thank you may, welcome june 2023

June 6 is not just the sixth day of June in Sweden but also our National Day,  our Independence Day since it was this day in 1523 the union of Denmark was no more. And obviously today is even more special since it marks 500 years since.

As I have written before, there are many things, too many, that have gone completely awry with this country (like far too many countries all over the globe obviously). And it has gotten even worse with the current completely incompetent government of asshats we are cursed with. So yes, there is definitely a gazillion facts to be angry, appalled, gobsmacked, worried, sad and infuriated over. The world is crazy, and so are a lot of things in Sweden. However it’s a beautiful country, and it’s a decent democracy (which is more than you can say about far too few countries in 2023), so for that - happy National Day Sweden!

Also any excuse (as if you need one) to bake and make a vegan cream cake is a good thing, right? Right.

Used the same recipe for the sponge I always use, from the Swedish Vegan Baking Bible bake book, filling is raspberry jam and dairyfree custard (Oatly). Topping whipped oat cream, blueberries and white, vegan chocolate. It was good. But it’ll be even better tomorrow once it has had proper time to rest and set.

My original plan was to write another spring has sprung post but as Summer is now upon us - I’m deeply grateful for every day of not extremely hot weather, so far it has been +25C at the max. Even if it was exhausting it wasn’t unbearable. We do desperately need rain though. With this much sun nature is gasping for water and I fear there will be more forest fires to come here too.

So instead of a spring post here are just some random photos with texts from the world according to me from these past few months. Here goes:

You know about my love for pretty, colourful bed sheets by now. And even if I do prefer to buy my Marimekko beddings second hand I have been known to get the odd new duvet and pillow cover. I’m not perfect, despite the rumours of excellence, so yup, it happens. So even if I had planned to treat myself to the 💗❤️ pillow cover only, I couldn’t resist getting the duvet cover too. The design reminds me of fabrics, designs and colours from my childhood. I vaguely remember even having a very similar duvet cover back then. It’s just lovely. Crisp, high quality cotton, that will last forever.

- Oops, realised now I already wrote about the heart one in the last post… - 

The cows and calves bedding in the second photo I actually won in a second hand auction. I was absolutely adamant to win it as it’s one of my top 5 favourite Marimekko designs. I already had the apple green pillow covers and as pink and green is THE best colour combo ever it would be dreamy to get the matching pink bed set too.

It’s just wonderful. Such a perfectly happy piece to have.

Just admiring how pretty and perfect a vegan dough can be when the circumstances are right. It’s been a while since I last baked breads or buns now, despite my lovely lovely kitchen machine. But after the mishap with my mum completely misunderstand the temperature of the warm milk and butter, and be succumbing to getting a baking thermometer again, it has been smooth baking all the way, baby. Yay.

I currently can’t remember if I wrote about the bagels I baked a couple of months ago. But anyway, I did. And they turned out great, for being the first go after not having had the opportunity to bake some since 2017. I really want to make more of them. Soon. 

And the launch of plantbased Philadelphia cream cheese in Sweden happily coincided with my bagel baking. Yay! Not that there is much difference between the vegan Philadelphia cheese and Oatly’s cream cheese På Mackan (not sure what it’s called in English) which been around for ages. But I think us Swedish vegans that haven’t been vegans since birth fondly remember how great Philadelphia cream cheese was and have missed it. 

Even if my days/years as Årstiderna organic vegan food box Instagram- ambassador came to an end last autumn, I still order some special fruit and veggies from the company now and then. This was the first time I bought their strawberries from a Spanish organic farm. It’s fascinating that the strawberry season starts so early on those latitudes compared to Sweden (which usually is just now in June, depending on the weather). The texture and flavour were also widely different to ours. They were much harder, and still sweet despite being somewhat green, in Sweden that would been they are far from ripe. They were great to eat as snacks, but I also used them in food, like topping on my favourite vegan silken tofu pancakes - if you haven’t made pancakes with silken tofu yet you must! Absolute perfection. 

- and in a hearty salad with smoked tofu. Such a fantastic flavour combo, smoked tofu and strawberries!

A house is not a home without cats, and every day I am so grateful my furry darlings are back with me, with us. I still don’t let them into my bedroom, but as little mum let them sleep in her bed in her apartment she has continued to let them do so here too. Especially Ågot loves it lots. So you might say Ågot is more her kitty now and Ztina remains my special sweetheart.

We have been reluctant to let them out in the garden again though, which feels sad, but with the craziness that followed upon the loss of Pelle and his escaping from the garden and getting sick, the 20 years of non-escaping happy cats in the garden have been erased by the past 1,5 year witch-hunt from Swedish authorities. Something which I will never forget or forgive. It is just unacceptable behaviour from an authority.

Ztina has been out in the garden a couple of times, only interesting in eating grass (and throw up indoors) not climbing the tree, so that feels more doable. However there seem to be more ticks this year, I’ve removed two of those nasty ones from her and she even got somewhat sick from one of them, but luckily recovered to herself after a few days of mostly sleeping. It doesn’t feel good to risk things when she also sleeps in my mum’s be though. Even if we’re both vaccinated against TBE there’s still Borrelia to concider…

And it’s not as if they’re very unhappy about not having free access to the garden when I’m home, as they used to, they seem to have adjusted well to slightly different routines. And surely having free access to sleep in a hooman’s bed must be concidered a luxuary upgrade? 

This year two of my photos were chosen for the municipality’s environmental calender every household gets for free. Cherry blossoms for April and the church/cemetery with lilacs for May. The winners don’t get any prizes like we used too, but apart from a couple of years they were such ridiculously ill chosen prizes that I do think it’s wiser with no prizes but the sheer honour of it anyway.

- Ah well, mentioned this in my last post too… -

It’s getting late and it’s now time to read a few pages before I sleep. As I’ve already uploaded a bunch of photos to this post it seems easier to continue to write on this tomorrow instead of starting a new post. Or maybe I’ll change my mind overnight and move the photos below and start a new one.

Let’s sleep on it, m’kay?

The UPDATED during June 7 post continues below:

After having co-habited with little mum for several months now, I can safely say that I was deluded when I thought it was going to be pretty smooth sailing. She’s a lovely human, kind and caring. And this felt like the right and loving way to help a parent that has always been there for me over the years. But neither she nor I fully understood how stressful this move would be, for her in some ways, for me in others. The adjustment period is still very much ongoing. 

And I didn’t grasp just how much her eye sight has deteriorated, how limited she is when it comes to household chores. And how much more work that means for me, and how much energy I must try to muster to get things done, while trying to make her feel at home and comfortable. Yes, it’s nice to have human interaction in the house again, but it has also meant most of my limited energy goes into making this work (including a lot of interactions on her behalf with infuriating square authorities) and my own life and plans have been put on hold. Call me naïve, but I really did not expect this cohabitation with an elderly mum, which I love dearly and have had so much fun with over the years, would be so all-consuming. But there you are.

There are still a lot boxes, bags, rearranging of rooms and wardrobes that needs doing. Stuff that needs to be hauled to the recycling station, left to charity and sold to make room so we can get things done. Which is a problem that urgently needs solving, but with no access to a car (or a driver’s license) or a large helpful friend circle or a ton of money to just pay someone to do it, that is so very much easier said than done.

For now I have settled into acceptance mode, this is how life is currently, it will change for the better and be lighter again. Life has felt heavy and a struggle for so many years now (despite appearance I suppose), surely it is about high time things ease up and less urgent problem solving actions are needed? The Universe has my back and all that.

Having this little (queen of fxxxing everything) one regularly demanding her space and attention is definitely soul soothing. Sharing your home with someone like this is most certainly something I am deeply grateful for amidst all the chaos that is life.

Something I have also enjoyed during these past few months is cooking for two, and exploring new (accidently) vegan recipes. Like this amazing harira soup. Tomato based dishes have never been a favourite of mine, the acidity is just off-putting, but this recipe (from a TV-chef) sounded so good, flavourful and despite a fair amount of ingredients also easy peasy to make. And just wow, how lovely and satisfying it turned out to be. Strong and deep flavours, not spicy but comforting and flavoursome. Highly recommend you try it, I’m guessing it’s easy to find the recipe by googling.

And here is more than a glimpse of the yarn project I gave myself some months ago. A fantastic fluffy strawberry sweater. I knew I needed a creative project that challenged me, with a bonus therapeutical aspect and a sense of accomplishment in the end. I was totally smittened by this sweater when I first saw it on Instagram and for obvious reasons it called my name. 

However, as a vegan I have stopped buying not only new produced leather but also wool and silk, so deciding on buying wool yarn wasn’t exactly straight forward. I read up on the yarn design company and their values, them only getting their yarn from small family businesses in South America that treat their animals with care and respect. And decided to go for it. The wool itself is at least more sustainable than any new acrylic yarn, of which there arent’t as far as I know, anything similar to this fluffy wool needed to create this design anyway.

The pattern turned out to be more complicated - definitely not for beginners! And I have knitted a lot over the years, but it was eons ago I knitted a complicated pattern - and honestly not very well written, so I have had to solve and grasp things along the way. I’m still not happy about the ugly, large ’holes’ that get created along the way when you switch between the colours (I see it on other people’s creations with the same pattern too) but steaming the project made it look quite fancy. Kind of magic actually.

Despite the kinks I have learnt a lot knitting this sweater. My goal was to have it fully finished by May last, when I realised I wouldn’t be able to have it done by April last. That alas did not happen. 

First I realised the length of the sweater in the actual pattern was just riduculously short. Clearly not meant for not-flatchested women. So I had to continue knitting it conciderably longer. Which took a lot more of the pink yarn I had. 

Then when I had almost finished one arm (which is knitted attached to the sweater and not knitted separately) I realised I was most likely running out of pink yarn. It isn’t as easy as just ordering a new ball of yarn or going to a shop and buy it. The yarn is from Norway and that means a lengthy mail process (despite being neighbouring countries) and extra customs charges since Norway isn’t an EU-country. Plus the yarn will not be of the same colour bath/lot.

I have plenty of yellow, red and green yarn left though. So I’m think of a decent way of using up that instead. The elastic knitting that finish the arm is not done yet, I stopped and begun with arm two instead and hope hope hope there will be enough pink yarn to at least finish 3 x 3 rows of strawberries at least.

The problem with knitting the arms attached to the sweater this time of the year is also that it gets so hot and sticky to knit. I’m aiming on June last now, but that really depends on the rising summer temperatures.

I’m sure it will feel like a great accomplishment whenever it gets completely finished though.

I tried to make a Bellini from the bottle of bubbly we got from the real estate broker after little mum’s apartment got sold -

that the loans and taxes took so much of the profit plus that the profit was very low anyway due to the Swedish housing market crisis and steep energy prices is just very… disappointing, as we had hoped to restore the savings account after the covid years. Had we been able to sell the apartment a year, even half a year earlier, it would have made a world of difference. It wasn’t meant to be. Which obviously both infuriates and hurts. As there were so many parameters completely out of our control that influenced the process. -

but I couldn’t find any peach puree, so I used apricot juice instead. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really good either. The bubbly itself was surprisingly nice though.

The food in the pan is my first go at Mapo tofu - sans the sichuan peppar as that has been impossible to find here. And that was probably good as I’m not a fan of very spicy hot food anyway. The dish was good, but not super exciting, as far as I’m concerned. I just crave plenty of fresh veggies in my food, and this had none.

I had my annual optician appointment a couple of weeks ago, to check my eyes and see if anything had changed. As I suspected it had not, but it’s good to get it done anyway. One of the glasses I got last year had also developed a strangely scratched surface, definitely not my fault as I’ve always taken great care of my glasses, so I needed that seen to. 

Despite the fact that this is clearly a problem with sub par quality glass I will have to pay for them being fixed. But as I get to keep the faulty scratched pair and get a new pair I suppose it’s somewhat reasonable. EDIT: no I didn’t get to keep the faulty pair… There are a lot of new really nice frames in the shop too, thinking a bit about getting just one new pair, if the price is right. I’ll pick up my new replacement pair on Friday and have a browse around.

The reason for me having my first single use paper cup of iced soy latte (oh the shame and nuisance) was that I desperately needed a pee and the optician doesn’t offer a toilet for customers (rolling my eyes), so I had to pop by the next door cafe, had misplaced my keepcup at home (found now) and thought I’d at least get a plastic cup (easier to recycle at least) and instead I got this. Ah well, the coffee was good at least.

My wonderful lilacs hedge has been extraordinary delightful this year, even if the beautiful season gets shorter and shorter. 

Managed to pick three small bouquets of lilies of the valley this season, it was such a joy to have their scent around for a few days at least. Same as with the lilacs though, such a fleeting time before they are gone.

After an hefty delay the cafe at the nearby beach/lakeside opened in April. Owned by the same guys that had that lovely cafe in the old Villa Skoga at our suburb center which opened during the pandemic and soon became a much needed waterhole. And they had pretty decent vegan options, plus that vegan sticky chocolate cake to die for. The best I’ve ever had actually. Anyway, they closed down at the end of last year, and switched location to this beach cafe instead. Unfortunately the cafe is only opened Sat-Sundays, I guess it will change for the summer, so you can’t have a walk in the forest and a fika on a Thursday if you like alas. The vegan options are very very few, in fact I think this chocolate ball was the only thing available when we had our first visit a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully they’ll get better. Next time I’ll asked for a grilled sandwich, which the other place made a great version of, and see what will happen.

As you can see the outdoor seating’s view is wonderful. At least when the beach isn’t filled with people. The building itself is such an unfortunate eye sore though. Horrible lack of any pleasing, inviting architecture and material, just a block of brutal red concrete with zero attachment to the surrounding nature.

Up at one of the cliffs at the lake they built a very nice resting/view spot. It was around when loaf dog extraordinaire was still alive so I guess it must have been built about 15ish years ago. It has been subjected to various forms of vandalism, including the here visible sprayed tags, and restored. It’s a very nice, calming place when void of people. And I suppose great if you want to sunbathe by the lake but not at the beach.

And yup, I’m still enjoying the vegan sustainable Icebugs Eli sneakers I got a year ago. I thought of getting another pair in yellow this year, but instead I opted for another type of sustainable, vegan sneakers, the collaboration between Adidas and Marimekko offered what I wanted. The best running shoes/sneakers I’ve ever had (which I obviously never actually run in, walking is my thing) are the pink Adidas ones visible further below in this post. I think they’re about 10 years old now, still good to walk in but slightly tired. I’ve been meaning to get a new similar pair and when I recently spotted these and thorougly enjoyed the colours I got them. Vegan and partly made from recycled plastic. 

Unfortunately the size 40 2/3 were conciderably smaller than the 40,5 pair I already have. So I had to return them and get the size 41 1/3, which seems crazy as my size usually is 40,5 and 41 leaves extra room which is nice for summer and socks etc. I hate returning orders, it’s so very unsustainable, it’s a rare thing for me as I only order things I’m 99,5% certain will fit. I guess this was a case of the 0,5% left. I’m happy to say the fit is great so they’re a keeper. We will have many great walks together I’m sure. And the name Supernova seems like a perfect sign of fresh new beginnings.

This creative sustainable solution for a garden wall I spotted on a recent walk in the neighbourhood. It’s probably not a new and unique idea, but great looking just the same, don’t you think?

Just a few years ago the late spring/early summer season were longer, and different flowers, plants, shrubs and trees grew in a predictable chronological order. And the blooming was slow and enjoyable. To each its own time. Now the growth is early and pretty much everything at the same time. The blooming period is short and intensive and then it’s over before you even had time to fully grasp and enjoy the beauty.

Even the honeysuckle is over and done with already, and we are only a few days into June… It’s just really saddening.

My latest batch of MOO postcards, this time I went mostly with vegan food, flowers and well, just pretty colourful things. Even if I don’t order or send nearly as much postcards as I once did, it makes me happy to see that the quality of MOO products is just as reliable, or rather better, than it was in 2007 when I first ordered them. And so is their customer service.

The view in the evening from the bedroom window, when the lilacs were still in bloom. It’s like a little Scandinavian jungle of garden bliss. And the scent seeping in through the air vent…

I give you happy lily of the valley picker and the old pink Adidas, that just happen to match the stripey dress. What a coincidence, eh.

And here is the ultimate proof that your cat does love you truly. If the wee in the cat litter forms a heart that’s a proper sign. Surely it must be so.

First really lovely vegan banana-chocolate scones - they go well with either plantbased Philadelphia cheese or a dollop of raspberry jam and whipped oat cream.

Second tempeh and peanut sauce with organic brown rice. Tasted absolutely anazing. I’ve always found it difficult to get tempeh at home tasting as great as it does prepared at a restaurant, but this dish did. Just lovely it was.

With a height difference of ca 20 cm it’s darn hard to get a reasonable selfie, but here we are. Literally little mum and I.

Thank you May, you were overall quite enjoyable and also very pretty.

Hello there June, let’s make you a blooming brilliant month. 🩷

Be kind, be safe, be your best self ~

spring has sprung 2023, part III

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.

.

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?

Be kind, be safe out there.

spring has sprung 2023, part II

 

I attended a great talk with well-renowned vegan activist and author, Tobias Leenaert last month. He has wrote ’How to create a vegan world, a pragmatic approach’ which I highly recommend. It was a very good, insightful and thought-provoking evening. And quotes that akways make me cry in despair. What a horrific world humans have forced upon innocent  beings. And still the majority of humans on this earth don’t give a f—- about that. Us who do care live with that knowledge of that fact every single day, with every breath we take, can you imagine how heart crushing that is? And still it’s not nearly as painful as the pain and suffering  humanity inflict of billions of other animals every single minute, hour, day, week, month, year…

I got the lovely green mug at the event. It reminds me I’m awesome every single day. 

And on the subject of that kind of awesomeness, here are a few of those things that have brought me little pockets of joy these past few months:

Rimbobullar ie Rimbo (a small town in Sweden) buns were a fond childhood memory, but I haven’t baked them for ages. Until now. Vegan baking is so simple these days, with dairy free butter, dito milk and aquafaba. They turned out lovely, but the recipe lured me to add raspberry jam to them, which was a mistake. The original recipe is filling with vanilla cream only. So next time that’s what I’ll bake. Freeze well they do too.

I love how you can create amazing plantbased frozen cheesecakes with silken tofu and whipped dairyfree cream. Melt in your mouth delicious they are. And the Christmassy recipe I posted a few posts ago. The blueberry/pistacchio one here is made with crushed digestives instead of ginger bread cookies, and flavoured with vanilla and cardamom. Other than that the recipe is the same.

I’m a big fan of creating colourful, hearty, filling vegan salads with different textures and flavours. Usually I use organic smoked tofu as protein, because it’s so simple to prepare, like with the salad above. But I like to vary the carbs, noodles, pasta, buckwheat, brown rice, potatoes. Here I used organic lettuce, grated carrots (always carrots, always), boiled potatoes, air fryed polka beets and sunflower seeds. Served with a simple sauce made with dairy free creme fraiche, tomato relish, salt and black pepper.

Below is the last batch of vegan cinnamon buns. I topped these with little leftovers of dark chocolate, pistacchios and pearl sugar. They were delicious, and there are still some left in the freezer. Imagine that.

I ordered a tofu press months ago, late December or early January, luckily I did not pay in advance, because somewhere along the way it just disappeared in the mail. After a month of waiting and no updates I contacted the company (in the Netherlands or Belgium) and they acknowledged the order had disappeared along the way, but they would send a new one and update me as soon as they had news. Nothing happened and after another month I contacted them again. The reply wasn’t very customer friendly and I decided to opt out of the order altogether. I would absolutely love to get a tofu press, but this was a hassle so I would prefer to get on in an actual physical shop. Which seems to be ridiculously hard to find in Stockholm. The Asian shops I’ve been to so far have no idea what I’m talking about. Which is so bizarre imho.

Haven’t thought of an air fryer until I saw tofu being prepared with one on Instagram last year. I’m no fan of having lots of kitchen machines, most of them end up collecting dust is my experience, but I decided to take a leap here when the price was decent. I’ve been using it most weeks ever since and I find it pretty good and versatile. Just as long as you don’t put ’too much’ potatoes at once in the fryer bowl it makes nice fries/wedges too.

So using the air fryer for tofu is also a way of pressing water from it and at the same time cooking it. For pan frying the regular frying pan is still the way to go, obviously, but other than that I think the air fryer is both energy and time saving. 

Two of my favourite go to dishes these days, apart from those hearty salads, are versions of full English vegan breakfast for dinner, and fluffy American  pancakes made with silken tofu (those are even better than the banana pancakes I loved for so many years now). 

Ever since I discovered how easy and delicious it is to make scrambled tofu, I make it regularly. With black salt and turmeric added of course. Perfection. 

There’s a fairly new (a couple of years old?) vegan restaurant in the city, called Chou Chou. Owned by a vegan food blogger and investors. They have a lunch buffet that is great, where I’ve had the pleasure to visited with a friend a few times since December last year. Have never eaten dinner there, they now serve cultured steaks too which is suppose to taste amazing. Obviously as a vegan I’m not the least bit interested in tasting it myself but I can see it’s a practical and cruelty free way to convince those who are not yet free of their meat addiction, that there are better and more sustainable ways to eat.

The interesting thing about Chou Chou is that they don’t make a big deal about the restaurant being vegan, the food is just very good, versatile and the dishes are classics just free of animal parts. Simple as that. The location is very city central and I don’t think the majority of guests are vegan/activists, more business people who like a good and hearty lunch deal.

The vegan cream pastry seen in the photo is something as original as a saffron croissant semla. Ie almond paste and whipped dairy free cream filling. It was very good. Bought it at the twice annual Vegan Day at my favourite cafe/bakery Bageri Passion. Went there for breakfast with little mum in February (next Vegan Day will be in September), and the queue was already lining up prior to opening up at 8 am. It was very heartwarming to see. And the patience from everyone with people taking their time chosing pastries, cakes, sandwiches and cookies all starry eyed over the fact that on this special Saturday everything sold in the cafe is vegan only. It’s just such a lovely lovely tradition. 

One thing that I’ve really longed to bake again is all vegan bagels. And with my kitchen machine I finally can. Made this first batch last month and for a first time bake - after a many years long hiatus - they turned out great. As it happened, right about after I baked these the Philadelphia vegan cream cheese was launched in Sweden. It’s pretty much indistinguishable from Oatly’s På Mackan cream cheese, but I think us vegan Swedes have dreamt of Philadelphia cream cheese going dairyfree for so long now we have painted it to be something just extraordinary cream cheesy. And while very good, extraordinary good it is not. I have finished several tubs on my breakfast sandwiches, since I saw it in the grocery store though. Because mmm…

With the shoe sales several months ago now, but at least this side of new year’s, I treated myself to two pairs of very different vegan shoes. A few of my old leather shoes have begun to show signs of being worn out, so I felt it wasn’t just a case of having the wants.

The pink pair is in fact a pair of much coveted Rombaut sneakers/mary janes. They are not only vegan but also made of apple skin. How brillant and interesting is that?!

They are quite chunky (which I love, but it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea I know) and heavy. And they do need quite a bit of softening up by walking them indoors. Which is more work than I had ever anticipated, but since I have become proned to blisters and hate how persistant they are to stay once I get them, this needs doing and patient I have to be obviously. Job best done with thick socks I’ve realised. Bare feet is a no no.

The other pair is a lovely blue micro suede sneakers/oxfords from Spanish ART shoes (sister brand to beloved El Naturalista). Those I’ve weather proofed and worn once. They felt like a decent, comfortable pair.

Perfect to wear with a pair of blue tights from my favourite tights-brand Snagtights. Colour is called Midnight, but the hue is more bright blue no clouds in the skye-blue.

You know what, I had plans of doing something fairly radical with my hair this spring and getting it coloured in violet. At a hairdresser. Turned out to be quite costly, and there are better ways in this world to spend money, so once again I turned pink with Maria Nila’s vegan hair colour masque Pink Pop. It obviously only lasts about 5-8 washes but it’s a nice way to make a wee change now and then, while continuing to embrace the greys. 

So here I am, here we are, and this is the end of blog post II in spring has sprung 2023. Stay tuned for part III coming in a not too far future.

Until then, stay safe, be kind, be compassionate out there, m’kay?

spring has sprung 2023, part I

 

Almost two months later I emerge, alas not a new and improved me, myself and I. But I am good enough as I am, and some days even awesome and brilliant. And one day, one week, one month at a time I try to be better than I was yesterday, last week, last month, last year. And make more of a difference and impact. Every little step counts.

And yes I’m still furious and in despair about our mindbogglingly incompetent Swedish government. And all the damage they cause our society and the world each week with their stupidity and shameful behaviour. And how much money that cost us all. 

But I also see that this is the case in the overwhelming majority in countries all over this planet. Most of societies seem to display permanent (covid) brain damages through their (in)actions and that is just scary as hell.

In order to find some peace of mind, and get back on track, create some momentum, I took an online course called ’Brilliant, Passionate You’ which I passed during Easter. As it was created during the pandemic it felt somewhat… well, not as well-composed and inspiring as I had hoped. Still, it had its moments and some lectures were very good and insightful and I did learn new things and interesting concepts. It’s obviously more a soft skills course rather than hard skills. 

But as my mind has still not regained its pre-pandemic vigour, and the strains and stress of last years kafkaesque real life drama also has taken its toll of both mind and body, this was a perfect level and kind of course for me at this moment in time.

So other than that, what has happened so far this year in the World According to Pia? Well, I try to focus on the good stuff, and create as many little pockets of joy as possible. More important than ever these days, in this crazy crazy crazier than ever world, to be able to keep on keeping on.

I’ve made a little photo album on my phone consisting of about 60 photos. From that I’ll chose a few random ones for a few posts to come, and talk about various little happenings that (mostly) have brought me joy or new insights.

Let’s start with the top photo, and the one above, in which I’m sporting my Dress 2023 - as much as I’m really cutting down on my shopping of new clothes, I’m still sticking to my Dress of the year concept (I’m still continuing to sell of pieces in my wardrobe I do not wear anymore, that don’t fit or just aren’t in line with where I am today, so it’s not as if I’m buying more new stuff to replace old stuff. I still buy less than I sell or give away). Dresses make me happy, as does colours.

This year I was totally smittened by the Marimekko shirt dress version of their classic Jokapoika (every boy) unisex shirt. Every piece of the multicoloured fabric is used up, so no fabric waste, and every dress is unique that way. It’s a lovely piece, I really enjoy the wide butterflyish arms and the fact that my dress has plenty of pink and green passages (my favourite colours and colour combo). If would however been even more perfect if it was a-shaped, knee length, did not have that fairly dominant black/blue striped passage in the front, that the belt did have D-strings just like on the model and that my belt was green not pale pink. Well, one can still wish for perfection, right?

The lovely piece of the Marimekko birch pattern (same as the bed linen in my new year’s post) is another second hand find. A shower curtain I’ve had my eye on for years now, but always been outbid on. Until this time. And it is just as amazing as it seems, a perfect piece to switch to when spring sprung!

Spring has been more winter than spring this year, and the climate emergency is ever present obviously. Because even if April in Sweden/Scandinavia is notoriously capricious and there have been snow in May on these latitudes now and then, this year has been truly crazy, from snow storms like this one day, to heavy rain the next, temperatures ranging from -15C to +10 only a few days later. This should not be happening, and it is deeply disturbing as well as energy draining too.

Last week we suddenly had sunshine every day, with temperatures close to +20C. Which is too soon in April, and it makes me dread this will be another hellish summer like 2018. The next week’s forecast shows plenty of rain and cloudy skies though.

Also living with your geriatric much loved little mum, with declining health issues, is not as easy as one might think. Or quite possibly noone else but me thought it would be just a great, money-saving, cosy, uplifting offering both freedom and security to us both solution, I may have been naïve.

Living this close with somebody again, a person I once lived with for 20 years, is quite different when that person is aging, have developed very poor eyesight, and hearing issues (yes she has a hearing aid, but she finds it very uncomfortable so…), and an aching body from a long active life, as well as a brain that isn’t as quick witted as I’ve always felt it was. As well as new heart issues appearing recently. 

Experiencing this decline and struggles daily is not the same as talking on the phone daily, visiting regularly, meeting up outdoors etc. I swore my role wasn’t going to be an unpaid home aid, but somehow I feel that’s how things have developed. 

And yes, I do believe I owe her everything good after all she has done for me over the years when I have struggled, and not least for everything I went through after M passed away in 2016. We have had so much fun together since forever, and I do concider her my closest friend too, how could I not?

Ideally every citizen in Sweden should get state benefits for helping elderly or sick family members, but that is up to the local government, and our municipality has just removed that possibility, so here we are.

Senior living is definitely not an option, and I think we’re still much in the process of creating new routines and adjust to how things are, but yes, I feel that life, my life, wants, plans, growth, needs are somewhat on hold by this situation too. 

The house needs repairs and fixing, not least that new roofing, which wouldn’t have been an issue if the housing market prices hadn’t dropped drastically last year and there had been a decent, proper profit from the apartment sale. That was not the case. 

Live and learn, live and learn.

And I am well aware about everything I have to be grateful for. Deeply so. I won a court case against an evil authority, after their relentless witch hunt for 1,5 years, for Xs sake! I got my beloved kitties back and that completely  unjust animal ban lifted! 

Little mum and I managed our way through the stress and hard work (emotionally and physically) of selling and emptying  the apartment and moving a whole life into my house, which is now our house. How totally badass is that?! 

We survived a pandemic, and the isolation and small world that created.

It has been a long, dark, cold winter, indoors and outdoors, we bundled up, managed to save some energy, as well as paid those crazy energy bills. And handled the rising food costs. That’s pretty darn badass too!

I am still standing, we are still standing. And that is just enough for now. It has to be. One step at the time. In these crazy times.

And spring, decent spring, does look more like it should every day (and I try to not let the fact that the garden do needs a pretty hefty amount of work after that ornament tree broke with the heavy snow fall before Christmas…).

And I’ve given myself a lovely, fluffy yarn project. Which has so far both ignited, delighted and infuriated me. Here’s a sample glimpse for now, more in the next chapter of spring has sprung.

Be safe, be kind, be awesome out there.