Saturday, March 31, 2012

Cupcakes

Hello, hello!

I made chocolate-peanut cupcakes and they turned out so good that I had to share the recipe with you. The original recipe was found from here : http://www.kinuskikissa.fi/peanut-butter-muffinssit/?sliderpage=4&ref=26 but it is in finnish. I changed the original a little bit because I didn't find peanut butter from here.

For 12 cupcakes

Pastry:
150 gr  milk chocolate
150 gr  butter
1½  dl  sugar
2     eggs
3½  dl  flour
2   teaspoons of baking powder
2½ spoons of cocoa powder
1½  dl  milk
1½  dl  salted peanuts

Icing:
200 gr cream cheese
350 gr chocolate hazelnut spread


Pastry:
Before you start doing anything make sure that you turn on your oven into 225 degrees. Melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds so that it gets a bit soft and mix it with the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time. Combine the dry ingredients ( flour, baking powder, cocoa powder) together and put it in to the mixture in turn with the milk. Chop the milk chocolate and the salted peanuts and add them into the mixture.


Because I don't like peanuts that much I crushed them. In the picture they are not crushed. You can do as you like :)











Put the mixture into small tins ( or whatever you have at home ). Remember to put butter on them before you fill them with the mixture. Leave them in the oven for about 15 minutes.








Icing:
This is easy. Just mix the cream cheese and the chocolate hazelnut spread together. I used philadelphia and merenda (nutella is good too). Remember not to put the icing when the muffins are still warm!




 For the icing I use this kind of shape ( I don't know how you call them in english). If you have something else don't worry it will do the same thing :)











  When the muffins have cooled-down you can put the icing. I usually start from the middle of the muffin and go around.


















At least my friend Maria liked them very much! I hope you try the recipe as well :)


Karoliina

Friday, March 30, 2012

No stress...

Hello again! :)

My time here has been very relaxing. I went for shopping yesterday and it felt so good haha...shopping therapy I guess! I am not a big fashion freak to be honest. If I don't like something, I don't wear it no matter how fashionable it is. I usually like to be comfortable, but I found these awesome high heels from Zara that I couldn't resist. It is so hard to find shoes that fit me because I have so small feet ( 35 size ) , but I'm so happy that I finally found shoes that look good. Probably the highest high heels I have ever worn, but I am hoping I will get used to them :P (look at the picture below)

Yey! I looked a bit crappy in the morning. I went jogging with my friend Eleni and I have to admit that I hate jogging and running in general, but it is the only way to keep myself fit here. Plus the weather is good so why not enjoy the nature and the sun :)

I don't get it when people say that when they exercise they get that good feeling. I sometimes wonder what the hell they are talking about! For me exercising can be torture sometimes. I never really enjoy doing it, but I do it because I know it is good for my health. I have always been very lazy, but I guess I have learned to drag myself to the gym every day. Now that I see the results on myself I can say that I feel good, but I have never got that "good" feeling during my exercise. Oh well...maybe I will get there or maybe not...:P
This was taken in the evening. I must say that I look a bit better here! A little bit of make up and nice clothes can do miracles hehe :)  I just had to take a picture from each angle so you can get a good look at my new shoes... I know it's a bit cheesy :P
Now I am going to make cup cakes! I will put the recipe on my blog as soon as possible :)

Karoliina

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Γειά σας!

After 16 hours of traveling I am finally home! :D It is nice to be back and the first...or actually the second thing I did was eat gyros! NAM! Greek food is so goooood! It is nothing like eating greek food abroad. Foreign people have no idea about real greek food and that's the truth!  If you ever eat feta, please buy at least GREEK feta cheese, it tastes so much better and it is nothing like the crap they name "feta".

Everytime I come here it is funny to notice how people act so differently.  Greeks are very loud and I like that, because it feels like home again. I am very loud myself even though I am tiny, but now I am not the only one hehe...! My greek friends came to my house yesterday to welcome me and it was one of the best things they could ever do. I am so happy to be here :)

When I am here I like going for walks with my dad. I know most girls my age don't do that, but I think it's good that we do because it brings us closer and we get the chance to talk about things. I like to have a close relationship with my parents, but that doesn't mean that I tell them everything :P

This is my dad :) Αs you can see it's already spring here! Ahh...I just love the weather :D


This is the place I call home Agria! <3 Sunny days in Greece! :D I got so sick of the snow and the horrible weather in Finland that I wonder how finnish people stand that every year. Summers are probably the only time of the year that you can actually enjoy being outside.
Yeah! My dad is cool! :)
I  love this old house, it's a pity they haven't fixed it yet :/



Have a great week!
Warm greetings from Greece! :)

Karoliina

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Bye bye Finland :D

Hello!

First of all, my exams are finally over!! YEAH! Secondly, I am going back to Greece tomorrow! SUPER YEAH! :D I can't believe it's over! I don't even remember when was the last time I felt so relaxed. It feels weird that I don't need to study anything for a long time...life is good!

Now I am just packing and trying to put things in order...my room is a mess, but who cares! I won't let anything ruin my good mood. I am going home after three months which isn't a very long time actually. Even though I have been living here for three years I still don't feel like calling Finland my home. It's not that I don't like Finland, but here everything seems to be so dead sometimes.

 Before I leave I have made a video for you guys just in case you forget what my voice sounds like hehe...Now that I have had more time I have been singing all the time and I am sure that my neighbours probably hate me. I can't help it! I was born to sing :P

When I was fifteen I loved Taylor Swift's songs, but not so much anymore. I remember I used to play this song all the time, so I decided to play it for one last time. I need to learn new songs I am getting so sick of the old one's! If you have any good ideas let me know :D ( sorry about the bad quality of the video )


 Karoliina :)

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Help...

Hello!

I must thank you all for your nice comments on my previous post! Our duet was a big hit haha maybe we should try singing again sometime. Also I noticed that  I have two members on my blog now which is really great! Thank you! :)

Today I tried for the first time in my life shooting with an ilma-ase (airgun haha)...I have no idea what it's called in english, but it was something like this...


Actually, shooting wasn't my cup of tea and the gun was a bit heavy :P What can I say, I am too weak! At least I am open to try new things. Me and a gun, not a good combination...I am glad I didn't kill anybody!

Now I am freaking out for my exams...seriously I have never been this terrified in my life just for a maths test! I don't know how some of my friends wrote physics and chemistry, crazy people! Just looking at my maths books I feel sick... this is torture!




Now I am going to watch felicity and get a good rest. I am becoming a bit obsessed with Felicity and I should blame my dear friend for that...we act like thirteen year olds when we talk about Scott Speedman (one of the characters of the series).


He is so dreamy! :D I could look at him for hours hahaha...oh my...I sound so creepy! :P















Goodnight everybody! :)

Karolina

Sunday, March 18, 2012

The sound of music



Hey!

I can't believe how fast these past two months have gone by! Especially now that my last exam is coming soon I can take my life back finally. I won't need to worry about school or exams I will just take it easy and relaaaaax! In almost a week I am going back to Greece and I am so excited to see my friends and family again! One of the hardest things being from two countries is having to say goodbye to people all the time which is something that I am still not used to. I always cry like a baby when I have to leave from Greece.

I thank God that I have amazing friends who make life easier. I was touched when my friend Salla surprised me the other day by coming to my house with some pizza (which was really good!).  I like it when people are spontaneous and they don't organize their everyday separately. That is why I don't own a day planner! 

Salla got really excited when I played "set fire to the rain" by Adele on guitar. She was like "Let's sing it together!" and I was like "why not!". To be honest it didn't exactly turn out as we thought it would, but at least we had a great time! I am not a good guitarist, but music isn't about singing or playing an instrument perfectly. You can play an instrument very well and still not enjoy it, what's the point of that?

Here are two videos of our attempt to sing "set fire to the rain". It got really high at some point as you can hear :P Gosh I couldn't stop laughing of how bad it sounded, but at least it sounds better on the second video. Enjoy! :D
 




Karolina

Thursday, March 15, 2012

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

Hey!

I am sure most of you have had difficult times in the past or you are going through some hard times at the moment. Well if it helps at all you are not the only one who is suffering in this world. I believe that  99% of  the world's population has had at least once in their life one hard moment and the 1% is just lucky.

On the other hand, having an easy life can be boring. Imagine if nothing wrong happened, things would just stay the same. I believe that difficult times change people and make them understand some things about life. You can't always have things your way...welcome to the real world, shit happens!. You can either ruin your life complaining all the time about how bad things are OR you could just learn something from those bad moments. 

I have had some rough times in my life. Especially after I had this depression last year I have changed in many ways. I would never want to go through the same thing again, but I don't feel bad that it happened because it made me stronger. Now that I have my exams I wish they were over, but unfortunately it something that I have to deal with at the moment. :( 

Anyway...this is for you. I have been hearing this song everywhere so why not put it on my blog as well! :P



Goodnight everybody!

Karolina :)


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Sweetheart

Hey!

I have been thinking that I need to change my blog's name... when I first made it I put karpalo because nothing else came to my mind at the time. Now it's time for a change, but I have no idea what to put. Please if you have ANY ideas I would be more than happy if you could help me choose a name or a phrase :)

So these past few days I have been talking with my friend about diets... I have never liked being on a diet and I am sure that most people hate being on a diet :P  To be honest I have now learned to be more happy with my body even though I still complain about it. But I am not going to get any taller or thinner the more I complain about it so why not just be happy they way I am? I eat healthy, I exercise and I take care of myself...I don't see what's the point of starving myself to death just to be skinny. Skinny people are overrated anyway! :P I am sure if TV or magazines didn't exist, people wouldn't have so low self esteem.

Actually for me it's hard to stay away from food because I LOVE IT! I don't eat unhealthy stuff all the time just once in a while. I love to bake but I try not to do it too often or I would probably gain 100 kilos in a short period. Well to be honest I prefer baking more than eating what I make. Even though I have made all sorts of cakes and desserts and I have tried so many recipes, my favourite one is tiramisu. I could eat it every single day of my life and not get sick of it :D

So here are some of the cakes I have made so far.... I have to say that I am a perfectionist! Every time we have a birthday or a celebration  it is me who makes the cakes. I love doing it and it is one thing that I am actually good at!

























So all I am saying is enjoy life once in a while! Don't count every single calorie just eat and enjoy!At least that's what I do...hihi


Karpalo :)

Monday, March 12, 2012

Change the world!

¡Hola chicos!

So today was my first examination in finnish and I am not as desperate as I thought I would be which is a good thing! :D So today I went for some shopping...oh yes! So this is what I bought today...I don't care if you don't like it...the minute I saw it I fell in love with it!<3 I had to cut off my head from the picture though because I looked more like a zombie than a human. hehe...


Now to something more serious...I watched this video on the blog of a friend of mine and I had to share it with you guys! Please watch it, I am sure you have 30 minutes time to do it. I had no idea about this until I saw the video. It's horrible to know that one person can make people suffer so much! This is the link if you want to sign to support the international effort of arresting Kony:
http://www.kony2012.com/


Goodnight everybody! :)

Karpalo

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The joy of reading :D

Hello!

As I have said many times earlier I'm a bit of a book freak. So I thought I would write about my favourite books today! Wohoo! :D If you don't like reading...please try at least one of these books, I am sure you are going to love them as much as I do! :)

One of my favourite books this year was The Island by Victoria Hislop. My sister recommended it to me and it is a really good book. I read it in greek, but I am sure you can find it in many other languages as well. It is about a girl who wants to find out about her mother's past so she decides to go to Crete where her mother was raised. It's a mysterious book and I couldn't stop reading it! I am not going to say what happens :P hehe, but trust me this is good stuff!





Okay the next two books that I recommend are true stories. The first one is the Desert flower by Waris Dirie which is about the life of Waris Dirie who was born in Somalia. When she was twelve she was forced to get married with an old man. To escape she walked all the way to Mogadishu from where she was sent to England. There she was found by a photographer and that's how she became a model. I have to admit that it has been a long time since I read it, but it was really good! There is also a movie about it, but read the book first and then watch the movie.


The second true story is The hiding place by Corrie Ten Boom. It is a really old book, but it is very interesting. The story takes place in Holland in 1940 when the Nazis invaded Holland. Corrie Ten Boom and her family used to hide Jewish people in their house during the holocaust. It's amazing what these people did and I have no words to describe it, I got goose bumps reading it!

Last year I had this thing with Cecelia Ahern's novels and I read them all. I can't say that all of them were extremely good, but I loved these three.



By Sophie Kinsella I recommend these two books. When I want to relax, I prefer reading something that is going to make me laugh and these two were really something! :) I haven't read all Kinsella's books yet, but I want to.

Last but not least, these are the books that I am reading at the moment. I can't tell you yet whether they are good or not, but as soon as I read them all I am going to give you a full review! :)


Hope I didn't bore you to death! hehe 
Tomorrow is my first examination and the fact that I didn't sleep at all last night didn't help much :P
Anyway, have a good day everybody! :)

Karpalo <3


Saturday, March 10, 2012

L O V E

Hello, hello!

Do you ever get this feeling that you are not going to find anybody in this world? I am referring to all you single and lonely people out there. :P To be honest, I have had that feeling a couple times, but for some people finding somebody becomes an obsession. What is so bad about being single?

Personally, I would rather wait for the right guy than go from one relationship to another. I enjoy being with my friends, having a good time and doing the things I want. For some people though being single, freaks them out in a way that I can't understand. Of course, it is nice to be in love and have somebody by your side who loves you and respects you, but let's face the facts...the love of your life isn't going to appear just because you want so. The worse thing people do is go find somebody in a bar...em...I don't think that's a good idea. Mostly because people just act differently in a bar and secondly that doesn't sound very romantic. "-How did you guys meet? - Em...in a bar, we were both drunk though, so I don't remember much." :P Okay, that went over the top, but still.

On the other hand, I am not an expert in this "love" thing. To be honest I am very clumsy with guys, I giggle like a thirteen year old and act stupid which can be really embarassing sometimes! When I get nervous I always say something stupid and then things get awkward...no wonder why guys avoid me now that I think about it! I am a bit of a freak, but what can I do about it, that's who I am! Plus I don't quite get men.

I wish things were simple. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, both are happy, end of story. People just find it hard to tell about their feelings, there are always these questions like "does she/he like me?" or "Should I ask him/her out?" and so on. Instead of wondering, why can't people just ask straight away what they think? If you don't do something, how can you know how things will go. There is the chance you might get rejected, but that's life. You get over it and you move on!

I used to have a friend who was so afraid of being single that she couldn't break up with her boyfriend, even though he treated her like shit. Either people like to be treated badly or they just believe they don't deserve better than that which is very sad. A good relatioship shouldn't make you feel bad about yourself. If somebody doesn't respect you, the best thing to do is kick him/her out of your life and find somebody who will appreciate you.

Well, that's all for now!

Karpalo

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Oh no! D:

Hello!

I know that I am not writing as often as I used to, but I am so busy that I don't have time to do it. Also, my life is so boring that I don't have anything interesting to write about. Maths has been my life the past three weeks and I am starting to get sick of it...

At least, I know that this is not going to last forever and I know that I am smart enough to pass my maths exam, but I have to admit that after reading all those 1500 pages it feels like my brain is going crazy. I am so hopeless... When I am done with all this I am going to have the most amazing three weeks in Greece. I won't need to stress or study anything, just me and the sun! :P I am so glad the temperature here isn't below zero and we don't have that much snow anymore! YES!

Last week wasn't too bad as I got to meet some new people, actually one to be honest, but still. I bumped into a friend of mine at the library and she was there with one of her friend. After talking for a while with her friend we found out that her mother knows my mother. It is strange how small the world is...or actually Kotka ( the town I live in ). It is always fun to meet new people, but in Finland it is so hard to make new friends because people are so shy. In Greece things are so much easier and people are more social...maybe too social sometimes, but that's not a bad thing.

Life is so stressfull right now and I am super sensitive about everything. I feel like I am a ticking bomb that is going to explode. There are so many things that I need to figure out. I have always wanted to please other people and I have never thought about myself. It is a good thing to be selfish sometimes, at least in a small amount.

Anyway...I have to study maths now! wohoo :(

Have a good day everybody! :)

Karpalo