Nigella's Brownies

I bought Nigella Lawson's "How To Be A Domestic Goddess" and "Forever Summer" last week and baked her brownies from the former 2 days ago.

I don't think much of it. While it's pleasantly fudgey, it lacks a certain complexity. I can't say there's anything special about them. What a waste of 200g of good chocolate and a bar of butter from grass-fed cows:-P

Recipe (Adapted from "How to be a Domestic Goddess" )

250g butter
250g dark chocolate
4 eggs
1tbs vanilla
335 sugar
150g flour
190g hazelnuts
1/2 tsp salt

1) Melt butter and chocolate together. Set aside and allow it to cool.
2) Combine flour with salt.
3) In another bowl, beat the eggs with vanilla and sugar.
4) Add it into the chocolate mixture. Then, add the flour and nuts/

Bake at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes (could be longer or shorter depending on your oven and what size pan you use).

What else I have been doing:
Malaysian Kari Ikan!! I was too lazy to buy bendi (lady's fingers/ okra) but had half a box of broccoli sitting in the freezer so I dumped that in. Ate it with roti canai and froze the rest for another day:-D

Marbled Banana Loaf Flavoured with Chocolate, Rum and Lime. The Dutchman loved it.

Random Things

* I passed statistics!

*I am certain I failed Accounting and Finance. &*$@()$@ I should've started on Wednesday instead of at 8pm yesterday :(

* Dutchman asked me to listen to a song which he says should be our wedding song. I didn't like it! haha

* I am so excited for Istanbul! I bought the Istanbul Lonely Planet Guide yesterday and Istanbul looks AMAZING. I wonder if it'll beat Prague (the most beautiful city I've been to)?

* I am fat. I don't know how much I weigh as we don't have a scale but I've gone up 2 belt loopholes and my love handles have gone even bigger.

* The dentist charged me 200 euro for one filling (granted, a big one la but 200 euro?!)

Food Again

Haven't cooked much lately. Dutchman is home so we eat out most of the time.

Spare Ribs with Potato Croquettes and Brussel Sprouts

Fish, Potatoes and a Tuscan salad

And again.....

It's funny how busy life is when you have friends. Friends are hard work and I sometimes wish I had none. I am not popular and I plan to keep it that way. Even with the few friends that we have, there is barely any alone-time these days. I don't know why but going out with people always seem like 'work' to me. I like them but I'd rather be alone. I'd rather run to the shop and pick something and come home within an hour instead of a 4-hour shopping extravaganzza. I'd rather watch a movie I want, I'd rather NOT talk, I'd rather go online, I'd rather lounge around in my sweats.

Melissa celebrated her birthday on Friday. It was also Marij's birthday so Dutchman went to the latter and I went to Melissa's where I embarassed myself with Sing Star. But of course, for those birthdays, a present must be bought so there were 2 x 4-hour shopping trip with other girls. Then, last night there was a birthday party for yet another friend- Dutchman's friend's girlfriend. She's foreign and is only in NL for a few days so we had to go. Luckily, this one only required one hour worth of shopping. The party turned out OK though (only because of the rosé ;) ) .

There's a constant feeling of guilt about picking one friend over another to spend a day out with. Melissa's actual birthday was yesterday and I think she was annoyed.

All I want to do is DO NOTHING. NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING. My favourite thing in the world.

I don't want to wake up with a mild hangover. I don't want to put on make-up, or do the laundry (because the clothes I want to wear to the party need washing) or walk anywhere or 'turn on' my mind and concentrate on what people are saying or store a bunch of anecdotes in my mind so that I am not completely boring nor do I want to pretend to be fecking interested in whatever anyone is saying.

Today is Sunday and I am going to do NOTHING :-)

Something Good!

Got a letter today.

As a reward for passing the higher level of integration exam, I will get 270 euro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How awesome is that!!!

Oven-Baked Pasta

Whoever thought ketchup would be the secret ingredient to this dish?

Recipe

1 400g can of tomatos boiled in basil (you can also choose to do it separately)
500g penne
2 cloves garlic, crushed
400g bag of "Italian vegetables"
500g mince meat
tomato ketchup
1 bag grated cheese (I prefer parmesan, pecorino, old chedder, gruyere or old gouda. Mozarella does not have enough taste)
salt & black pepper to taste
generous splash of dark balsamico

1. Boil pasta til al dente (not more because your pasta will cook more in the oven).

2. Squirt some liquified butter or olive oil and throw in the meat. When almost done, add in the vegetables and stir-fry until tender.

3. Add the can of tomatoes and a generous amount of ketchup (basically til it has the consistancy of spaghetti sauce) and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Crush the 2 cloves of garlic and stir it and the balsamico in. Simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Meanwhile, layer the pasta at the bottom of a large casserole dish and heat the oven to 200 degrees. Heap the sauce on top of the pasta and top it with grated cheese. Put the dish in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Simple and delicious:D Not authentic but it's good:)

Marmalade Yoghurt Loaf

Mince+ sauerkraut+ potatoes+ cheese+creme fraiche+ chives casserole

Banana Cupcakes with Lime Icing

The first nice day of the year at one of our special spots.

BUSY BUSY BUSY

I have zero time. It feels like I have something else to do after I finally complete one assignment. Exams next week- I haven't even started. I don't even know if I'll make it this semester.

Thomas was here on Saturday. We wanted to take him to Bistro de Bok but it was ridiculously crowded and we had to wait an hour for a table so we went to Humphrey's which was ALSO full. I'm glad we didn't go to Humphrey's though as Thomas can be pretty loud. We finally settled on Proeflokaal De Waag which was great. Excellent food and atmosphere but I should probably cut down on eating out...

Because we didn't want to watch a movie at home, we hung out in the city. I took the boys to The Cavern which is a pretty crap bar but it's where all the international students hang out. You can always count on students (Germans in particular) being there even at 10 at night (most places are empty til midnight). Turns out there WAS a birthday party which I was invited to but completely forgot about because I don't know the birthday girl well. LoL

Called Marieke and Daniella who came over as well. We ended up staying in the city til 3a.m.! The Dutchman even danced! I couldn't believe my eyes;)

I'll post some photos of food and recipes as well tomorrow. Too lazy to look for my camera cable.

Now: back to work. Bleurgh. Have to prepare for my lesson tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to do this for long. 11.50 euro an hour is definitely not enough for me to actually prepare for the lesson for free. Man, my babysitting job rocks the socks off compared to this. Let's just see how long I'm going to last;)