour (I ground oats in blender)
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Line or grease a 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the bananas, raw sugar, flax seeds, milk, oil and vanilla.  Set aside and mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until combined.  The mixture seems quite wet but this is ok.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake in preheated oven until it is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Ricki suggested 40-45 minutes but I took 60 minutes and it was still quite moist.

Cool in the pan for 10-20 minutes and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.  Cut into pieces and keep in an airtight container.  Ours was good after 6 days and Ricki says you can freeze them.

On the Stereo:
The Best of the Radio Songs: The Church