International Day for Tolerance

The Golden Rule by Norman Rockwell

UNITY

WE SHOULD WORK TOGETHER
NO MATTER WHAT THE WEATHER
LOVING EACH OTHER
IN UNITY
Like a hurricane moving
a thousand miles an hour
breaking down barriers
UNITY has power
Like the links of a chain
constructed in a circle
we all have a part to play
the part we play is vital
Nothing stops an idea
Which time has come
so make UNITY the idea of everyone
Because every community
should work cohesively
think GLOBALLY
and act LOCALLY
Yes tolerance and cooperation
will only serve to benefit
each and every nation
so stand united
because we will fall divided
the time has come
to establish UNITY.
Because...
WE SHOULD WORK TOGETHER
NO MATTER WHAT THE WEATHER
LOVING EACH OTHER
IN UNITY.

in Rhyme Don't Pay, LEVI TAFARI

3 years!!!

Source: clipart

3 years, over 23.000 visitors and 200 posts; how does that sound, hem???
I started this blog as part of a teacher training course I was attending at the time and ever since that day that I've intended to keep it - not only as a record of teaching materials I find interesting but also stuff I would like to share with others. What I hadn't intended though was to spend so much time with it and feel so much pleasure.
Has it been worthwhile? For me, definitely! I'm quite happy with the outcome and grateful with all the positive feedback I've had all this time. I've come to the conclusion that blogging isn't only about numbers: it's much more about learning and sharing :)
Thanks for YOUR support. Alex

Yummy ... Chocolate!

Source: darkchocolatehealthbenefits.org

Can you imagine life without chocolate???
At my place no one can and as far as I know it is not so bad...
Many scientific studies have already linked chocolate with health benefits which include:

• decreased risk of stroke
• cancer prevention
• an increase blood flow to the brain thus helping performance and alertness.
• improvement of certain brain functions of people facing, for instance: aging, sleep deprivation or fatigue
  

Of course all this also depends on the chocolate quality with all studies pointing out that dark chocolate is, by far, the best. That doesn't give us an excuse to eat chocolate by the pound! Moderate consumption - as everything in life.
Back to my place... at weekends (and only at weekends) I always bake at least a cake or prepare a dessert for family and guests. By this time, I'm sure you've already guessed my children's favourite: chocolate cake, chocolate cake with chopped walnuts, chocolate cake with chocolate chips...
Well, some days ago, I decided to try to do something slightly different with...chocolate and came up with chocolate muffins!
Here are the ingredients:
200 g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
150 g sugar
120 g dark chocolate
50 g butter, melted
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teacup cream
150 g chocolate chips (or you can cut up a chocolate bar into chunks)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water

Method:
Pre heat the oven at 220º. 
Grease each muffin cup thoroughly (or simply use paper-lined muffin cups).

In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar and the melted chocolate with the 50g melted butter. Add eggs and cream and beat everything with the help of an electric blender. Add milk and water and mix. Finally, add some of the chocolate chips and mix again for a minute. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin cups, and add the remaining chocolate chips on top of each muffin.
Bake at 200º for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean :)
Cool for five minutes before removing from pans. YUMMY!!!
My kids loved them and you know what? My students also because I've already shared the recipe with them and one of the students tried it out and took the result to school. Here they are - Flavio's muffins:

They look great, don't they? I can assure you that they also tasted wonderfully! Congrats Flávio, keep on!