I had planned to head into the city this past week, to watch the magic cherry blossom trees in bloom in Kungsträdgården again. I haven’t seen them since pre-pandemic 2019. But then little mom got a terrible cold, and then a week later it was alas my turn. Still recovering, hopefully I’ll be reasonably alright again this upcoming week. But sadly I think that most of the city cherry blossoms will be gone by then. Here in the suburbs it has been unseasonably chilly (gratitude!) so they haven’t blossomed yet. So I will at least be able to enjoy some darling pink blossoms 2023.
This year two of my photos were chosen for the municipality’s environmental calendar. The cherry blossoms above for April (the in bloom season last year was quite different from this year obviously) and the lilacs at the church/cemetery for May, below.
Have you watched ’The Diplomat’ on Netflix already? If not you really should, especially if you, like me, loved ’The West Wing’. Great actors, snappy dialogue, setting, multilayered and cleverly woven current story. With that explosive season ending it will be difficult to wait for season two…
Prior to Easter I stopped by my ”new” favourite tea shop in Stockholm. Which happens to be Sweden’s oldest tea/coffee merchant so it isn’t very new, but it was just a very long time since I last visited (2017 I think, and of course right before new year’s last year) and I’m very much smittened bu the whole atmosphere and of course all the colourful, stylish packaging and tins. I bought teas for myself and gifts for a couple of friends. Even made a little not too shabby reel that I still haven’t figured out how to post in blog. Ridiculous I know, but there you are.
I also used that black (and only) Marimekko dress I bought second hand last autumn, for the first time. As the model is much shorter than my usual dresses I just couldn’t figure out to wear it during winter, as I don’t have any long enough winter coat to cover it up properly.
But here you are, me in a black dress for the first time in 20ish years.
The dress is straight, I would have prefered it a-line, but it looks fairly good anyway I think. The tights are from fabulous Snagtights, 80 denier colour Mustard. Boots, my ol’ trustworthy El Naturalista Iggdrasil.
And yup, it’ll be such a relief when (and how) we’ll be able to finally clear up the hallway again. Living in post-moving chaos isn’t a lot of fun.
That’s why I feel the need to create some pretty, cozy and relaxing corners here and there, so I don’t feel/see the mess existing side by side all the time.
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For Easter I changed the sofa covers and added new (bought second hand) cushion covers. The green striped fabric is old, but unused that we brought with us from little mum’s extensive stash. The cushion covers are all Marimekko. It brings me joy to find them second hand and then change them during the year. A small collection I want to grow.
The candle lights are also the Marimekko/Iittala classics Kivi, and this bowl is from the same collaboration called Mariskooli. That one I actually from fellow British Shorthair breeder in Finland, when she was here with her female to mate her with Knut (I think it was). To be honest I wasn’t really s fan of Marimekko back then (20ish years ago), and it wasn’t really my style I felt. But I am so grateful I kept it, and let it collect dust in a kitchen cupboard, because now I love it. And it was such a nice thing to finally bring forth for vegan Easter candy.
And I even painted my nails for Easter. It happens extremely rarely these days. From being a great fan of polish, addicted even, I just find it icky and well, unhealthy really, these days. But my old speckled eggs are nice to use for Easter at least.
I’ve also recently found that it is possibly to find Bath & Body Works online (second hand, so to say, but unused) in Sweden. Considerably more expensive than in the US/Canada stores, but still. When you miss something bad enough… I got a few bottles of hand soaps earlier, loved them, and bought a few more for Easter. (Not that one would use them all up for one Easter, but there will hopefully be more and the prints are adorable.)
I wrote about the 💗❤️💗 Marimekko pillow cover I treated myself to for Valentine’s day, didn’t I? The print reminded me so much of sheets I had as a kid. And when there was a short special price on all beddings I went back and got the matching duvet cover. Isn’t it marvelous?! Such a happy, colourful design.
The leopard print bedset above was the one I got as a birthday gift in 2022, and also as a memory of darling Zigne. It’s Marimekko (duh) and very cute, but also of concideeably poorer quality than other Marimekko beddings. I should have pointed that out to customer service back then, but I was crushed from the loss of Zigne and all the nastiness I went through from the county administrative board at the time (which then turned into the witch hunt madness), so I didn’t bother. I can still let them now about the sub par quality of course.
The other pillow cover in the photo I won in a second hand auction pre-Easter, it’s lovely and unusual. Different designs in one print. I suppose it’s rare enough to keep in special storage and not use, but really, when I buy something it’s meant to bring joy AND be useful at the same time.
Currently this crisp bedding brings me joy. The birthday gift I gifted myself last year. I needed it. Feeling old, tired, grey and totally exhausted after a hellish 1,5 years, I really did. Finally a Marimekko bedset with the Unikko print.
Used with an old sheet my grandma embroidered it gives me a nice, wistful and grateful feeling at night.
The Maria Lang book is the last one I got as a kid, for Christmas in the 80ies. And the book that nudged be into focus on collecting all her books during the pandemic. And I managed to get the ones I didn’t already have, all but one second hand, fairly quickly. It was a fun little self-appointed challenge. When this book is finished I have only nine more to go before I have finally read them all, cronologically.
Little pockets of joy are so very important. Especially in the world we are living in now. Wars looming, dire climate emergency, societal structural collapses, financial worries, and people being ruder and weirder than ever imho, then crisp clean sheets, books, plantbased deliciousness, colourful things, nature, cat purrs and alike are essentials for reasonable well-being and sanity. According to me.
What are your essential little pockets of joy in these truly troublesome times. What are you grateful for? How do you survive?
So much to write, and time to do it if I focused I’m sure. But for now, here’s a little December and Christmas related little photo cavalcade (to which I can add text later) to wish you the best kind of warm, kind, vegan and loving holiday in the times of corona.
December has been a literally very dark month in Sweden this year, at least in the Stockholm area. We have had zero (!) hours of sun, until yesterday. You can imagine what that does to body and mind... Today it’s frosty and sunny, which comes as a very good Christmas gift I’d say.
It's been 1,6 years since I last posted one of these vegan food inspiration posts. So about high time! The recipes (in Swedish, but easily translated) on Årstiderna's website, scroll to find Veganska matkassen's recipes. I'd of course be happy to answer any questions if you find the translated recipes weird looking.
The previous plantbased inspiration posts are linked at the bottom of this post.
On top is a glimpse of ovenbaked butternut pumpkin, chickpeas, gomashio salt and kale topping. Not a favourite, too much work for little reward I'd say. And then I'm not a fan of kale either.
Fattoush with fried polenta, tomatoes, sunflower seeds and smoked paprika. Pretty good, but not memorable.
Chili sin carne with amarant, borlotti beans, squash, carrots and spinach. Alas, not a fan. Tomato based dishes rarely excites me.
Beetroot risotto with calcot-onion and yukina. Pretty good. The onion topping didn't add much though.
Samosas with potatoes, peas and onions. Salad with white beans, fennel and tomato (was suppose to be black chickpeas, but I burnt them when I cooked alas). I generally enjoy samosas, but as it's a dish that often returns in the box I've grown tired of them. And I also find that when you fry them they get too greasy, but in the oven not crispy enough.
Spicy sweet potato soup with coconut, carrots, chili, lime with a topping of gomashio salt, tomatoes and pumpkin seeds. Soups are always great dishes, no matter flavour. Many thumbs up. Great comfort food on a cold autumn or winter day.
Crispy springrolls filled with cabbage, carrots, basmati rice, leek, chili, garlic, onion and tamari. Just like samosas, I find they have a tendency too be too greasy when fried. So even if they're good now and then, I don't enjoy them often.
Pumpkin gnocchi with pumpkin cream and a topping of a delicious vegan parmesan topping made with cashew nuts and nutritional yeast. Absolutely delicious. I always love the gnocchi dishes and those cheesy toppings. Brilliant stuff.
Bahn mi with vegan sausage, coriander and pickled winter radish, salad and carrots. Lovely. I'm a great fan of bahn mi-sandwiches.
Oven baked romanesco cabbage on a bed of beluga lentils, carrots and red onion. Topped with tahini dressing. Very good. Although the outerworldy beautiful romanesco isn't really made justice visually in the dish...
Another top notch dish - pita bread with hummus, fried chickpeas and cucumber-tomato salad.
Oven baked purple sweet potato with quinoa-cabbage salad. Topped with water cress and tahini dressing. Good flavours, but a bit too much work put in for the end result.
Quesadillas with kidney beans, carrots, onion, spinach and tomato sauce, served with mashed peas. Delicious!
Massaman curry with coconut milk, potatoes and crispy carrot-turnip topping. Very good.
Pumpkin soup with thyme, hem seeds and fried rye bread. Very good.
Risotto with fennel, peas and a brilliant vegan parmesan cream. Served with a fresh, green salad. Lovely dish!
Rustic Italian bean casserole. Not my kind of dish.
If last week went down a path of new interestingness, this past week has most certainly continued on the same trail. Such weird coincidences, slightly more synchronicity than serendipity, a lot of 55. Life right now. And the most interesting thing amidst all this I can't control, is that I'm getting pretty good at just remaining a cool cat. Not much choice other than that at this moment in time.
As may be known by now, patience isn't my greatest sport. I want things to move along, develop, be better, greater, as awesome as they can be as soon as possible. But when life doesn't want that at the same speed, we're forced to listen and adapt. And there are so many benefits to being patient, including health ones. Good things come to those who wait is more than a cliche. Cool cats listen.
The job interview went great. Plus two hours went by so quickly - and no I've never had such long first interviews. It wasn't really like any other interview I've been to, fascinating. Didn't have any obvious gut feelings pro or con afterwards, but a few days later I woke up early and had a sudden insight. And they've kept coming ever since, quite the list by now. I'm obviously not the only party or candidate involved in this process, so who knows what'll happen in the coming weeks. But whatever happens I've learnt a lot more about myself from that long interview, meeting these people, or perhaps it just confirmed what I already knew. What I want. And once again, it's enthralling really, how everything is connected. It's a small world.
To be honest, I do believe last year's grief recovery process unleashed something within me, not only allowed me to let go of certain particular painful parts of the sorrow, but also opened my mind in a way I have only touched on before. I'm not sure how to write about this without possibly sounding a bit doolally. But I'm not. Not in that sense anyway. But these past six months I've had the strangest feelings of premonitions, there's just no other way to describe them. Very tangible things, situations coming true. So much more than your usual gut feeling. Very grateful they've only revolved around positive matters or at least situations and disappointments through which I, and others, have gained valuable insights. Touch wood I might add.
On a lighter note, I'm quite pleased with my new glasses. They are indeed green horn-rims, and the style is not something I'd usually go for, but being basically blind as a bat when I try on new frames I thought they looked decent and pretty cool - remember my dad had something similar when I was little and a bit funky 60ies style is never wrong. And I firmly believe you should try something different whenever you have to get new glasses.
I'm glad I liked them when I picked them up and was able to actually see through the glass. I decided to get a second pair this past week, you always get a second pair for half the price at my optician of choice (for 8 years now). Pink, but not any of the two pink I chose from the other month.
A pretty cool side effect with these glasses is that you apparently get an immediate vampire look. No, my eyes aren't quite as shiny green no, I wish. But the iPhone PS app (one of my favourite photo editing tools) is revamped (oh the pun) into something quite fun to play with, try it if you haven't. Plus it makes those gray hairs look less unbearable, even if I'm getting better every day at not caring... I've been called Snow Queen from this photo a few times by very different people, which made me laugh, it's quite ominous. But I do promise I have no poisonous apple or other vengeful things up my winter sleeve. And I'd much rather be a Cool Cat.
A cool cat who managed to snap one of those much coveted ticket to the annual March 8 Women In Tech day conference in Stockholm. Have always missed out, but this year, after a pretty nerve wrecking 5 minutes with server crash I got one. The 1500 tickets were gone in 2 minutes, so needless to say I'm pretty chuffed I was one of the lucky ones...
Another fun thing that happened during the week was that I found myself stepping into my favourite shoe shop on my way home (ages since I bought shoes, believe it or not), it was a sale and I wasn't going to buy anything, oh no. Then I saw that one of my favourite ART models, one of the pairs that were ruined by the leaky roof in October, were on sale in my size. So what is a gal to do? While trying them on I chatted with another customer about how awesome the brand is, she was so inspired that she got the same shoes. And then we decided to meet up in May in our same shoes and have ice cream. Love little chance meetings like that, who knows what might come from them? In this case, vegan ice cream for sure.
Also, if you haven't already seen this clip from the Ellen show - I can't believe she's 60! Vegan diet, kindness, love, humour and dancing are the not so secret ingredients to that I'm sure - when she got her beautiful birthday gift from her wife, you must. Keep tissues close at hand though, you'll bawl your eyes out.
And what touched me most was the quote "To be loved is good, to be understood is profound." - and that is so true. To be understood, truly, that must be the base on which love is built. Simple and challenging at the same time. As life in general.
What will happen next week? If this first week of February is anything to go by, add to that my expectations of great things of course, it will continue to offer bemusement, delight and surprise. Which are things cool cats naturally appreciate.
This will merely be an inspiring cavalcade of the organic, vegan food I've been cooking lately as a food ambassador for the Årstiderna vegan food box on Instagram (@veganskamatkassen). The recipes can be found on their website and in the appstore app (in Swedish). But if you find some dish/es especially interesting I'll happy to translate the recipe/s in a separate post. Just leave a comment about your favourite looking recipe.
This has so far been my absolute favourite dish. A very unassuming looking beetroot quinoa (served with salad, cabbage and carrots in a wrap), that's absolutely jampacked with texture and flavour (who new quinoa, raw beetroot, apple, raisins and a simple dressing of lemon juice, garlic, oil, salt and pepper could create such magic?).
Spicy bean tacos with avocado and grapefruit salsa.
Okonomiyaki with a spicy rice salad - such a nice new food experience!
Bangkok soup with rice and coriander - not a favourite flavour/texture experience. Love coriander, but the rest was just very basic.
Potato and leek soup with fried leek and pumpkin seed topping - the soup was really good (if not exciting) but that topping was fantastic!
Tartlets with creamy stew of asparagus, broccoli, carrot, leek and mung beans - just as tasty as beautiful. Just look at that gorgeous salad... Nature is amazing.
Saag aloo with chickpeas and spicy cucumber salad - let's talk about that pickled cucumber salad. I was very sceptical. Apart from pickled red onion I'm no fan of pickled veggies. Or so I thought. This was delicious and such a nice contrast to the spicy, hot saag aloo.
Spicy noodle wok.
Hokkaido pumpkin soup with turmeric and roasted corn and pumpkin seeds - absolutely delicious! That roasted fresh corn and pumpkin seed topping, fantastic.
Cabbage wraps with quinoa and pumpkin and pea hummus with turmeric - that hummus... oh my, tastiness! (Snoopervisors agree.)
Chickpea pancake with leek, squash and cherry tomatoes - I find chickpea flour to be rather dry and so was this pancake, but I'm basically just happy that I managed to fry and turn it reasonably unharmed.
Bibimbap with pak choy, mushroom, leek and carrots - very good. And that pak choy before cooking, gorgeous.
Seitan sausage in a bun with pickled red onion and Asian cabbage salad - I was surprised at finding a semi-finished product in the box (but granted I wasn't excited by the idea of making my own seitan sausage). Not very exciting as a meal. But I enjoyed the pickled red onions.
Wraps with quinoa, red cabbage, carrots, cucumber and peanut sauce.
Korma curry with chickpeas, sweet potato, cauliflower and tomatoes.
Latkes pancakes with hummus and tomato-onion salad - really good flavour combo.
The recipes are for two persons but in general I have no idea how hungry you have to be to finish all that food, so I can usually freeze the leftover food or enjoy it several days in a row. Very practical. I'm just so happy I got this chance - Instagram hashtaggery has certainly been very very good to me over these past few years.
I never enter any competition where it's just pure luck or a lottery (I'm never lucky in lottery anyway). To win by competence or talent is just so much more rewarding as far as I'm concerned. And even if this very honourable food ambassador assignment was something you applied for I consider it an Instagram victory - like the glasses, the dress, the Schwarzwald trip, the muesli, the wee sonny angel. Big, small and everything in between. The combination of image and words, my special winning combo apparently. And how lucky I am to be able to work with what I love. And eat and live the way I want, in a way that's beneficial for both myself and the planet. Lucky lucky lucky me.
NB the empty Årstiderna wooden crates are awesome for little excited snoopervisors too. Such a win win win situation.
