Chocolate Chip Muffin

I made cupcakes and they tasted awesome. At first, I forgot to add sugar to the batter and the first batch came sugar less. I made forty cupcakes and i want to share this recipe with you.

 Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (260 grams)
• ¾ cup cocoa powder
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1¼ cups whole milk
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus 1/3 cup additional chocolate chips for sprinkling

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.


2. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl.


3. Combine the milk and the melted butter. Then add the oil, and finally whisk in the beaten eggs and stir in the vanilla extract.


4. Thoroughly grease and flour a muffin pan (or better yet, you can use paper muffin liners).


5. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix no more than ten seconds. The batter should be visibly lumpy. That's OK! It's extremely important not to overmix the batter, or the resulting muffins can be hard or misshapen.
   
   TIP: The dry and wet ingredients, respectively, can be mixed in advance, but as soon as the wet and dry ingredients have been combined with each other, the liquid will activate the baking powder and the batter needs to be baked right away.


6. With a rubber spatula, gently fold 1 cup of chocolate chips into the batter. Don't overwork the batter.


7. Carefully spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan (you can use a small ladle or even an ice-cream scoop).


8. Finally, sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips onto the tops of the muffins, and transfer to the oven immediately.


9. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.


10. Remove pan from the oven and let the muffins cool for five minutes in the pan. Then remove the muffins from the pan and let them cool another five minutes on a wire rack.

After eating your handmade cupcakes, add a comment about how it tasted.

Horse Riding

I went horse riding to the Embassy International Riding School on Sunday the 6th for 'Own A Horse Day'. It was drizzling and our car was parked in the muddy parking lot. Just when the black Honda was out of sight, my sister and I walked to the stables. 

Our teacher was there with three other children and we mounted our horses, all from the left. We were guided by the helpers to the arena and were left. Our instructor, Miss Anna was there telling us what to do. My horses name was Appache, a white stallion, whereas  my sister had a pony, Floatsy. My sister's horse was laziest and she kept running the wrong side the whole time. We did sitting and sitting and rising trot, which was the bumpiest ride. We did the changing direction game and finally the game called crocodile. We had to go between two sticks and could not step out of the line. We went into the cafe for a break, all drenched. 

We ate some popcorn and some juice and back to the stable. We got our horses and we groomed them and cleaned their hooves. Now came the stinky part where we had to clean the stables, free of poop. Disgusting. We then took out for a walk and mounted them to go for a ride in the woods opposite the Embassy. It was a forty-five minute ride and it was loads of fun. We came back tired, sat in our car and my mom put her foot on the gas and sped off. 

FIFA World Cup

The abbreviation FIFA stands for Federation International Football Association. FIFA is the soccer world cup which is held every four years and is hosted by different countries.

 The FIFA started 1930 and Uruguay was the host and the hosts won! The FIFA in 2014 is being hosted by Brazil. Every year the matches are played with a different ball. The ball they used in the FIFA 2014 is called the Brazuca.

 32 teams take part hey are in the world cup. They are divided into 8 groups of 4. Group A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. the teams in one group play against each other. From each group two teams are out and the other two are in the sixteen.This is called the2^nd round, the knockouts. In the 1^st round the match can end as a draw but in the 2^nd they shall give you extra time, penalties and even more penalties if needed! Like this teams get knocked out and finally two teams play the finals.

In Brazil this year they used different cities which are:

 SALVADOR

 NATAL

FORTALEZA

BELO HORIZONTE

BRASILIA

CUIABA

RIO DE JANEIRO

 SAO PAULO

 CURITIBA

PORTO ALEGRE

Each stadium has to hold about 50’000 people as the FIFA craze has reached the end point. People are having sleepless nights because of night matches like at 3:30 a.m. on the other side of the world. Yet the FIFA is loved and awaited for.