The beauty of hand-written letters

 

I found this beautiful picture today and couldn't resist sharing it ... even though baby pink isn't by far my favourite colour, this photograph has a dreamy, inspiring quality to it. It makes me think of long summer walks in the countryside - perfect for a box of inspiration!

Also, it got me to thinking about one of my favourite things in the world: writing letters. I used to be a quick e-mail writer, but when my best friend went abroad for a year, we decided to stay in contact the old-fashioned way (of course, the occasional e-mail or skype session happened, I  won't lie).

There is something beautifully satisfying about writing letters by hand. Taking the time to think out what you're going to write, choosing some beautiful paper, seeing the glistening blue ink on the page. Feeling your hand fly across the page so much more easily than two hands sometimes do over a keyboard. There is such a clarity to letter-writing, to seeing your own handwriting and feeling the thoughts pour through your hand onto the page. It's intensely gratifying.

That last flourish, decorating the page with flowers and doodles and putting in some pictures or little trinkets. It's one of the best things there is.

And the there's another thing the picture made me think of: waiting for a letter to arrive. Sometimes, when you know it's coming, there is an air of anticipation to the wait. But most times, letters and postcards come as a wonderful surprise. Can you remember the last time somebody sent you a long, hand-written letter? Can you remember the shivers of pleasure running down your spine and the smile that seemed plastered to your face? Because letters have become something so special. And precious.

The most beautiful letters I keep in my letterbox. I wrapped it in nice rose-print paper so it reminds me of warm summer days and flowery perfume.

I love writing letters even more than receiving them. Once, I wrote a letter to one of my best friends, who is a huge harry Potter fan (like me, hehe!). So one sunny afternoon, I decided to drop her a few lines in a somewhat unconventional way - I wrote her a Hogwarts letter! It was the best day I had in a long while. Colouring paper, putting together snippets of Harry Potter detail to make the letter seem as realistic as possible. I found wax for a seal, an "H" stamp and I even made a Hogwarts Express ticket, copied from the one in the movies.

I was terrified the letter might be stolen by some hard-core Potter lover, but a few days later my friend called to tell me she had receiced it. It was the best letter she had ever received, she told me, and everyone had been so envious of her. If you have never dreamed of receiving a personal Hogwarts letter, then you are lying! ;) It's every kid's dream.
I'll be honest with you: I almost didn't send it because I wanted it to be my own letter ...

I remember staining the paper brown with tea and coffee and then adding some darker stains with a candle. The worst moment was definitely when I almost burned off half the letter after it caught fire - that's why one corner is missing.

So I advise you: write more letters. It's such a wonderful thing to do and people are always so grateful. As with all things in the creative universe, putting in some hard work often results in the most wonderful craftsmanship!

Enjoy the sunshine, I'm off to write a letter.
Love, x

Black and White Chocolate Muffins

In these stressful times before graduation, I decided it was time to treat my fellow students to a nice, sweet treat. They didn't know what was in store for them when they all walked into class that morning: my delicious black and white chocolate muffins! Their faces were priceless, I can tell you. Seeing the smiles light up there faces ("Really, for us?" - "I wasn't expecting that!" - "This is exactly what I needed!") absolutely made my day. Of course there is some work involved, preparing the muffins the night before, but what you get out of it is the best feeling. Making others happy - especially with food - is hugely rewarding.

I used a basic banana muffin recipe before splitting the recipe in half and adding cocoa to one half. Then I chopped about three bars of melt-in-the-mouth dark chocolate and mixed that into the dough. I was going for a German Mamorkuchen look with these muffins, so I used a fork to swirl the contents a little. Not too much, though, otherwise the beauty of them being black-and-white would have been completely lost. To top it, I sprinkled some fat chcolate chunks on top. Needless to say, my chocolate supply is gone.

Baking and cooking, too, have become huge stress reliefs over the past few weeks. Somehow, working with your hands instead of your brain feels so much more real. Chopping ingredients, playing around with spices and flavour and colours. Above all colours! I need at least three colours in all my meals, so there's always lots of vegetables. And it makes a meal look so much more cheerful, doesn't it?
However, I never seem to photograph my main courses, even though they are delicious and look stunning. But a few weeks without sweets might make me take pictures of spaghetti bolognese and oven-baked fish, who knows? 

I'm so proud of these! I think they looked and tasted store-bought, what d'you reckon?
My only regret is that I didn't make enough! 

What they looked like at first ... YUM! YUM! YUM! 

I'll be adding a recipe soon, hope I can still remember it! :)
Love, x

Snowy weekends and Oatmeal Cookies

Is there anything more wonderful on a weekend than having a nice lie-in and then bake some cookies? Staying in the warmth and comfort of the house and enjoying the smell of butter and sugar and fresh fruit as they bake in the oven to become: the perfect oatmeal cookie. Or, more accurately, the perfect carrot-apple-raisin-almond-cinnamon-oatmeal cookie.

Finally, finally, winter has blessed us with a lovely thin coat of snow covering the roofs and trees outside my window. To top things, it's minus 10 degrees today. So why not enjoy a wonderfully warm and delicious cookie?

 I usually stick to the same basic recipe but keep adding ingredients, mixing things up and changing it around, To me, that's the real beauty ofbaking on a whim: the surprise. You never know how things are going to turn out, though mostly, if you trust your judgement, the result is lovely.

 This is the basic recipe: 

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour 

1/2 cup wholewheat flour 

1 1/2 cup oats 

1 cup almond sticks, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds (whatever you like, really) 

1 diced apple

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 cup dark raisins

 

 For these oatmeal cookies, I used coconut fat, softened in the microwave, then cream the eggs and the sugar with a fork before adding the flour. Then add the oats, the cubed apples, cinnamon, nuts and seeds and the baking soda.

 I used almond sticks and some grated carrot to give these cookies more texture. Sunflower seeds are also lovely for added crunchiness, though I wouldn't recommend adding pumpkin seeds. They give the cookies a slightly bitter taste. For this batch, I substituted half of the sugar with a mixture of honey and maple sirup, which gave the cookies a wonderfully earthy texture. If your dough is too dry, feel free to add some milk.

Personally, I like really big cookies with a slightly doughy texture, so I heaped 9 tablespoons of dough onto the cookie sheet, making sure the apple chunks and raisins were divided evenly between the cookies.
Put the cookies in the oven at 180°C for 14- 18 minutes or until they are lovely and golden. However, they should still be a little soft in the center, as they grow firmer while cooling.

 These cookies are worth making just for the smell, honestly ... and to think of all those healthy ingredients makes them a joy to eat, too!

Have a lovely weekend! I'm off to make some lovely vegetable curry now, before I head out for a snowy walk in the sunshine.
Love, x

A Trip down Memory Lane

Is there anything quite as nice as lying in bed, reading old children's books? Especially if those books smell so much like summer and raspberries and swimming in the lake. Especially if it's -7 degrees outside without a hint of snow to make up for it. Especially while I should be studying. And especially on the first day of the holidays.

To be honest, a proper winter has to have snow in it. I am usually the person to be most excited about December, about Christmas and especially about the first flurry of snowflakes. I have been waiting patiently to wake up to a world covered in snow for several months now. It snowed four times in two months and the snow never lasted more than a few hours.

So, to my dismay, I find myself instead looking forward to spring. And summer. Warmth and fresh fruit and walking barefoot. Swimming in the lake and drying off in the sun afterwards. Such happy memories from last summer!

Flicking through old children's books, I thought to myself: if you had to make a list of your favourite books, which books would be on it? I read quite a lot, so this was a very difficult question for myself to answer.

1. The Harry Potter series. 
2. "Journey to the River Sea" by Eva Ibbotson. I have blogged about it previously, if you want to know why I love it so much :) 
3. "The Horse Whisperer" by Nicholas Evans 
4. "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert (bible of our generation, READ IT!, it's beautiful)
5. "Momo" by Michael Ende
6. "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett
7. "Stardust" and "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman
8. "The valley of secrets" by Charmian Hussey (the book is just as fabulous as her name!) 

That's reall it. Books I have read and reread, that are dog-eared and much-loved. What's your favourite book?

Love, x