Cinnamon doughnuts for a picky eater

It's ironic that a boy who has never been easy to feed is somewhat of a gourmand (in that he prized good food, not that he eats to excess - he never does). For his birthday he wants a food party, with his favourite dishes to share with his friends, and his request for the school holidays was to make cinnamon doughnuts.

It was with the help of this 1960 retro cookbook discovered in a church op shop that I found the recipe. There are plenty more old goodies in the for me to try also. About five types of gingerbread, for a start!

(If you're looking closely at this,  we missed out the jam.)

 They were deep fried, which scared me a bit as I haven't done that for about 20 years. The children rolled the fresh doughnuts in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar; although the recipe called for just sugar, Jack insisted on cinnamon, a spice we all love.

They hit the mark, and by lunchtime the next day, 31 doughnuts were gone. We couldn't eat them all the evening they were made, said Jack. "That's enough! We don't want to overeat!"

Regarding the eating personality pictured above: once I read a book called 'Eleni' who featured a similar personality, this time a girl. I can't recommend the book because although it was amazing, it was the saddest book I've ever read. It's a true story.

Eleni's daughter was like Jack. She loved the best quality food and couldn't bring herself to eat things she didn't like. The family was living in a time of famine (due to a communist occupation) and she couldn't force herself to eat the meagre scraps they could find. Eventually she was drafted by the communists, along with the other teenage girls of the village, and taken for military training in another village. Their food was a big common pot of soupy stuff, and although she was by now starving to death, she couldn't eat it.

The communists ejected her from their army, because a soldier in such poor condition was no good to them.

So when you say 'Eat it or starve', there is indeed the odd person who starves! We're working on it though. Our extremely lean young man's 'normal food' repertoire is increasing every month.