happy new year 2015 ~

Even if 2014 has been an overall good year too, I am not able to write such an upbeat and happy New Year's post like last year. Simply because I've felt that 2014 has been a more uphill kind of year. Great in learning, growing, meetings and experiences but sadly not at all as serendipitous and beautiful as 2013. On the other hand I've been quite absorbed with work all autumn, it's been a more serious year and it has perhaps left me less open to the magic that surrounds us.

My deepest, truest, maddest wish for me, myself and Prosit in 2015 is that there will be a plethora of work, play and love. That there will finally be the right time, favourable stars aligned, for new freelance projects, inspiring collaborations with likeminded people, creative assignments with me in a new, professional role in a place that makes my heart sing and makes the world a better place for many.

And for the world I deeply wish for a more compassionate, kinder, peaceful, intelligent, unselfish, greener and happier year.

May you have a fantastic, joyous, vegan food filled, colourful and inspiring 2015 and may your dreams come true -

Happy New Year, one and all!

fly alaric dotty nails

My intention today was to write a 2014 in 12 pictures post - just like I did in 2013 and in 2012 and in 2010 - but however lovely such a recollection is, where everything started and how the year ended, the highs, the lows, the growth and everything between, it is also a time consuming task. And right now, neither time nor energy is at its peak, so I will save that post for later. That worked in 2011, so it will certainly do well for 2014 I'm sure. The post will be written in January instead.



Today I give you a glimpse of a little nail-fun I had today - fly agaric nails. A simple and rather effective way to spruce up your nails. Dots are surprisingly often the answer to the "how do I make this more fun?" question.

The red-ish speckled pink base colour is one of the Models Own bottles I got a while back. It's scented and called Rhubarb & Custard - yes really, it does have a faint scent of rhubarb, at least before you put on the top coat - and then I used a dotting tool for the white dots (Mavala White). But of course, a wooden tooth pick works too. Just dot away!



It's tricky to get the dots perfect, especially on the right hand if you're right handed, but then again, a fly agaric's dots aren't perfect either, neither is life. I think it turned out quite sweet and fun. And as I don't have any patience with nail art, I just play with colours, I am pleased to report it was a quick job sealed with a top coat.

And if the notion of fly agaric nails sounds a bit frightening, just call them christmassy nails with snow flakes. Happy dotting!

vegan peanut fudge

since a few years back i very very rarely eat candy, but when i stumbled over this recipe for vegan fudge with five ingredients only i thought it would be fun to give it a try. i've never made fudge myself, but a piece of chewy not too sweet fudge is a special treat.

and wow, i am so glad i tried the recipe out because it turned out to be one of the best fudges i've ever eaten! i thought i'd make saffron fudge instead - and i definitely will soon - but then i found an un-opened jar of crunchy peanut butter in the pantry (due date february 2013, obviously i am no great fan of peanut butter...) so i used that and it was amazing. also the glucose i used had a due date of may 2013 and worked well too. such things make me happy, not wasting food ingredients even if they are way past their due date. the olfactory senses surpass any due date as far as i'm concerned.

here's the recipe for the fabulousness of 

vegan peanut fudge

3 dl caster sugar

0,5 dl light syrup

2 dl oats cream (soy, almond, coconut or rice milk can be used too, i used oatly iMat)

2 tbsp glucose

1 dl crunchy peanut butter

mix the sugar, syrup and cream in a pan and let it boil on medium heat. boil until the sphere test shows a firm sphere in a glass of water. add glucose and let it boil for another minute. remove pan from stove and add peanut butter. whisk firmly with a spoon for a minute or so until the peanut butter has melted and the batter is golden. pour the batter into a baking tin lined with baking paper and let it cool in room temperature. then cut into fudge pieces with a sharp knife. (hopefully you have a better knife than i...)

enjoy!

will make a great, tasty and homemade gift for someone with a sweet tooth of course.

pink and green lovikka mittens 2014

Of all the fabulous yarn projects I planned this Christmas I decided to finish the pink and green Lovikka mittens I bought yarn for some months back. A weather befitting project. 

Now the loose ends need tying plus the finishing embroidery. Hooray for finished projects within a reasonable time span! And hooray for pink and green.

winter stockholm 2014

Seems like winter has finally arrived in Stockholm. Not that there's plenty of snow, more a frosty layer. But -12C, that's certainly cold as it should be this time of the year. And there has been sun, several days in a row with a good few hours of those most welcome rays.

Can you guess where this picture of today was taken? In a place I rave about in the most adoring of ways annually due to its pink delight. Which will take place in about 4,5 months weather permitted.

the christmas food of 2014

This was the vegetarian and vegan food eaten over the three days of Christmas. I'm not a fan of the 'usual type' of Swedish christmassy food, apart from beetroot salad and the rice pudding Ris á la Malta - obviously and I would never ever visit the gluttany that's a Swedish smorgasbord, not even if it was vegan -

so we basically have a good potato gratin, vegan balls and dito sausages, beetroot salad and salad. And for dessert rice pudding and the Swedish Christmas toffee called knäck. The left-overs last for at least the following two Christmas days - and then I'm so glad it's over and done with.

This year's potato gratin was a vegan version of the classic Swedish anchovy potato gratin 'Janssons frestelse' (Jansson's temptation), Vego frestelse from the vegan food magazine 'Vego Magasinet' - so simple and absolutely delicious. I will so make this again!

This vegan ham was a new experience. I fry dipped it with mustard, spices and breadcrumbs and baked it in the oven. It was nice, but not memorable and nothing I will make again. Tomorrow the substantial bit of leftover will be turned into pasta sauce.

I don't eat eggs anymore, but for those who do, the vegan seaweed caviar is certainly a perky addition to the Christmas table.

Vegan soy balls from Anamma - like! - and vegan sausages prinsesskorvar (princess sausages, the name is a wordplay in Swedish, the meat version of chipotle sausages is called prinskorvar, prince sausages) from Astrid och aporna - don't like neither flavour nor texture.

The beetroot salad was store bought and it sadly wasn't a good one this year. Next year I'll make my own. But the simple veggie side salad was good. Of course. Looking forward to more fresh salads being eaten again!

This year the Ris á la Malta had a new ingredient, saffron. It was lovely. And so was the chewy knäck with saffron. Never mind I lost a dental filling by it. Just a delicious way to get rid of an old, nasty mercury alloy if you ask me.

What vegan/vegetarian food did you enjoy most over Christmas this year?

the christmas yarn projects

Oh the delightfulness of all the yarny projects now! A blend of treats for myself and gifts to me and to be.

The above wool yarn is called Heaven's Hand and the skeins are to become Prinsesstårtevantar (Princess cake mittens, the classic Swedish cream cake turned into mittens. I've done amigurumi ones before, knitting mittens is quite exciting actually) and owl wristwarmers.

This wool yarn will become adorable Tomtebovantar (fly agaric mittens inspired by the classic fairytale by Swedish author Elsa Beskow), a Christmas gift for my mum.

Organic Alba cotton yarn for cute amigurumi owls in different shapes. Isn't the logo of the yarn shop Litet Nystan (Tiny Hank), sweet?

And a quick little wool/alpaca project - a beanie. Because you can't have too many handmade caps in happy colours.

Happy winter knitting and crocheting everybuddy!

christmas according to the feline scrooges

Behold the faces of Christmas misery. The Prosit sisters Scrooges White and Red. 

I hope you get to spend yours in a less miserable way. In a way YOU want free from stress, musts and shoulds. Because those things really don't exist if we don't let them. 

Have yourself a lovely little Christmas,
with love, warmth and kind, cruelty free food.
Dare to make your own traditions (like wearing the Santa hat under your chin) ~

the pug lamp

Passed a lamp and light shop with this in the window display. I fell in immediate lust. It may be kitsch, it may be silly but I absolutely adore it. I want that pug lamp! Have no idea where I'd put it and where it'll be visible and safe from feline attack. But j'adore, yes I do.

the bath & body works holiday traditions body creams of 2014

I have now had the uttermost pleasure of using all three of the winter scented body creams from Bath & Body Works I got last month. They are all very nice indeed. But my favourite is still Twisted Peppermint, it's simply brilliant, fresh and sweet at the same time. Just like our Swedish polkagris candy. I wish I had the fragrance mist too, so I could touch up on the awesome scent during the day. But I treasure every creamy dreamy moment spent with that Peppermint tube. Which isn't as Twisted as it may sound. Really.



The purple Sugar Plum Dream is a very much Pia-scent. A lovely creamy, warm, flowery, vanilla-ish scent. It's adorable and if I hadn't met Twisted Peppermint I would adore it even more. Now it comes a close second.



The Winter Candy Apple is a nice one, but the scent is very faint and fleeting. So it's not a memorable one. The name is so promising, so it's rather disappointing that they didn't make more of it.

Do you have a favourite winter scent in body lotion or perfume?

the kånken backpack save the arctic fox special edition

My mother is far from the only one who loves the classic Swedish Kånken backpack, but as it happens this mini version is her Christmas gift. The size is for small children, but since it's a versatile design it's also a practial handbag for grown-ups who, unlike me, enjoy the concept of a backpack.

Yes a backpack is a practical way of carrying things but a) my back and shoulders actually hurts from using it and b) it's terribly impractical and unsafe when it comes to carrying the wallet, phone etc. I do use my Kånken backpack when I have to carry heavy stuff and the computer but to be honest I try to use it as rarely as possible because it quickly becomes pretty painful to do so.

Kånken comes in a multitude of colours, but I quite like the two-coloured ones and this one came with the bonus of an additional 10 euro on the price going to Save the Arctic Fox-campaign. The arctic fox being the model for the Fjällräven logo.

How's your relationship with backpacks,
love, hate or indifference?

'tis the season of saffron

One of the best thing foodwise this time of the year is the plethora of saffron. Fabulous flavour, happy in colour. Today I had a saffron pancake for breakfast (at Cafe Tant Gredelin) today. Served with strawberry jam and whipped cream. It was a lovely experience indeed. I really do need need to recreate that dish at home. The pancake in this case is the texture of Swedish cheesecake (ostkaka) and the dish is based on Christmas porridge (ie rice porridge).

Apart from the lussebullar I rarely cook or bake with saffron. But when I do it usually turns out lovely. Like the saffron apple cake. Hence I should do it more often. Ah, the things we should. But don't.



But what I do when possible is to enjoy the seasonal saffron buns in different shapes and sizes that other people bake.



Because somehow stuffing yourself with saffron matters seem quite quite appropriate this time of the year. In fact it's most probably mandatory.





Also one seasonal saffron semla is a must. They may not be as good as a really great right Fat Tuesday time of the year Swedish lenten bun/semla, but still nothing says Sweden at Christmas as much as a saffron laden semla in December.

What's your opinion about saffron?
Do you have a favourite saffron dish?
And what's your favourite seasonal spice?

happy birthday number three, prosit sisters

Let's just say Sister White Lens louse and Sister Red aren't impressed by how I handled their birthday this year. Ie I forgot it. Only by a day, but still. Instead of giving them their proper B-day blogpost it was their mother and grandmother who occupied the space. Which obviously isn't acceptable, but a fact still.

Trudly, madly, deeply sorry that something as impawtant as your birthday slipped my mind just a wee bit. But you did get special food to feast on and extra super-cuddles, I hope that was alright?

The happiest of birthdays and oh so many more to come and a grateful thank you from the bottom of my heart for being the purrfect poster girls for Prosit. We sure have had some exciting years together since this, haven't we?!

I am blessed for having you two, sweetest of tykes, in my life!

like mother, like daughter

Just another Clever Cat Thursday.
Siri and Sigrid, daughter and mother.
8 and 12 years old.
Sweethearts of the finest feline kind.

and there was snow

Yesterday the garden and world were still unseasonably green - even if this has been norm these past few years it is still plain wrong for this time of the Scandianvian year. And that's that - today it began to snow! Big, soft, beautiful snowflakes.



And the bobbaloos of 2014 who have never experienced snow had to see and be in it for themselves. I'm not sure they were appreciative.



To be honest I think humans and kids especially appreciate it the most - even if the public transportation system after all these Swedish years still get all crazy chaotic as soon as there's is a mere hint of snow. That was a rare thing when I was a kid and believe you me when I say the winters were so much colder, snowier and longer then. Quality buses, trains and rails then, not so much now alas - cats certainly do not.



Oh noes, cold, wet and nasty, please get me out of here!

kränku christmas tea

Apparently you can't have too many Christmas teas. Thus this lovely package with teas from Swedish tea company Kränku, based on the island of Gotland, arrived the other day. Just to make sure we really really hopefully are all tea set over Christmas. The package smelled fantastic when opened and it's filled with four teas - organic Rainbow tea (a blend from the Pride festival) with currant, corn flower, apple, sunflower, orange and strawberry ; rooibos Christmas tea with spices, green Christmas tea with spices and rooibos Hot chocolate tea. They all sound amazing, I do hope they taste as wonderful as they smell!



The big bag with pink text is Kränku's own coffee blend with chocolate and cardamom flavour, it's a gift and it sounds lovely. Hope it'll be appreciated by reciever.

Also, if you are interested in getting or swapping Christmas cards, please let me know. I plan to send the last ones this weekend. They most likely won't arrive before Christmas if you're outside Sweden/Europe, but New Year's cards are special too!

superfood, the book

This is a book I'd never heard of. By a writer I'd never heard of. John Opsahl, a Norwegian lifestyle coach, is supposedly the leading expert on superfood in Scandinavia. Call yourself an expert and I'm immediately very sceptical. That said, the book (which I got from mum) "Supermat - läkande mat från naturens hjärta" (Superfood - healing food from the heart of nature) is quite interesting.

I see it more as an encyclopedia of fascinating natural ingredients jampacked with nutrition and healing qualities rather than a book I will read from beginning to end. And the tone of the book is *quite* preaching, which is *rather* off-putting imho. But it also deals with the sad fact that so many people abuse both their own bodies as well as the nature around us with the food they eat - hey, meat eaters, fast food- and sugar lovers I'm looking at you!



And it's about high time we talk about how important it is for parents to be responsible with the food they let their children eat. Especially in the Western world. The above passage is from the book, it's a very matter of fact put fact that is *rather* taboo to talk about -

"I find it very provoking that we, despite all the information about food and health today, continue to put our children in danger of lifestyle diseases, allergies, behavioral imbalances and food addiction by feeding them nutrient-poor and unhealthy food. We must stop projecting our own food addictions on our children in order to justify ourselves."

Word.

The book also contains a generous recipe section with mouthwatering food, rawfood. Unfortunately I think the recipes hold too many ingredients that are not available in well-stocked supermarkets, you have to look for them in speciality shops. And I always find that a bit tricky. I'm all for not buying super cheap stuff, but quality and organic, but I'm not keen on running around town to get the stuff only to find I really didn't enjoy it. Waste of time, money and food. Plus I'm allergic to when people companies authors try to push their own food brand (in this case it's called Supernature) with sneaking them into the recipes.

I understand that superfood en masse may not be something easy available in your local grocery store, but still I would appreciate more basic ingredients for such recipes. After all, all vegetables are good ones and good oils, nuts, herbs, seasoning and such are always within easy buy for most of us. You don't always have to complicate things you know. And sometimes common sense is a very good thing.

the cat baking roller

Six months later I decided it was time to order that roller pin engraved with cats. As a Christmas gift for myself and a reward for really hard work these past few months one might say. Ginger snaps baking will of course be so much rewarding with embossed cats in rolled dough, right? Right. And I'm sure there won't be any such unfortunate seasonal cookies as there once was when no cat baking roller was in sight.



As you can see the roller looks fantastic. And obviously it has been inspected (sniffed and licked on) thoroughly.



The complimentary cookie that came with the pin was needless to say in crumbles upon arrival, but the paw inspector decided it was a somewhat decent fee for inspection.



But not even the cutest of rolling pins or nicest of cat cookies can compete with the grumpy weather cat 2.0 status of course.

I will update this post once I've had the time to bake with the rolling pin. There's ginger snaps dough in the fridge just waiting, so that can happen any day.

The fantastic handmade baking roller comes from Valek Rolling Pins on Etsy