A Good Cookie and a Good Book

Last weekend I made Thunder Cookies. Erik came up with this idea for a cookie containing his five favorite cookie things: chocolate; Nutella; coconut; macadamia nuts and peanut butter. I finally got around to making them on Sunday, and we had finished the whole batch by Wednesday, they were that good. (Although next time I'll use hazelnuts instead of macadamia nuts. But don't tell Erik).

Thunder Cookies

*1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

*3/4 cup sugar

*1 egg

*1/2 cup Nutella

*1/2 tsp. baking soda

*1/2 tsp. baking powder

*1/4 tsp. salt

*1 tsp. vanilla extract

*1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

*1/4 cup coconut

*1/2 cup peanut butter chips

*1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Instructions

*Preheat oven to 375°F.

*With an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add in the sugar and beat until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the egg and beat until combined. Beat in the Nutella, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla until well combined.

*Beat in the flour and coconut until just combined. Stir in the peanut butter chips and chopped nuts by hand. Scoop dough by large tablespoons and form into balls. Place, about 2 inches apart, on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until edges are crispy and center is still slightly soft. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes on baking sheet. Finishing cooling on wire rack.

Also, we have recently discovered that French Nutella and Canadian Nutella are different! Not only does ours always come in glass jars, it also doesn't contain any hydrogenated palm oil. Just vegetable oil. Tastes different (better) too.

Now, to keep you company while you eat your cookies, I have to recommend the book I just finished. It's called The Help, by Kathyn Stockett, and I couldn't put it down. It's about two black maids and a white woman in Mississippi in the 60s who decide to write about what it's like to be the help. Fascinating.

Erik's New Chair

Well, we finally got a chair. No, we never got around to re-upholstering the other one. We did buy an upholstery book though. Our friend Anja acquired a couch today, and since we drove the moving van, we adopted the matching chair. Anyway, the old skeleton chair will be going back onto the street, and Erik may never leave this spot again. Now you know where to find him.

We < 3 Budapest, part III

Our third day was castle day. We took the funicular that was just a few minutes from our hotel. A quick ride up and we were enjoying more spectacular views of this amazing city.



We entered the palace grounds and looked around, enjoying the view. The palace now houses an art gallery, that we unfortunately didn't have the time to visit.


We are literally right above our hotel. Karina could see her room!



Still on the castle side, or Buda, we walked into the little town to visit the Matyas church. It had beautiful tile work on the roof, but unfortunately most of the interesting sights on the inside were being restored.



The fisherman's bastion is right next to the church, so we spent some time taking more photos, and enjoying the view.





We then did a little walk around the streets surrounding the church, before having lunch and heading to the Hungarian Wine Society to do a tasting. No photos of that, unfortunately, but it was a lot of fun, and we tasted some really delicious wines. We bought a couple of bottles, and enjoyed the walk down from the castle back to our hotel.



No time to rest, we moved on to St. Stephen's Basilica, on the Pest side, the same one we found on our first night. But today we were going inside!



What a spectacular church! I don't really know what to say except that it was really breathtaking. And there was a relic, someone's hand. What a treat. Again, I was reminded of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. But I don't remember there being a relic there.



We continued our walk down Andrassy Utca, where there are many more beautiful buildings, and stopped at the Opera House.




We went into the lobby to take some photos, and had fun comparing it to the Paris Opera that we had just visited. We then headed just across the street to the Callas Cafe for tea and cake.



It was another beautiful cafe. I have to admit that we were absolutely wiped by this point, and had an early dinner and were planning on having an early night. We went out for more cake at another famous coffee house on Andrassy St, and during the walk home Erik had an unfortunate accident with his umbrella which resulted in us taking an unplanned taxi tour of Budapest first to the hospital, then to the eye clinic. Long story short, he is absolutely fine, and we couldn't believe how nice people were. And how many people spoke English.

Did I mention that we loved this city? :)


View from our hotel room

We < 3 Budapest, part II

Second day in Budapest, and we're still in love.



Our day started off, as it would every day, with a trip across the chain bridge.


Obligatory stop for photos



We wandered down Vaci Utca, a pedestrian shopping street, admiring the architechture. One of the first things I noticed was that everything was so big! A lot of the city reminded me of St. Petersburg, from the huge ornate buildings in the downtown to the enormous apartment blocks we saw driving to and from the airport.



First stop of the day was the Central Market Hall, and we wandered the aisles admiring the produce, salami and paprika stands. Upstairs there were some food stalls, but it was still too early to eat, so we headed back across the Danube to look at the famous Gellert Baths (beautiful), and a small cave church (meh.).




What should I have for lunch?



Back to the market we headed straight for the now busy food stalls. Surrounded by a large group of Japanese tourists, we shared a table with both a French family and many locals. Karina and I enjoyed the local sausage, and Erik tried the stuffed paprika. We might have also had beer. It was all delicious.




And for dessert this pancake thing that was basically a Beavertail. Yummy!


Going to the Opera or going for a swim?

By now we were sufficiently tired, and headed back to the hotel to pick up our swimming stuff. It was time to experience a typical Hungarian bath! To get there we rode the Millennium Metro, the first metro line built on Continental Europe. Just a short trip, and we were standing in front of the Szechenyi Baths.



This was the most extensive series of indoor and outdoor baths I've ever seen! We started in the outside one, heated to 38 degrees it was nice and toasty. Eventually we realized that there was something going on inside too, and checked that out. A maze of rooms containing different pools of different temperature waters, saunas, and a very fun pool with current that pulled you around the pool, we tried them all. There was an outdoor lap pool, and an indoor one with an aquafit class going on. People of all ages and sizes were lounging and relaxing, there was even a chess game going on in the outdoor pool. It was just what we needed after a busy day!



Back downtown we had hot chocolate and beer at the famous Gerbeaud Cafe, which was beautiful inside.

Then we were off to dinner at Fulemule, and back home to rest up for day three.


We never got tired of this view!

We < 3 Budapest

I don't know how anyone could not love this city. After a two hour delay leaving Paris, we arrived in Budapest in the early evening. It was getting dark, and the city was beautifully lit up, so it was pretty much impossible not to fall in love at first sight.


We walked across the famous Chain Bridge from our amazing hotel, Lanchid 19. You can see the hotel in the first picture, it's the one lit up on the left, below the Palace.



While searching for a place to have a snack and drink before dinner, we stumbled upon this beautiful Basilica, but I'll tell you more about that later.

We were further charmed by the incredibly low prices at our snack spot (good bottle of wine for the equivalent of 11euros), and had a delicious dinner at Dio, the kind of meal that we would never be able to afford in Paris. All for the reasonable price of about 30euros per person.




Less than 12 hours in and we were sold. And it really only got better...

Karina's Here!

And we've been busy!

On Tuesday we decided to do a walk through Paris' ethnic neighbourhoods. This cityscape is the incredible view from the parc de Belleville. We also enjoyed an Indian lunch and some spice shopping in the Passage Brady near the Gare de l'est, and ended the tour in the somewhat sketchy area around Barbes. After nearly three hours of walking, we willed ourselves up the many, many stairs to Sacre Coeur, then wandered down the other side in search of a warm place to stop. Erik found us after work in a little cafe near the apartment that was rented by our families on our first Christmas in Paris.


It was a bit windy


So. Many. Stairs.


Always worth the climb


Wednesday was no less busy. We visited the Fragonnard Perfume museum/shop, and enjoyed the beautiful building inside, and the speedy guided visit. We had a mediocre lunch with a fantastic view at the top of Printemps before joining our afternoon tour of the Paris Garnier Opera.



We had a great guide who told the story behind this magnificent building in great detail.


Inside the auditorium, you can see the box that was used by the King, essentially some of the worst seats in the house. Back in the day, people didn't really care about what was being performed, they were more interested in seeing what everyone else was wearing, and who they were with.




The main foyer with its elaborate gold leaf details.


Looking out onto the boulevard de l'Opera from the Opera balcony.

One of my all time favorite views of Paris:

Anyone know where this was taken?

Merry Christmas!

Only one month late, here's how we spent Christmas in Barbados.



Dad found some lights to put up on the window and bush in front of their apartment. Kind of festive! There were actually quite a few houses decorated like the one at the top of this post.



On Christmas Eve we had a great dinner at Blakey's, right on the beach. The food was great, the rum punch was tasty and there was even live entertainment at one point.



Christmas morning we had breakfast at my parent's. Baked french toast, bacon and sausage, and champagne and orange juice. Although it was really too hot to enjoy that much food.



Next stop, Rockley Beach. Nothing says Christmas like turquoise waters, right?




It was the busiest we saw the beach the whole time!



A quick shower, and we were off to see Grandma. This is the house where she still lives, the same house my dad and his three sisters grew up in.




I think this shot was taken just before Grandma asked Rob when he would be settling down... :)



Then it was off to Angela's for a buffet/pot luck dinner with all the aunts and some cousins.


My aunties Angela and Elaine

We had a great time eating, then playing cards and dominoes. Finally it was time for the family shot, and all the kids were singing Christmas carols between shots. It was truly a Christmas to remember, and the whole trip was worth it just for that one day.