carolinesblogs

[carolinesblogs]

One Happy Island

Summer 2016, the one that most remember as the best one ever lived. Nothing has topped this year, everything felt just a little bit better than the rest, everything had a bit more colour, and everything felt a bit more vibrant. A sister in the midst of her internship, you are living your best life as a teenager with no stress and then you get the news that you are going to visit that sister who is thousands of kilometres away for six months. Basically, nothing can ruin these months. And to be honest, it only got better.

Do you know that feeling? You are a back in your hotel room after sunbathing the whole day, you just showered, put on some after sun to make sure that bit of burned will turn into a nice tan the next day and you’re taking a bit of rest before you go out with your family again. That is the only feeling I had during my summer vacation in 2016. It truly was the perfect year.

My sister was studying at the hotel school in Breda and it was her time to go explore the world, new cultures, new people and get new experiences. She got an internship on Aruba and I was immediately jealous. I mean who does not want to go there?! A member of our household being gone for six months, was a first for everyone. So, we knew we had to go visit her at some point.

What a time to be alive. It started with a first-class flight to Aruba. This was due to the fact that my father was way too late to arrange this holiday in time (surprise) for him to be able to book some normal seats. You would not hear me complain though. The moment we arrived on this tropical island, with the best temperature you can imagine and a vibe like no other I immediately felt at home.

Every cars license plate has the phrase ‘one happy island’ and I must say, there is nothing more true than this. It is pure happiness and bliss all over the place. Everyone is a ‘dushi’ and everything is ‘mañana, mañana’. It is pretty much the equivalent of “Don’t worry, Be happy”. And I hate to say it, but this truly is the best way to describe this island.

When I look back at this holiday there are only happy memories and good vibes throughout my whole body. It has made me realize to go explore and dare to take a step you normally would be afraid of. And to finish it all off, if you ever need a place to find your happiness, the only thing I can tell you is go to Aruba and explore.

Pasa un bon dia!  - Caroline

[carolinesblogs]

The only real solution

You know those soggy, dark brown, old bananas that you somehow always have laying around in your house, because everyone refuses to eat them? Yeah, me too, but I have the perfect solution for you! And no, I don’t mean throwing them away of course, why would you even ever do that?! I mean baking one the best things there is on earth: BANANA BREAD.

The reason I came up with the topic of this blog, is because I was completely and utterly done with life today. Life was busy, school was a mess and a half, and quarantine was sucking all the energy out of me. Though there were probably plenty other, maybe even better, ways to deal with this, I decided to bake something and get in a happy mood again.

I saw 3 discoloured looking bananas laying in our fruit basket and immediately came up with the perfect plan. Let’s bake some banana bread! The recipe is really simple, because there are only few ingredients needed and you probably already have most, if not all, at home. I came up with this specific recipe by combining recipes from the internet, but also by using my taste buds, and I must say that I am very proud of the outcome. And today is your lucky day, because I’m going to enlighten you with my recipe for this piece of baked gold.

 The Ingredients:

- 2 to 3 ripe bananas, peeled

- 80 grams of melted butter (slated or unsalted whatever you prefer)

- 1 teaspoon of baking soda

- Pinch of salt

- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

- 100 grams of sugar (could also be more or less, it depends on how sweet you like it)

- 1 egg, beaten

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 195 grams of all-purpose flour

-  Optional: add a hand full of unsalted walnuts (they will add some extra depth)

Method:

- Preheat your oven to 175°C, and butter your loaf pan

- In a mixing bowl; mash the ripe bananas with a fork until as smooth as possible. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas

- Mix in the baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour

- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour at 175°C, or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.

- Remove the bread from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. After this, take it out of the loaf pan and let it cool completely (if you can wait that long, but it’s also really good when it’s still warm!)

 The recipe is really simple and super easy to make. It’s the perfect snack to take with you to school or work, or you know eat on the couch while watching some Netflix. Also, it’s best to eat her within 3-4 days, she can get a bit stale after this. I hope you try it out, and if so let me know what you think of it!

[carolinesblogs]

Master chef at home

Social media is a great way to raise awareness for serious things but is also the perfect platform to promote yourself. With these hard times and the hospitality business completely gone at the moment, there is one person who combined all these factors and made the best out of them.

Jaimie van Heije is a Dutch chef who works in a fancy restaurant, named after himself, in the place Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, The Netherlands. Before the Dutch authorities took precautions against COVID-19 he was the executive chef in his own restaurant and worked here every day of the week. Now that he has been forced to close his restaurant, he decided to give the people at home still a chance to taste his delicious food. He does this not by cooking it for them and delivering it through ThuisBezorgd, but by making Instagram stories where he explains his recipes step by step.

For everyone at home because of the circumstances this would be the perfect opportunity to start improving those cooking skills. And what better way to do this than with a well-known restaurant chef who explains step by step how to do this?!

P.s. I would definitely recommend trying out the Gnocchi recipe that is in his Instagram Highlights. My family and I tried it out during these quarantined days and absolutely loved it!

The link to Jaimie’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaimievanheije/?hl=nl