my health necessities

Yes I've blogged about my essential supplements before, but this time they've been joined by the little gang I'm oh so grateful for helping me keep colds and flus at bay these days. Since I began taking the supplements in 2011 - 

I'm ashamed to admit it took me so long realising that despite a varied, vegetarian diet with lots of veggies I still lacked essential vitamins and minerals. 

And what's probably even more shocking is that not a single doctor I visited when I was at my all time low that year asked me about my diet and possible deficiencies... - 

I'm rarely sick and down with flus (touch wood) and when I do get them they are much much milder and last about a week, not nearly as bad as tin can woman and her friends. Touch wood twice.

And I do believe that the fact that I'm addicted to the goodness and benefits of fresh ginger and ginger in general now has helped greatly fighting germs and infections.

So apart from linseed oil capsules (Omega 3 for vegetarians, vegans and everyone really. Skip the fish oil Omega 3, that's such an unnecessary process when you can have nature's own goodness in the shape of linseed oil!), vitamin D2 and B-12 I regularly have fresh ginger in juices and smoothies and food.

When I have the unfortune to still getting a cold or flu I drink the Asian ginger tea which is basically grounded, dry ginger. You mix it with hot water and drink it. It's super strong and very hot and helps a lot. I usually drink two ginger tea bags during a one week's cold. 

And eat a few of those lovely ginger candy chews with tapioka.

I also find that in Germany you can find really great herbal cough drops, like these ginger ones last summer.

So, what are your health necessities, 

preventive and relieving?

you shouldn't run a social network if you can't put a stop to hatred and threats

The other week I read this fabulous article or rather an article about a fabulous lawyer in Würzburg, Germany who started a crusade against Facebook demanding they comply with German laws regarding Volksverhetzung (racial agitation) and alike.

The article is in Swedish of course but do google there might be English versions out there too, there most certainly are German ones.

In short the lawyer and his law firm, just as so many of us, got sick and tired of the fact that Facebook just don't care about all the hatred and threats they are a forum for and decided to take them to court. And they won. It's quite obvious that if you run a social network business as Facebook you should not be able to shy away from putting a stop to hatred and threats that take place in your network. And it's absolutely crazy that they have been for so long.

Not to mention all advertisers that in fact finance all this hatred.

Hopefully this law suit and the aftermath will lead to radical changes for the better. Something really really has to change on social media. And I love this quote from the German lawyer Chan-jo Jun: "You shouldn't run a social network if you can't put a stop to hatred and threats." Simple as that really.

Of course I wish more people could live by the motto "if you can't say/write something positive or constructive just don't say anything", but since clearly a vast amount of people all over the world can't the companies need to take their responsability seriously.

I think this story is a great example of moral courage and law at its finest.

organic tea from arvid nordquist

Arvid Nordquist is a family owned company within the food industry. I think they're mainly known for their coffee which is all organic - a couple of years ago I went to a talk about coffee and the devastating impact non-organic coffee has on the environment and health. And yes coffee is one of the most important things to buy organic, alongside bananas and grapes, but of course you already knew that, right? - but they also sell other food products, including baby food and sweets. And obviously tea. 

It's a company that takes CSR seriously and they work with different organizations to create a better, sustainable world. Their latest project is that money from the sales of their African coffee is given to the African Wildlife Foundation in order to save elephants, for example. 

Now for their tea, which I only discovered recently, in a beautiful box - which, if I'm honest, feels a tad over the top in luxuary. It will go straight to the cardboard recycling anyway... - is filled with red berries rooibos tea bags. With lots of flavour. The tea is organic and fairtrade. And paw approved with enthusiasm.

Needless to say, Arvid Nordquist is a company I would love to work with (on their vegan food products). 

So, Arvid, if you happen to read this,
have copywriting and/or social media management needs,
do get in touch!

five more smoothies

I've decided to turn the 14 days that turned into 20 into 30 days of new smoothie blends. It's lovely to gulf down all these fruits, veggies and colours but, again, I'm amazed how little (ie absolutely nothing) it has done to boost my energy. 

That said, let's continue with the smoothie ingredients. Above smoothie is a blend of blueberries, blackberries, black currants, banana, kale, dates and oat milk. Lovely. 

Pale green smoothie with cucumber, banana, peach, pineapple, fresh ginger. I will never again use tinned pineapples, it doesn't taste anything at all and seems an awful waste of good produce. Plus the bisfenol nastiness of most tins of course.

Chocolate smoothie with a blend of banana, avocado, blueberries, fresh ginger, raw cacao and oat milk.

Peach coloured smoothie with banana, orange, passion fruit and fresh chili.

Deep red smoothie with beetroot, carrot, orange and fresh ginger. Note to next beetroot smoothie; use only a tiny bit of beetroot because a small whole one will make the smoothie overpowering with 'earthy' flavour. This was not a favourite blend. It felt very healthy but was not very enjoyable to drink alas.

Next smoothie time I'll most likely give you the last 9 smoothies of the 30 in one post only. And after that I'll probably have  no more than 1-2/week. At the most.

please excuse any cat hair in the chocolate

I got some nice chocolate creams for M's name day and thought this little cardamom heart deserved a photo of its own. 

Unfortunately one of the snoopervisors got a bit frisky and it ended up hopelessly covered in cat hair. Well, at least we're most likely immune to cat hairs in the food after all these years of close encounters of the feline snoopervisor kind.

vernissage - viewpoint europe

Tomorrow I'll pick up what'll hopefully be that last version of the photos for the exhibition. 

But today already I give you the official invitation to spend som time with us on March 19, 2016 in Stockholm. The vernissage of Viewpoint Europe will be between 2 and 6 pm - hope to see you there!

global warming's first snowdrops 2016

Hello snowdrops, hello global warming.

This is how something sweet quickly turns into melancholic thoughts about how badly the human race have treated this one planet. And of continue to treat it. 

Yes I'm talking to you animal flesh eaters.

To you gas guzzling obsessive vehicle drivers and 

to clueless, frequent plane travellers who don't care about the environmental impact.

To everyone who doesn't recycle their trash or throw it in bins.

To those who don't strive to buy organic and/or locally grown products as much as possible.

How come you still haven't changed your despicable habits and lifestyle?
ow many more have to pay the price for your lazy ways?

the colour purple circus nails

It's circus nails time again! I did promise I would do that more often this year. Which, apart from the cleansing and giving away to charity, is the one personal goal of this year that I've actually managed to fulfill. So far. Other than that I'm more scatter-brained than focused 1,5 months into the new year. 

Which obviously is material for a whole other blogpost. But this one is about nails. And the colour purple. Which still is one of my least liked colours. But sometimes I feel like it despite that. So here is:

OPI Do you have this color in Stock-holm? (Obviously I had to get a bottle of that one.), Models Own Speckled egg Swan and OPI You're such a Budapest.

Technically perhaps not fully circus nails since I've done 3 colours instead of 5-10, but good enough fun for me. 

eating out: vegan brunch at green peas

Today I enjoyed an excellent vegan brunch at Green Peas, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Stockholm that has obviously flown under my radar.

Green Peas has apparently a restaurant at Stockholm University - lucky students! We most certainly weren't spoiled with vegetarian or vegan choices when I was a student there alas - but now this one in the city too. 

The restaurant is situated in the premises of what I remember as once an American muffins cafe, the interior simple and understated, the food too but also flavourful and fresh.

I had a lovely lunch there earlier in the week and realised it would be perfect for today's lunch meeting. Which turned into a brunch.

The earlier lunch was this great chipotle-quinoa burger with avocado, aioli and potato wedges.

Today's vegan brunch was a tad pricy, but very nice; corn chowder, a plate with miniature burger with pulled jackfruit, filled avocado, fresh springrolls with tofu (awesome flavour and texture!) and a miniature pannacotta with rhubarb cream. Plus elderflower cordial and green tea.

I highly recommend you visit, the food is great and reasonably priced. The restaurant is opened for lunch from 11 am Mon-Sun. The vegan brunch is served on weekends.

Green Peas

Fridhemsgatan 3,

Stockholm

Mon-Fri 11am - 2pm

Sat-Sun 11am - 3pm

See evening opening hours at their website - www.greenpeas.se

pink is the new kettle

And here's the new electric kettle too. Very cheap, too cheap, but a quick and simple solution for now. And it has gotten great reviews. And yes, the colour makes me happy. 

It's difficult to grasp that I once thought an electric kettle was nonsense. I even returned a gift because I really didn't need it. Or so I thought. I mean, who can live without one? Good for energy saving too of course.

Pink is the new kettle. Kettle is the latest happy.

photo exhibition update

Today I picked up a sample of photos for the very special photo exhibition in Stockholm we're doing on March 19. I loved how well some of them turned out! Some I won't go with, while others I'll change the size on. Hopefully I'll have them all chosen and ready to be framed next week.

It's only a month now until the exhibition takes place, the weeks swoosh by so fast and it feels good to be reasonably on top of things.

Watch this space for the invite to come!

four more smoothies

And the next four smoothies have been - 

apple, banana, gojiberries, cardamom, fresh ginger and oat milk.

Pomegranate, kale, kiwi, mango, raspberries, coconutwater and agave.

Spinach, broccoli, kale, banana, dates, fresh ginger and hazelnut milk. This time the hazelnut milk worked really well and gave the smoothie a hint of chocolate flavour.

Banana, carrot, peach, fresh ginger and oat milk. De-lovely!

the story of the blue tweed hat

Over a year ago I spotted this amazing looking tweed hat/cap in the window display at the Acne Archive outlet shop in Stockholm city. It's not a brand that has ever interested me, but this hat was simply gorgeous. Never did go inside to try it on though and then came spring, summer, autumn and winter again. When I saw it in the window again a month ago I felt "it was meant to be!". Something I the other day, when I finally returned and stepped inside, realised wasn't true.

Because there ARE a couple of reasons something as fabulous hasn't been sold for over a year of course. Reason a) being that the hat is crazy big and consists of an inner cap which makes it snug as a helmet on the head. Which is neither comfortable nor practical. Reason b) is the price. Brace yourself. Its price is 2198 sek ie 260 usd ie 232 euro. In an outlet store. A posh outlet store, but nevertheless an outlet store. I can't even imagine what the original price of the hat was...

Ah well, still gorgeous tweed hat-less, but a horrified laugh richer. And as gorgeous as the hat looks, as less gorgeously it fits. And even if it was way more affordable it sadly is more of a catwalk hat that a really comfortable, wearable and stylish everyday winter hat. And it would most certainly give a really awful and visible hat hair.

spring window displays stockholm

It is the time of the year when Stockholm's shop windows begin to show a springy look - remember 2009 or in 2014? After 4-5 months of dark days it's finally time to look forward to those lighter, brighter days within reasonable reach.

From bakery's with snowdrops on a row to the pearlhyacinth adorned window display at favourite Bric-a-Brac.

Sidenote: the pretty blue dress was of a weird design and sadly didn't fit. I'm looking forward to a beautiful linen skirt I've seen in their lookbook to arrive in shop, it'll hopefully be a perfect garment to use my Instagram-competition winner gift-card on. Welcome spring.

hello red smoothing iron

Apparently I'm in a gadgets-breaks-phase right now. From toaster to iron to yes, the electric kettle too (more of that later). Touch wood and fingers crossed this isn't the start of more serious, expensive things giving up. (I'm looking at you freezer, fridge, stove, heat pump and boiler...)

Funny enough this beauty of an iron is actually my very first new one! Yes, I've always inherit or got hand me down irons from relatives and friends. Which, just like with furniture, is perfectly fine as long as they work. And that they've certainly done since I've never had to splash out any money on them +four decades down the life span.

I didn't buy this one myself though, it was a gift from M. But I would probably have chosen something like it. Love the colour. And finally I have an iron that I can steam hanging clothes with. Although, being a semi-technophopic as usual I find even the simplest of new gadgets a bit scary and somewhat daunting to begin with. The steam spray is very loud and hot!

But it has been properly snoopervised and paw approved. But apparently it isn't good enough to eat. A bit hard and tastless, even for fierce kitty teeth.

Good for smoothing though. And that's really all that matters.

six more smoothies

My 14 days of smoothies have now reached day 12. And I'll most likely continue and make it 20 days instead while I'm at it - there are still a lot of fruit and veggie blends I want to try. So far it's been a hit and miss ratio of 75-25. Some blends have eitehr ended up tasting a bit like drinking grass or overly sweet ones.

But honestly, while some smoothies have made me all perky and jazzed up the overal effect has most certainly NOT been the feel-the-dramatic-change! the initial blurb I read excitedly claimed. Nor can I see a visible improved difference in my skin.

Perhaps it's simply the Scandinavian winter season with its stressful and tireing blend of absolutely dreadful, glum, dark, snow-free days and the snowy, cold days with sunshine that makes it really really difficult to absorb that energy of green and fruity vitamins and minerals.

So while it has definitely been lovely to create and drink (most of) them, I unfortunately fail to feel and see the health difference. 

That said, here are the six latest smoothie blends I've concocted (as usual no measurements, I just add some pieces of this, a splosh of that and a dollop of it).

The red smoothie on day 7 was a blend of strawberries, raspberries, banana and a splosh of innocent orange juice plus a sprinkle of cardamom. Lovely!

The green smoothie on day 8 was a mix of kale, spinach, pear, banana and hazelnut milk. Unfortunately the hazelnut milk was really overpowering in flavour and I won't be using that again. Use oat milk for a neutral flavour that will let the natural fruit flavours come through.

The chocolate smoothie on day 9 was a blend of banana, raw cacao, goji berries, raspberries, oatmilk and a dollop of agave syrup. It was de-lovely!

The pale green smoothie on day 10 was a mix of galia melon, oat milk, fresh ginger, pear, mango, avocado and agave syrup. Use a generous amount of that freshly grated ginger otherwise it'll be rather bland and uninteresting.

The pink smoothie on day 11 was wonderfully refreshing and made of raspberries, one carrot, oat milk, dates (3-5), banana, oat milk and galia melon.

The creamy green smoothie today on day 12 was a blend of avocado, mango, kiwi, kale, dates, oatmilk and agave syrup. I should have used less avocado and added banana instead, becasue the flavour ended up just too grassy for me.

Two more days to go. Plus probably six more. And then I want to experiment with pomegranate, passion fruit, apples, beetroot, chili to name a few. It's not the season for peaches, grapes, pineapple and such but I can probably find some frozen.

And I really need to make more chocolate blends, raw cacao is delicious and full of nutrition.

a hearty flower arrangement

I don't care the least bit about such a commercial day like valentine's, but I think this heartshaped flower arrangement I saw yesterday at the afterrnoon tea was really lovely. In a whimsical, creative, romantic way. And very inspirational for those who have the room for it. In a home with zero feline snoopervisors of course.

pink afternoon tea at grand hôtel stockholm

This afternoon we spent a delightful few hours at Grand Hôtel enjoying luxuary afternoon tea - or in my case pink afternoon tea since I had pink champagne - the occasion being my "mother-in-law" turning a very respectable even number of age.

Delightful as it was, even from a vegetarian point of view, I must say that that top quality and ingenuity I experienced 4 years ago the first time I was there - which I apparently never blogged about... - is not quite there anymore. I do believe one pays more for the milieu and ambiance than the quality of the food experience, sadly.

I have had afternoon tea there a few times since and it's been lovely, but to be honest the afternoon tea at Sigtuna Stadshotell is at least as good. And better value for money. I will actually change my rating to a 4 from a superior 5 on Yelp.

My favourite part of the afternoon tea was definitely the scones and the hazelnut ones in particular. Their forte is most certainly the scones and spreads, they're not as good with the pastry which I find to be either dry or overly sweet in general. However I loved the little miniature chocolate cupcake with truffle that I got instead of the animal gelatine filled pastry.

Which also, once again, is such an unmodern way of making pastry, using animal gelatine instead of perfectly fine plantbased ones. Yes, you can order a vegetarian afternoon tea, but unfortunately they don't seem to do a vegan one. And really, gelatine in the lemon cured?! Seriously.

The pink champagne didn't really add anything to the afternoon tea experience, but then again I'm rarely interested or delighted by alcohol, but now I've at least tried it once. And it was pink.

All that said, despite the above mentioned details and the slightly dry sandwiches, the lack of different spreads for the scones - of course you can get a refill, but I must say that it's quite bizarre that you get the same amount of jams, creams and curds whether you're a party of two or six... - the attentiveness from the service when it came to serving the tea and refilling the water glasses etc, it was a sweet afternoon. With a beautiful castle view over a, now again, snow covered Stockholm.