Sunday Afternoon Boat Cruise

           On Sunday afternoon my friend Hilary organized a boat cruise with lots of her friends.  We slowly cruised up the Thamalakane river until we reached the junction and then headed north up the Boro river.  We cruised over a hippo which felt like a sandbar going bu-bump-ba-bump under the boat.  Colin, our quiet and trusty captain who was sipping water instead of his usual whiskey, stopped the boat to have a look at this creature but he barely came up for air and we never really saw the shy guy.  After that out came the food and drinks.  People poured wine, gin and tonic, tea, or soda water.   Out of cool boxes and picnic baskets came chips, crackers, cheese, cruidite, chickpea salad, and for myself, I made yogurt banana cake that I adapted from a new book I just read, Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes.  Roger alone ate six pieces.  It was yummy, if I do say so myself.  Traditional banana bread made a little sweeter and more unctuous. We stopped at a sand bar and all got out to swim.  The day was not as hot as I would have wanted but the water was warm and the company lovely.  

Yogurt Banana Cake (adapted from Elizabeth Bard)

1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup brown sugar

large pinch of sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup melted or soft butter

2 large eggs

1 ½  cup flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

zest of one lemon

2 small ripe bananas (or one large) roughly mashed plus more for garnish

Preheat oven to 350F

I was feeling carefree and lazy when I made this Saturday morning so I just dumped everything into one bowl at once and mixed it all up.  It worked.  Butter a pan and set in baking paper then butter the baking paper.  I cut up a third banana (my bananas here in Botswana are quite small) to make a pretty ‘X’ design in the batter. Pour in the mixture and cook for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

This cake gets moister the longer it sits.  I made mine on Saturday morning and served it Sunday afternoon and it was actually nicer.  I also made mine with rice flour because one my closest friends can’t eat gluten.  You’d never know the difference and I’m not one to sacrifice taste for diet.  Elizabeth Bard also suggests using any kind of fruit you want to put in the cake.  I had bananas so I used those.