• Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Let it grow

    Our little oasis.

    While we are spending more and more time dreaming about our new home, and especially the prospect of being closer to nature, we still do enjoy our balcony. Especially now that the plants are growing more and more, and you can see a change every day.

    The nasturtium is blossoming, …
    … the morning glory is spiraling its way up along the string I put up, …

    … and I wonder how far they will make it until it is time for us to pack.

    We’re not there yet, though, so in the meantime …

    … we make the best of it. Like delicious, colorful salads.
    The blossom came from our own nasturtium, the little flowery sprinkles you see are an herb mixture by Sonnentor. Love!
    Even when it’s hot outside, I like to drink my „lupin latte“ – also with sprinkles from Sonnentor (Flower Power). I guess that’s what the Swedes call „Adding a gold rim to the everyday“.
  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    The great indoors

    Basilicious

    While I have been dreaming of the real deal, these little guys here on our window sill and dining table have plotted a plan to take over the kitchen. Looks like they’re succeeding, too.

    ***
    To think that an itty-bitty little seed i put into the soil would grow into something like this!
    Yeah, I know: should have gotten some sticks or something to tie these puppies to so they’d grow nice and straight up. They seem to manage though.
    Since we had a really long winter this year, I was late prepping. They’re only blossoming just now but I haven’t given up hoping they might turn into tomatoes before the end of the season …
    Read that planting tomatoes and basil together makes for a good combination, they complement each other or something. Well, They’re not technically planted together but this is working out just fine, don’t you think?
    I smell pesto!
  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Recipes | Pesto fest

    I am going to skip the part where I comment on the lack of postage around here … and go straight to the wonderful pesto I have made from the herbs we gathered at Törnagården.

    I looked up recipes online but I ended up playing it by ear for the most part. Basically, for pesto you just mix the herb of your choice (basil being the classic one) with olive oil, pine nuts and grated Parmesan cheese. I used sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts this time since pine nuts are pretty expensive here, and I needed a lot.

    I made dandelion pesto …

     

    … nettle pesto …

    … and mint pesto.

    I found the recipe for the mint pesto on Martha Stewart’s, the one for the nettle pesto on chiliconkarin (in Swedish), and the dandelion pesto on a German page on healing herbs (so, yeah, this one’s in German, duh).

    Some notes:

    • Always rinse whatever herbs you’re using first (I don’t know, maybe I am stating the obvious here but just in case).
    • In the recipe for the nettle pesto it said to boil the nettle leaves for 2 minutes in salt water before processing, which I did, although I can’t say that I have any idea why.
    • I roasted the sunflower seeds after rinsing them (not the raw food way to go, I know!). I don’t know, I just somehow got the idea that it would be better to have as little water as possible in the pesto, so that it wouldn’t go bad so fast. I don’t even know if that’s true or not, I guess I was just acting on some sort of instinct here.
    • Something I do know helps to make pesto last longer: make sure that there is a layer of oil on top.

    I think that’s it. I can’t wait for the basil I am growing on my kitchen window sill to be big enough for some classic pesto. The simple things are really the best. I also want to try this cilantro pesto recipe I found on ByzantineFlowers … so I guess the pesto fest isn’t over yet.

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    WWOOF | Törnagården

    I’m back. It feels weird being in our apartment again after wwoofing a week on the country-side. At least it’s finally green around here, too.

    This past week was amazing and inspiring in so many ways. Initially we had planned on staying with two, maybe three different wwoof hosts. We ended up staying at Törnagården with Vanessa and Marcus the whole time. The perfect place for us.

    Törnagården is most of all one thing: rustic. The wallpaper in the kitchen: rustic …

    I was pretty lousy at taking pictures. Sometimes it feels as if taking a photograph takes away something from the moment. Like you become aware that „this is a moment“ instead of just enjoying it’s existence. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but I don’t have a better excuse for why I didn’t take more pictures of some of the amazing things I saw these past days. Like Törnagården itself. Like the awesome house on wheels that Marcus designed himself, and which he has been building petty much entirely from trees he himself cut down. Like the adorable baby clothes Vanessa has been knitting for the little bean that is due any day now. Like the great food she prepared for us every day. Like … you get the picture. Well, I guess you actually don’t in this case. Maybe some.

    Enamel drinking bottle: rustic.
    Cast-iron skillet: rustic.
    Lamp made from vegetables (I forgot the name of this squash-like thing): rustic …
    … and pretty awesome!

    So, what have I been doing then instead of taking pictures (as I am putting together this post, I realize that I did take more pictures than I thought), and without internet for a week?

    When we arrived on Wednesday, we could tell we had come to the right place by the house on wheels that was standing on the lawn in front of the house. We were greeted by two excited little bears  who seemed like they could hardly pace themselves behind the fence (another proof of Marcuses‘ craftsmanship). They turned out to be Sophie and Lotte, the family dogs. A highly pregnant Vanessa pointed us to the front door, where she welcomed us warmly. After talking for a while, and Vanessa showing us around, Marcus showed up, too. He had been at his workshop (he is a finsnickare, a carpenter), where he had been – and where he would be for most of the days we were staying at Törnagården – working on a bed for the baby. With the due date rapidly approaching, this was obviously pretty high on the priority list.

    They showed us around some more – the green houses, which Marcus had built from parts he found on the property, and which were featured in an åter-article; Vätte, the cow, and her calf Edgar, and the two goats, Bogart and … I forgot the other one’s name. And they obviously gave us a tour of the house on wheels.

    Vätte

    After lunch we started getting down to business. The business of shoveling shit manure namely. There was a big pile of it by the hen house, and it had to be moved in order to compost. After a while, we accompanied Marcus to his workshop. After we got a tour, we started cleaning up my the saw mill till dinner.

    Nope, behind this door lies not the chamber of terror, just the saw mill.
    Sorting tools … it takes one to know one? OK, that was mean.
    Too bad our car was too small for this beauty.

    In the evening, Marcus and Vanessa tried to separate Edgar from Vätte over night, so that we would be able to get some milk in the morning. No success, though, or at least not for us. Edgar won this one.

    In all fairness I should mention that we did get some Vätte-milk. I thought it tasted pretty good but what do I know, the milk I buy comes in plastic containers. Milk connoisseurs Vanessa and Marcus claim that during the summer, Vättes milk tastes like strawberries. I guess I have to go back …

    On Thursday we all started the day by walking the dogs by a little pond in the woods nearby, Kvarndammen („kvarn“ means mill, and there was a little water mill).

    Kvarndammen
    Happy as two giant hairy clams: Lotte (front) and Sophie.

    Then it was back to the workshop, more cleaning. We had lunch at Törnagården, outside in the backyard. It was windy, so the salad had to be eaten fast, but still – we were eating outside, surrounded by nature. Sitting on our balcony here in town just doesn’t measure up to that.

    In the background: the greenhouses Marcus built.
    OK, here’s one picture of some of the delicious food Vanessa made for us – leek, beet, „kålrot“, tsatsiki, and the ever so popular sour dough bread. All organic, home-grown/handmade with love. Thanks, Vanessa!
    Vanessa’s sour-dough bread. So good that it deserves it’s own picture. Actually, it deserves better than this blurriness, sorry about that.

    All four of us went to the workshop in the afternoon. Peter and I cleaned some more, Vanessa was preparing the bars of the baby bed for sanding, Marcus kept building the bed. Later Vanessa, Peter and I sat outside in the sun and sanded the bars under Marcuses‘ (justifiedly) critical supervision. We ended up sitting there until after 8 pm. That was one of the most beautiful things for me during these past days: not having a watch with me – and no clocks on the walls. Just going with the flow, letting the daylight be my guide.

    After we returned to Törnagården, Marcus went straight back to the workshop, the remaining three of us went to the neighboring farm to get some milk (how cool is that?!). Vanessa made pancakes for dinner, after which we sat and talked for a while. I was very tired, and the first to go to bed.

    Where I laid my head to rest for the past week.

    On Friday Marcus has to attend to a project for a customer, so Peter and I stay at Törnagården and finish of moving the manure from the hen house. We also clean the hen house a little, and I have to admit that the sight of maggots in the hen poo was quite the challenge for me. But the day wasn’t all work: I lay on the trampoline in the sun for quite some time, and in the afternoon Vanessa took Peter and me to a beautiful lake. I took my first „swim“ for the year (not sure if the few seconds I could make myself stay in the coldcoldcold water count).

    Saturday Marcus had to finish up Friday’s project (sadly but not unsurprisingly that ate up quite a bit more time than planned). The rest of us went to Falköping. The thrift store Vanessa was going to show us was closed but we discovered one that she hadn’t been to, either, so it was a win for all three of us. Peter bought a beautiful old alarm clock, which ticks very loudly, and which has an alarm sound that I am not too crazy about, but which I hopefully will get used to.

    In the evening the four of us went over to some friends of Vanessa’s and Marcuses‘ – Tonie, who was celebrating her 30th birthday, and Fabian. It was a beautiful evening, the first barbecue of the year, lots of interesting people with interesting stories; most of them wwoof hosts and wwoofers. Peter and I felt really welcome, and not like the tags-along (is that even a word?) we actually were.

    Inspired by herbal savvy Vanessa, Peter and I went to gather some herbs to take with us to Gothenburg – dandelion, lady’s mantle, nettle, raspberry leaves. Peter wants to make wine from the dandelion blossoms, I have been browsing the net this morning for all kinds of recipes, and now it looks like there is going to be a pesto fest coming up (and thus probably some recipe posts, too).

    In the afternoon, Peter and I went to Bossgården, a farm we had also considered wwoofing at, and which is actually the place where Vanessa and Marcus first were wwoofers themselves. At this point, we are trying to get into as many heads as possible of people who are doing what we hopefully will be doing ourselves some day in the not too distant future. Jonas, who runs Bossgården with his wife, Sanna, was kind enough to let us pick his brains over delicious homemade sour dough bread.

    On Monday, Peter and I prepared two of the green houses by weeding and fertilizing them. I think I actually enjoyed this activity the most out of all our little wwoof-projects. Who knew that digging around in the dirt with my hands might turn out to be my thing?

    My pleasure of digging around in the dirt however was surpassed by the joy of meeting someone else who has been doing that on a whole different scale – and for years: In the afternoon, Vanessa Peter and I went to see a guy that had been much talked about the previous evening. He was said to be building an earthship, and that was just way too interesting not to check out. The earthship turned out much more amazing than what I had imagined (and thanks to Vanessa, I remembered to take at least some pix this time). Kevin and the story of his earth ship were also really interesting, so if you ever happen to be in the Tidaholm area, I can only recommend that you stop by. We showed up unannounced (which we had been told was ok but somehow it still felt a little weird for me anyway), one of the kids had the stomach-flue – and we were still welcomed with open arms both by Sandra and Kevin. There is so much to be said about this earth ship, and the journey Kevin and his family have been on since they started building it. I am actually thinking that it is deserving of its own post, so for now we will have to make do with some pix.

    Yesterday (Tuesday), we left – after one last look at the crib.

     

    On the way home, we stopped by Hjo, one of the three cities in Sweden that have made it their goal to preserve as many of the old buildings as possible. It was beautiful, and – again – I took way too few pictures.

    Tvål fabriken = soap factory
    Känsla = feeling

    I felt really lucky when I found a little brochure at the tourist information about a place that sells locally grown white asparagus just outside Hjo. That has definitely been one of the things I miss about Germany, the measly little overpriced bundles you get at the grocery store here just don’t cut it. So I got to buy expensive but hopefully delicious „real“ asparagus for once. And whaddaya know, the guy running the place turned out to be from Germany originally. Driving by the fields, and seeing the workers (from Poland judging from the license plates of the cars parked at the farm), I couldn’t help but wonder about their wages, and I started thinking about Two Caravans and It’s a Free World … And then I started to think about my own hypocrisy, for after all: what about all the people involved in the process of producing my food that I buy at the grocery store, whose faces I don’t happen to see right in front of me? …

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Recipe – Fig smoothie

    OK, there’s no dancing around this: this one may look healthy but calling it tasty-looking would be a stretch.

    It tastes not only better than it looks, it actually tastes good. And it is healthy. Another raw food inspiration I took with me from visiting our friend C.

    How to (makes about four servings):

    1. Soak about a cup of figs over night (it’s a raw food thing: soaking everything – to get rid of toxins (seeds and nuts), or in this case just to make it more digestible).
    2. About half an hour or so before you want to prepare the smoothie, soak some powdered nettle, hip and blueberry (of course you can use the real thing, too, but we happen to have tons of this powdered stuff, it’s supposed to be rich in vitamins and stuff – gosh, this sounds like I don’t even know why I am doing half the stuff I am doing … which is completely untrue! … er … well). At Peter’s request, I added some spirulina, too (algi, also … um, healthy)
    3. Put the figs in the blender – with the water they were soaking in! Blend. Duh.
    4. Add the powder that should have turned into a creamy goo by now.
    5. Add a banana (or more, if you like), even some agave syrup if you like it REALLY sweet.
    6. Add water depending on what kind of texture you like

    At our friend’s we ate this with berries (picked by her in the woods behind her house, of course). We were out so we had to go without. What I like best about this smoothie/cream is how the fig seeds crackle in my mouth.

    Oh yeah: and how it makes it possible to take in all these vitamin supplements that I couldn’t force down before when I tried to just drink the stuff. I guess you can come a long way with sugar.

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Pizza buns

    It has become sort of an institiution for me to make Swedish cinnamon buns when I visit anyone in Germany. But since my friends and I are meeting for dinner tonight (yes, you guessed right, this is a scheduled post – I am on the train to Frankfurt if you’re reading this right when it gets posted), and someone else is already taking care of dessert, I decided to make pizza buns instead.

    The basic recipe and technique is the same, I just didn’t add any sugar this time, and instead of cardamon I used pizza spices. For the filling I took tomato purée, chopped up mushrooms and peppers. Topped off the buns with mozzarella cheese and salt. Et voila:

    ***

     

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Recipe – Scones

    When I was an exchange student in the USA, my (host) mom would make pancakes or scones on the weekends for breakfast. I loved and kept this tradition later on. Until I – like most people it seems, including my host family – kind of fell of the sugar and carb wagon. But the other day I just couldn’t resist. So if you want to celebrate this Sunday (or my American mom), make some scones!

    Here’s my mom’s recipe for 12 scones:

    2 3/4 cups (ca. 6,5 dl) flour (I used whole wheat)
    1/2 cup (ca. 1 dl)  sugar
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    3/4 cups (ca. 2 dl) firm butter, cut into small pieces
    1 cup (ca. 2,5) milk
    add fruit if desired

    • Mix dry ingredients,
    • cut in butter until crumbs,
    • stir in milk,
    • knead 25 times,
    • shape and place 2 inches apart.
    • Bake 400° F (200 ° C) for 18-22 minutes

    During the colder season, I like to add orange zest – lemon zest tastes great, too, but to me it’s more of a „cold“/fresh taste (= summer in my mind), while orange feels more „warm“. You know what I mean?

    My favorite breakfast – besides American pancakes, of course!
  • Bewusst Leben,  DIY & Kreativ,  Sarines Gesundheitstipps,  Sarines Haushaltstipps,  Sarines Lieblingsrezepte

    Quick home-made Ayurvedic herbal tea

    The Ayurveda book that I like the most out of the bunch I picked up at the library is Judith H. Morrison’s The Book of Ayurveda. It gives a great overview over pretty much all aspects of life, has lots of info boxes and lists, which appeals to me.

    I found a simple recipe for some herbal tea that is supposed to be good for those of us with a dominant Pitta dosha or excessive Pitta (over the past week’s reading I have realized that I have both right now, almost freakishly textbook definition thereof!).

    So this is it: mix equal parts of fennel, cilantro and caraway seeds. Use one teaspoon per cup. Just boil some water and add. Done!

    fennel, cilantro and caraway seeds

    Due to the hot water the tea as such is obviously „hot“. But according to Ayurveda, the quality of the ingredients (the seeds) and therefore: the quality/effect of the tea is „cold“ or „cooling“. Ideal for me because I prefer drinking warm stuff but I really don’t need to pour any more gasoline on that Pitta fire right now!

    Pitta-friendly tea