It’s Sweet Tooth Thursday: Allergy Friendly Chocolate Cake (dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free) or …

… a little part of my birth story in the boonies

I know, I know, I didn’t post anything for … *ahem* … three months … oups … . Well, I got busy and the time was flying. Sorry about this.

But today is a special day. I just had to write a post. My little baby, or rather my little boy, turns four years old.

I can’t believe it’s been four years since the Hubs got very pale, nearly passed out in the hospital and was ordered to leave the room where I was giving birth. My midwife told him she could take care of me, no problem, but he would be on his own lying unconscious on the floor.

But still she had to call another midwife to help her. One was pushing my belly downward while the other was trying to get hold of the baby’s head. I felt like a … (piece of meat/cow/fill in the blank) with the two women working on me and finally, plop, he most precious little baby on earth was born.

The whole labor was rather fast I believe. Prior to my arrival at the hospital I didn’t have any contractions. The normal procedure here in Paradise is to induce after a woman is passed 41 weeks. With other words, from zero to fully open in less than 10 hours.

Oh yes, at one point during labor – mainly to make some small talk with the midwife because the Hubs had left the room (see above) – I raised the question of an epidural. Her answer was ‘Oh, this you should have asked the doctor before you came down here to the labor room. Now it’s too late.’ And I thought ‘B*tch, the last time I’ve seen this doctor was some 8 hours ago and I had no clue how painful this was going to be. … Gotta hang in there. … It’s just a matter of time. … Millions of other women did it before me. … I can do it.’ And so I did. The outcome: healthy baby, healthy mommy and all the pain was erased from my memory. Oh, and a very sick daddy after he came back to the room and saw my placenta lying around.

Fast forward four years. During this time we have mastered appendicitis and are living with food allergies and seasonal allergies causing eczema and sneezing/coughing.

These days, with his ‘old and wise’ age of four years, ‘Timan’ knows that if he stays clear of eggs, dairy, corn, chicken, fish, tomatoes and the products made with them, he stays perfectly healthy without itchy skin and if he would stay indoors 24/7 he wouldn’t cough or sneeze. The latter is nearly impossible for a 4-year-old boy who likes to run, jump, climb and explore nature.

But of course he likes to have his cake and eat it too.

What better activity for a kid to do during the ‘tropical winter’ school holiday than baking his own birthday cake.

Allergy Friendly Chocolate Cake (dairy free, egg free, corn free)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

60 gr dark chocolate (check ingredients for traces of milk)

60 ml virgin coconut oil

1 cup warm water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon juice or apple vinegar

Method

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 3-4

Mix all dry ingredients except the chocolate.

Break up the chocolate into pieces, add coconut oil and melt it in a small sauce pan, stir until combined. Add warm water, vanilla extract and apple vinegar, stir well after each addition.

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until combined and no lumps left.

Pour into 8″x8″ tin and bake for about 30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Don’t overbake.

Let cool for some hours.

Glaze

20 gr dark chocolate

40 ml coconut oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp soy-milk

2 tsp vanilla essence

Break up the chocolate into pieces, add coconut oil and melt it in a small sauce pan, stir until combined. Add brown sugar, stir until all is melted. Add soy-milk and mix. Bring to boil and simmer for 2 minutes while stirring. Remove from heat and stir constantly for another 5 minutes. Add vanilla essence, stir. Pour over cake. If you want to add some sprinkles, now it’s the time. Unfortunately I didn’t find any without ‘Timan’s allergens here in Paradise. Set aside for another hour, you might want to cool it if you live in a hot climate.

This recipe is made up of other recipes I found on the internet but adapted to the items you can buy here in Paradise. You can also use Cacao powder instead of chocolate, but you’ll have to adjust the fat content (oil) in the recipe. Check out this baking ingredient substitution table.

‘Timan’ loved the cake he made and the Hubs liked it too. I liked it anyway. Remember, I’m the one with the sweet tooth. 😉 It’s an easy egg-free, dairy-free and corn-free chocolate cake with chocolate glaze and it’s super-yummy and moist. Enjoy.

What other simple and easy cakes you make for your kids with food allergies?

My cars are not for racing (Memories Captured)

What to do with a well-functioning battery operated race car with radio remote control?

Some kids might play with it, they race it around the house. Awesome.

Well, ‘Timan’ did this too … for a short while.

But then his curiosity took over and he was more interested in using Daddy’s tools to skillfully disassemble it.

I guess his next birthday present will be his very own real tool set with many different screw drivers, a pair of pliers, a wrench and a small hammer.

And all broken mechanical objects in our house will be saved for disassembling by my little mechanic in training.

I’m just waiting until he starts with electronic things. Duh.

Please have mercy, I fear for Daddy’s phone, Mommy’s phone, TV, DVD, laptop, the car in front of the house the worst. 😉

If you want to see more ‘Memories Captured’, head over to Alison @ Mama Wants This or Galit @ These Little Waves for their meme

How did you fulfill your kids needs to satisfy their curiosity by taking apart mechanical things?

Wordless{ish} Wednesday – There is a bear on the island

Can you imagine? A bear on our little island in the tropics?

No, I’m not talking about the Malayan sun bears (Ursus malayanus), they are living on the other side of the ocean.

And don’t mean the Gummy Bear colony living in the kitchen either.

The bear I’m talking about has a green tail and

snuggles up to me all the time,

oops.

I was told it is related to the creature that is living in the bathroom.

That’s what ‘Timan’ says.

And ‘Timan’ is right. Always. **growl**

(as part of Wordless Wednesdays and linked up with live and love … out loud, project alicia, parenting BY dummies, Dagmar’s Momsense, Seven Clown Circus, Tara’s view of the world, Crazy About My Baybah, 5 Minutes for Mom, Angry Julie Monday and Better in Bulk)

The ‘best’ month in Paradise

Mid April until mid May is my favorite time in paradise. The weather is as hot as it gets here (33C/92F), the sea is warm like a bath tub, we have hardly any rain and the storage lakes on the island are still halfway full from the downpours during the peak of the rainy season, it couldn’t be better.

However:

1. Starting today ‘Timan’ is on school holiday for the next three weeks. In one way it’s very nice, I get to play (and snuggle :-)) with my son and maybe I get to sleep in until 7am. On the other hand however this isn’t good at all because I need to keep the little tot occupied or he will keep me on my toes the whole day long. Since many months we live in the era of ‘no-I-won’t-nap-ever-again’.

2. I’m not used to this anymore. After not even 3 short months I got so used to my free mornings I usually spend lounging on the couch, chatting with the neighbors, shopping cleaning the house. But luckily we have the perfect activity right next door. Ok, ‘sort of’ next door.

3. And this is the plan: Day #1 we go to the beach. Day #2 we go to the beach. Day #3 we might go to another beach (just for a change). But on day #4 we go to town. And on day #5 we visit Gromi. Day #6 we make a trip to the playground and stay there forever some hours. On day #7 we’ll go to the beach (again). And then we’ll start from the beginning. I just hope the weather is on our side. Sigh.

4. One thing I know for sure, ‘Timan’ can’t stay at home for more than 1/2 day. He needs an activity that involves running around, jumping and more running, burning energy, doing something physical. Any activity which doesn’t necessarily involve me every second of the day would do it and I’m starting to wonder how I’m going to survive these three weeks. How did I do this before? So fast did I get used to these 6 hours per day for myself.

5. But this week I was enjoying my last ‘free’ days for several weeks.

6. A friend came to the island and gave me some CDs with children songs and audio plays in Swiss. Songs and plays I remember from my own childhood. Since ‘Timan’ is singing the whole day, I’m sure he’ll like them and will pick up some songs in no time.

7. We went for another appointment to the dermatologist, the one I was not happy about the last time. This time however she was totally different. Maybe I’ve done her wrong in the past, because at that point she was not used to the way of life here (which is so much different then anywhere else. Deep down it still is a banana republic). We had a good talk and she completely agreed to the way I was handling ‘Timan’s eczema (double dosing one antihistamine and follow-up with another one at night, both in case he ate an allergen). She also told me about the local pharmacists who refuse to follow the doctors orders but rather ‘follow the book’ concerning prescriptions, even if the particular prescription is the norm in other countries. So we ended up laughing together and making fun of the locals like two expats living in a foreign country. Anyway, that’s what we both are.

8. Yesterday, to celebrate the last day of school, all the kids in preschool went to the local playground in town and I went along to snap some photos. I never thought it would be so difficult. They run and run, all of them, all at the same time, with no direction in mind. The playground looked like an anthill. I tried to make some group shots but 3- and 4-year-old kids are not able to stand still long enough, let along able to look into the same direction, all at the same time, not even for maybe 3 seconds.

Never before I ended up with so many crappy photos.

But all the kids had a great time and that’s what counts. 🙂

Wish me luck for the weeks ahead, enough coffee for the early morning hours and enough wine for the 5pm-frenzy or the overtired-after-dinner-tantrum.

But in the meantime I wish everyone a great weekend.

For more of those important lessons life is teaching you, head over to ‘Life Ever Since’:

Come sing with me (Memories Captured)

These days we are past ‘Jingle bells’ (finally, sigh), we’re done with ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’ and we moved on to other lyrics and songs, which are recited by ‘Timan’ on a regular basis, like … all the time.

With other words: His repertoire of songs and rhymes is steadily growing.

Of course, we are singing the ‘ABC-song’ and he knows some songs in Swiss. But lately he’s coming home with one Creole song after another, these are all songs or rhymes he’s learning in preschool.

Like this one for example:

Translation/rules:

The children are sitting in a circle. And while one kid is walking around this circle, all kids are singing:

“I am planting, I am planting,

a carrot, (a) little eggplant,

(if) it doesn’t grow, (if) it doesn’t grow.

I pull out one.”

and with the last words the one walking touches the nearest child on the head. This kid is following now the one going around. This is repeated until there is only one person left sitting.

“Look at the one that is rotten.”

Everybody is laughing and the ‘rotten’ one gets to be the person ‘pulling out’ the other kids in the next round.

‘Timan’  l.o.v.e.s.  this game.

But sometimes we are making up our own lyrics, like this one for example:

If you want to see more ‘Memories Captured’, head over to Alison @ Mama Wants This or Galit @ These Little Waves for their meme

Tell me about your kid’s favorite songs or nursery rhymes. Do you make up your own variations as well?