Bake Date: Sweet Potatoat Chips

Which, of course, is an abbrev. for Sweet Potato Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. And which, of course, is a mouthful, particularly when your mouth is already full.
 

 
A fair bit of thought was put into how I wanted to spend my last daylit hours of the year, but I ended lazing about my apartment listening to old episodes of This American Life in lieu of something more exciting, such as anything taking place outside my apartment. That would involve braving the many, many exploding somethings that have been threatening to burn down the block for the past two days. In this part of the globe, it's only legal to sell and set off fireworks to/in/at the general masses in the last three days of the year. Now that the sun has gone down, I can see the colorful fireworkings flash in the windows and reflect in the mirror without having to leave my bed, each of them followed by a KRACHHHH or a SQUWEEEEEEEEEE or a -- ha, that was a dud. Katy Perry would be proud. The self-confidence is combustive and reeks of beer and smoke and burning sulfur.  
 
But that's outside, remember. Inside is cozy and twinkling and sweatpantsed and smells of freshly baked Kekse. À propos:
 
What you need:

• 1 1/2 cups mashed baked sweet potato (1 healthy potato)
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves/allspice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter/substitute
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract/1 packet Vanillezucker
• 1+ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips/chunks/hack
• 1 cup walnuts, if you're looking for surprise crunch

Oventemp: 375°F (190°C)((463.15°K))

Makes: 2 sheets of giant cookies, approx. 3 dozen

Musik: Classic tunes from hang-outage in your childhood kitchen. (PP&M, obviously.)

Bake your sweet potato ahead of time. (You could steam it, but I think that steams out the flavor too much.) It'll probably take just over an hour, depending on your preferred potato-baking temperature. (I'll be the first to admit that I have very little experience in this realm.) Once out and mashable, squash (ha) its orange, steaming innards in a bowl with the honey or a bit of brown sugar and let cool.
 
Medium vessel: Whisk together flours, oats, spices, chemicals. No flinging powder all over the kitchen.
 
Large vessel: Cream together butter and sugars. Introduce sweet potato, egg, applesauce, and vanilla. Smoothen.

Mix the dry into the wet until just combined, then fold in chocolate and/or nuts. Drop 1 to 2 tablespoons of yumslop per cookie in a creative but ergonomic design onto a baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment paper. Bake for approx. 10-12 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before moving to cooling rack, as your babies will be soft and delicate. Then consume.

Only three more hours of 2012. Let the firework dodging commence!

I wish all a good slide into the new year.

In which Hamburg gets glammed on Glühwein.

 
Oh, dearest friends and relations. Living in the Real World taught me too late that I should have started working on my holiday cards and packages back in July in order to have them all ready to go by the holiday season. The up side to this, however, is that you still have plenty of time to send me woolly socks, pure vanilla extract, and/or Trader Joe's Organic Mint Melange tea in exchange for extra delicious German goodies!

This year's Christmases were/are being spent with newly-met American relations in the Deutschland, with my German go-to family of Weihnachtens Gone By, and most dramatically, with the stomach flu. In bed. Alas, 'tis again the season of "How the Surprise Grinch Bug Stole Christmas". But before we dwell too long on that less-than-appetizing thought, how about a little Hamburger Weihnachtsmärkte distraction?

I didn't actually get to any Christmas markets outside the city center this year, but amongst those, this was my favorite. Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz. Candles in the trees, descending, tree-spotted steps, and a secret forest with functional water wheel woodchipped into the heart of it all. Particularly snazzy mid-snowfall.

Note the sleeping headless ducks bottom center. They are precious.

 

One night leaving work it was so cold that the roasted almond stand was steaming brightly.

The Christmas Spider (cousin of the Easter Spider) leaves its mark.

 

 

Sending all love, sending all light, wishing you all the joy I can wish.

 

In which we remember remember the 5-7-5th of November.

                

            nature's escapade
            cement seed awaits its chance

            springs through to fall, falls

far-off ballots cast
newspaper read, writes no blues
once more with feeling

 

           smell that pakora
           whiff of worlds colliding, paints
           my cultured tummy

morning bright surprise
rays a-wooshing down the tracks
what's this shiny stuff?

 

 

                         chocolate temple steps

                         hurried legs oblivious

                         hidden sweets for feet

 

remember when-- and
we were all glowing, going
footsteps through seasons

           cold November mist
           breathes that old migration song
           beats 'neath bending wings

groovy hue highlights
welcome to Primary Street
(dress code not enforced)

           once more o're the bridge
           Binnenalster slams the eyes
           Hamburg u so fine

leafless jigsaw and
sunless silhouette, searching
for the missing piece

           feeding feathered beasts
           squawk of thanks-- or was it greed?
           watch your fingers, Gran

 

 

marketing at best
strong and sexy takes the cake
another slice, please

           sidewalk shadows stretch
           with whimsy in their darkness
           alight in the night

Important in light of recent events:

"Silence is sometimes the best thing to do — holding a hand, hugging somebody. [...] I say, 'Don't say anything. Just hold their hand. Hold them. Hug them and just stay around for an hour or so in silence and just be there.' That's what we need at times like this, an affirmation of the sacredness of life."

 

In which October gets photodumped.

Before we get too carried away with summer adventuring, let's take in a little refreshment with a quick dip into Oktober, ja? And I don't mean Oktoberfest. This is Germany, not Batouristvaria. Come on, folks. It's Stroll Around the Neighborhood & Beyond Time.

Occupy Hamburg: alive, colorful, and cold outside my place of work.

Autumn falls yellow from my balcony.

People here don't know what to do with their shadows when the sun comes out, so they leave them lying about all stripeylike on the platform until the trains come hissing along and eat them up.

(Weekend hop to Detmold.)

 

 

Another weekend I went looking for someone in the Ohlsdorf Friedhof. Despite knowing the approximate location and general appearence of the gravestone in question, the fallen foliage kept it hidden in its golden orange underworld.



Once upon a time there was a prison and outside the prison was a wall of colored brick and barbed wire and on the other side of the wall was a twisted tree that shed its leaves to warm the cold, steel bars that kept the dogs from peeing on it like all its tree neighbor friends. (The End.)

 

And with that, all the ducks of the pond squack goodnight.