Caramel Milkshake Syrup/ Sauce as an Example

This post is a little slow coming this week due to the fact that we've had a big storm and were without power for over 24 hours. It has been a lesson as it had us scrambling for things that we will now leave in a convenient place together in the garage. We have an emergency cupboard inside, with torches, matches, candles, portable radio etc, but we will now have one for the likes of the gas cooker and larger items too.
No power here means no running water as we have a pump, so it all had to be brought in from the tank in buckets. Talk about a lesson in slow living so that we don't take things for granted.

Our river looks like the Amazon at the moment - wide, full and dirty. 

Our river in flood, Northland NZ

The next Generation
I'm keen for any opportunity to encourage the next generation to think about how they shop, instead of it being an automatic thing, so when milkshake syrup appeared on our shopping list board I thought of it as an opportunity not to be missed.
I didn't really want to buy milkshake syrup because it's full of artificial colours, flavours and sugar, plus it generally comes in a plastic container, so I asked young Katie which flavour in particular she would like. When she said "caramel" I knew it was most likely something we could make.

 A little Googling and I came up with this recipe. Katie made it and it turned out to be, in her words, "nicer than the bought stuff" because it was not sickly sweet, but gave good flavour. It's really a caramel sauce recipe - but hey, it works in milkshakes too.

Easy Caramel Sauce from the Food Network

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of half and half cream (we used a tin of reduced cream)
4 tablespoons of butter 
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of vanilla essence

Mix the sugar, cream, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook while whisking gently for 5-7 minutes until it gets thicker. Add the vanilla and cook another minute. Turn off heat, cool slightly and pour the sauce into a jar.
Done - how easy is that!

Well, back to the job of cooking up all the food that had half defrosted in the freezer during the power outage - I don't want to be wasting it.