delicious vegan bulgur pomegranate salad

As the new Blogger interface is just ridiculously non-user-friendly it's (currently?) impossible to  post photos in blog. You have to trust my words on how good this dish is, and not your eyes. Can I say how much I dislike this poor Blogger update? Not visible to readers obviously, but for the fact that it's obviously impossible to show photos via URLs now. Not your best and brightest move, Blogger... 

And to download from Flickr to upload from computer (and being unable to chose image size) and get a lousy resolution, is just annoying. It looks better if you read it on a smartphone. But still, a lot of more and unnecessary work to get a post done. Buhu, bad Blogger...

I promised the recipe to this fantastic bulgur salad, here goes.

BULGUR POMEGRANATE SALAD

200 gram coarse bulgur
1 pomegranate
1 rosé or red onion
1 cucumber
2-3 tbsp tahini
rapeseed oil
salt, black pepper, vinegar

Boil the bulgur with about 4 dl water, for 7 minutes under lid. Let it rest for some minutes.

Remover the seeds from the pomegranate. (Google if you want to find the best way of doing it...).

Finely chop the onion. (If you're like me, and don't like the sharp flavour of raw onion you can let the chopped onion rest in crisp cold water for a while before you add it to the rest.)

Cut the cucumber in small dices. Put everything in a large bowl. Toss them with salt, pepper, 2-3 tbsp oil and tahini. Possibly a dash of vinegar, but it'll be fine without.

Add the warm bulgur and mix it carefully. Add more tahini if you like, it's difficult to be specific with the tahini, I usually taste and add and then add some more, to get the perfect creamy combination fo flavours.

Enjoy!

It's great with falafel, obviously, but also with grilled dairyfree cheese, tofu and actually, it's a fabulous satisfying dish on it's very own. The blend of textures, flavours, sweet, salt, sharp, fresh, creamy is just irresistibly good.

happy 12th blogoversary

The Blog, this blog, turns 12 today. 

After a both emotionally and physically exhausting week, mostly in a good way but not only, I alas don't feel very witty or capable of writing something profound about the blog journey of 12 years.

But I will say as much as it has been a true haven during both ups and downs in my life. Not least in my most challenging, heartbreaking as well developing, insightful and healing last one and a half year of growth.

When I look back on my post from the first few years I admittedly sometimes shudder of embarrassment, the way I wrote then and in parts how I looked at the world, the topics I chose, it was a very different me. That said I let them be were they are, available to be read, a testament of 12 years of development and finding my voice, both as a human being and in writing style. 

My blogoversary was spent with a lovely LinkedIn-lunch, a possible new client getting in touch, an unexpected meet cute of the doggie kind and not least a cup of tea and a perfect cinnamon bun contemplating 12 years of blogging. Who knew this would be where I'd find myself after a decade plus?

And of course, thank you, dear readers, who keep coming back for more, and sometimes leave those kind and heartfelt comments. I treasure them all.

Happy 12th Blogoversary to me, may it feel meaningful for many more years to come!

first snow 2016

Today I was going to blog about

a) the first snow that fell in Sweden/Stockholm a few days ago. And upload a sweet video of the overratedness of snow according to cats. 

But 1) the Blogger app oddly enough doesn't allow the uploading of videos from smartphones. 

And 2) today we experienced a crazy snow blizzard and traffic chaos followed (because as usual everyone but the traffic guys, whomever they are, know winters here still - despite global warming - mean snowfall) and the notion of hibernation seems awfully appealing.

The b) topic today was going to be about how love and intelligence trumps hate. And that despite all her flaws (and obviously not being the best option in an ideal world) how rather brilliant it is to wake up to a winter wonderland where there's finally a female president on the other side of the pond.

That didn't happen. And I am not surprised alas. Shocked and deeply saddened yes, surprised not really. A brutal wake-up call for us all. For the environment, for equality, for reason.

Ah, Weltschmerz.

So instead of those sweet topics I simply give you the army of kindness, compassion and cuteness in snow - because that truly trumps everything.

Keep on fighting the good, kind fight!

❄️❤️💛💗💚💙💜❄️

the 10 years blogoversary

Oh, I just realised I completely missed the 10 years blogoversary of this very blog, which took place on September 8, 2015 already. Oops.

a) It's quite a powerful thing, realising that I've been at it for 10 years already. With all the things, the ups and downs and in betweens that have happened through that decade. 

b) I'm admittely not as passionate about blogging these days (clearly, just missed a milestone blogoversary...). Or really, perhaps simply my approach has changed.

c) But I also admit the blog is now (and still) such an intricate part of my life. And work. My portfolio one might say. And even if most visitors are lurkers these days, the statistics show there is still such a thing as blog readers. Which is awfully nice of course. Hopefully this ol' blog of mine still have the capacity to inspire a few readers near and far.

Happy 10th blogoversary to me - 

and in celebration of that I'm giving away 10 colourful Prosit postcards to one reader who leaves a comment about how you found your way here, what made you return and what you most enjoy reading about. Last day to participate is October 1st - the bobbaloos will graciously choose the winner. 

Come on, stop lurking, leave a snazzy comment!

happy 9th blogoversary to me

One might think that on a day one celebrates such a mighty event as the 9th blogoversary it would have been all fireworks, cakes and party party party. Instead it has been a quiet, uneventful day. A day of thoughts and contemplation. And evening rain.

So what has happened since last year?

:: My life revolves very much around my work (in a good way, well, mostly) and work opportunities these days I may not find the time or energy to blog as much as I used to. But I still blog (obviously). My love for blogging has not been diminished.

The way I write and publish may have changed, I may not write as much as I used to, but I'm adamant to post something every day. If only a cat snap (as if there's anything "only" about a cat!). Consistency is good.

:: I think most of us long time bloggers don't read as much blogs as we used to anymore. But since I've recently gotten my reading mojo back (hooray!) I might get my blog reading mojo back too, who knows. I also knows that what goes around comes around, visits and comments have plummeted. I'm alright with that. It's simply a case of I blog therefore I am.

:: It's almost 10 years (!) now since I began blogging. So much has happened. And pretty much everything have some way or other ended up in this blog. But I never name names. Because personal is one thing, private is another matter. A no no matter.

And you should know that every single comment you leave is always much appreciated.

:: There've been quite a bit of blah regarding things that I feel very passionate about these past few months, people can really be truly disappointing and odd. But it's also been a test of my resilience. I'm happy to report that despite deep disappointment I know things will be alright. Because things just are. And I am too.

Happy 9th blogoversary to me and my world on the internetz,
I hope we'll have many more creative years still together!

about.me

Not sure why I (about a year ago) decided to join the about.me site. One of those "it's free, why not try it" things I guess. A year later I have to admit I'm still far from sure what the purpose is. And when I ask around people either don't know what it is or have the same attitude towards it as I have. Noone I've talked with has it as a part of their social media strategy.

So why do I still have my about.me page? Well, mainly because

• I thoroughly enjoy that you can create a really cool tiled background with your Instagram photos. Thus I update it regularly. (It looks especially awesome on an iPad.)
• I also enjoy the idea of a supersized, dynamic online business card (of sorts). I shy away from having a really long bio, because noone really care to read that through anyway. Via selected apps I link to Twitter, Blogger, LinkedIn, Flickr and Instagram instead, if anyone would like to know more.

I've also found that

• Their customer service is really friendly and swift, when there's a glitch or question.
• People tend to view other people's pages quite a lot, much more than they give compliments about them. Although you do get compliments regularly, far from always from people you feel you can compliment in return. So a "thank you!" and then a pass it forward to someone's page/photo/bio you enjoy is my way to deal with that.
• To use tags on your page (a maximum of 10) is a great way to find likeminded people. 
• You get added to weird collections like "Viewed", "People I thanked", "People who glanced at me" and I have no idea why one would even bother with that... 
• But you also get added to nice collections like "Creative people", "Amazing people" (oh my!), "Interesting people", "Compassion for all life" (how sweet is that?!) and of course "Twitter friends".
• I've only made a collection of "Twitter friends" - obviously I don't really see about.me as a networking site for me per se. Perhaps that will change.

How about you, do you have an about.me page?
Is it a part of your social media strategy?
If so, how and have you had good use of it
from a business point of view?

vegetarians are more intelligent

why am i not the least bit surprised about the conclusion of this study on intelligence and eating habits...

also kathy freston's tedx talk is a good thing to watch on this subject.
lean into it, stop being stupid and a hypocrite.

which in some ways brings me to spam, spam, spam. upon nice requests i changed the comments on blog to no word verification needed. i did so hesitantly since even with wv AND moderation there are issues with spam nastiness. but hey, who knows, maybe it'll be okey with just moderation?

over night i got +20 spam comments, and more coming in during the day. if it continues it's just not doable, neither energy- nor timewise to not have word verification, sorry about that. or well, we should totally blame the nasty spammers for wasting our time and energy.

i've set the comments to 'approve new commentators/sign in'-mode. perhaps that will work. fingers crossed. - edit a few days later; so far so good i think...

leaving comments should be easy for good people, such a pity that we have to abide to the nasty spam people's rules... i bet you they're not vegetarians!

blogoversary number seven

seven years ago i apparently thought it was a good idea to start blogging. seven years later i'm still at it. with some things i am indeed perseverant.

i would love to write something witty and have a little giveaway of some sorts. but after a rather sleepless night at hospital (see yesterday's post of course) and still waiting for more tests and see the doctor i'm pretty much out of wit. so that will be another day.

but i hope you've had some fun with me over these seven years and that you (and i) will continue to for many years to come.

happy blogoversary, go have some cake and celebrate!

a little thursday post

I had written a little post in the Blogger app, did a spell check and when I returned Blogger had ruthlessly deleted the post.Which was a very upbeat, giving thanks, being grateful kind of post. I still feel those feelings, won't write them all down again just now though. This photo will have to summerize those thoughts and feelings for now.

Good feelings, thoughts, these past few days. Weeks. July even.

sweet green thoughts

:: Again many of us have experienced Blogger issues, the second major thing in a short period of time. How very unfortunate. It is as it is, and it's free, but still one would really very much appreciate some updated information on the fixing, Twitter is an excellent forum for quick, unpretentious updates like that... Anyway, switching to another browser this evening and it seems to miraculously work. Touch wood *and thank you for the hint, Julie*.

:: I have been going to the same dentist for some 20 odd years, without any major issues with his work, or with my teeth for that matter. However I am now thinking all this long-winding root-filling business is pretty weird somehow and quite costly, and not over yet unfortunately. The quoted price I got in the beginning has now been rather overdrawn and the situation feels quite awkward to me.

:: You left some lovely comforting and uplifting comments in my post of despair the other day. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that. I've had two job-related fine meetings indeed since (the hope thing...) but still, these constant, frequent ups and downs, from hope to despair. The constant undercurrent of sorrow in all this. Enough enough enough.

:: Emailing people thoroughly, eloquently asking them for a simple favour(ish), getting a reply where they obviously have done their very best in misunderstanding the meaning of the question and favour does leave a rather unpleasant aftertaste. One can't help but wonder how they tick. Why try that hard to misunderstand and being rather accusatorial about a pretty simple matter, seriously dumbstruck am I.



:: It's a strange thing about yarn shops, one might go in there to buy one single little hank and mysteriously most always end up with a bag full of skeins. With colours I didn't expect to get - but now I'm planning to have a first go at some ripple pattern, maybe a pillow, maybe even a blanket. Seems like a good summer project and a nice change to the granny square addiction. Hopefully one to be finished within a reasonable period of time...



:: "I'm inconcievably intellectual" - I do love this plastic bag from Swedish bookstore Pocketshop. A perfect quote with a twist for a T-shirt me thinks. I'm hoping the little purple book "The Tiny Wife" by Andrew Kaufman is the one that will give me my sadly lost book-reading-mojo back. Haven't begun reading it yet.

:: Someone showed me the most amazing office for rent today. The coolest, most happy looking office I've ever seen, brimming with perky, inspirational colours, old furniture and sweet details. Smack in the middle of Stockholm city and with a ridiculously low rent. Too good to be true I suppose. But oh the love at first sight. THE office to actually love working in. My goodness me.



:: Ate one of the prettiest looking lunches ever the other day. Strangely flavourless, apart from the lovely fruit bits, but oh so pretty to look at. Like a food painting. Awesomeness that the snap doesn't really do justice to.

:: I missed taking a picture of the first bunch of lilies of the valley this year. This is the second one. It smells heavenly. The Kismet Leonard duo was in complete awe of the pure awesomeness. And I, I'm in complete awww about the cuteness of bobbaloo butts. I believe there is pure, untainted happiness in those.

friday the 13th of may

With Blogger being down and out for the last day - and me still waiting for my little lucky number 13-post to be restored - it has made me think (again) of this relying on free services.

And if there really is such a thing as something free of charge.

And if one really would get better, quicker service if one paid a fee (given how non-reliable non-free-of-charge services can be I kind of doubt it, kind of...).

And how addictive (kind of) one has become to blogging regularly. I've toyed with the idea of publishing two posts today. But I find it somehow befitting that in memory of the-day-Blogger-went-down (touch wood), leave an empty space for contemplation. (If anyone cares but me.)

It's also been ages ago since I went on a swing carousel. I remember it as being awesome, tad scary and very liberating. I'm thinking being involuntary out of touch with Blogger have been tad scary, liberating of sorts but not really awesome at all.

Have yourselves a lovely weekend ~

christmas glimpses sweden

Little favourite Iron Boy sports a new seasonal outfit.

Saffron semla and advent candles at café Tant Gredelin ~
still undecided whether saffron is a reasonable excuse for eating lenten buns this time of the year...

The red mailbox for Christmas cards only ~
never use it, have heard far too many stories about the mistreatment of mail put in this box from friends working extra at the postal services...

Rekorderlig ('proper', 'hearty') Christmas cider with cinnamon ~
didn't taste of much cinnamon but was rather nice and appley fresh in flavour.

Christmas trees for sale at Nibble Garden, Järna ~

me I'm a firm believer of not cutting down trees for Christmas purposes only. The notion alone makes me utterly sad.

Höganäs mustard jar from Apoteket ~
For many years every winter the Swedish state owned pharmaceutical retailing chain Apoteket (The Pharmacy) sells their own mustard (as well as other Christmassy items) in pretty jars. I am not a great fan of the mustardy flavour, but this year's jar from Höganäs (classic Swedish stoneware company) in gorgeous red was just too lovely to resist. When the mustard is finished the jar will come in use for other things.

Saffron biscotti from Saltå Kvarn bakery ~
ah well, the ones I bake myself tastes a lot better...

Black socks with red stars ~
as I find knitting and crocheting, creative things in black usually boring and impractical (not that everything I make have to be practical always mind you) beyond reason really one should never expect a black custom order to be all black. I just couldn't resist adding little red stars and a rim on these socks and hey presto they were rather lovely me thinks.

Two kitschy gnomes and one pink plastic rabbit ~
what's not to love? The rabbit even jogs its head, very impressive that is.

Apple hook and bird feeder ~
I did think of the wee feathered friend not migrated and put up a new feeder stuffed with seeds in tree. So far fram from a massive hit. The blackbirds that are frequent visitors sadly don't seem to approve of the design. Any suggestions of a perfect feeder for blackbirds?

Knäck ~
the much loved Swedish caramel crunchy-chewy sweets essential for Christmas. It's far from easy to get the perfect consistency and combination of crucnhiness and chewiness. My mother's batch this year was just perfect ~

Eating Out - Sturehov Castle Café

I briefly mentioned the overall lovely castle visit the other week in an earlier post, now is the time to do a bit more than brief mentioning. Sturehov castle - some miles south of the city centre, in the suburbial Botkyrka area - is a somewhat typical summer outing destination, I even think you can pick strawberries there. Thus we haven't been there in wintertime until now. And since a good walk and some areal exploration should be followed by a nice, and well deserved, food experience I also had the misconception of thinking the castle café was opened only during summers.



That misconception has now been corrected. The café, these days called Voltaire & Vänner (Voltaire & Friends), is opened all year around Saturday and Sundays. Judging by the name and the food display, the co-proprietor these days is the same sister Voltaire who co-owns a few other places for food in Stockholm;

Hurry Curry, by Hötorget inner city Stockholm and at Värtan harbour,
Flickorna Helin & Voltaire, Skånska Gruvan, Skansen, Djurgården, previously mentioned here, and
Bistro Voltaire, Dieselverkstaden, south suburb Nacka

The odd lunches - when the proprietors were different people - we've had there during summers have been rather nice and as you can enjoy the meal in the garden you can also bring the dog along. Now I was in fact very pleased to see that some people had their dogs with them indoors this time of the year too. Well behaved dogs snoozing away always make for an extra charming and cosy atmosphere. And as you can see the interior, as the café is situated in one of the castle wings, is just oozing lovliness in itself with a delightful mix of new and old details.

How about the food then? Well, as usual I really, really like their displays of sweet, often fairytailish looking cakes and cookies and the menus (consisting of sandwiches and lighter meals) always sound very tempting. Most of the times, as far as I'm concerned, the carrying through of what sounds mouthwatering is rather well done too. Food, sandwiches, cakes, tea and coffee have in general been both pleasing to the eye as well as palate. Albeit the cakes usually being overly sweet with the icing, so off with that eye candy and enjoy the cake plain as it should be.

This time however, I got one major fly in the ointment which was the chai latte. That must be concidered one of the worst beverages I've ever had. It was just a disgustingly sweet and artificially flavoured abomination. It was about as far away one can get from how a chai or a latte should taste. Loved the cups the beverages were served in though.

But we really enjoyed our sandwiches - minus for the overabundance of olive oil on mine though - I had a lovely rosemary bread with grilled veggies and an unusual green hommous served with crisp lettuce. M had anchovy hash on rye bread which he claimed was very nice. He also liked his raspberry mousse cake

whilst I found this not overly sweet and very nutty chewy wee thing to be the perfect thing to round of my lunch. Although a dash more cocoa in it would have been even better.

The view from the table did get every thumb present up, unconditionally.



In the buildings surrounding Sturehov castle there are also some arts & craftsmen, like a potter - remember the frog bowl - metalworker and antique shop. In the summers you can bring your own picnic to the castle garden and have a swim in the nearby lake. If my memory serves me right there are even boat trips to and from Stockholm city to Sturehov in the summers.

And of course, the place comes with its very own friendly, adorable castle cat. That always, a l w a y s, always brings an enormous amount of extra splendour and appeal to a place.

Sorry about the photos being all over the post, there seem to be some Blogger glitches at the moment.

This Is Not The Pom-Pom Sea

When you rely on free (Internet) service it's always a dilemma when things don't work like they're supposed to, boosted too. On the one hand it is free of charge which limits the justification of demands we might have when things do not work as they should. On the other hand it really bugs most of us when there's no easy way to get in touch with *those in charge* and get *instant* support - and even if you're actually paying for a support service it's difficult to get that instant as well as helpful service - instead you're forced to all this time consuming - and rarely very efficient or problem-solving - detours like DIY "help"centers or discussion groups... Sigh.

Since I have neither the inclination, energy nor time to play in one of those DIY "help" groups - which will be just as useful as playing in the IKEA pom-pom sea, the only difference is that in pom-pom sea you get a laughter fit instead of a borderline apoplectic one - I'm just going to whine a bit here.

I did something really stupid yesterday, and yes I have learnt my lesson the hard and unforgiving way. Please note that I'm completely aware of the fact that this is a luxury problem indeed, I have a roof over my head, vegetarian food on my table, clean water from the tap, a toilet that flushes, a shower, a good bed to sleep in and more handbags than I - honestly - need.

However, this is still annoying. I did the fatal - as in look of blog fatal - mistake of trusting what a small Blogger information box promised. It went something like this; "you will be able to return to the current look of your blog, we will save a backup of your current template, blah, blah, blah". Okay, then I will press the button and feel comfortable with the fact that all will not be lost. In Blogger box I trust.

The only, silly, reason for me switching to the classic template was the fact that I was going to do some minor changes and I personally felt that the classic one was easier to overlook. So. I was stupid, stupid. Stupid. Because obviously the truth isn't out there. None such backup available, at least not for me. No matter what that annoying box promised. And a whole lot of thought, work and time is lost. Computers, Internet and free services. Ain't life grand.

If one, me, tries to look at it from a slighter brighter side it wasn't my regular blog, bless, which was affected by my ill thought through press-the-button-decision. And perhaps the only way to try and learn new thingies and play around a bit is to do, however involuntary and regretful, a bit of spring-blog-cleaning. Even if it's late summer.

So. Okay. Let's move on then, solve the issue the best, and least time-consuming, way. Let's play if not with pom-poms, but a bit with New Blogger Layout Features. The only problem is that no matter how much I try and "customize design" (back to new blogger with that neat drag and drop edit that it was before all this... displeasure began) there is just no darn way "upgrade your template" button appears. Major. Bummer.

Sigh. Big time. Free service vs my time, energy, ideas and work. Please, even if the truth isn't out there, I do hope the fix is. Better soon than never. Please?