peanut butter-cinnamon-chocolate chip cookies

my first ever cookies! never had i attempted to make cookies before and this weekend, because the weather was calling for a more homy feel, while the man of the house was working on a 3d (tipical man!) i decided to dedicate to a long postponed hobby, ever since i live on my own, i've discovered this passion for cooking, not necessarily sweet or salted food, i just like having people eat what i make... and hopefully enjoying it!

so sunday after a morning out in a shy sun i bought all the ingredients to make thos amazing cookines from "Martha's Cookies" book. some look so hard, and so chic, but i decided to go with an almost classic, not just make a chocolate-chip cookie, but try her variation for it, with peanut-butter and cinnamon.
i won't write the recipe, because this is not a food blog, but i will let you know what's in it: flour, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, pinch of salt, cinnamon, peanut-butter, butter, baking soda and chocolate-chips (you can also add extra peanuts, but i thought it was too much)

mix it

use an ice-cream scoop to make equally big cookies, not too big (i made that mistake so the first batch burnt a bit), the recipe says to press slightly with a bottom of a cup... i did it once, burnt the sides of the cookies, so the other 2 batches i didn't press and made them smaller.

look at the photos in the recipe book a few times so you can make them just like it!

i'm not a professional but they looked pretty good on the drying rack! i have to say the taste was even better than they looked, soft in the middle, almost chewy and so fragrant with the double amount of cinnamon Martha told me to put... i love cinnamon, so i added lots more!

because i can't lie and tell you they ALL came out beautiful, here is the first batch of cookies and the second one... the first is only slightly burnt on the sidesn but the taste is still very good. of course the ones one the right were the best.

and as my coleague Liesbeth said when she tasted it, (without me having to bribe her!)

"hmmm... these are the best cookies i ever tasted"

i guess i'll keep making cookies...

dublin.ie

The recipe for a great weekend probably isn't putting 6 girls in 10m² for 5 days. but believe it or not, it can work!

Dublin wouldn't have been the same if we hadn't shared it together, the rain would have been wetter, the cold, colder, the appartment too big, the walks too long, the sun not enough, the shopping not fun and most importantly, the conversations would've made more sense, would have had an end and our heads wouldn't have called for silence in the end.

Conversations changed between one girl leaving Ireland, one wanting to move to Mozambique, one getting married in 15 days, another in 3 months, one who just got promoted but can't go to Angola anymore, or maybe yes still, and one that is new to the group but made quite an impression becoming our personal GODMOTHER... and last but not least one who stayed in Lisbon because she is a proud mother of a beautiful baby but would give her up for a weekend with us... of course, the 10m² would have been enough also for her.
never did such a tiny environment become so cosy so quickly, and even with our recomended small trolleys we made that space feel like our home.
this though took a little effort, we had to kick out the man of house so 6 histerical women could move in, we ate on the floor eventhough there was a table, we were 4 in one room, and 2 in the livingroom in a couch that only lovers would sleep in because only someone who knows you that well could fit so closely.

The other 4, including me, were cramped up in the "master bedroom" where to get to any bed we'd have to climb over these "watery" matresses that somehow during the night would lose all their air, and where basically you'd have to put just one foot, because the moment you'd put your second foot and attempt a step, you'd look like you were trying too hard to surf!

I still have dificulty in trying to understand what went on during these 5 days, and maybe the most important part of it was the animal jungle we went to, called PENNEYS, where basically you forget there's a world outside and enter this twilight zone of cheat shopping! I went in for a jacket, i came out with one jacket, 3 dresses, 3 pairs of underwear. the others?
well, they went in for nothing and came out with souvenirs for next christmas!!!!!

It's hard to explain exactly the void i felt when monday morning after the girls had left to fly back home, Darjeeling had left for work and i looked around and while i made the girly appartment become once more the home of a very cute couple, i almost felt sad for all that silence, actually i had to turn off the "girls of the playboy mansion" reality show on tv, otherwise silence is something you'll never feel, apparently that's the only show on irish tv! looking around me and knowing that in a couple of hours i myself would be flying back to where someone was waiting for me (in the lazy sense of waiting) and i desperately wanted all the girls back, i wanted to hear that constant noise, that constant complaining, good complaining, that constant make-up session, that continuously shopping, those sweet teas and scones, that pleasant feeling of gossip, those wierd confessions, the effortless digital fotography, the adult comments of wives-to-be, those dreamy sighs... and that beautiful friendship.


This weekend was exactly that, an explosion of friendship, and contradictory i wanted to get away, but i know throughout these 6 years i've been away, i know that this feeling is the best feeling, the wanting to be together, to overwhelm ourselves with so much information that none of this info stays in our heads for long. what stays is that warm feeling you have that all those girls, are connected no matter what, we are friends to eachother and for eachother.

This is what Dublin will always be for me, not only where you live but where we were all with you...

01.04.2008

PARABÉNS!!!

á Avó Madalena e á Celix...
com um beijinho enorme de saudades!!

2 days to dublin

http://portuguesbrasileiro.istockphoto.com/index.php

and i'm packing away... i know, i know, your littel house isn't very big, we'll be 6 histerical girls so i know luggage needs to be controlled, but that's way i've started already. i'm packing and unpacking for the next 2 days... it makes me feel already there!!!
never thought you'd be the one making me go to Dublin...