Proper Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise. Aka awesomeness in a jar. I know, I know, if you're a fat phobic, you've conditioned yourself to hate it. Or make do with mayo "light".

But once you've learned the neat little trick of reading and understanding the list of ingredients, you start reconsidering what Heinz et al so frivolously label mayonnaise. It should be called inflammation in a jar. Or perhaps allergy in a bottle? Citric acid. Stabilisers. Antioxidants. Anonymous vegetable oil (could be corn, could be soy, who knows?). Excuse my French, but all that is really random shite that has no business in your food. Apart from making the manufacturer a load of money and you less healthy.

As a conscientious consumer you obviously abandon the store-bought stuff and make your own. Because once you do that, you realise just how easy it is. And cheap.

And just because you can, you take it to another level and ditch the vegetable oils altogether (being all inflammatory and stuff) and make it with... ghee. (And before I forget, this recipe is based on the recipe from Ryskadockor). So here it goes:

1. Make ghee.

Grandma's hankies come in handy

2. Assemble a stilleben of eggs, melted ghee, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper and stick blender

Kitchen art

3. Make a mess: mix 2-3 eggs, 2 tbsp of vinegar/lemon juice, salt & pepper, then slowly, slowly add the melted ghee (the equivalent of half a kilo of butter) until the mixture thickens.

Eat with spoon

4. And if you're feeling adventurous, add garlic and other spices. Enjoy!

Breaking Breakfast Boredom

I love breakfast. I don't crave it as much as I used to, courtesy of more even blood sugar levels, but it is still a lovely meal.

When switching from milk & cereal/ bread & orange juice, I initially struggled to come up with ideas that weren't eggs and bacon (and grated cheese). Yummy, but perhaps a bit boring after a while, especially after cutting out cheese & other dairy and cutting down on bacon. What to do?

The key to more inspiration was to stop thinking of breakfast as having to be something specific, more like any other meal of the day. Leftovers with eggs is the general motto, nowadays. With the odd paleo porridge thrown in. :-)

Herring with marinated vegetables, cold rice, eggs and sauerkraut

Fried eggs, liver pâté, cold sweet potatoes with ghee mayo and sauerkraut salad

Mince meat, eggs, sauerkraut and some cold rice with fermented salsa plus egg latte and weed smoothie

Paleo porridge with fresh blackberries

Confessions of a Sniffer

I've always had a habit of smelling people that cross my path. As long as I can remember, I would time my breath intake to coincide with the "tail wind" of the person walking or running past. Maybe everyone does this? Or maybe I'm just weird. I'm sure it's got some evolutional advantage, perhaps it's a way of quickly checking the status of the dude or dudette on the path ahead of you: friend or foe, angry, afraid or happy to see you.

Clearly angry, with a touch of passive-aggressive 

Anyhow, unfortunately for the sniffer in me, I tend to get a nostril full of chemical trail instead of a proper reading of the person's hormonal status. And it makes me recoil every time, wanting to rinse my sinuses.

So why do we want to mask the way we smell with something made in a lab? Why do our clothes, hair, armpits, skin need to smell so screamingly, unnaturally, goddamn FLOWERY all the time?

Because we're SUCKERS, my dear friends. Because we've been had, big time, by marketeers who want us to obsess about our bodies and bodily functions, making them heaps of money in the process. Perhaps something to think about next time you reach for that chemical laden "beauty" product...

The "Fika", The Holy Grail of Swedish Food Culture

Anyone who's hung out with Swedes extensively will have experienced the so-called "fika", the mid-morning and mid-afternoon break, traditionally involving a caffeinated drink and something sweet.

As one of my current lecturers on the nutrition course so aptly put it, the fika follows the blood sugar curve pretty accurately. If every main meal jacks up your blood sugar, you're bound to feel lethargic a few hours after the deed, needing a little something to pick you up and make your brain and body focused again. All a bit of a vicious circle, but not something you'd usually reflect upon. It's part of our culture.

However, when you stop playing violent roller coaster with your blood sugar, that fika is no longer a necessity. You rarely feel hungry between meals and if you do, you don't feel weak or the need to rip off someone's head (unless you've been fasting for 18 hours and pappa is standing between you and your heap of bacon, obviously).

That feeling of no longer needing or really appreciating the fika is a bit of a two-edged sword.

On the one hand, you're free. Free to continue what you're doing, free from fear of nearly fainting lest you not find a corner shop while on the move, free from the "need" to eat those sugary treats that tempt you everywhere.

On the other hand, when your life doesn't revolve around your next blood sugar fix, joining in those fika breaks can feel a bit odd, to say the least. Kind of like hanging out in a bar while drinking tap water. A bit boring, empty even, as the focus of it has shifted from what you put into your mouth to... the actual act of socialising. Are perhaps food or drink a crutch when we socialise? Why does it feel odd to just sit there and make conversation without chewing on something?

Walking Home Alone

Walking home through the balmy summer night in Stockholm is hard to beat. You feel alive! You feel free!

But as a woman, you're also pretty likely to feel afraid. And perhaps a bit pissed off because you're constantly looking over your shoulder.

I love walking. It's meditative. And I really detest waiting for buses and trains if I know I can easily walk instead. But there is always that same conversation that goes through my head. What if this is the one time that someone decides to follow me and do me harm? Do men have that same conversation before going for a simple walk? Does fear of being assaulted make you stay put when you'd rather be out there breathing the night air? If you do decide to venture out there, do you do it  with a clenched fist full of keys, just in case someone decides to jump you?

End of Fidgety Week 1

The first week of the course is done and dusted! Result: my brain is fried and my tush is flat. After three months of standing, walking and running, the 8 hour sitting sessions were a bit of a pain in the, well, behind. It's been a lesson in fidgeting!

Other than that, it's been an absolute treat. Excellent lecturers, a riveting subject and lovely classmates. Who eat bacon and eggs. And like to go barefoot. :-)

My lunchbox is lower carb than yours

Among Fellow Nutri-Nerds

I'm now three days into my course and my brain is pretty tired. Talk about full on! 

Key take-away 1:

The body is an awesome thing. Wow. I am obviously only scratching at the surface, but this course makes me wish I had paid more attention in biology. Hot damn, I'll be caressing my right ribs tonight, thanking my liver for being the most awesome organ of the day. And no, alcohol has nothing to do with this new respect. 

The lovely in the corner didn't say much but had a rather expressive left eye

Key take-away 2:

I am usually the weirdest kid on the block. I run barefoot through big cities. I don't use shampoo. I put eggs in my coffee. But here, I'm not so sure. Some of these people run circles around my "obscure" reading list and name-drop people I've never heard of. Awesome! Plus they can even pronounce Tarahumara, the name of the Mexican "running" tribe in Born to Run, that also served as inspiration for the huarache sandals I wear. Funny how "my" little subculture suddenly feels mainstream, ha ha! 

My almost mainstream Jesus sandals