Magic Mushrooms

What's more paleo than foraging for your own food? Check out what we found in the forest yesterday:

Mamma and the shrooms

All in all, we cooked more than 13 litres of mushrooms, yikes. After cleaning (no water, will just slimefy them), we cut them into little pieces and let them sweat on medium heat until all the juices were absorbed.

This morning, we made an omelet and served it up with the reheated mushrooms, fried in butter and seasoned. Holy moly, that was good.

Red drink is NOT cordial, but kvass, ie fermented beet juice (interesting...)

And I have yet to start hallucinating...

I left this little fellow where I found him

Mobility Lab Rats

My parents are my favourite lab rats for new experiments. This latest one is courtesy of my favourite Cromagnon who got me reading Ido Portal.

Anyhow, I've got my parents to hang throughout the day, the goal being to build strength as well as mobility. I admit, I can't even hang for a minute, but it just makes me want to do it more. It bothers me that something as simple as hanging has become so uncomfortable since I did it last (like eons ago...). The good thing about it is that I can feel my shoulders and back loosening up already.

I hope they don't break (the house or themselves)

Squatting is another pet peeve/ project of mine that I'm trying to incorporate as much as possible in my daily life (now that I don't have to worry about splitting a suit). It's irritating, I want to do it perfectly NOW! But a comfy life spent sitting most of the time isn't to be undone in a few months, ey? Check out my current props:

Cheating with the yoga mat until I can squat like a pro

The third, but perhaps most important thing I've started doing, is to stand throughout the day. I swear I've developed an allergy towards sitting after quitting my office job. I sit down for meals, but will stand for the rest of the day. More props:

Quite the eclectic book collection 

I can't wait to meet my classmates on the PT course for some more inspiration for more awkward habits. :-)

The Upside of Studying in the Sticks

My life consists of studying, eating, exercising and sleeping it seems. But I'm not complaining. Because in between, I sneak in this:

Pine cones hurt more than gravel, trust me on this one

And this:

Lingonberries to go with the moose I just wrestled to the ground

And this:

Glad no one saw me taking this pic

And some of this:

My face hurt from the cold after this particular swim

And this:

Not a tourist in sight

Harvest Time

August is an exciting time in our garden... It's time to harvest some of the veggies that survived the slug attacks. Granted, the harvest isn't as large as I hoped, but it is amazing eating your own vegetables!

See those chillies? Ouch, they are incredibly spicy!

I am also lucky to have a colleague with an allotment and a surplus of courgettes. So many that I made some "zoodles" with them. Yum!

Zoodles are made by cutting courgettes with a julienne peeler, then salted to draw out the liquid (leave for 30 minutes in a colander), rinsed and patted dry with kitchen roll. Then fried briefly in a pan with fat of choice. They are served here topped with roasted seeds, broccoli and burger.

Exam Done! Next!

I passed my nutritional advisor exam on Tuesday, whoop! I missed two questions out of 100, damn. I must've been picking my navel (for lint!) when they told us that microvilli are called the equivalent of "intestinal lint" in Swedish (tarmludd). No chance of forgetting that now.

After celebrating in style (I made some paleo naan to go with the curry... we party hard here), I'm back to studying some more. No rest for the wicked.

Simple(ton) Sauce

Eating clean when on the move can be a challenge. I stayed with some family friends in Lidingö while in Stockholm and although I had full access to their kitchen, I didn't exactly have oodles of time to cook.

Inspired by one of my classmates, I threw together this meat sauce late one evening. It took me perhaps half an hour from start to finish and did the trick. Plus it has very few ingredients, my general credo in the kitchen.

500 g mince meat (organic mooooh, please)
500 ml tinned tomatoes
1 large onion
At least a teaspoon each of powdered ginger, cumin, dried thyme (or whatever strikes your fancy in the cupboard. Go on, go crazy.)
Salt and pepper to taste
Ghee or butter for frying
A dollop of butter to thicken the sauce before serving

Chop and fry the onions on medium heat in a frying pan for a few minutes until soft. Watch them like a hawk, don't let them burn.

Add the meat. Mash up. Season. Fry for a few minutes until no pinkness remains. Dunk in the tomatoes. Mix well, then put on a lid and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes while you make a salad, pick the lint out of your belly button or check Facebook.

Add the butter. If you're feeling frisky, go all the way and plonk in 3-4 tablespoons. Stir and watch the magical transformation of an otherwise average sauce.

Eat it while it's hot. Then put the rest in a glass jar and eat cold the next day at work. Because microwaves are evil. 

Excellent choice of paper bags to bring food in to low carb class (matavfall=food waste; Karamellkungen=CandyKing)

Achtung! Wonder Woman Gushing

Wow. What to do, what to say? How does one sum up a week of this? This course has been absolutely riveting from start to finish. The subject matter is obviously close to my heart, but what made the experience were the people. My amazingly quirky, sassy, intelligent, funny and compassionate fellow nutri-nerds. We're talking "massive collective girl/ boy crush" here. Ouch, I miss them already.

So what's next? A lot. I'll be wrapping up the nutrition course next week, hopefully passing with flying colours (given how much I've studied, I'd be mortified if I didn't...).

And once that's off my plate, I'm on to the next course. To become a PT. How's that for a challenge? The thought makes me grin and squirm at the same time. But the voice in my head that shouts "why the hell not?" is louder than ever. You may call me Wonder Woman, if you wish. I sure feel like it.

This Stockholm hottie wasn't copyrighted, so he'll have to illustrate just how badass I am 

Swirling around this are all the ideas and plans for how I want to use my new knowledge. And I will be letting them swirl for a while longer. Because I now know that things will eventually fall into place. I just need to have faith and patience. Two virtues that I never realised I had.

Start of Fidgety Week 2 (Nutrition Course Part II)

Wow, I can't believe how quickly this summer has gone by. I'm sitting on the train, once again headed towards that fair city of the North, aka Stockholm. The landscape has changed significantly in the last month, harvesting being in full swing across the country.

Grain leftovers? 

I've spent most of the last month getting up early to work out/walk/run, eat breakfast, study for 1-4 hours, break for lunch, go for a swim, pick (but mostly eat) a helluva lot of berries (me and lil T share this passion...), prep for dinner, eat dinner, go for a walk, go to bed. Repeat.

Studying on the beach can be problematic when it's windy...

The studying has gone well. Sure, I've read dozens of books and blogs on the subject of paleo-inspired/ low carb food in the last few years, but it's been for my own benefit only. This has meant skimming the more "sciency" bits to get to the conclusion at the end, ie "yeah, that's all nice, but what do I actually DO?"  Rereading some of my books this summer has meant that I understand more and more of the "why", not just the "what".

Here's to another week of even more moments of clarity. :-)

Quickie Kraut

We love sauerkraut this household, so we're constantly making more when we free up jars.

Today's batch was made with cabbage and some red beets to top up.

Pink food rocks

Check out our previous posts for more rough'n'ready recipes.

For this particular batch, I also used some whey from the raw milk that we bought a week ago. I'm looking forward to see if there is a difference in taste!

Schon Gegessen - Today's Lesson in German

Although I wouldn't say that I'm very fluent in German anymore, there are a few terms that I still use on a regular basis. There are just some words that need to be in German, for example "schon gegessen" to describe food that looks like it's already been half digested, ie "already eaten".

This morning's breakfast certainly fit the bill. The PB posse was polite as usual, but agreed that we have seen better-looking food before. My sister kindly offered another translation of the term: "vom", ie vomit. Lovely.

Lump of something eggy, served with decidedly sloppy leftover kraut salad from last night

In my defence it has to be said that I had to wip up something real fast out of leftovers, plus the below for our trip:

A lot prettier, but who knows what it'll taste of...

But let's face it, food doesn't always turn out Michelin-worthy. It's just that those "vom" dishes tend to stay off the blogs. ;-)

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 

Next Step

I'm on my way to Stockholm again, this time for another milestone in my new hippie life: the first part of the course in paleo/ low carb nutrition.

The hazy finish represents my usual motion sickness 

I booked the course as soon as I had decided to leave Pharma and go all hippie. I still remember the feeling of pressing enter and knowing that it signified the no turning back.

At the time, I didn't know how I wanted to use the course and I am still fairly open-minded about it. For a while I only saw it as a way to make the decision to leave London final, albeit something that would be useful to me and in line with my beliefs on health.

Half a year later, I have a feeling that this course will be the start of something pivotal in my life. The more distance I put between myself and Pharma, the more I realise that this is what I should be working with. I think I have finally found my calling.

Big words on a Thursday.

Lil T is One!

Our Lil T turned one in the week and it was time for her birthday party today. I was faced with the tough decisions about what to serve. I didn't want Lil T to miss out on birthday cake, but at the same time, I didn't want to serve her anything sugary. So, it was time for some experimenting.

Swedish birthday cake is usually a sponge cake with lots of cream and berries. I paleofied the concept by baking a paleo sponge cake where I substituted the maple syrup for mashed banana (No joke chocolate cake), then I layered with cherries, raspberries, blueberries and cream. It looked quite indulgent and you can't tell that there was no sugar involved!

I also wanted to try making a 'cake' purely out of fruit and lucky for us, Lil T's birthday is in the summer. I cracked open a watermelon and added some fruit layers. It wasn't too bad looking either!

Plastic Fantastic

I'm notoriously freaked out by plastic nowadays, especially when it comes to food. I don't care what packaging producers say about the quality of their plastic, I try to avoid it as much as possible so it doesn't leak into our food and mess with our hormones. Hence, our fridge looks a bit like a recycling bin:

I think we need a bigger fridge...

The second thing that motivates me to avoid plastic is the environmental factor, of course. We consumers just don't question plastic much, do we? It's everywhere. Not many people think twice about that plastic lid on takeaway coffee. Or the plastic bag around (often organic) fruit and veg. Or the plastic tubs in which processed food comes in, including most icecream and sodas and ready meals and so on and so forth. Yeah, some of it can be recycled to make, uhm, fleece (that leaks little plastic particles into our water, but that's a different story) and what, building material? But a lot, and I mean tons of it, ends up here:

I couldn't resist and read the ingredient list. Gag. Why do I do it? 

My high school friend Meyer taught me a lesson a long time ago. I was gushing over the in-store recycling facilities at the local Aldi, when he cooly remarked something along the lines of "well, how about we didn't have to buy all that packaging in the first place?"  That stuck with me and has made me think twice before buying something with unnecessary packaging. 

End of rant! :-)

Outdoor Gym

We've got some awesome entrepreneurs out here in the sticks. Two local teenage girls decided to organize an outdoor gym, I'm impressed! Check out the HUGE tractor tire in the background. Can't wait to attack that one. 

Now I just need to figure out what to do...

Unfortunately, we've had some less productive "entrepreneurship" in the woods lately, with half of the woods being fenced off by a pissed off builder. After a fair few angry articles and interviews in the media as well as some local vigilante action, the builder has at least taken down the gates. This leaves some rather lonely looking ladders. Perhaps they can be incorporated into some kind of obstacle course? Wouldn't want them to go to waste, they are awfully sturdy.

So very wheelchair friendly

Eating With Danes

I always thought that I'd end up in Denmark if I moved back to Scandiland, but life throws you a few surprises along the way, ey? The good thing about South Sweden is that Copenhagen is pretty much around the corner, so when my London-based girlfriend Mette happened to be around, I got myself on a train and a bus and a train (those strikes are a bugger) to see her and and another London girl, Marie.

Copenhagen is a bit of a hipster food Mecca, so I was expecting great things. I wasn't disappointed! Our first food stop (yes, I ate myself through CPH) was the aptly named Palæo (forgive the Danes their spelling, they just need to feel a bit special, in a small brother kind of way). A grain-free meat fest was promised and pretty much delivered on, including bullet proof coffee (coffee with butter, oh yeah). The only caveat was the service that was, well, hapless in a prehistoric kind of way. Given the cuteness overload of the staff, however, they were promptly forgiven. 

Next up was 42Raw, a raw veganite heaven and funnily enough right next door to a second Palæo café. Nothing is heated above 42 degrees and hence retains many of the enzymes and nutrients that would otherwise be lost in the cooking process. Because we were already full, we headed straight for the cakes... 

Although a fairly sweet affair (assuming mostly from dried fruit and bananas), the cake didn't do too much to my blood sugar. Aces!

I needed the energy for the little house party at Marie's house later. The usual kitchen utensils were brought out after a few glasses of wine (organic, bien sûr, one doesn't do hangovers anymore) and the singing started. Is it just my Danish posse that has this particular fetish for air guitars and pretend microphones?!

This morning we walked into town and stopped at Bodega for breakfast. Given the grain-heavy brunch options, I went straight for the herring. It cracked me up how most of the lunch menu was so traditionally Danish... funny how cool gets redefined. Anyway, the herring was love at first bite. :-)

Monday Fish

Sometimes I don't plan ahead and I need to make dinner from whatever random things are left in the fridge and freezer. Today was such a day and the result was pretty amazing! This is what I used:

350g frozen pollock, cut into cubes (no need to defrost, but it is easier to cut if it has been out for 30 minutes)
1/2 onion
1 sweet potato
1/2 kohlrabi
2 garlic cloves
3 chunks frozen chopped spinach
2 tbsp tomato purée
100g creamed coconut, dissolved in hot water
1 lime
Dried thyme
Dried oregano
Salt
Cayenne pepper

Fry chopped onion in fat of choice (I used coconut oil), then add thyme, oregano, pepper and chopped garlic. Then throw in diced sweet potato and kohlrabi, stir once in a while. Pour in creamed coconut, lime juice, tomato purée and spinach after a few minutes. Stir and cover with a lid. When the vegetables are almost done, place the cubed fish on top, replace the lid and let cook for a few minutes until fish is done. Stir and serve. Easy!

Confetti Sauerkraut

The rest of the clan is flying in from a London today. I can't wait to see little T again, now with a "complete" set of teeth. Complete in the sense that grandma fears that she'll start gnawing on the coffee table and the like, ha ha. Just like her mama and auntie used to do with our parents' bed's headboard. I can still feel the satisfaction of sharpening my teeth on it.

Anyhow, trying to keep busy I've made a new batch of sauerkraut. More like sauer vegetable confetti, I know, but the principle is the same. I just got a bit lazy and blitzed what I found in the cellar (cabbage, carrot and beetroot), added a few tablespoons of sea salt, mashed it up further with a spoon & my hands and stuffed it into jars.

Fermented party trick

The only problem with this stuff is that it doesn't last very long. The longer it ferments, the better, but as it starts fermenting pretty quickly and hence starts tasting bloody awesome in just a few days, it is difficult to keep your spoon out of the jar. (And if you still need convincing of why you should eat this stuff, read Marky Mark's article on fermented foods...)

Kettlebells

Our crossfit friends Sevan and Darren recently introduced me to Russian Kettlebells. Essentially, they look like large cast iron cannon balls with a handle on top.

8kg and 12kg Kettlebells

What sets the kettlebell apart from the trusty dumbbell is that they are far more versatile and take up a small amount of space, which is great if you are working out from home. I have subsequently learnt that they have been around far longer (300 years) than the standard dumbbells seen in most gyms.  

One thing I first noticed about the kettlebell, is how it feels slightly heavier and a bit more awkward to hold than a dumbbell. This is down to its centre of mass being extended farther out from your body, so making it harder to handle and manoeuvre. This ensures that when you do lifts or swings you have to concentrate more on your form to keep the kettlebell stable, thus improving your technique.

I am still learning new routines, but so far I have been able to target all the main muscle groups and core.  One of my favourites is called the Kettlebell Get-Up. It works the entire body and begins with you laid out on the floor and standing up with a kettlebell raised in the air. It's not as easy as it sounds.

At the moment, we only have an 8kg and 12kg kettlebell, but as we become more confident in the routines and stronger we will be adding to our collection.

For more information, have a look at the really informative blog by Ben Greenfield.

http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2014/04/more-endurance-in-less-time/