Post Exam Sugar Cookies!

My exams are finally over. It felt so good to spend the afternoon not studying, just making the cookies pictured.  My next few days are going to be entirely devoted to gluttony and Christmas food haha.  These sugar cookies are really simple and the icing is great for decorating.

Cookies:

1½ cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
6 tsp vanilla

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar

1-4 drops of lemon juice
1 tbsp light corn syrup
~1 tbsp milk

Cookies: Mix butter and sugar until well combined.  Add eggs, egg yolk and vanilla.  Next in a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients slowly.  Be careful not to overmix.  Now, refrigerate for 1-2 hours.  Pre-heat oven to 350F.  Cut cookies to about 1/2 inch thickness and bake until browned around the edges (about 8-10 minutes depending on your oven)

Icing: Combine powdered sugar, corn syrup and lemon juice.  Add milk to make desired consistency of icing. 

From: Iambaker

Rocky road

Don't forget to make your own Rocky road for Christmas! It's super simple to make and delicious. Also you can variate the filling with whatever you like. You can add all from fresh raspberries to dried apricots or different kinds of nuts. If your imagination takes over why not just make several batches and your holidays are saved!

I will make mine like these:

600 grams of dark chocolate
2 bags of diced toffee sweets
2 handfuls of chopped marshmallows
1,5 cups of salted peanuts
half a cup of pistachio nuts
half a cup of dried cranberries

First thing you got to do is to melt the chocolate on low heat over a water bath.
While the chocolate is melting chop the toffee, marshmallows and peel the pistachios. When the chocolate is liquid mix it together with all the ingredients. When all of it's coated spread it evenly in a baking tray. Then put the tray in the fridge Enjoy!

(Image source: frutimotej)

Roasted Zucchini Soup

It's that time of year again, the time of year when soup makes its triumphant transition from side dish to main course.  I don't know whether it's the snow, the cold, or my textbooks' ability to crush my spirit, but soup is one of the only things I can manage to cook once December comes.  Here's a simple, delicious puree I made while avoiding my soul-sucking marketing textbook. 

2 zucchinis, chopped vertically then horizontally.

1 tbsp of crushed garlic

1/4 cup olive oil 

2 cups chicken/vegetable stock

1/4 of a jalapeño

Salt and pepper to taste

Start with chopping garlic and adding to oil.  Then, cover chopped zucchini with garlic oil mixture and put in oven at 450F until browned.  Puree together roasted zucchinis, jalapeño and 1/2 cup of chicken stock.   Move mixture to a saucepan and add the rest of the chicken stock.  Bring to a simmer, add salt and pepper and enjoy this great winter soup!

Gingerbread house

I really have got lots of Christmas feelings lately. With all of the decorations and lights around the city it feels more like winter now. Although the Madrid weather is more like a warm autumn with leaves and sunshine. During the day when the lights are not on I listen to Christmas songs as I'm missing Swedish Christmas a little bit. Will have it soon though, this time in two weeks I will be home. Decorating the tree and everything, bake again and make candy. I really want to make a gingerbread house! I haven't made one in years, I would just like to go completely overboard with it. If I'll make one I will definitely post a picture!

Carrot Leek Soup

1 medium leek

3 cups chopped carrots

2 cups chicken stock 

3 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp ginger

salt + pepper

Heat garlic and olive oil in a saucepan.  Add chopped leeks, carrots, ginger and thyme, and let cook for 5 minutes or so.  Add chicken stock and bring mixture to a boil.  After 15 minutes, or when the carrots are cooked, remove from heat and puree.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

The 90's

Don't know why I felt like listening to Rooster by Alice in chains just tonight. It's such a great song, also watched the video and it made me a bit sad. Continued with watching more videos of that great band. The ninties were so great. Wish I was a bit older so I could have taken part of it in another way. Read about Layne Staley's life and death. Made me even more sad. The way he had to go, how terrible he must have felt during his last years. Too many great people has passed away due to the same causes as him. It always seems to be the ones that have so much more to give.

Now I'm redescovering the music I will always love. Guess I should thank my brother for giving me all of his Nirvana albums for my 12th birthday. It's amazing how something like that, a gesture from a person you really look up to will shape you as a person. Didn't mean to go all deep on you, was just thinking a lot.

If you have nothing better to do you should definatley check out Mad Season. Listening to them atm!

Supernice!

Puerta del Sol on New Years

Some people are just too nice! A friend just asked if me if me and my boyfriend wanted to borrow his apartment in Madrid during New Years. Incredable, I had to ask if he was serious like a million times. Just wanted to show my appreciation for nice things like that. Thank you, all you supernice people in my life<3

It's the final countdown; daaa da, da da da da da

 Less than a month until I return to Madrid!  Everyone has been getting daily updates on exactly how many days remain in my countdown (twenty nine, if you're wondering), and I've been getting a little spacey and unfocused.    But really, how can anyone be productive when 5 months of long distance are drawing to a close? A few essays, final exams, some packing and a long plane ride and bing bang boom, I'm back. 

Time flies

(I'm just as happy as Alexander Wang)

The days are just flying away. I barely have time to do anything during the days before they end. The thing is, I'm not doing anything special and they are still just going so fast.

I don't understand- doesn't time usually feel like it's moving slower when you're not doing anything? Very weird, although I am happy about it. I have so much to look forward to, so so excited!

Chills

Please come to Madrid!

Airport

Since I will be spending sometime at the aiport when going back to Madrid after christmas, I needed some ideas. As any normal human being I googled what to do instead of ask a real person. I found helpful answers such as stare blankly into space...

Another one suggested to exercise- ain't going to happen.

So far I guess I'll be eating, walking around exploring, buying crap I don't need, drink too much coffee, play solitaire, read, watch movies, stare and wait.

If you have any helpful ideas on what to do in an airport I'm all ears!

Christmas is Coming

It's snowwwwwing in Montreal! I woke up this morning totally unmotivated to leave the house, until I looked outside and saw that the city was covered in wonderful whiteness.  I'll probably never outgrow this first snow excitement. 

Twin Peaks

I have not yet finished this series, so I started watching it again today.

Yes, it's awful I should be done, I am on season two though.

Took lots of screenshots during the time. Love taking screenshots from movies or series when you can choose whith moments to capture.

A Beautiful Video by St. Vincent

 

Will be taking a break from finals on December 17th to see this talented lady at Theatre Corona.  St. Vincent also forms part of the Sufjan Stevens band, and The Polyphonic Spree.

Bangs or no bangs?

That is the question.

(This post is not food related other than the fact that I'm eating jamon chips while writing it.)

Versatile Flapjacks

Flapjacks are really easy to make and you can add pretty much whatever you feel like.

This recipe has a jam filling instead of adding condensed milk into the mixture. You can change the flavor of the jam or simply add dried berries/fruit, nuts or seeds if you feel like it. It might be too sweet considering the amount of jam, so take that in consideration when you're adding additional deliciousness.

You will need:

• 150 grams of butter
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of syrup
• 3 cups of rolled oats/granola
• 1 cup of raspberry jam
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
• a pinch of salt

Start with lining a baking tray with grease proof paper, the tray should be around 9,5 x 7 inches. Melt the butter in a saucepan. When the butter is liquid, add all of the other ingredients except the jam. Stir it around until all of the oatmeal is coated. If it looks dry, add more butter. When your mixture is done fill your tray with half of it. Make it nice and even and then put a layer of jam on top. After the jam layer, put the rest of the flapjack mixture as a top layer. Then bake it in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 200 degrees. When it is baked, let it cool down until you cut it into pieces. Enjoy!

Autumny Green Lentil Linguini

This is a great recipe for those lentil lovers out there, and also for anyone looking to add these wonderful little legumes to their diet.

1/2 cup green lentils 
1/2 chopped onion
2 cups of chicken stock
Handful of linguini
1-2 cups of frozen corn
Cayenne, salt, red pepper flakes, pepper

For the sauce:
In a saucepan, cook the onions in olive oil until they begin to smell.  Add the lentils to the saucepan and mix well.  I used cayenne, salt and pepper to give the sauce a bit of a spicy taste.  Then, add the 2 cups of chicken stock to the pot and cook at medium heat until the lentils are well cooked.  Puree the lentils.

Pasta:
Pretty simple, boil a pot of water, adding linguini and corn.  Wait until throughly cooked, then drain, and mix with the lentil puree.