After listening to everyone’s stories at the Esk stop of the recent food tales journey, I was reminded of my own kitchen/family experiences. This came to mind; a tradition and hopefully happy memory being created for the next generation of our family. Steamy hot Breakfast Porridge
Ingredients:
• 1 rice-cup of traditional oats
• ½ measuring cup of milk
• ½ measuring cup of water
• A sprinkle of brown sugar and a dash of milk to taste
Equipment:
• Dad’s favourite saucepan
• Grandma’s wooden spoon
• Gas cooktop
• 2 young boys (for best results youngest should be at least 3.5 yrs old)
Process:
1. Combine milk and water
(I’ll pour the milk, the bottle is a bit heavy.)
2. Pour dried oats to the saucepan
(Yes, you can pour in the oats.)
3. Add wet mix to oats
(No, you poured in the oats, your brother will pour in the water.)
4. Request shirts applied to boy’s bodies
(you are not cooking by the hot stove without a shirt!)
5. Wait 15min till shirts have been applied
(for a variation, shirts may be applied back-to-front or inside out, but generally best if correct limbs inserted through appropriate holes)
6. Place saucepan on a medium heat
(I’ll start the fire, no don’t touch the flame it will burn!)
7. Stand over saucepan and watch
(probably best to turn away if you need to sneeze!)
8. Insert spoon and slowly stir
(yes, you can each have a turn….. one at time!!!!)
9. Bring to the boil
(please don’t fight by the stove, you could get hurt.)
10. Once boiling, reduce to simmer
(I did tell you that the flame would burn…because it’s HOT!)
11. Stir slowly and gently blow steam
(do PLEASE try not to spit when you blow.)
12. Stir slowly and gently blow steam
(no, I don’t think we need any aliens to help us.)
13. Stir gently and breathe slowly and deeply
(I don’t think dinosaurs ate porridge, but who knows?)
14. Stir gently, breathe slowly and pray
(yes, maybe the aliens could invite the dinosaurs to breakfast… )
15. Give thanks that the porridge is cooked
(one of you get the bowls the other get the spoons…the spoons are NOT more important that the bowls, really this is not worth fighting over…Sam you get the bowls, Jack you get the spoons. OK, Sam you get the spoons and Jack you get the bowls. It really doesn’t matter, if you want to eat the porridge we need bowls and spoons! OK, Sam you get YOUR bowl and spoon, Jack you get YOUR bowl and spoon. That’s very thoughtful of you Sam, thank-you for getting Jack’s spoon, and thank-you Jack for getting Sam’s bowl.)
16. Now that it has sufficient time to cool, add sprinkle of brown sugar and dash of milk
17. Enjoy the peace and satisfaction of contented eating silence… for a few moments anyway!
My name: Donita
My location: Esk
