Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Days are getting colder, nights are getting longer, and fires are turning on. The perfect way to celebrate is a little chocolate. I mean, who doesn't love a little chocolate in their life? Especially when chocolate is baked into cookies. One of my personal favourite kind of treats are chocolate chip cookies. Though they should usually be homemade because those are the best kind!

Ever since I was young, I have been exposed to baking and working with food. Part of that is because half of my family is Italian. Yes, that means delicious Italian food that never ever runs out! As well, my older sister used to always bake amazing things, but when she left for Uni, her baking sadly went halfway across the country. You can check out her blog HERE!

Today, I will show you a recipe which I, along with the rest of my family, have found very delicious! It is from the website the Kitchen Magpie, and though I am sure there are many other yummy recipes out there, this is just one that I have enjoyed very much.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups of flour

1 tsp. baking soda

 ½ cup of butter

1 tsp. salt (if using unsalted butter)

1 cup of packed brown sugar

½ cup of granulated sugar

1½ tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1½ or 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions 

1. Kick the tires and light the fires to 350 degrees fahrenheit. 

2. Cream together your butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla, mixing thoroughly. Beat in the flour, baking soda and salt.

3. When that is done, fold in the two cups of chocolate chips by hand, and prepare to put them on some parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

4. Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto the baking sheets.

5. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown and slightly underdone.  Cool on the sheets completely.

This recipe is perfect for a crummy day, when you are not able to venture into the great outdoors. It doesn't need that much butter, and is a fairly easy recipe. I highly recommend it; even my younger sister admits this is one of her favourite recipes (that means it is a huge success!) I mean, who doesn't adore the scent of freshly baked cookies while the rain is pounding on your roof?!

Have a fantastic day!

♥

Hiking

Many people choose not to hike. Whether they prefer to do other things, or just plain don't like to walk for extended periods of time is completely up to them. Personally, ever since I was a little girl, I have been on endless amounts of hikes. There have been short ones, long ones, steep ones, and easy ones, you name it!

The place where I live has some beautiful scenery, and also some nice hiking trails. It is always nice to rediscover some of your favourite places, along with finding some new ones. 

Recently, my German friend was inquiring about how to get up to a certain lake which she had seen on the Internet. I recalled that my parents had been there in the past, and told her that I am sure we could take her up there and walk around. She is quite an avid sportsperson and loves hiking (lucky for me to have her as a friend!) and was very excited about going on it.

The hike was quite long, around 9.5 km one way, and most of it was through the trees. Along the way, there were markers which told you how many kilometers far you were, so every kilometer we felt more and more accomplished.

The lake itself was very beautiful, and my friend was thoroughly impressed by the beautiful scenery here.

Now, here are some reasons why I, along with many other people enjoy hiking!

♥ You can get to very interesting places which you sometimes can't reach with a car!

♥ Once you reach the top of a hike, you feel so very accomplished.

♥ You get exercise along the way, isn't that great?!

♥ It is such a great way to discover new places.

♥ You can share the hobby with friends.

♥ Who wouldn't want to see such a spectacular view?

♥

Charming and Elegant: Audrey Hepburn

When I hear the words "charming" and "elegant," my mind thinks of the lovely actress, Audrey Hepburn.

She has always been a big style icon for young ladies. Even when I was a young child, there were traces of Audrey in my home. I remember my older sister used to have this picture in her room, which I would always see when I entered the room.

I recently read an article about Audrey, which you can read here, and it really made me think about how big of a role model Audrey is to young women. She did many amazing things in her life, which I learned about, and let me regard her in a different light. This post will talk about her influential style, along with her Humanitarian work.

When I first think of Audrey, I think of her amazing fashion. She has become quite an icon to me recently. Her elegant, charming, classy style is one that I really admire. Audrey could rock anything! She really stuck to the style which she liked, and did not change her trend based on each season. She had such a feminine style, but sometimes chose a different style, where she would rock men's clothes! Who says women can't wear "men's" styles too, or play golf in a dress?!

She has worn collared shirts, which I think can make an outfit look adorable, and give it a cute style. Audrey also wore some fun, prints, which just gave her a more feminine look. She was always able to pull it together with her amazing, yet SIMPLE accessories. I also recently saw a picture of Audrey in a dress cinched with a belt. This not only completed the outfit, made really accentuated her lovely figure.

Of course, you always have to have the classic sunglasses, everybody knows them. Audrey was not afraid to take a risk with her fashion, and wore what she considered comfortable, with her individual style. I always make sure that I am comfortable with what I am wearing, as confidence will always shine through.

Not only was Audrey such a great style icon, but she was very empathetic. She was a humanitarian, who even journeyed to Africa in order to care for children in the war there. Audrey did some UNICEF work, which I really admire. She must have been such an amazing woman to venture all the way to Africa to volunteer there! Though many people expected Audrey to be a figurehead of UNICEF, she was very hands on. 

She was always ready to lend a helping hand, and ease children's suffering. Audrey hoped that the rest of the world would learn more about these poor children, and it worked! Many people became more aware of these poor areas, some they had never heard of before. She even set up a children's fund!

You can also see more about Audrey's caring nature through her son. Audrey had quite an amazing career, and could have kept going bigger, but she decided to stay home and raise her son properly. One of her worst fears was being a bad mother. Her son wrote a book, which I am intending on reading soon, titled, "Audrey Hepburn: An Elegant Spirit." 

Audrey Hepburn was such an amazing person, and I hope to follow her example. Not only her fashion ideas, as I have my own individual style different from hers, but also her caring personality. I might even watch Roman Holiday again tomorrow... :)

If you would like to donate or learn more about to the Audrey Hepburn fund, click here.

♥

She Who Lives Sees, but She Who Travels Sees More

Ever since I was young, I have been exposed to many different cultures and countries due to my family taking me all over the world. Most of the time, this was due to visiting family, though sometimes, we would take holidays just to see more of the world. This was very exciting for me, as a young child. I have inherited my love of traveling from my parents, who have journeyed from European cities to the great plains of Africa. Okay, that just totally reminded me of this song... Anybody remember that song that their parents always used to play?

Maastricht is such a nifty little city, with cute cobblestone streets and old buildings.

Anyways, recently I ventured into Germany, without my family or any sort of group. It was just my friend and I. We went to Germany and also the Netherlands in order to gain a new cultural experience, as well as visit one of our friends who had been an international student at our school a few months earlier.

It was such an amazing experience for two teenagers who really want to see more of the world, and it was cool to pick up some German, and build on what we already knew!

Köln is such a cool city! The gondola ride over the city was simply amazing. The Cathedral snuck into this picture (in the distance on the left.)

I have known, ever since I was young, that I wanted to one day be able to speak many languages. I have family and friends from around the world, so I have always thought it would be super amazing to be able to speak to them in their native language! So far, I can speak English (reeallyyyy?!) fluently. The others are a work in progress. I mean in school, I am learning French, and recently started Spanish, but I think you really need to experience it. I really improved my German, after being in Germany and being forced to put together sentences in order to be understood! Finally, I would like to learn Italian. Which is quite ironic, because my mother is Italian and it will be the last language I learn.

If you ever go to a home-made German food place, please try the Waffles! They are absolutely scrumptious. Lecker! (Delicious!)

Traveling and seeing new places is such an amazing thing to do! I really miss Germany and everyone from there, (Hey German friends reading this!) and I wonder where I will end up next.

♥