Not so old fashioned oatmeal cookies

Isaac Asimov wrote about the perfect snack in one of his books from the Foundation series: little balls made from "pure taste", nothing more.Like eating jelly beans with your eyes closed only they contained no calories and you never ever had the same taste twice.
Like many women I am always looking for the perfect healthy snack for my kids and myself (yeah, you guessed right: vanity, thy name is woman) so I am constantly experimenting with cookies.
I haven't find the perfect one, but these are really, really good: they taste beautiful, they're healthy, there contain  carbs and fat, sure, but at the end the good guys win :)

You will need:
one ripe banana
a half apple finely grated
150g all purpose flour
50g oat flour
50g rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
70g cane sugar
1 tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder
(you can use natural unsweetened cocoa powder, in that case please use baking soda instead of baking powder!)
70g butter at room temperature
30g extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of salt
optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 360 degrees F (180° C). Peel the bananas and mash them with a fork, mix with the grated apple.
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl or in the mixer till you get a not so sticky dough. (If it’s still too sticky just cover it with some cling film and put it in the refrigerator for a half an hour).

Make little balls the size of a walnut and put them onto greased baking sheets, 2 inches apart. If the dough is still sticky, use two teaspoons.

Bake the cookies 12-15 minutes, till they are golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

When they are not too hot anymore you pour yourself a glass of milk, or a good cup of coffee, well, tea than, and you sit in a quiet corner with your favorite book, and whatever happens outside that corner you just don't care for 10 minutes :))

Decorative wine bottle tutorial

You will need:

a wine bottle
warm water
rubbing alcohol
white matt spray paint
safety goggles and mask
adhesive lace tape
some old newspapers or something else to cover work area
time


First you have to remove all the labels from the bottle, the easiest way is putting the bottle in warm water. Within 5 minutes you can remove any labels and glue. Dry your bottle carefully and clean it with rubbing alcohol. As you can see on the picture I put the alcohol in a little spray bottle (what I got from the local store, it's sold as part of an carry on plastic travel kit), I find it easier to apply this way.
Carefully apply the lace tap where you want it. You really have to make sure that the tape is completely sticking to the bottle to avoid little imperfections (as you can see, I was not paying enough attention :))
Now cover your work area with the newspapers and put your bottle in the middle.

Attention: you will do this outside and PLEASE cover your eyes and mouth with safety goggles and a mask while you are spray painting!!!

So now that your wine bottle is prepared and you did everything to keep your good health all you have to do is spray away! Read the manufacturer's instructions on the paint can, to make sure how long does it take for your paint to dry and how long do you have to wait between two layers.

Flickr favorites - City in the morning

1. Budapest in the morning, 2. City Hall - Philadelphia, 3. Morning Raaga, 4. city in the morning

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Although I am living in the countryside and I'm really loving it for so many reasons, I always have a soft spot for big cities.

Cities are particularly interesting in the morning just before everyone and everything wakes up. Even the most busy metropolis looks serene, and this is the only time of the day when the city, and only the city gets the main role.

What do you think? :)

Take a look at Artmind's blog to see more Flickr Favorites.