[Recipe] Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

Hey guys!

Yesterday I was in Aachen for the first time after my registration, to take a look at the campus and the different buildings of my university. It's crazy huge - I'm really not sure how I'm going to find my lecture halls, let's hope I don't get lost because I'm certain that will happen at least a few times in the first weeks... And after that. Oh well.

I've been looking for people to travel with at least during freshman orientation week. I have to take two trains every morning to get there which rounds up to about 1 1/2 hours, and while that's probably the perfect time to read or play Pokémon, it's also the first time in my life commuting like that and as long as I'm getting used to it I'd like to be with other people... I'm still scared of the world, don't laugh at me. :(

Anyway, we now have a group of eight people (I think) for the first day of uni - they're all really cool and I can't wait to actually meet them - and because I'm nice I've baked a batch of muffins and we're gonna have a tea party on the train! :D

I don't know what I did wrong because for some reason my third set turned out much better than the other two, maybe it's because the batter had to rest a bit. Hm. I'll try and remember that for the next time. So maybe you should do that, too. Anyway, here's the recipe:

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins
Makes: 30 muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 20-30 minutes

Nutrition facts (per muffin):
Calories: 153
Fat: 4.2g
Cholesterol: 51mg
Sugar: 15.1g

Ingredients:
400g white flour
400g sugar
300g yogurt (unsweetened and unflavoured)
100g butter
8 eggs
2 cups blueberries (I used frozen ones, but fresh probably also works)
1 packet baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

2. Melt the butter. For this, grab two different-sized metal bowls (or similar containers), put the butter in the smaller one, fill the larger one with water (though not too much) and place the smaller one in it so it floats on the water. Put it on a low heat, it should be just hot enough to make the butter melt.

3. Mix the flour, sugar and baking soda and stir in the eggs, yogurt and melted butter.

4. Stir until you get a smooth batter. You can just use a large spoon for this.

5. Mix in the blueberries. (Though in retrospect I've learned that mixing any kinds of soft berries into the dough makes it go dark and should be avoided - you should rather just drop them in when you fill up the paper liners right before they go into the oven!)

6. Line your muffin tray with paper cups or grease it thoroughly, and pour the batter into it so it covers 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the cups. They will rise quite nicely when they bake.

7. Bake them for 20 to 30 minutes, always check back with a toothpick - when no more crumbs stick to it after you poke a muffin, they're done!

And that's it! I think next time I'm going to use more blueberries and less sugar, but they turned out quite nice and my family liked them - let's see what my new friends in college think :)

Happy baking!

Besa

P.S.: I've changed my theme around a little :) What do you guys think?

P.P.S.: Make sure to follow me on Bloglovin'!

Hello October!

Hey guys!

It's crazy how fast the year has gone by - can you believe it's been almost a year since the supposed end of the world?! You don't even notice time fleeting when there's so much stuff going on, hah. October is my favourite time of the year, it's perfect sweater weather (long as it's not raining), pretty coloured leaves and pumpkin EVERYTHING, and let's not forget Halloween. This year it's going to be extra special because I'm finally starting college, but you're all probably already pretty much fed up with my ramblings about that.

To keep inspired and motivated this month and prevent the autumn blues from setting in, I've dug up some old pictures and compiled a little list of things I want to try out this month - maybe there's something for you there as well!

1. Knit your own scarf: 
I've always loved knitting, it seems like the perfect thing to do while you're home at night, snuggled up in bed and watching a good movie. Just a few days ago I sat down with my mum (after bugging her for ages) to finally teach me how to do it, and while I still have a long way to go until I can produce something halfway decent, I'm intent on finishing my first scarf this month. If you don't have anyone to teach you how to knit, there are plenty of tutorials and videos on the internet - here's one that I found particularly helpful.

2. Cook the perfect pumpkin pie soup: 
To be honest, the only time I've ever tried pumpkin soup was that day in elementary school when we had this kind of potluck, and I hated it. I'm not sure whether the soup just was badly prepared or I really didn't like it, but I really want to try cooking my own this year. Here and here are two recipes that I picked (though they're in German).

3. Do some crafts:
Now is the perfect time for that, in my opinion. So get out your scissors and needles and glue sticks and get crafty~! Some projects I definitely want to try out is this DIY flower vase, plush fox dolls and patterned notebooks.

4. Redecorate your room:
With the days getting shorter and colder, you'll naturally be spending more time indoors. So why not cosy it up a little? The above picture is from last year when I printed out ~50 pictures of friends and family and my favourite artists, which I have since then taken down, but I've been thinking about putting my photo wall back up again - it really adds a very personal touch to a room. Putting up little holiday lights, scented candles and flowers in red and yellow tones also help to get you in that autumn-y mood. Throw some fluffy pillows and a cuddly quilt in there and you got yourself a perfect cosy evening.

5. Try a new tea every day:
Okay, maybe not every day, but this year I really want to try to steer away from my standard green tea or chai latte. So next time you're at Starbucks, visiting a friend or at the store, why not try out a new tea flavour? Or you can treat yourself to a gift box. Maybe there's local tea shops where you can pick and mix your own assortment. Who knows, you might just find your new favourite flavour.

6. Press leaves:
This is actually something I've wanted to do since I was a child, but never really got around to. Now is probably a good time for that because the leaves are just starting to get all colourful and they're not too dry yet. I'm thinking of hanging them up in my room as decoration afterwards.

7. Enjoy the outdoors:
Do it while you still can. Throw on a cuddly sweater, a chunky scarf, lace up your boots and just go and take a walk to take in the season around you. There's something about the way the air smells in autumn, or the colours of the sky, I can't really put my finger on it but it's beautiful. So whenever the sun's out you might consider spending a few hours outside, before November rains wash over us...

8. Create your own autumn playlist:
One thing that always helps me get in a good mood is picking songs and making playlists that remind me of the particular season, and I always end up listening to them quite a lot. Here's mine on Spotify which you can draw inspiration from if you want to - but really, you have to make your own with your favourite autumn songs. There's just something about being cuddled up in a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate and listening to your favourite tunes as the rain patters against the window at night~

9. Carve pumpkins:
Yet another thing I should've done long ago but never did... Halloween has just never been a really big deal in my family. I'm a fan of those really creative and intricate carvings and that's what I want to try out, but knowing myself I'll probably end up with a regular old jack o'lantern again...

10. Make an awesome Halloween costume:
I'm a sucker for playing dress-up, and Halloween is the perfect opportunity for that. Two years ago I cut up one of my dad's old shirts, ripped up a pair of tights and spilled red paint over the whole thing. Add dark-rimmed eyes and pale lips and you got yourself a halfway decent zombie costume. This year I want to go all out with fake wounds, special effects make-up, the whole deal. Check out Nimba Creations and ClickClickBang Photography for inspiration!

So that's my list for this October! What about you guys? Tell me about your plans for this month! :)

Until next time,

Besa

College Resolutions

So while my last few school years (read: probably all of high school) didn't go all that well (laziness gets the best of me sometimes), I've decided I won't let that happen in college. So it might still be wishful thinking at this point (I originally planned on getting a score of 1.7 on my A-levels and instead ended up with 2.5... whoops), but this time I'm willing to commit to a schedule and actually work for my grades. Maybe it's different because I'm finally going to learn stuff I actually want to know about, unlike in school, and I have tangible goals to work towards. (I mean, when I learn a programming language in college I can actually use it and do awesome stuff! But learning Freud's theory of psychosexual development... Probably not so much.)

Well, anyway! On to my resolutions/goals for the coming semester and maybe even beyond:

1. Keep organized: I gave up bringing a binder to school in my senior year because all my notes and papers would end up somewhere deep in my bag anyway, never to be seen again. My notebooks were overflowing and falling apart by the end of the year, and you can imagine my despair when it came to collecting notes to study for finals (hint: I didn't even try). So this time round I'll try to take notes in class and keep them neatly organized so I can easily find them again whenever I need them. I've started a BulletJournal recently (will probably make a post about that sometime too), so maybe that will also help structuring my days and tasks and everything.


2. NOT cram: My mistake in high school was that if I would study for an exam, I would probably do it two days before. But most of the time I wouldn't... Which reflected in my grades, whoops. I've heard a few people recommend that you should revise two hours for every unit of a class you're taking. I have four classes this semester so that makes eight hours a week. Time to channel my inner broadway star.


3. Keep a steady sleep pattern: Lately there hasn't been a day I went to bed before 2 a.m. and you didn't see me out until 1 p.m. which sucks a lot because while I hate getting up early, I love being up early and getting stuff done and whatnot. Also with my daily commute of ~2 hours I'll definitely have to get up much earlier than that. (I'm lucky my classes start at 10 though. I wouldn't survive if I had to get up earlier than 6.)


4. Eat clean: Right now I will stuff myself with junkfood one day, and be way too full the next to even look at anything remotely edible. That won't do. Also, I'm going to try and not spend too much money at the cafeteria. So that means having a proper breakfast at home and packing myself a healthy lunch every day~


5. Be nice: I wish this didn't have to be a point, but unfortunately I've neglected this a little during school. So in college I'm going to try and be as sociable as possible (without being a doormat, of course), make lotsa friends and get on the good side of my professors~

That's it for now, maybe I'll think of more later~!

What about you guys? Tell me about your resolutions and how you're keeping them up!

Besa

HELLO WORLD!

I figured this time I might even have something to write about so this blog won't die after two weeks. So, hi!

So most of you probably know me as xuniap, or besasam, or any variation of those (I definitely have too many aliases...) - anyway, if you don't, I'm Besa, I'm 17 years old and live in Germany, and I'm going to start college soon and that's kinda the reason why I made this blog, to document how that goes? Maybe. We'll see.

ANYWAY -- I'm going to attend RWTH Aachen University and study computer sciences and it's all really exciting. Two more weeks to go - then I'm officially a college student! SO EXCITING! (I might or might not have already downloaded videos of lectures from my uni. Ahem. I LIKE TO BE PREPARED.)

So, the way my schedule looks right now is pretty nice, I'm going to have four different classes (programming, computer engineering, analysis and discrete maths), plus tutorials, and a french course I'm taking besides that (hey, I like to make the most of it while I'm there), and I'm just really excited to learn new things and meet new people. Yay college~

Ah well! That's it for now. I'll write next time something exciting happens~

Until then!

Besa