Baking Experiments #3

It's that time of the year again, when cookies and sweets and unhealthy snacks (oh my) appear everywhere. In an attempt to steer things in a slightly healthier direction this year, I made the below recipes for work. They all turned out quite well, although be warned that you should keep toothpicks nearby for the chia seeds!

Oatmeal Raisin Chia Seed Cookies
1 cup butter
3/4 cup each brown and white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup raisins

London/Ireland trip, part 3

(continued from previous post)

     Ok, I promise this will be the last post on this trip! After leaving Killarney, we headed up to Galway, We checked out of the hotel a little late, because we wanted to soak up the peace and quiet as much as possible, so we pulled into Galway right around rush hour. The hotel was pretty decent,
although it had terrible wifi, and had an attached restaurant where, with a reservation, we became the least-well-dressed and youngest couple (by at least 20 years) to have a freaking delicious meal. Thankfully, we both overate horribly, because the waitstaff was not what I'd call speedy, so we had plenty of time to digest before the bill came and we went back to the room to pass out.

     The next day, we drove into oldtown Galway, parked by the water, and began to wander. Since we didn't really plan anything, this turned into somewhat of an adventure as we left the shopping district, found a train station, trespassed on abandoned private property to get a good view of the Bay, got rained on, and found a random cemetery. Knowing that my gentleman and I both appreciate quiet and old spaces, we decided to duck in, counting on the fact that it had a plaque near the front gate to indicate that it was, indeed, open to the public, and we weren't further trespassing.

London/Ireland Trip, part 2

(continued from previous post)

     Having successfully navigated London and Dublin, we climbed back in the car and headed out to see other parts of southern Ireland. After navigating out onto the appropriate highway, I learned two things. 1) The best way to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road is to be on an open highway for mind-numbing hours. 2) Drivers in less urban areas are rather nice, and pretty darn mature. We quickly picked up that the thing to do is to be in the left lane (slow lane) until you need to overtake someone. You move right, go around them, and then get back in the slow lane. We had zero issues with getting stuck behind some jerk going slowly in the fast lane and holding everyone up. It was quite pleasant.

London/Ireland Trip, part 1

   My gentleman and I recently went on a trip to London and Ireland - my first vacation in years, our first big trip together, and his first time off the continent. Overall, it was very good, and we had some serious soul-searching on whether or not to come back. The siren song of steady paychecks were what finally won out, but we have both agreed it will not be our last vacation together or abroad.

London:

   We intentionally flew out on Monday night, so that we could have a weekend before our vacation to prep and be relaxed from the start. In hindsight, taking an overnight flight with a connection at 3am was maybe not the smartest thing, but I did like the mid-week start. We landed at London Gatwick at about 9am local time, and hopped a cab into London. Somewhat expensive, but we were both pretty fried at that point. Moreover, even the cabbie got lost looking for the hotel, so I'm pretty sure if we'd tried it ourselves, it would have been a rough start. The hotel itself was nice, if typically British (i.e. very narrow rooms with high ceilings, as if height makes up for lack of elbow room). Breakfast was included, and we slept in both days we were there. 

Baking experiments #2

The first round of baking experiments were quite the hit. One co-worker has since adopted the protein rice krispie bars to the point where her husband gets sad if there aren't any in the house. I have to admit, I'm the same way. So delicious and convenient! Through a series of (fortunate) events, I ended up promising another round of experiments to be made on a Wednesday. Having to bake everything on a week night meant fewer recipes, one of which I did not care for at all, but I did end up with this gem:

White Chocolate Strawberry Cookies
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup softened butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2-ish cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup diced fresh strawberries