Oatmeal Cookies... with Whole Wheat!

Like most people, I have a sweet tooth. Sometimes I crave things that are salty, spicy, crispy, crunchy, it really depends on my mood... but I always have a hard time saying "no" to dessert. I've been baking cookies (or attempting to bake cookies... the first few times, it didn't work out so well) since I was about 9 and while they are delicious, they're not that healthy. I mean, white flour has minimal nutritional value and fiber, butter isn't great for you, sugar isn't good for you in large quantities... so I thought I'd experiment with whole wheat, oatmeal, and molasses sugar/brown sugar to bake some "healthier" cookies. This time, I think it worked! The cookies came out of the oven quite soft, chewy, and delicious!

Here's the recipe, in case you want to try it:

Ingredients

1/4 lbs. (112g or 1 stick) butter, room temperature and soft

1/4 cup (0.5dl) molasses sugar

1/4 cup (0.5dl) brown sugar

1/4 cup (0.5dl) granulated white sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (homemade or store-bought)

1/4 cup (0.5dl) all-purpose flour 

1/2 cup (1dl) whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. fine salt

1.5 cups (3dl) rolled oats

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350°F (176°C).

Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugars together until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat until all ingredients are well-mixed.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make sure all the dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Then add the oats and mix until well-combined.

On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, drop rounded tablespoons of the cookie dough and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. If you're like me and prefer chewier cookies, bake for a slightly shorter time (9-10 minutes). If you want a crunchier cookie, bake for a slightly longer time (12-13 minutes) making sure the cookies don't burn!

Remove cookies from the oven and let cool on sheet for 1 minute. Remove to a wire rack for the cookies to finish cooling.

Makes about 2 dozens (24 cookies).

Today's Random Quiz:

You Are Reflective

During your downtime, you like to think about the world around you and develop theories. You secretly wish that you could be a more knowledgeable person. There are a dozen things you'd like to get your PhD in. You are realistic about the world. You may have challenges that come your way, but you can overcome them. You are inspired by high energy. Being around other creative, productive people really motivates you.

The Cafe Test

Weirdest Phone Call Ever

This entry will be much more lighthearted than the past couple entries =).

Imagine you're a Muscovite, perhaps back from work, on a otherwise normal Wednesday evening. Then you get a phone call. You answer the phone to hear this:

Добрый вечер! Извините, но у меня есть вопрос. Когда я говорю по-русски, можете ли вы мне сказать, из какой я страны?

(Good evening! Excuse me, but I have a question. When I speak in Russian, could you tell me, which country I am from?)

After hearing that my accent in Russian was неизвестный (origin unknown), I was determined to figure out what other Russians had to say about my accent... except it wasn't always objective. Russian speakers have always known I was from the U.S. and those whom I asked in France randomly have only guessed "French" or "I don't know." Equipped with an international phone card, after receiving the country code and Moscow area code number, I set out to discover objective answers to my question.

Unfortunately, most of the numbers I attempted to call didn't even exist or no one answered the call. The handful of people who did answer the phone either laughed, reprimanded me, were completely confused, or engaged in a friendly conversation with me. Two people said they couldn't name a country I was from, of which one old woman laughed at my question saying she couldn't even guess since there were many countries where people spoke Russian. (This actually made me very happy since she didn't guess the possibility of me being from a non-Russian speaking country!!!) Some people sounded very confused... their confused responses and intonation forced me to stifle my giggles. One very old man was actually extremely upset and angry at me! He thought I was a Russian kid playing pranks since, through his angry, rapid Russian being pelted my way, I understood phrases like, "Что?! Из России! Что ты хочешь?! Где твоя мама!" (What?! From Russia! What do you want? Where is your mom?" The rest of what he said, I didn't understand until he angrily hung up. But this didn't really upset me at all, actually. He thought I was a Russian kid, which means my accent isn't that strong! Yay!

Thus far, the tally is: 

Canada - 1 person

Canada/USA - 1 person 

Russia - 1 person (The old man who thought I was a Russian kid)

USA - 2 people

Uzbekistan - 1 person 

"Unknown"/неизвестный - 2 people

Uzbekistan?! That was the funniest response of all, I think! I did manage to entertain a few 3 to 5-minute conversations with some of the people who guessed that I was from the U.S. After I said, "Да! Вы прав! Я американка" they started talking in English, at which I responded. One such random person said that the phone call was probably one of the weirdest things to happen to him. Hm... I guess he might be right. How would you react if you got such a phone call? Would you be angry? Annoyed? Surprised? Disgusted? Amused? Confused?

I still have some credit left on my phone card, about 5 euros or so, so I might try calling a few more random numbers tomorrow to get a better/more complete tally =D. I haven't done this (calling random people) since I was a child! I feel like a little kid again, except, what I'm doing now is very different from what I did when I was 7 or 8 years old, when my friends and I would call up random people in the U.S. and ask things like "Is your refrigerator running? Then you'd better go catch it!" 

UPDATE
Canada - 1 person
Canada/USA - 1 person
Russia - 1 person (The old man who thought I was a Russian kid)
USA - 3 people
France - 1 person
Uzbekistan - 1 person
Poland - 1 person
Africa - 1 person
S. Africa - 1 person
Yugoslavia - 1 person
"Unknown"/неизвестный - 5 people

I called a few more people and used up my phone card credits! Poland??? Yugoslavia??? LOL!!! There was an old woman, who guessed I was American, who gave me her cellphone number and said she'd show me around Moscow should I come to visit!!! Then there was a Russian student who studied French-Russian translation (the one person who guessed I was from France),  who also gave me his cell number and told me to feel free to call should I visit Russia. Sweet! This is why I love people.

Today's Random Cartoon: 

Traveling versus Languages

I always say that I have two passions in life: foreign languages and traveling. Never before have I had to choose between the two... never before until now. One thing I do know for sure right now is that I'm not going to stay in France. After that, my life is a complete blur. So far, I've decided that I won't go to South Africa for my mom's sake. She would worry herself sick and my mother is not getting any younger and I think I'll do my best not to make her worry any more than she already does from now on. Lately, I've been feeling really guilty about making my mother worry. Despite our stark differences, polar opposite priorities, and frequent disputes over the phone, my mother is still my mother and for that reason I love her. That leaves the schools in the UK and the U.S. to choose between.

This, however, is not the only problem now. Recently, I've come to realize that my two life passions are violently clashing with each other. With the money I've saved up, instead of studying, what I really want to do is travel the world until I run out of money. Considering the way I travel (hitchhiking, sleeping outside in tents, train stations, airports, on floors/sofas/futons of random people's houses), this could be anywhere from 1 to 3 years that I'd be traveling around the world. Up to present, I've been to 40 countries, which leaves me 79 countries to visit. If I do end up traveling around the world for 1 - 3 years, I think I'll make great progress to complete my goal of visiting at least 119 countries to visit before I die.

One problem: my other life passion would be stabbed nearly to death if I follow through with my plan to travel the world. All those hours devoted to learning languages will have been in vain since even after just one year of no exposure, I know my German, Russian, and Italian would suffer tremendously. My Korean and Swedish, I realize, will probably stay the same - absolutely no progress made but not terrible damage done, since, after all, those are languages I had exposure to before I was 10 years old. French and Spanish I'm not terribly worried about, since they're at a level advanced enough that even after a year of going without daily review, they won't become dramatically worse. Not only that, but there are many more countries in the world (where visas are not required) where French or Spanish are official languages or where these languages are spoken.

Language-learning is like romantic relationships, at least for me. First you hear a language and you like the way it sounds. You flirt with the language, perhaps you engage in a short-lived fling with the language (as was the case with Swahili, Slovak, Serbian/Croatian, and Japanese). Then if, after the initial flirtation, you realize you not only have an interest, but a love for the language, you really devote yourself to the language. Essentially, you get "married" to the language and you devote some time to this relationship every day and you never stop learning a language until the day you die (just like how in marriage ceremonies they say, "until death do us part"). In this case, I am in a polygamous relationship with multiple languages - I am married to my many languages and they are the sole reason, the sole factor holding me back from throwing everything else aside and fulfilling my desire to discover the world. Thus the dilemma. Which is stronger? My love for foreign languages or my love for traveling? Should damage my marriage to my languages by traveling the world only to attempt to heal the damage done after my foray around the globe? Or should I stay in my language-marriages like a devoted wife should?

Today's Random Picture:

Predisposed to be Happy?

My French and Romanian friends here in France generally comment on my apparently "bright" personality; they are sometimes surprised, though appreciative of my generally positive and happy predisposition and find it, at times, to be strange. That made me wonder, perhaps I'm predisposed to be happy? For instance, here's the map of the happiness survey (dark-red countries = happy countries, lighter yellow countries = unhappier countries).

If you look at the map, you can observe what seem to be happiness "anomalies". I personally think this map goes to prove that money has nothing to do with happiness. For instance, the Japanese, who are "richer" than most Mexicans, are more unhappy than the average Mexican. Mongolians, who are some of the "poorest" people in the world, are happier than the French, who are on average a lot richer. The happiest country in the world, of course, in Denmark =)! Interesting to note though, during my time here in France, I have to admit that the French worry too much and have a problem with feeling "satisfied". Many French people (not all, of course) complain a lot and fail be thankful for all the luxuries they have in life. Thus, I can understand why the French on average are less happy than the average American. As an American-Swede with Swedish, Mongolian, and Korean roots, a Romanian friend of mine told me I might be genetically predisposed to be happy.

Actually, I don't think genes have that much to do with it. I think it's just your attitude. YOU decide if you're happy or not and it's a matter of choosing to be thankful for all that you have versus complaining about things you don't have. After all, "Utopia" is not a country, it's state of mind. 

OK, wow, my deep, philosophical musing indicate that I should go to sleep. I will leave you with a funny cartoon that a Danish boy e-mailed me today.

Today's Random Picture:

København and Stockholm

This time I won't be so lazy and get this over with before it gets to be way over my head that I never get around to blogging it (like what happened to my hitchhiking trip in the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey this summer... I will eventually post it, I suppose, but so much happened during that trip it's burdensome to blog about now...). My spring vacation was considerably shorter than my trip to the Balkans, anyway, so I'll post it while it's still relatively fresh.

Denmark, dubbed the "happiest place on Earth", was a country I'd never been to, but have wanted to go to since I learned about the international happiness survey. Having learned my lesson from summer (being stuck or days in Albanian and Romanian villages where cars came by infrequently), I decided stick to larger cities. My plan was to hitchhiked to København (Copenhagen) by way of Germany and, I will have to brag a little, it took just over 11 hours to get there!

I woke up bright and early at the ass crack of dawn to hitchhike to Denmark. In fact, when I woke up, the sun wasn't even fully risen yet and the sky outside had a dull and grayish overcast across the sleepy city of Strasbourg. Packing some edibles (bread, water, fruit) and donning my clothes, I grabbed my small backpack and headed out to catch a tram to get closer to the German border.  Crossing over the border from France by foot, which was relatively easy, seeing as how I live on the border of Germany now and all, I hitchhiked a ride out of Kehl with a German business headed for Frankfurt (am Main), a city I'm familiar with having hitchhiked to/from already.

Once at the rest area near Frankfurt, it was a 3-minute wait before getting picked up by a middle-aged woman and her mother headed to Hamburg by way of Hannover! It was my first time hitchhiking with two women! Awesomeness! They taught me many things =) including being wary of marriage... the woman was freakin' awesome. She was a mother of twins who were both 10 years old and lived with the father of the children but decided against marriage. She also warned me not to get married or get into a serious relationship before figuring out what kind of a man he was (i.e. does he clean the house, wash dishes, do laundry, etc.) Good advice from a more experienced woman, I suppose! Though, I never planned on getting married or entering a serious relationship any time soon to begin with. Progress continued on pretty rapidly and efficiently, one of the many reasons for why I love hitchhiking in Germany so much. After a quick stop at Hannover, at which the woman dropped a package, I was in Hamburg in no time at all. Hannover... ach, ja, die langweilige Hauptstadt Hannover. I guess you wouldn't get this joke if you don't know German and/or haven't watched this YouTube clip:

Once at a rest area in Hamburg, I bid farewell to the two women and waited a mere 5 minutes before getting a ride to Kiel. Being a smaller city, I suppose, explains the fewer number of drivers and thus the fewer number of drivers willing to pick up hitchhikers? I took the opportunity to eat my ration of bread, drink some water, and saved my pear for a later time. It never takes terribly long to catch a ride in Germany, I suppose. From Kiel, after waiting about 15 minutes, a driver said he'd drop me off in a rest area near a city called Flensburg. Unfortunately for me, I'd never heard of this city before I and just took his word for it when he said I'd be able to get to Denmark from there with no problems.

By the time I was at a rest area right near Flensburg, I was ready to cross the border to Denmark. A driver headed for a Danish city called Kolding picked me up and I made it across the Danish border. My driver, who had hitchhiked himself a couple decades before, actually told me I'd be better off if he dropped me off before reaching Kolding. Apparently rest areas are limited and hitchhiking would be near-impossible if I were to go past Kolding. I took his word for it and I was dropped off in what seemed to be a somewhat rural area.... and a very quiet rest area, before his destination. Once in Denmark, progress seemed slightly slower than in Germany as I got a ride after an average of 5 to 10-minute wait with drivers going shorter distances. I passed hands from drivers headed to Ejby, Vissenbjerg, Højby... then took a car headed for Nyborg, crossing over to another island of Denmark, to a rest area near the city of Slagelse. From Slagelse I was taken to Køge, where, it seemed, I lost momentum. By the time I was in Køge and already I felt like sunlight wouldn't be out for too long.

But I suppose people are in a charitable mood during the holidays, whether they are religious or not! A family picked me up! Never before had I hitchhiked in a car with a family... but like they say, there's a first time for everything. Usually, I think parents don't want to pick up hitchhikers, either because they think it's dangerous or they think it will have a bad influence on their children in some way (maybe I'd inspire these youngsters to become hitchhikers?). But I suppose this family was not your average family since they picked me up happily and let me stay in their home for a few days! They had two young children, Michael and Christian who were 9 and 15, so I was really surprised that they didn't think I'd make a bad impression on them and turn their innocent young boys into future hitchhikers. I later found out through a conversation I had that they themselves hitchhiked across Europe as youth and said it was a little sad that it had become a "dying sport". Still, without fail, they did say it was "dangerous" for a girl to do it alone. They'd apparently hitchhiked together as a couple before they decided to have children, but never as individuals.

By the time we'd reached København, it was already almost 21h and discovering I had no concrete plans as to where I'd be sleeping, the family insisted that I stay with them for Easter! How could I refuse? Good luck was smiling at me and embracing me, so I accepted. Their home was quaint and cozy and the futon in the living room was comfy. I had an incredibly good night's sleep that night.

Easter morning, I had a "traditional" Danish Easter breakfast with the family. Danish isn't a language I'm very familiar with, so my limited knowledge of Swedish, combined with German, made them laugh a few times and they encouraged me to speak in English, which would be good for their two sons who were learning it in school. I was given some Easter candies and the family took me to show me around the town later that day. On Monday, the parents didn't have work so it was another day spent with the family and I was thoroughly saddened to see that the famous mermaid statue was nowhere to be found! Apparently it was sent over to Shanghai for an exhibit and wouldn't be back for a while. This means I have to go back to København, if not just for the famous mermaid statue! It was a nice city and much more lively than Strasbourg, so I'd definitely prefer living in København to living in Strasbourg... though French does sound a lot nicer than Danish. I guess I'd probably prefer life in Paris to life in København if I had to choose. Still, it was a fun city.

Tuesday, the parents went to work and I was left with the kids who had off from school. I made sure to cook and clean, trying to be the best guest I could be. I was shown around town by the children, who attempted to teach me some Danish in exchange for my English =). It was pretty adorable, especially the little one, Michael, who thought it was pretty amusing that he spoke better Danish than a 22-year-old! I decided I'd head over to Stockholm the next morning. I prepared a very French dinner for my lovely Danish family the night before my departure. The boys' parents, Peter and Vita, offered to drop me off at a rest area just on the outskirts of the city before going to work, which would make my hitchhiking easier than from attempting to hitchhike out of the center.

The next morning, I was dropped off along with a package of some Danish pastries (Yes! They have Danish pastries in Denmark!!!) to eat in case I got hungry along with some Easter candy... which was an added souvenir since I'd already bought some candy the day before, but I guess for Danes (with the #1 per capita consumption of candy in the world), you can never have enough candy! I thanked them for everything and their generous hospitality, at which they simply smiled and laughed, saying I was welcome to their home any time I wished and they gave me their address, business cards, and wished me the best of luck. This is why I love hitchhiking! Once you start hitchhiking and meeting people like this, your life and your world view will never be the same.

Once on the road again, I hitchhiked a ride with a driver going to Malmö, a city on the southern tip of Sweden. Hitchhiking to Stockholm took about 4.5 hours from København, which I must say, isn't too shabby. My maximum wait time was 15 minutes and once in Stockholm, it was still the early afternoon! I called up Erik on my arrival at which he exclaimed, "What? Already? Who did you ride with? A Formula-1 driver?!" I might as well have been =) Progress was fast, what can I say?

In Stockholm, I realized a crucial mistake of having forgotten a jacket or coat. Despite it being mid-April, the weather was freezing, quite literally. The temperature hovered around 0C at night and in the morning and throughout the day, it rarely climbed up past 5C. In such weather, I lost all motivation to hitchhike to Finland or Norway, which, according to Erik, would be even colder. I decided to just relax for once during vacation, which is something I'm not terribly used to doing. Still, I guess a relaxing vacation is nice once in a while. I felt no pressure to go on a sightseeing rampage like I normally do since I'd been in Stockholm 3 years ago with Tomasz. Instead, when the temperature was warmest, I talked throughout the city, reminiscing, walking the streets that gave me a pleasantly eerie feeling of déjà vu and spent some time making Swedish and American foods with ingredients that I couldn't find in France.

Once strange thing I learned this time around in Sweden: some clubs downtown don't let you in unless you're 25!!! Another we tried to get into wouldn't let me in because I wasn't 23!!! And you thought the U.S. had harsh rules and uptight bouncers? Think again! Talk about age discrimination! Didn't take too many pictures in Stockholm since most of the city I'd already photographed before. I will upload everything to Picasa eventually... just need to find the motivation to... and also if my camera and laptop cooperate with each other, which, as of late, they've haven't been... Oh why does technology hate me so much? While I was in Stockholm, I did update my documents and got a new ID card and all that jazz. Was there for about a week before deciding to head back to Strasbourg before classes started. I figured I'd give myself two days, so I left on Wednesday to Denmark. I did get controlled by the Swedish police while hitchhiking out of Stockholm. According to the policemen who stopped me, I was standing in a place where cars couldn't stop. When I apologized profusely in what I call "svengelska" (mixture of Swedish and English), explaining my situation, they smiled and said they'd give me a ride to a better location. Sweet! Now I can say that I hitchhiked with policemen! They dropped me off at what they deemed to be a better place to hitchhike out of, wished me luck, and drove away. They were right, I got a ride out of Stockholm after a 10-minute wait!

This time around, I made it just near the border of Germany and Denmark, in a very rural area before it started to get dark. I ended up hitchhiking with a farmer, who invited me to stay with him and his wife for the night since the sun was already setting and it would be better to sleep in a warm house than in a cold rest area on a bench. I happily accepted and met his lovely wife who fed me a warm dinner and they gave me one of the spare bedrooms. They apparently have 4 sons, all of whom have moved out, leaving a couple vacant rooms in the house. Actually, it was quite funny because they thought I was a child! They both thought I was a high school student or a first year university student until I told them I was 22! Apparently I didn't look much older than 17 or 18 in their eyes. Maybe what my friends say is true. I haven't changed much in the past 5 years in terms of looking more mature as I should. I still have some baby fat on my face... damn. I guess if I'm anything like the women in my family, I'll finally lose some face fat when I'm in my 30s. My mom was (and from what I've heard, both grandmothers were) prettiest in her 30s so maybe the same will ring true for me too?

After a warm dinner and a warm shower, I slept in a warm, *real* bed for the first time in a long time. I slept like a rock for a good 8 or 9 hours before starting my journey again. The Danish farmer dropped me off at a nearby rest area  and it was smooth sailing from there. On the journey back from Denmark to France, the maximum wait time was 10 minutes and the minimum wait time, 1 minute! I hitchhiked with 3 German businessmen and 1 German businesswoman, 4 cars, just like last time, to get to Strasbourg. It was also the second time I hitchhiked with a solo woman driver!

Now I'm back in France with a pang in my heart and an ache in my stomach... an ache to travel more. This short break just wasn't enough... I can't wait until the week is over so I can go out and venture somewhere (preferably somewhere warmer: I'm thinking Andorra and Portugal?) once again and add some more beautiful memories to my collection. =)

Today's Random Quiz:

You Are Flares

You are a true free spirit, and you enjoy playing with fashion. Your look tends to be eclectic. You tend to be a bit rebellious. You're more likely to dress for yourself than dress for the occasion. You are both peaceful and jovial. There is a happy calm that surrounds everything you do. You are broad minded, well read, and well traveled. You are open to anything that comes your way.

What Kind of Jeans Are You?