Mmmm.... cookies

While I love to cook and bake almost everything, I get truly excited about baking sweets. Despite that I always try to halve the recipe and give most of the sweets away to avoid temptations and to keep my diet on track, my samplings of new recipes is the best part (that and licking the batter from the spoon).

Today, I tried a recipe for kletsmajoor, or Dutch caramel cashew cookies from a great blogger I found recently, the Technicolor Kitchen (cool name!). I was inspired to look for a new cookie recipe, as one of my Brazilian friends here in Helsinki always comments on the first time she met me, and I had made classic 'American' chocolate chip cookies. Apparently, first impressions are long lasting, and now I am the 'cookie girl' in her mind. Nevermind, I like those kinds of compliments, because it gives me more motivation to do something I already like doing ;)

I made these to take with us tomorrow to hear AC/DC in the park around Töölö bay- lovely scenic urban park space outside the Olympic Stadium, where AC/DC will play. I've heard that if you get the right spot to picnic outside, with the acoustics of the rocks around the bay, the music can be easily heard as if you're at the show. Can't wait to 'see' them live.

These cookies turned out delish! Even A, who doesn't have the same sweet tooth I do, gave me two thumbs up for this one. Despite that I didn't roast or salt the cashews before adding them to the praline mixture, the cashew taste baked right in. Mmmmm...

Sugar cookie with bits of cashew praline (known as toffee to some). Had to take the picture fast before we ate them all. This recipe was uplifting for me, after a streak of baking failures the last few weeks. Next time I'll have a little more confidence ;)

The Audacity of Hope- Reflections

I just finished Barack Obama's 'The Audacity of Hope,' his second book, covering topics from his own life experiences as a child, running for senate and raising a family, to that of promoting a better living standard for the middle class, enabling minorities to manage their own future, establishing a working social security, health and education system in the US, and upholding the Constitution in the face of contrasting modernities.

Talk about making yourself! I was truly impressed with the simplicity, clarity and sincerity with which President Obama wrote. I highly recommend that book to anyone that enjoys reading non-fiction and history, but also to those interested to get to know more about our current President.

I especially liked his recommendations for following the Constitution in the matters of philibustering and appointing judges, as well as how to enable minorities to move beyond historical barriers. This section of the book truly inspires us to see beyond race and religion and to see one another as fellow Americans, with common values and interests. While this may sound obvious to many, in practice our subconscious attitudes towards minority equality and immigration may not be what we think it is. It's time for tolerance and unity!

This book is also available in eBook and mp3, and downloading audio books is a great alternative to the daily radio stations on your commute to work or during your everyday routines.

My First Blog!

While either my blogging adventures will become a steadfast hobby or a passing phase, I'm excited to write my first real blog!

The vast multitude of blogs available out there both intimidates me and encourages me to blog as well, as I feel I have gained so much insight and simple pleasure from reading the blogs of complete strangers. While some bloggers out there have a natural talent at writing witty and thoughtful blogs, some are downright boring and egocentric. While I don't consider my life to be anything more than ordinary, I do feel that I have learned quite a lot about a multitude of random skills and dabbled in many hobbies in my adult life that warrants a little bit of sharing with anyone interested. With that, I humbly aspire to entertain or enhance the pursuit of anyone out there like me. Anyone that finds almost any hobby enticing and any project a challenge, rather than a chore, might find some encouragement or inspiration from one average girl's attempts to tackle both hobbies and do-it-yourself projects with determination and curiosity.

In any case, I might even learn something from those of you out there, so I've only to gain from my blogging experience. Can't wait!