Bloody hot

Not only the weather of the past days makes the temperature rise.
The subject or subjects of this blog can be described in several ways:
They are bloody hot, their love might hurt, they are dangerously attractive and are hungry for you. Literally.

Yes, I am talking about our dear friends Edward Cullen, Damon Salvatore, Bill Compton and many more.
I am one of the victims who has been infected by the vampire mania.
I love them all. I'm reading all the books and watching all the movies and series.
You can quietly say I'm an addict.

But what are my favorites?


Until so far I have read all the books within the Twilight Saga, four books from The Vampire Diaries and one book from the series 'Undead and ...' by MaryJanice Davidson.
I have seen Twilight and New Moon and will see Eclipse on Tuesday. Next to that I have seen everything there is to see of The Vampire Diaries and True Blood tv series so far.

I feel really sad that there are no more surprises or storylines to be unraveled about the Twilight Saga. I love the books so much that I read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn within one week. I couldn't stop and sometimes read until 4 in the morning. What I recall is that I started reading the books around the same time as the first movie came out. Even though the books contain way too much information to be used in a movie, I like them both equally. Did I say like? Excuse me, I don't like, don't even love... I adore them. I'm very excited to see Eclipse on Tuesday and Breaking Dawn later this year which will be produced into two movies.

At this point, I still have three books in the future of The Vampire Diaries.
The Vampire Diaries was introduced as a tv series to me. Later I also bought the books and started reading those.
I was really surprised that although the books and tv series are supposed to be the same story, they are completely different.
We still have Elena, Damon and Stefan. But that's about it.
What is different? Elena's family, the looks of some characters, the complete storyline.
Even though I find it regretfull that these differences are so big, I see pro's in both of them. While I love the tv series for its characters and actors, I also love the books for their extreme sense of tension. Great writer!

A book I ordered online with a bunch of others, suprised me positively.
I already liked vampire stories at that point, saw the title and decided to include it in my order.
Later I found out that it was one book from a larger series of books. Larger than Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. Written by MaryJanice Davidson.
For you who do not know this writer, I introduce to you: The Undead series.

This is where the story begins:
Betsy Taylor turns 30, gets laid off, is killed by an SUV and wakes up dead all in the same week. The vampire community is convinced she's their prophesied Queen. But she's not having any of it—she's got shoes to buy! And now the undead world is being turned upside-down by a Bela Lugosi throwback and her subjects expect her to take care of it! Why didn't she read the handbook? But her would-be consort, Eric Sinclair, is (annoyingly) ever-present. If only he wasn't so tall, dark, gorgeous...and undead.

I only read one book so far and I find the series hilarious. Gonna order the rest of the series asap!

My most recent vampire addiction also exists of TV series and books with lead character Sookie Stackhouse.
I saw all the episodes so far, a new one tomorrow! And I like it, even though I think the characters have a serious accent which I could not really find this strong in other movies/series. If I where Sookie and visited Fangtasia sooner, I would have chosen Eric instead of Bill. Why? Eric is supersexy, he is sheriff (read: has power) and is a little dangerous. Even though I am a chicken, scared so easily, I like it.
It's safe for me to say since Eric doesn't really exist so he can't read this and come to my house to kill me in my sleep. Or maybe just feed on me. Whatever.

Since I can't choose between all my favorite books, series and movies. I am going to chose my favorite character from each.

Twilight
Jasper Hale/Whitlock/Cullen

With all his hotness, mood controlling power and almost human flaws (he finds it hard to resist human blood) he is my number one favorite vampire of all times.
If only he wasn't Alice's soulmate. Then he would be mine.
Naomi Hale/Whitlock/Cullen.

The Vampire Diaries
Damon Salvatore

Do I even need to say anything?

True Blood
Eric Northman

Sookie is a dumb ass. Look at him!

The Undead series
Eric Sinclair
From what I read, this should be the most gorgeous man on the planet. Considering he's not really a man. But since this is only a series of books, there is no picture or drawing of him what so ever. I tried to think of an actor that is tall, dark and extremely handsom who could play a vampire. But I couldn't imagine anyone until so far.


The one thing that is starting to annoy me is that every single story about vampires at some point also involves werewolves. It was cool with Twilight but then suddenly all new vampire stories had werewolves. Come on guys! Think of something else, be creative! What I do like is that I still find different 'facts' concerning vampires in each story. Some vampires must be a secret, some are completely in public. Some vampires have no problem being around humans without being thirsty and some need years of practice. I like change. That is why I read and watch different stories.

Even though I would be the worst vampire in history or even the worst vampire's girlfriend, I like it. And I will keep reading and watching until I get sick of it, which at this point won't be in a very long time.

Any tips for new things are very welcome!

Love,
Noes

The simple joys in life

I might seem a high maintenance girl. Well, let's be honest in some ways I am.
But sometimes my whole day can brighten up because of some simple things.

Today is such a day.


I am in love with my new shoes. Yes, the pair from my last blogpost. They are standing in the middle of the room on a small table so I can look at them whenever I want. I love them, even though I almost broke my ankle trying them on in the store. Small detail.

The bouquet of pionies standing here on my desk, being just gorgeous.

My new nailpolish. It's the exact right color and was also very low priced. That's what I call a good catch.

This is the one.

My room being all clean and tidy.

The fact that I will finally see 'Eclipse' in 6 days. It's a marathon and we are gonna dress up. Team Jasper!

The fact that I will go to Rockwerchter in 8 days and see Paramore again.

The beautifull weather outside.

Writing a blog instead of preparing my defence of graduation. I know, it's important but I still have time. I will start right after this, I just like blogging better.

I'm going to the movies tonight. It's gonna be Letters to Julliet or The Backup plan.

My new book 'Eat, pray, love' by Elizabeth Gilbert which has a picture of Julia Roberts eating ice cream on the front. I like reading in English. I like Julia Roberts. So far, I like the book. I will blog about it when I finished reading.


Yes, I am happy today. I hope you all are too.
xoxo and love,
Noes

A woman's right to shoes

"The fact is, sometimes it's really hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. That's why we need really special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun."
- Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City, 2003

500 days of summer, if only that existed

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

How to: Eatible support

No, we are not the champions yet but we still make a chance since we (The Netherlands) already won both our matches!
Do you also want to support your country in the World Championships soccer but want a cute snack too? Here's the solution

How to: World Championship Cupcakes

What do you need?

For the batter:
- 110 grams of butter on room temperature
- 110 grams of fine cristal sugar
- 2 eggs
- 110 grams of self-rising flour
- 1 teaspoon of yeast
- 1 tablespoon of milk

For the buttercream topping:
- 200 grams of icing sugar
- 100 grams of butter on room temperature
- About a table sloon of milk
- food coloring if you want color, depending on the desired colors





A mixer
Several bowls
Plastic gloves (for the food coloring)
A cupcake pan
Cupcake baking cups (12 pieces)


What to do?

Batter
- Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees.
- Place the baking cups in the cupcake pan.
- Mix the buttor until it's soft.
- Add the sugar, eggs, flour, yeast and milk and mix well again.



TIP! Hold a spoon with batter above the bowl and give it a light swing, if the batter doesn't slide off easily, you should add a little more milk.

- Divide the batter evenly accross the cupcake pan by the use of two spoons.



- Put the cupcakes-to-be in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. They are done when they rose well and look golden-brown.
- Get them out off the oven AND the cupcake pan as soon as they are done.

TIP! If you leave them to cool off inside the cupcake pan, the baking cups will let go. Not good.

- Let them cool off entirely before you start decorating with the butter-cream frosting. Otherwise it will melt.


Butter-cream frosting
- Mix the butter until it's soft.
- Add the icing sugar and the milk and mix well again.

TIP! Start on the lowest speed level with the icing sugar if you like to keep your kitchen clean.

- When the butter en icing sugar are well blended, you can add color.

TIP! I bought my food coloring at the nearest toko (a store that sells all kinds of herbs, indonesion and other foreign supplies for food).
You can think of food coloring as paint. Do you want an orange color? Then you should find the right combination of red and yellow.
Since I decided to make both orange cupcakes and cupcakes with the Dutch flag, I needed orange, red, white and blue frosting. Of course there is no white food coloring, the buttercream frosting in its original look is already white.

- If you also decide to use different colors, divide the frosting evenly among several bowls, put on your plastic gloves and add coloring to them.



TIP! Start with only a drop or two for each bowl to avoid your frosting to be ruined right away. You can always add more, you can't take it back.
If you don't wear plastic gloves you run the risk of bright colored hands for the rest of the week, I speak from experience.

- Mix the frosting and the coloring with a spoon or mixer.
- Use a decorating bag to nicely decorate your cupcakes with the frosting. If you have never used one you might need some practice, but it gives the best result. If you rather don't use a decorating bag you can also use a large knife or a spatula to smear.
- You might want to add some decorating at the end. I chose for little dutch flags.




Have fun supporting your country!

The base of this recipe is from the book 'Cupcakes' by Janet Smith.
If you are looking for baking cups, decorations or other baking supplies, the following Dutch websites are a good source for ordering:
http://www.deleukstetaartenshop.nl/
http://www.taartendecoratie.nl/

If you have any questions about this recipe, just ask me!
Have fun!

Love,
Noes

Bugging me, bugging you

Frustration (Latin: Frustrari)
The emotional state of someone when hampered from his or her expectations, needs or goal. The cause can be influenced from the outside, for example supremacy, and can be expressed by certain characteristics of the person concerning the situation, like agression or apathy. Antonyms of frustration are satisfaction or gratification.


Every now and then, we all get frustrated.
I decided to write this blog after feeling very frustrated and angry myself today.
The situation: I have been a Blackberry user and fan for the last half a year now. It all went well untill yesterday when suddenly the A button (and also the keyboard lock) stopped working entirely. So today I went back to the store I bought it from, explained the situation and waited for their solution.
After all, I still have a legal warrenty.
The verdict was harsh, my beloved blackberry would be send to England where it would be checked on water damage or damage due to dropping the device.
I already told them none of that was the case but ofcourse that wasn't proof enough.
If the handyman who should fix my BB thinks I did this on purpose, it will not be fixed within my warranty. Excuse me?!
The option I have left was to buy a new keyboard on Ebay and replace it myself. But since I am not such a handywoman and since it would also mean that my warranty is gone completely, that was not the best idea.
So now my phone is somewhere on the road to England and all I have left is my sim-card and a form saying what happened. Not to forget, this will probably take 4 entire weeks. According to the store I am not entitled to a phone for the meantime since this is probably my own fault (IT ISN'T!)

So I'm sitting here with my old Nokia phone that now contains the sim-card, I am still paying my regular bill for the month but will not be able to use the internet since the current Nokia phone does not have the e-mail or internet option.

I probably sound like a spoiled brad but this drives me insane.

This makes me wonder:
What are the most common causes of frustration? And how should we deal with it?

According to newspaper 'De Pers' in The Netherlands, the most important cause of frustration are consumer cases.
In 2009 more than 14.000 complaints where filed, that is over a thousand more than the year before. The most common complaints seem to concern warranties and conformity.

At number two are the telecom companies especially focussing on text subscriptions and on the third place are the health insurances.
Seems that my current frustration involves both number one and two.

But think about it, not only large issues can make you go mad as hell.
Tickets being sold out, dog poo on your shoe, your favorite heels breaking, bad weather, lack of money, the ink cartridge or your printer being empty right before a deadline, a haircut gone wrong, traffic jams, commercial breaks, wrappers or packages that just won't open, loud ringtones, long waithing lines, bad grammar and on and on and on.

Now tell me, what are your main reasons to get frustrated or irritated?


Whenever I'm frustrated, I try to talk to my family. They mostly have usefull things to say and will try to give me advice that calms me down, but doesn't always work.
How should we handle frustration?

Ask yourself(and answer honestly) what is going right or positive in this situation?
You found something? Even it only is a tiny fact?
Good, then you are already thinking about something else than only negative.
That's where we are headed.

Me: the positive thing is that the Blackberry will probably be fixed.


If frustration is a common feeling to you, make lists of accomplishments.
Decide for yourself if it shall be weekly or monthly and just write down all the things you have accomplished. Things that did work out.
Whenever you feel bad, look at the list and realise you are not a failure.

Me: I bought a great cooking book, I helped my dad with the new TV, I found another phone I can still use, I'm trying to calm myself down, I'm writing a blog about it.


Focus on what you want to happen.
Go back to the big picture. What is your desired outcome? Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in one problem and trying to solve it that we forget what we were originally trying to accomplish. Try not to ask yourself: Why did this happen?
The important thing is knowing the answer to the following two questions:
What do I want to happen differently this time?
What do I need to do in order to get there?

Me: I want my beloved Blackberry to be home soon with a fixed A-button. If this will really be the case, is out of my hands for the moment.


Think of multiple solutions.
You always have options. You just need to brainstorm and figure them out. Tell yourself you need to come up with 8 possible options to what you’re dealing with. Just knowing that you have lots of options will help to make you feel better. You won’t feel like you are trapped in one negative situation. From your list, figure out the best direction and go for it.

Me: Stay up to date about the current status of the repair of my phone, pick it up as soon as I get a message.


Take action!
When you get into serious frustration with a problem, you tend not to want to work on it anymore. It’s hard, it’s frustrating, and you’re not getting anywhere. So, anything to avoid having to be in that situation may be far more attractive. Procrastination may start to set in. If you can keep taking steps forwards, you will probably make it past this temporary hump. As Thomas Edison said, “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up” and “Surprises and reverses can serve as an incentive for great accomplishment.”
Try not to worry but instead use the energy on ideas.


Focus on a positive outcome.
If you only think about all the bad things that can happen, you will keep feeling miserable. Try to think of outcomes that are positive, it will make you feel more relaxed.

Me: At least they are sending it somewhere to repaired, the worst thing that can happen is for me to miss the blackberry for a couple of weeks before I can use it again. I will survive


I would love to hear about the things that bug you and how you (try to) deal with them.

Love,
Noes

How to: Homemade chocolate chip cookies

I'm back!
My apologies for the lack of blogging, I was extremely busy writing my graduation research for school. At the moment I am waiting for the board to decide upon my faith which means I have some time for myself and ofcourse you again!

To celebrate this joyfull fact I am introducing a new type of blog, one that I am intending to use more often: 'How to'.
In my How to blogs I want to share my knowledge or experiences with you so not only me, but also you guys at home can give a shot in what I am doing. Whatever 'it' is depends on each different blogpost.

To start of right, I proudly present my first How to blog.
'How to: Homemade chocolate chip cookies'

What do you need?
225 grams of butter (room temperature)
350 grams of ligth brown castor sugar (basterdsuiker in Dutch)
2 eggs
400 grams of flower
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon of yeast (gist in Dutch)
225 grams of chocolate, dark chocolate works best but all sorts are possible


A handmixer
Several bowls
At least two baking sheets (bakplaten in Dutch)
Baking paper

What to do?

- Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. (Remember to leave out the baking sheets)
- Put the butter and the sugar together in a bowl and mix well.



- If the substance of butter and sugar is well mixed, add the eggs one by one and mix together well.

TIP! Break the eggs in a seperate bowl one by one before adding to your butter en sugar. Why? If the egg is bad or some of the shell gets in there while breaking it, the rest isn't ruined.



- Add the flower, salt and yeast and keep mixing untill every ingredient is well dissolved in the dough. This dough is very heavy and thick so you will probably need a high level of speed on the mixer.
- Chop up all the chocolate in chuncks, don't grate it because then it will be too small, and add it to the dough.

TIP! If you have trouble chopping the chocolate, put the bars in a bowl and put them in the microwave for just a few seconds on the lowest heath level. But make sure they don't melt! The bars still need to be solid. Also use a knife that has 'teeth', this will give you more grip on the chocolate but watch your fingers.



- Again, mix together well so that the chocolate chips are divided evenly in the dough.
- Cover your baking sheets with baking paper, this to avoid your cookies to get stuck to the baking sheet, and make 6 little heaps of dough on each baking sheet. Keep them seperate from eachother so they still have space to 'grow'.

TIP! This dough is enough for 24 chocolate chip cookies, so you bake 4 baking sheets with each 6 chocolate chip cookies. If you have less baking sheets, like I do, you bake the cookies in several shifts.

- Put the cookies in the oven for about 10 minutes. The exact time depends on the exact heath of each seperate oven so watch the cookies from minute 9 until minute 12.
If the cookies look brown around the edges with small cracks, they can come out.
- Leave them on the baking sheet until they are cooled off entirely. If you don't, like I did sometimes, they will break easily.



- Present them in a cute cookiejar. I like my jar with cupcake design but one of glass looks very nice too.



Bon appetit!

This is a recipe from the Hummingbird bakingbook with some slight adjustments due to my own experiences.
Hummingbird Bakery is created by Tarek Malouf and is a huge success in London.
They are famous for their cupcakes, brownies, cakes, pies, bars and cookies.
You can find them on Portobelloroad in Notting Hill, Old Brompton Road in South Kensington and Wardour Street in Soho. If I ever visit London any time soon, you can find me there.
Visit the website here: http://hummingbirdbakery.com


I would also like to thank the readers that have left a message lately. To be honest I didn't think this blog was actually read by people so I appreciate the messages very much, thank you!
If you have any comments, tips, or requests for blog subjects I would very much like to hear them. So please comment! I'm so curious who you, my readers, are.

I am planning to make a recipe for World Championship (soccer) cupcakes.
If this recipe works out well, I will write a How to about it too.

If you have any questions about this recipe, feel free to ask them.
For now: Have fun baking, thank you for reading and I hope to hear from you!

Love,
Noes