comfort food at its best

Yesterday I put the chocolate chips my mom sent me to good use. I baked a big batch of chocolate chip cookies. Enough to fit into 4 boxes. Instead of a chewy cookie, I opted for a crunchy recipe. Personally, I prefer the crispy cookie over the chewy cookie.

Fredrik will be going off to the studio tomorrow and I’ll probably send most of the cookies off with him.

Here’s the recipe for those who want fresh cookies in their home:

Ingredients

2 cups flour
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup (230g) softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg & 1 large egg white (Ull got the yolk. He really appreciated that.)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175°C (approximately 350°F). Line baking sheets with parchment paper. My oven fits 2 baking sheets.
2. Cream butter with sugars. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix till smooth and fluffy
3. Sift dry ingredients and add to wet in portions. Mix till smooth and thoroughly combined.
4. Add chocolate chips and mix till evenly dispersed.
5. Scoop batter on to baking sheet. If you want bigger cookies, use a bigger scoop. I used a couple of dessert spoons to scoop the batter. The cookies came out approximately 7cm in diameter.
6. Cool on a rack. The cookie will become crispy as it cools.

a bit of a scare

I walked into the kitchen earlier while the dishwasher was running and I smelled smoke.

At first, I thought it was because I forgot to turn off the stove (not really that unfamiliar to me) but the stove was off.

Then I thought that something might’ve fallen down from the racks of the dishwasher.

This happened a long time ago at my parents’ place. A plastic fork fell down on to the heating element in the dishwasher and it caused quite a bit of panic.

After opening the dishwasher a couple of times and wandering around the kitchen trying desperately to figure out what could possibly be on fire, I realized that the smell came from the people barbecuing outside

in loving memory of Johnny Sumandl

I found out today that my friend’s little brother passed away. I didn’t know him as well as I know my friend but his family is like my family. When my parents lived in the states, they were my pseudo family.

Johnny Sumandl is a fantastic person. Only Johnny can be Johnny. We’ll all miss him very much. Our deepest sympathies to his friends, family and anyone else that might know him. He’s definitely one of a kind.

Ull’s doppelganger

Sometimes Ull can look like a short haired cat. Fredrik says he looks like a monkey like this.

And then back to being fluffy…

strange creatures

Stockholm is further north than Toronto. Further up north means longer days in the summer and longer nights in the winter. In fact, in midsummer we have about 18 hours of light.

The sun started rising earlier from the equinox.

Today the sun rose at 5:02am here in Stockholm. It will rise at 6:16 in Toronto. That’s an over an hour difference.

It doesn’t bother me too much. Not now anyways.

When I came to Sweden for the first time, I was here near the end of May. The birds were singing at 4 in the morning. Back then, Fredrik was living with his grandparents and we didn’t have the heavy curtains like we do now. It was a bit of a pain in the ass.

HOWEVER, earlier sunrise means Ull is awake earlier. Not only is he awake. He’s meowing VERY LOUDLY at us from about 6am onwards. He used to do that every so often when I sleep in and he’s ready to play. But I’ve also noticed that he gets tired around 10. I guess waking up early takes its toll.

happy pills

Last night we watched Prozac Nation and I have to say that in the end, I found it a bit disappointing. I was hoping that it would show that pills are not the answer. But instead it felt more like an advertisement for Prozac.

I can’t really say that Prozac is not the way to go because it does help SOME people but for me it does nothing. I end up feeling worse on Prozac. In fact, I didn’t like any of the medications that Dr. Head (Yes, my psychiatrist’s is Dr. Head) gave me. They all made me feel worse or like nothing at all, which to me is worse than feeling worse.

But I know people who likes their meds. It helps them get through life and get through the worst. Maybe I just haven’t found the right one but I don’t intend to keep looking. Sometimes you have to come to terms with the hand you’re dealt. I think I’m coming to terms with who I am and the problems I have. I’ve come to terms with being only 1,5m.

As for the crazies, I just try to keep it to myself. Every so often it comes out into the open but my friends and family understand that I’ve got the crazies and for most of the time, they forgive me.

why do we do this to ourselves???

I watched another episode of Big Love the other day.

I’ve noticed that I get a little upset about how these men behave. There’s a scene when Bill Paxton is talking to a friend of his who is also a polygamist and they’re so nonchalant about seeing other women in hopes of “bringing in another wife”.

Chloë Sevigny’s character is also pissing me off. I don’t really know or understand what it is about her that is pissing me off, but something about her is pissing me off.

Despite feeling slightly uncomfortable after watching an episode, I want to watch more and find out what happens to this family.

itchy tongue

I don’t think this is uncommon.

When I eat fresh pineapples, my tongue gets itchy. The same thing happens to my mom. I don’t know if this means that if I continue eating fresh pineapples, I’ll end up dying from anaphylactic shock. But at the present moment, it’s a bit of a pain in the ass ’cause I love fresh pineapples.

Yesterday I had my first blood orange. I’ve always wanted to try a blood orange. The first time I heard of the blood orange was on Martha Stewart Living. She was making something with blood oranges and I thought it was so cool. I never bought it when I saw it at the shops because I was worried that they would taste a bit like grapefruits. But we got some the other day from ICA. Fredrik insisted that it was sweet. He even pointed out the fact that it’s small so it was made for me. (When I was a kid, I used to think anything small were made for me. So I still prefer to eat small things, ie clementine.)

The blood orange is quite good. Although, mine was a bit dry. But it was still good. EXCEPT! My tongue got itchy afterwards. Is it like the pineapples? I don’t know. But I will have another blood orange today and we will see.

We also bought some Brämhults juice the other day. Coop was having a sale. Normally their juice is on the pricy side because they’re fresh squeezed. You can taste the rind in the orange juice.

Anyways. I bought a bottle of the strawberry & lime juice. I to believe it’s gone bad. Air comes out when you open the lid and the juice makes my tongue itchy.

I wonder what it is that makes my tongue itchy.

another “yay” in Wendyland

A few weeks ago, Fredrik’s friend Boris bought some Go Green chocolate soy milk to make black Russians. I had no idea that he was lactose intolerant. Not too often do I meet Europeans who are lactose intolerant. But the chocolate soy milk was surprisingly good.

Today I decided to try out the natural soy milk. Like the title of this entry suggests, it turned out to be another “yay” in Wendyland. The only “downside” is that it’s not sweet. But that’s not and entirely bad thing. I should cut down on my sugar intake.

Here in Sweden, I guess there are certain criteria that have to be fulfilled in order for a product to be labelled as “milk”. Obviously, milk has to be milk. Soy milk is definitely not milk. As Patrick once said, “It’s not milk! It’s more like soy bean juice!” But lactose free milk is labelled as lactose free “milk drink”. I suppose milk without lactose is simply not milk.

my kingdom for a bicycle

I actually have a bicycle already but I would like a cute bicycle. One like the one I have back in Canada.

For some reason, bicycles are super expensive here. A regular city bike with no frills will run you up at least 2000kr. I wonder why that is. My bike is not cute but it was still almost 900kr.

If I could afford it, I’d get one like the Tek Wasabi 3. Although, I would prefer to have hand brakes and maybe in pink.

I’m hoping to get the bike out sometime this week. Fredrik will go into the studio next week and that means I’ll have no car while he’s gone. It’s not really a bad thing. I’ll miss having him around the most. I’m hoping to take the subway as little as possible.

I’m hoping to be able to ride into the city for school when and if I start summer school. It’s a 14.5km ride and there are many hills. I am extremely out of shape and let me tell you, it HURTS when you get back on a bike after years of not riding. I’ll have 2 months or so to “train”.