It's a little known fact I'm also something of a foodie.  I'm going to share with you a recipe which I make on a weekly basis.  It's delicious, healthy and great to include in a packed lunch.

Who needs dainty, cupcakey, frippery and frou-frou? This is a solid, gulag-style old-fashioned loaf that demands you cut off a great big hulking slab, slather it with butter and eat it accompanied by builders tea.

It's not all hulk and bulk though. The bananas make it lovely and moist, the dates are sticky and gooey, it's low in fat, big on taste and only takes 15 minutes to make.



Recipe:

• 300g self-raising flour - I used Doves Gluten-Free Self Raising Flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 125g chopped dates
• half a cup [125ml] caster sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp of ground nutmeg
• 2 large or 3 medium bananas - about a cup full of whipped banana but no matter if it's slightly more
• 1 cup [250ml] milk - I used semi-skimmed
• 2 large eggs
• 2lb capacity or 21.5x10.5cm loaf tin

Method:

• Sift the self-raising flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl.
• Stir through the dates and sugar
• Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients
• In another medium size mixing bowl chop up the banana into slices
• Whisk the banana slices with a hand beater or in a food processor until smooth-ish
• Add the eggs and milk and whisk briefly together until combined
• Pour half the banana mixture into the dry ingredients and combine at a low speed until blended
• Add remaining banana mixture and combine until just blended [don't over-mix]
• Pour mixture into a greased or lined loaf tin

Bake for 50 mins at 180 degrees [as I use a fan oven I bake it for 40 minutes -turning the tin around half way through]

The very yummy result:

Iceland has, of course, been in the spotlight of late.  First of all for the UK banking crisis and now of course for a very angry volcano.

Here is another interesting fact about Iceland:

Norway and Iceland - score first and third in the  "best places in the world to live" ratings. 


I have to say I've never met any Icelanders but have met a number of Scandinavians and they've all said they wouldn't want to live anywhere else.  For good reason it seems. They may complain about high taxation but their social policies are fantastic.

This article in The Independent investigates "The Real Reason Why Swedes Live Longer" and it's fascinating stuff.  It goes on to say:

 "In countries where there is a big earnings gap between rich and poor, life expectancy is lower while mental illness, obesity and drug and alcohol abuse are all more common.


The real surprise is that it’s not only the poor who suffer. The population as a whole do less well if the gap is wider. The nations with the smallest wealth gap and the lowest incidence of health and social problems are the Japanese and the Scandinavians. The countries with, respectively, the greatest and highest are America, Portugal and Britain.

The biological explanation for this is uncertain, but possibly mediated by the hormonal effects of perpetual anxiety about status and position, or loss of them. Economics affects health but not always as you might expect."

I've always wondered why those in the most privileged societies seem to be the unhappiest overall.  This makes perfect sense.

Photos thanks to Flickr - CCL - elephi pelephi