"The Poet"

Words
the last pleasure of the poet
in a cascade of feeling they rush.
pen to paper
heart to mouth
whisper you secrets
tell me your lies.
Blue on white,
pour yourself out.

Words
truth of our hearts
spilling over the brim they gush
paper to pen
as heart is to mouth
whispering lies
telling your secrets.
 blue on white
you may read my heart.

Words
the last weapon of the poet
twisting the blade in his hand they plunge
blue is red
ink turns into blood
lost on the pages
in the maze between lines
and with a last drop of ink,
the pen runs dry.

Summer Linguini

Summer cooking equals simple cooking in my book - I don't like a lot of fuss when the weather's warm and there are things like swimming and sunbathing to do. So one of my favourite meals is spaghetti with lots of vegetables and a spicy tomato sauce, best when it's already cooled a little.

Step 1:
You need two peppers (I used one red, one green), 3 - 4 carrots and about six or seven tomatoes to begin with. Chop all the vegetables into dices if you're in a rush, otherwise make them look prettier by cutting the carrots into circles and so on.

Step 2:
Dice two onions and fry them in some olive oil before adding your diced carrots. Brown the carrots for a few moments before adding the peppers. Add a few pinches of chilli and then some basil.

Step 3: 

Add two tins of chopped tomatoes (200g each). 

Step 4: 

Add the diced tomatoes. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes on less heat. Meanwhile, cook the spaghettis (about 500g).

Step 4:
When the spaghettis are cooked and the vegetables are softened, add a bit of salt and pepper to your sauce to your taste. Then stir the spaghetti into the sauce and add some chopped basil for extra taste and colour.

Now serve up with some great Parmesan and enjoy your simple Summer Linguini! Happy eating!
Love, x

"You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold"

Seconds

The meaning of life, to me, is to make every single moment count. To take every chance, every oppurtunity that could possibly make you happy. And looking back, seeing that all the things that went wrong taught you something, that all the things that went right were so much more meaningful because of mistakes. And finally, seeing how much those leaps of faith you took were worth it. This video shows what a single second can bring about in a person's life:

Challenge your health - update

I had the very ambitious notion a while ago to spend a month dedicated to my health. Well, I stuck to that resolution for about a week before stress took over. Now I'm back at square one, ill and coughing in my bed. And it annoys me so much, because I know there's a pattern to this. Too much stress, too little rest in between and getting chilled. Definitely need to stick to the plan again. So that's the real update: I'm at square one, starting over again. First: get my health back. Second: stay healthy. Hope it works this time.

Love, x

Chocolate chip cookies

It's been a while since I've had the time to bake, so I thought I'd celebrate my return to the oven by making a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies. Using a recipe for cookie dough sandwiches I'd come across on a wonderful blog a while ago (unfortunately I can't remember what it was called) I set to work. Even though it's June already, the sky has been cloudy for days now. These cookies are just the thing to have on your lap whilst reading a great book, in my case 'The Tale of Despereaux' by Kate DiCamillo. They are as big as my hand, crunchy at the edges but soft and chewy in the center. In a word: perfect.

Yields :20 - 24 cookies, depending on the amount of cookie dough you eat before baking them ...

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups bitter or semi-sweet chocolate chips / chopped chocolate 

Step 1: Cream eggs and sugar. 

Step 2: Add butter, flour, baking soda and vanilla extract. Mix until combined. 

Step 3: Chop your bittersweet chocolate/ open your bag of chocolate chips 

and add them to the dough. Use a fork or spoon to gently stir them into the dough.

Before you can bake the cookies, you need to put them in the refrigerator for an hour. I decided to test this timeline, so I made the dough in two batches (this is why it seems like so little dough in the pictures). The first batch I put in the fridge for 20 minutes, the other for about 40 minutes. I hate to say it, but the second batch turned out much better than the first. They were much softer in the middle, which I personally prefer to a super-crunchy cookie. So apparently there really is a need to chill the dough for such an appallingly long time *sigh*. 

Step 4:  Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius. Drop the dough on a baking sheet and flatten it with a spoon so it's about 1/2 cm high.

Let the cookies bake for about 8-10 minutes - watch them closely and take them out the minute they are browned at the edges. Be careful not to overbake them or they'll be too hard and no one wants a rock-cookie, believe me ....

Ta-dah - finished! Let the cookies cool for a few minutes and be careful not to burn your tongue if you don't take my advice (not much of a role model for being patient, myself). 

Have them with a glass of milk and enjoy!

These are the slighly paler second-batch cookies that tasted better though ... 

Off to the couch again and later making banana muffins. 

Love, x

Can't remember ever feeling better than this ...