on holocaust memorial day

It's now six months since I visited Auschwitz. Today marks the day of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, 70 years later. Mankind has sadly learnt very little since. And I really don't have the words to describe how both physically and emotionally exhausting the six hours long tour through the hell that Auschwitz was. I can only say that it should be an obligatory visit for everyone. Followed by a long hard think about how we treat our fellow earthlings and our daily choices.



I wrote this piece as a part of my storytelling course last autumn. It reflects my feelings and thoughts, at least in parts, from that day -

"On a scorchingly hot summer day we visit the concentration camp Auschwitz, Oświęcim, outside Krakow, Poland. Just reading the first information signs outside the entrance building I can’t stop my tears from falling. This is truly one hell on earth and yet it looks like a Hollywood movie set. From the ”Arbeit macht free”sign over the entrance gate to being completely exhausted both mentally and physically after this six hours long tour, this is a surreal day.

Under the hot sun, were green lawns, trees and birdsong blend with dirt roads, brick buildings with a history of unspeakable violence and pain, barbed wire and warning signs I experience one of the most important and heartbreaking days of my life. And I only visit the horror briefly, I didn’t live it over 50 years ago. Visiting a place that so blatantly show the darkest, most despicable nature of mankind tears keep trickling down my face behind my sunglasses.

The tour clearly shows that humans haven’t learnt much from such horror. We still lack so much compassion, treat some fellow humans as second class citizens. And most of all we treat fellow earthlings, other sentient beings as consumables. In the very same way as the nazis did the prisoners in Auschwitz.

We use and abuse animals as mere things for entertainment, experimentation, food and wearables. Just like women and girls in Auschwitz other sentient beings like cows and pigs are subject to rape, insemination and other cruelty. Babies torn from their mothers, sent to their deaths. No compassion, only the sense of entitlement. In laboratories and zoos earthlings are subjected to pain and suffering for the sake of human greed and entertainment. For millions of animals all over the world every day is concentration camp.

To quote Tolstoy – ”As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields”. 

Violence breeds violence. Love and compassion is always the answer."

And yes, of course I cry as I write this and look back at the pictures. The unspeakable cruelty and entitlement lives on in other shapes and situations, all over the world, every day. Still.

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

favourite dinner in krakow - pod norenami

From favourite breakfast (and dessert) to favourite lunch it's now time for dinner in Krakow. At an Asian restaurant called Pod Norenami. Which in fact was a place I learnt of from a business contact - yes, even on holiday Prosit books meetings it seems - who took me there on lunch one day.



It may seem obvious, in this day and age, but it hasn't always been and far from every one take that into account but I find that it's always a good good thing to be very up front with your vegetarianism when it comes to meetings which involves food. Because a) it's a statement that says a lot about a person's values and b) to of course avoid the ridiculous situation of ending up at a restaurant where there are no decent vegetarian/vegan options.



So this was pretty much the first thing I was very clear about when he suggested lunch, 'it must have good vegetarian options, other that that I'm flexible'. So when we walked to the restaurant he told me that the place served mainly vegetarian food, but also meat for those who wanted, that it was a restaurant that got very good reviews, also from other well-known chefs, and was very popular.



When the sign and the menu clearly said vegetarian and vegan restaurant and the dishes on the menu said "chicken" and "beef" with quotations marks it's very clear to me that it's not real chicken or animal beef. But my company insisted that to make sure I didn't get any unwanted ingredients I'd better ask.



Needless to say I was right and he was shocked. Admittedly that made me laugh. A lot. Sorry, but I just couldn't help it. And I'm thinking that's a great sign that the vegan and vegetarian food served is of good quality, so good in itself that it can "fool" a sceptic meat-eater whose not used to quotation marks of such meaning.



And how was the food then? Well, the menu is super extensive and contains sushi too (vegan of course) so it's tricky to choose (and also one might question the quality of each dish when there are so many dishes...) but for lunch I chose the pad thai. Which was really nice, though to be honest not as good as the Wagamama one.



The lunch was a very pleasant one - thank you so much for taking me to lunch there! - and the restaurant intrigued me so much we had to go back for dinner another day. Then we had starters which were cucumber seaweed salad (again, not as good as the goma wakame salad at Wagamama) and two kinds of tofu with sauces. Really nice flavours from all.



M had vegan beef in "oyster" sauce (which he said tasted just like kebab meat, I have no idea about that, to be it just tasted good) while I had vegan chicken and broccoli in garlic sauce. Very nice, although not much of garlic flavour. Both dishes so large and packed with protein the rice was completely unnecessary and we felt very full after the meal.



There was a crispy side salad which was really lovely and flavourful too. The service friendly albeit a bit on the slow side. The prices very affordable, the quality very good obviously. generous portions and generous opening hours. The interior lovely, Asian inspired but with a quirky twist. Not to mention a totally fabulous dragon in the window! (The city Krakow is said to have been founded by Krak after he had slayed a dragon.)



Too little time, too many places to eat so sadly there wasn't an opportunity to return. But some day I hopefully will, because Krakow is a city well worth return visits and exploring. And not only for the great places to eat for vegetarians and vegans.



Pod Norenami
ulica Krupnicza 6
Old Town, Kraków
Poland
Mon - Wed 10 am - 10 pm
Thu - Sun 10 am - 11 pm

roundabout bluebells and other artsy matters

A supersized button and a cat trio on a bench. Delightful and inspirational diy in Krakow.

Yarnbombing is always the right thing (yarn shop, Enköping, Sweden).

Pretty fabulous roundabout bluebells (Katrineholm, Sweden).

Cute shoe painting trio (Säfstaholm castle, Vingåker, Sweden).

Friends, rabbit and fox sculptures (Djur/Animals exhibition, Säfstaholm castle, Sweden).

French bulldog meet cute shoe per diem (Djur/Animals exhibition, Säfstaholm castle, Vingåker, Sweden).

Have a happy, artsy, creativity flowing weekend one and all ~

favourite lunch in krakow - nova krova

From breakfast and dessert to my favourite place for lunch in Krakow (which of course works perfectly well for dinner too). You don't have to be vegan to love the food, mainly burgers, served at organic vegan restaurant Nova Krova (website in Polish only alas) 



in fact it was flexitarian M who loved the burgers so much he insisted we went back for more meals. And I was of course not difficult to convince.



The best thing, apart from amazing flavours, textures, no animal flesh and other unnatural ingredients in the food obviously, was that it was healthy and freshly prepared.



Apart from great food the restaurant offers spacious, fresh premises, great logo design, friendly, soft-spoken staff, really affordable prices, a quirky toilet and a menu in Polish only.



The American style burger we had the first time was really the best, the burger was said to be seitan but the texture was more like chickpea burgers. The barbecue sauce was amazing and the burger bread (something I never enjoy having) was really lovely and oh, the fabulous grilled veggies...



The Polish organic fruit juices were fab, my favourite was apple elderberry.

We spotted someone eating french fries and thought we'd share bowl of those. Turned out the "french fries" were grilled root veggies instead. Absolutely delicious and of course much nicer and healthier than french fries. Delightful company to the burgers!







The tofu burger, the seitan burger and a slice of Sacher-style chocolate cake. Not my favourite style of cake but it would have been foolish not to have tried any desserts at all of course. It was moist and flavourful, though not as good as the one at Camelot.



What I also utterly enjoy at vegan places like this is that obviously there is a passion for animal friendliness, but also good AND healthy food plus an eye for interior design, simple but comfortable and sweet. Places like this makes me really really happy. There is a movement of good, compassionate people out there and things are happening...

We can make a difference. We can make good, kind choices. Which is good to be reminded of when there is so much chaos and sorrow in this bleak world of ours...

My Yelp-review of Nova Krova

goodbye july

Dear July,

you've been a fast and hot month. Perhaps not too fast but certainly too hot.

With highs and lows you've been an eventful month full of learning and new experiences. And oh the waiting game.

Heartfelt laughters and heartfelt tears. Good food, bad food and awesome food.

I'm looking forward to your sibling August, please bring less hot days and lots of laughters. More learning, great food, fresh experiences and oh, I would indeed be very grateful for delightful, exciting professional news. 

Because the waiting game is a silly li'l thing that lets perfectly perfect opportunities and days pass by when so so much could be accomplished, upon that we can agree, right? Right.

That is my humble and hopeful wish for August,

dear August, you wistful last month of summer.

Just to compare 2014 months so far -
Farewell January
Goodbye February
Farewell March
Farewell April
Farewell, beautiful May
Hey June
Sweet rejection

On the very last day of July we fed chickens. Followed by a seemingly very interesting, stimulating and clever conversation between the bobbaloos and the chatty chickens. Heart.

favourite breakfast and dessert in krakow - cafe camelot

My intention was to write a post about "my three favourite places for vegetarian food in krakow" or such, but I realised that it would indeed be a very long post. So I'll make three posts, one for breakfast (as in this one, which also happens to be the best place for dessert/treat and evening tea), one for lunch and one for dinner (both go equally well for one or the other).



Very, very close to our apartment on Florianska - the main shopping street in Krakow - was the delightful, bohemian Cafe Camelot situated. On a quiet side street, off the bustling main street and huge main square.





I'm glad we got to enjoy summer mornings and evenings outside there, but I'm sure the quirky, sweet interior would be wonderful to enjoy on autumn and winter days. Just my type of cafe, just the type of cafes they do so well, so very well in Poland (similar to the best cafe in the whole wide world Jozef K...).





But of course a cute cafe would be nothing without a really lovely menu that offers plenty of choices for vegetarians, right? Right. Camelot does that well. And look, the menu even holds the sweetest sketches of cats!



Their freshly squeezed fruit juices were awesome - one of those places that always served the food with fresh fruit - and the desserts wonderful. If there is such a thing as falling in love with a chocolate cake I might have done just that with the sticky, gooey one at Cafe Camelot...



One thing I really really miss in Stockholm - well Sweden in general - is the fact that there aren't any cafes opened late in the evenings, serving tea and tea drinks. Because pubs and wine-bars are far from always what you're looking for when rounding off an evening. I often find that tea is the best thing to round off most days actually. And if you want a tea drink, not only tea, they really do great tea drinks in Poland. (More of that in Sweden, please?)



At Cafe Camelot I had both a raspberry vodka one - not for the faint hearted I discovered - and a raspberry juice one. You pour your the alcohol/juice into the cup of hot tea and voilá a perfect tea drink!



One of the best moments spent in Krakow were at Cafe Camelot. Thank you for the delightful breakfasts and those long, dark, warm summer evenings, the people spotting opportunities and the gooey chocolate cake. I hope we'll meet again, some day...

close encounter of the red velvet cupcake kind

One of these days I'm going to blog about my three favourite places to eat in Krakow, now is not the day. Instead I'm going to share the simple fact that I had my first red velvet cupcake in Krakow. And it was lovely.

I'm not a fan of cupcakes, I do not appreciate the overly sweet frosting or topping, but I prefer a robust muffin with fruit/nuts. Thus I very rarely have cupcakes. But the concept of a red velvet cupcake has always sounded legendary, luxurious, delicious and irresistable - but difficult to come by in Stockholm.

Who'd knew I'd stumble over one in Krakow of all places. Can't say that the cafe/bakery itself, Cupcake Corner Bakery, was very charming to sit down for a sugar dose in. But the cupcakes - thank goodness for reasonable sized ones and not supersized! - were adorable and very tasty (as far as cupcakes go). If they had had soy milk for latte I'm sure the red velvet experience would have been even nicer. For me. The bobbaloo thoroughly enjoyed the overall experience in every detail. It's not every day you have a close encounter with a perfect bobbaloo sized cupcake of the red velvet kind.

Where do you stand when it comes to cupcakes?
Love or hate? Why or why not?
If love, which is your favourite?
And what do you think of the red velvet?