Ultimate Blog Challenge - What meaningful things can you add to your routine?

Today's question for the Ultimate Blog Challenge series is

What meaningful things can you add to your routine

Now that is a tough question! 

What routines do I have? 

And do they need to be (more) meaningful? I feel like my plate is pretty full as it is, now I need to add meaning? As in intention? Purpose?

So instead of getting up, having breakfast, getting a shower and getting dressed for work, I need to add yoga? Or decorate my toast? 

Mental load much?

I can tell you what meaningful thing I will add to my morning routine as of November 23: I'll put our elf on the shelf, actually it's our elves on the shelves, plural, someplace new every morning. That'll keep me on my toes and add meaning if you will. It's also a lot of preparation and/or improvisation, but it'll be fun. I'm excited!

Apart from this I struggle with this question, so let me use this post to answer Kebba's and Martha's questions:

Have you always lived in Switzerland? Or places that get cold? Where? 

I was born and raised in Switzerland, I am used to snow and ice, even though were I live we don't get an awful lot. For a while, however, I lived in sunny Southern California, which I loved! I think if I had been around for several years, I might have missed the changing of the season.

When did hockey come into your life? 

I first got in touch with hockey when I lived and worked in another state than the one I grew up in. This was in the late 1990s. My employer's parking lot was just a block away from the hockey stadium, and on certain days when I was working late, it used to be packed, and at first I didn't understand why. It was game day! Sometimes, when I got off work I would hear sounds from over there. Cheering - or frustrated statements ;-) It was captivating!

One of my coworkers was - and to this day still is - the head of their youth development. We stayed connected long after we both left the company, and he would still invite me to A - the annual fun game for non-hockey players, which answers your next question, and B - the fund raising skateathon, to which we brought our toddler. That's how Colin got into hockey ;-)

Do you ice skate or just love to watch hockey?

I learned to skate decently, but I'm terrible when it comes to stick and puck handling! Over here you'll see a rare picture of me in full gear ;-)

Do you have a favorite recipe using nuts?

I do, and I'm happy to go ahead and share it below. It's chestnut cupcakes. 

We'll start with the mise-en-place aka get your stuff ready. This is really important. Prevents you from racing to the store to buy a forgotten ingredient!

Ingredients


4 egg yolks
150g (0.75 cup) sugar 
150g (0.66 cup or 1.25 sticks or 10 tablespoons) butter
100ml (0.42 cup or 3.33 ounces) espresso
250g chestnut puree - didn't find reliable conversion info on this. Guesstimate: 1 cup
80g (0.7 cup) hazelnut, ground 
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2  teaspoons baking powder
4 egg whites, beaten
1 pinch of salt

Instructions

Line two muffin trays.

Preheat your oven at 180°C = 350°F.

In a pan melt butter and chestnut puree on low heat. Adding the freshly brewed espresso, in which you dissolved the cocoa powder, is speeding up the process. Set aside and let cool a bit.

Go ahead and divide the eggs, beat the whites until stiff, set aside.

Now beat the yolks until they are frothy, add sugar and salt.

Add the chestnut puree, coffee/cocoa mix, ground hazelnut and baking powder, mix well.

Using an ice cream scoop or even a ladle, distribute the batter into your tray. It's pretty liquid, you'll have to trust the process.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes and test with a toothpick!

Then comes the hard part: let them cool for a bit until removing the muffins from the trays.

Enjoy!

PS: I made a mistake. I forgot the baking powder, and upon cooling they collapsed. They're still delicious and perfect for today's rainy day.

Now I have an idea what meaningful thing I can add to my routine soon: eating a chestnut cupcake. 

How about you? 

Are your routines meaningful as they are, or do you feel the need to upgrade them? How would you go about this process?