mmmmmuffins.

I forgot to post a picture of the blueberry muffins I made the other day. I think I may have found the best muffins recipe (for now). The texture is very soft and not too crumbly..... even after being left overnight. The recipe also calls for a crumble top, but I didn't make it as I fear it may be too sweet. I might try it another time. I cut the sugar in the recipe by a bit more than half and it was still really good and sweet enough for me. This is good as the husband and I have been trying to eat healthily and we have cut down our daily sugar intake. I also cut the sugar amount so that my Dad can eat the muffins too (he's a diabetic). I hate that splenda crap. Splenda makes everything taste .... fake and chemically altered?!

Super Delicious Blueberry Muffins (stolen from allrecipes)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar (I cut the sugar in the recipe by a little more than half)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I only had corn oil at home and it worked well!!)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk (I used 1%)
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

(Crumble topping)

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

I doubled up the recipe and made about 17 decent sized muffins! If you have a ton of fresh blueberries at home right now (snerk!), I recommend you try this :)

Vacation rules!

Well, hello children! Are you ready for my triumphant return to the blog world? Today is my first day off from work (weekends don't count), and I shall celebrate by writing a blog entry! Afterall, it's been 2 months since I blogged. I guess I just don't have enough (interesting) things to say, and I'm really lazy. On most days after work, I am too tired to even turn on the computer at night to write.... meh.

I can't really say I've accomplished much on my vacation yet since it's only been day 1, but the husband and I did 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen counters and stovetop. There are alot more things at home that need cleaning, that's for sure! The last few days, I was able to spend some time with my parents, play piano, read, and not think about work. I've only looked at my work emails on my crackberry twice today, so I'd like to think I'm doing well so far.

I hope I can really relax and take things easy during my 4 week vacation. I know the time will go by very fast, so I'm trying to make good use of my time and enjoy my vacation as much as I can before returning to work in a few weeks. Work had been crazy during the past 6 months, so I'm glad I got the chance to go away for a breather. Once September rolls in, I'm not sure if I have time to breathe as I decided to throw myself back to more schooling. I hope it wasn't a bad decision on my part - to work full time, go to school part time, and manage house chores....and let's hope I pass my first graduate course. Honestly, I'm a tad (maybe more than a tad) nervous about September. Afterall, it's been 8 long years since I graduated from UBC. I'm not really sure what to expect from there. I don't even know if I can still write an academic paper anymore?!? Yikes!!!!!

On an unrelated note, I really dislike oblivious drivers. I hate the fact that I'm driving straight on the right lane at a constant speed, and drivers peek out from the side street trying to get onto my lane. Sure, either you step on your gas and go for it, or wait after I go and you turn out. Noooooo, they have to wait until you are very close to them and then they turn out, making you slam on your brakes with steam coming out of your heads. What's worst is they drive at 40km/hr in front of you. Or, you try to back out of your parking spot and the driver (if you're in Ditchmond, they are usually female of Chinese descent in their 40's-50's) signal for your spot, but is totally blocking you. They refuse (or do not know how) to back it up abit to make room for you. Instead, they just sit there and think it's my responsibility to back out of my spot 50 times so she can run everyone else over just to get my spot. This is after I found out there were tons of spots near my spot... closer to the mall entrance.

And if you can't keep up with the flow of traffic or the indicated speed sign on the highway, DRIVE ON THE RIGHT SIDE and stay there. The left lane is for passing!!!!!!! Driving 60km/hr on the fast lane on a 90km/hr highway is very dangerous! And if you decide to pass someone, get onto the fast lane at a faster speed, not at a slower speed so that the 20 cars on the fast lane behind you can smash right into you.

Ok, I think I feel better now. I'm currently baking some blueberry muffins in the oven. I hope they turn out well since the recipe has so many high ratings. I love blueberries. I was so happy when my mom gave me a huge box of blueberries... apparently she bought them for cheap from a local blueberry farmer. My current healthy snack at the moment is fresh blueberries with fat free vanilla yogurt with granola! EEEEEE!

Ok bye! Maybe I'll post again soon (and hopefully not in 2 months time).