Notes from a kitty prison and a recipe for cheeky monkey banana bread

Bisbee's always been a little bit rock n roll. He lives fast and he lives large, climbing trees, walking narrow fencelines, hunting mice and birds, opening doors and cupboards around the house and helping himself to the fridge any chance he gets to sneak in under the radar, and racing up and down the stairs like he's the fastest cat in the world. So it was not unexpected that kitty cat lock down would bring with it a little bit of depression.

Week 2 from kitty prison and Bisbee's lost nearly a kilo! That's 10% if his body weight! We expected a little bit of weight loss with the not being as active and losing some muscle tone, but he's really becoming a bag of bones and turning his kitty nose up at everything we offer. So the two of us are trying all manner of temptation to get the little bugger to eat. We sing songs, we get him to purr and purr with brushing and stroking his golden locks, we give him a room with a view and keep the bird feeder topped up so he has lots to see, we play with string and feathers toys, we offer cheese and butter and tuna juice and chicken broth. We heat food in the microwave, we give him the dregs from our cereal bowl (a former favorite), we boil chicken, we bake salmon, we make a pate' of a/d and catlax (because, oddly, he loves cat lax) and that, so far, seems to be the only thing that works, but one can't survive on catlax alone. Do you have any kitty cat temptation ideas? Recipes?

Vets and vet nurses on the other hand are a bit easier to please. And as a token of appreciation and thanksgiving, I whipped up a bit banana bread on behalf of our cheeky monkey, Bisbee. The vets were especially great considering that we weren't registered with them and we came in at 5:30 as they were closing with a cat with a broken leg. They didn't even bat an eye, got us in at the first opportunity and treated us with kindness. It makes all the difference in the world to be treated kindly and openly when you experience a stressful event like a kitty cat emergency.

This recipe is a favorite since we're constantly running up a glut of bananas that need eating. It takes one weekend away (or attack of choleangitis and the accompanying inappetence) and you have more browning bananas than you can shake a stick at. This recipe is so easy, you don't even need a mixer for it, it's a one bowl wonder!

Cheeky Monkey Banana Bread

3 or 4 over-ripe bananas - smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup all-purpose/plain flour

Preheat the oven to 350F (175 C), butter a 4 x8 inch loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter to the mashed bananas and mix well with a wooden spoon. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice over the mixture and stir in. Add the flour last, a spoonful at a time, and mix in. Pour batter into a loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack and enjoy with a steaming cup of morning coffee.

Want to see other recipes from the Queen Bee? Click here, or here, and here, or here and even here.