Coffee and a Chat

The house was quiet. The babes were asleep, Daddy was fighting the bad guys and Mommy was sneaking out of the house..... yes, she'd be back, but for a hour or so, she was going to sit in a coffee shop and chat with another human being that she didn't see every single day. Yup. Mommy was meeting a friend for coffee. Something she hadn't done in a LONG time.

And so, I went to the local coffee shop for adult conversation with my best friend. We'll call her Jill. Ok, so being friends for 32 years means the conversation is not always that mature, sophisticated or note-worthy, but it's conversation that doesn't include the words pee, poo, no, no, no don't do that and raspberries. Well, not all the time anyway.

Sitting there, catching up, it was nice to be out without the kids. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids so very much. I can't imagine my world without them. But boy, it was nice to be out and not having to worry about where they were and what they were doing. It was also nice not to be at Walmart or Dominion. That's usually where I go sans children. Shopping for the mundane.

While chatting over a gingerbread latte, the subject got onto food as it usually does. Jill told me about her love for gingerbread cake and I told her I had made a great Pumpkin Gingerbread for Thanksgiving. She asked for the recipe and so, I thought I'd share it with you all. If you don't like pumpkin but still enjoy gingerbread, I think you'll enjoy this. You don't really taste the pumpkin, but it does make the cake very moist and delicious.

So, I returned home after my coffee with plans to meet up again soon with Jill. We're going to try and make it a monthly thing if not more regularly. We both needed to get away from the usual evening routine and it was perfect. 

Thanks to my husband for holding down the fort. I brought him back a Vanilla latte so it wasn't all that bad!

Here's the recipe I found on allrecipes.com

Pumpkin Gingerbread

3 cups sugar

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice cinnamon, and clove. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour.

I made one loaf and then used the rest of the batter to make muffins that I then put in the freezer. They're nice to have with a cup of tea in the afternoon when your kids are asleep, or, for your afternoon break at work.  Another idea is to make mini loaves and give as hostess gifts. 

Enjoy!