Sunday Thoughts

This weekend has gone by faster than you can say "Thank God it's Friday" (unless you use the acronym.maybe.). It's been such a whirlwind, my emotions have gone on more than a couple of rollercoasters and I found it extremely difficult to calm down, relax and just be.

This is never particularily easy for me but the past few days, my heart has been beaing even faster than usual, my mind overflowing with a whole mess of entangled thoughts, hopes and worries.

If I said I didn't know what was gling on, I'd be lying. While there weren't a lot of stressful activities scheduled, some unexpected things happened and it felt as though I didn't havethe time to sit down for a moment to make sense of the chaos in my mind. Reading the book "The Highly Sensitive Person"  has made me conscious of the effects that changes of any kind and the all too common go-go-go way of living have on my physical and mental well-being.

Hell, I get stressed out by not knowing what I'll be having for breakfast the next day, so saying that I'm a lover of fixed routines whould be quite an understatement.

And I've realised that on those days where I follow a grounding morning ritual, incorporating warm lemom-ginger water, yoga, meditation and a long breakfast, my mind simply feels more clear. A calm, quiet mind makes all the difference but is something i cannot always achieve. Though I have found certain things that help clear my head, there ar e days where I'm just running around like a frightened chicken - followed by nights during which I toss and turn in my bed, fall asleep only to wake up again after 30 minutes, mornings where I am wide awake by 5 am, excited and nervous about the day ahead without feeling rested.

I can distinctively remember the last good, long night of aleep I got, the last morming where I woke up only once, at a reasonable time and got up immediatly because I felt ready to start my day. There are few nights like that but as long as they exist, I can hold onto them.They give me hope when I'm lying in bed at 2 am on a weeknight, unable to turn of my thoughts and steady my racing heartbeat.

Yesterday, I read a blogpost on how your affirmations, the things you tell yourself over and over again, ultimately create your reality , how nothing will ever actually change unless you change your thought. It got me thinking, could I really unconsciously be causing my own sleep issues? Was the reason why I often can't sleep that, at the very core of my being, I believe that that's just the way it is and is supposed to be?

My first impulse was to be angry and annoyed at the blogger, how could he suggest that I was the cause for my own struggles? How on earth was I supposed to think and truly believe that I would get a good night of sleep when there where literally hundreds of nights in my past to prove otherwise?

 But then, as I continued to reflect on it, I realised that maybe, he was right and that this could potentially turn out to be quite amazing. After years of believing that my bad sleep patterns where just as unchangeable a part of me as the colour of my eyes, something I simply had to cope with, there was this new possibility that the tool to end my struggles was somewhere inside of me, I just had to learn how tu use it.

Of cours it sounds incredibly simple to "just change your thoughts", when it's most definitely everything but easy. But still, I'll try. If there is even the slightest chance that through this, I'll be able to sleep soundly for days, maybe weeks at a time sometime in the future, then it is worth it. It may seem easier, more comfortable, to remain in this state of constant fear of the next sleepless night, after all it's what I've known for more years than I dare to count. But I am done with letting fear rule my life, I want to take control instead of letting my circumstances control me.

Please do read the article in question (Habit#5) , I would love to hear your thoughts!

Winter Running Playlist

I do not understand people who can go for runs on their own without music, an audiobook, or some other sort of entertainment to keep them distracted. If all I had to listen to for 40 minutes or more was my own breath, I would not be able to push myself to keep going at that point where running seems to cause nothing but agony to my body. A good beat is what gets me started after I step out of my front door, motivational lyrics make me run that little bit faster at the middle of a run and the comfort of an old favorite song reminds me that I've been through this before and therefore will get through it again even if my legs are screaming in pain. 

It might seem counterintuitive, but music actually allows me to think better, drowning out the noise of my own, unproductive thoughts and giving room to new ones. therefore, when I know i have a brand new playlist to power me through my run, I am much more likely to actually get out there and I immediately look forward to those 8 kilometres, no matter what the conditions are.

 These songs have been my go-to choices for the past week and I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do!

(I've created an 8tracks playlist as well if you don't use Spotify)

Recipe : Sweet Potato, Carrot & Red Lentil Soup

Well, hello there! I believe it has been more than 4 months since my last post and I will not go into much detail on why I haven't been active on here, let's just say that school has been a lot more demanding than I'd expected this year. In between juggling assignments and trying to stay active while also spending some time with friends and family, I'm afraid this blog has come a bit short.

I am not going to make promises I probably won't keep, however I will definitely try to post more regularly on here in the future.

This soup is everything I crave after a cold, busy winter day. It is warm, flavorful, nourishing and incredibly simple to whip up! Red Lentils and Sweet Potatoes are one of my favourite food combinations during the colder months, they are filling and have oh so many nutritional benefits! As a vegetarian, legumes are one of my favourite sources of protein and red lentils are much easier to digest and cook more quickly than their green and black counterparts. 

Whenever I am feeling tired and burned out after a long day of school, the warming combination of these two wonderful orange plants is sure to make me feel cozy and nourished. I whipped up this particular dish on a whim one night last week and was surprised at how wonderful it turned out to be. This is definitely a very hearty kind of soup, so if you want a lighter meal you might want to leave out the chickpeas.

The lighting was extremely bad in these photos and doesn't make the vibrant colour of the soup justice at all. However, I hope you still try out this soup as it really is comfort in a bowl!

Sweet Potato, Carrot & Red Lentil Soup (Vegan)

(serves 2-4 as a main)

Ingredients:

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, pressed

small piece of ginger, diced

1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil or ghee

2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into ~ 2 cm cubes

2 carrots, sliced

1/2 cup of dried red lentils

4-6 cups of vegetable broth

1/2 cup of coconut milk

cumin

turmeric

salt & pepper

Optional:

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed

For garnishing:

sliced green onion

pumpkin seeds

spinach

Instructions:

Heat the coconut oil in a large pot. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and sauté for 5 minutes.

Add cumin and turmeric (as much as you like) and continue to cook for about a minute.

Then add the sweet potatoes, carrots, lentils and vegetable broth and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Blend the soup using an immersion or regular blender, then add it back to the pot.

 Stir in the coconut milk and can of chickpea if using, add more water if it is too thick for your taste.

Cook until it has the desired temperature, then add to your bowl, garnish with green onions, pumpkin seeds and spinach and devour!

Wonder

"maybe it is a lottery, but the universe makes it all even out in the end. the universe takes care of all its birds."  Part Five - Justin

Books move something in me that movies or music have never been able to. When i am reading a good story, I am completely absorbed in it, so deeply that my own world seems to simply fade into background noise. Sometimes, even hours after I've stopped reading, I catch myself feeling or thinking like one of the characters, even though these thoughts and feelings don't fit my actual situation. Books give me the ability to shut of my brain and be fully immersed in an activity, which is a state I can almost never achieve. However, there are only few books which have given me this complete sense of being in a whole other universe and affected my emotions even past the point of pressing the off-button on my kindle. The Divergent series, The Rosie Project, The Universe versus Alex Woods, Zutritt Verboten (a german children's book) and now, Wonder.

You can't blend in when you were born to stand out. 

My Name is August. 

I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse."  

- RJ Palacio

August is 10 years old when his parents think it is time for him to go to a normal school. Born with a facial abnormality which demanded several surgeries, August had been home-schooled by his mother until that point and the prospect of going to a place with hundreds of other kids doesn't seem very appealing to him. Eventually though he decides to go anyways, overcoming his fear of how people are going to react to seeing him. The books describes his first year at school and how it affects himself and the people around him from 6 different point of views: his own and those of 5 other children who are each connected to August in their own way.

Throughout the whole story, you never get a clear description of what August's face exactly looks like. And while the nosy part of me would have needed an exact drawing or photograph to be satisfied, in the end it didn't matter. It wasn't about his appearance but how he and others choose to live with it. This story doesn't end with a miraculous surgery which will "repair" his face and they will live happily ever after. It is much more insightful than that.

Even though the book is written out of children's perspective, it isn't childish. It is intelligent, witty, moving and most of all: it feels real. So real that, with each change of narrator your whole position shifts. You might have felt nothing but sympathy, even pity for August's situation but one page into the next part and all of a sudden, things don't seem so black and white anymore.
It is her ability to completely alter her style of writing with every different narrator that I admire most about RJ Palacio. While yes, she can only try to imitate and imagine the way a child thinks, it doesn't feel that way when you read through the book. She created 6 completely different characters, each special in their own way, while avoiding to make them seem too perfect, evil or nice to be true.

This book is mainly about a kid who seems to have had the whole universe turned against him at birth and yet, the author manages to make me as a reader feel about a 100 different emotions while reading her story, only one of them being pity. If you read anything next month, let it be this book, even if you blieve children's books are only for children (you can always pretend it's your nephew/daughter/brother/best friend's sister's son's).

"I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives." - August Pullman

I was looking for a dessert to make for my grandparents when they were supposed to be coming over for dinner and was starting to get a little desperate when I found this beauty on the Green Kitchen Stories blog. It was everything I'd been wanting to make: light, fresh, summery and the flavors tied in perfectly with the middle eastern theme of the main dish. I'd been intrigued to try a frozen dessert like this one for a long time but had never found a good opportunity to make one so this tart got me really excited!

I prepared the tart one day ahead of time as I was working during the day and therefore wouldn't have time to do so the next day. As it said in the recipe that you could freeze it for a couple of days, I didn't think this would be a problem.

And it probably wouldn't have been, if my grandparents had actually come for dinner that planned day but they had a particularly stressful day at the bakery and felt too tired to do so. Hence the cake remained in its springform for another 4 days, until they could make it.

I took the cake out of the freezer about half an hour before I wanted to serve it, but it would have probably taken an hour or more to properly defrost. The crust tasted absolutely amazing, just the right amount of salty and sweet, and I believe the yogurt filling would have been quite dreamy had it not been sitting in the freezer for so long. The flavors were there but the texture was quite icy which made it a little difficult to eat. Everyone still ate their whole slice so I think it's safe to say that we all enjoyed it, despite the iciness of the yogurt layer.

Being the kind of person I am, I probably won't be making this again - there are simply too many recipes out there that I still want to try! That being said, I definitely recommend this cake, and the Green Kitchen Stories blog in general. I could spend hours reading through their blog, every post is filled with so much love and personality and the pictures are to die for - please check them out if you haven't heard of their blog already (which I'm sure you have).

Life Lessons & Banana Bread

After closing the front door behind me, I headed straight for the kitchen. Almost completely black and therefore perfectly ripe they were just waiting to be mashed and transformed into something delicious: 5 mini bananas I'd bought for this exact purpose a few days earlier.
So i turned on my oven and got started. Liquids and bananas into the blender, dry ingredients into a bowl. Mix it together, let it rest, pour it into a loaf tin. Some flaked coconut on top - done.
All there was left to do was wait while the unmistakeable smell of banana bread slowly filled my kitchen. It's the kind of smell you want to have in a bottle to sniff on when you're feeling down, the smell that hugs you the way a fluffy blanket and hot chocolate does. It's also the kind of smell that makes cleaning up your kitchen a whole lot easier.

The 60 minutes felt much longer than that and I practically jumped up from my couch when the timer finally went off. A toothpick came out clean and I couldn't hold my excitement over how gorgeous the bread looked. Warm, gooey, slightly caramelized banana slices and toasted coconut flakes on top really do make all the difference when it comes to the aesthetics of banana bread.

A quarter of an hour later I decided it was time to take the loaf out of its baking tin and cut myself a slice. I noticed the bottom part of the bread was unusually moist and suddenly, I didn't feel as confident about the outcome of my little baking adventure anymore. The first cut confirmed my doubts: the inside of the bread was still extremely wet and gooey and the texture reminded me of scrambled eggs. I turned the oven back on, put the failed loaf back into the tin and the oven, hoping that 20 more minutes would maybe make it right. Experience said otherwise, the texture was nothing like a banana bread should be and I knew nothing would be able to solve that but I couldn't simply give up on this loaf.
I ended up leaving it in the oven for another 40 minutes and then went to bed with the tiny bit of hope that the bread would be less moist once it had dried. It wasn't.

When I first took that bread out of the oven, I was so thrilled. I couldn't wait for it to be cool enough for me to enjoy a slice, something I'd been dreaming of for over 4 days. I'd bought the bananas, endured the torture of not being able to eat them, reread the recipe I was going to use about 25 times. On my last day of work, I wasn't planning to go out and celebrate, no, I was looking forward to going home to bake. And I love the act of baking by itself more than I'd like to admit but in the end, it still is more about the result than the process. It is the (literal) piece of cake at the end of the road that makes me spend hours in the kitchen measuring out flour, melting chocolate and kneading dough.

So yes, i was disappointed about the way this bread tuned out (or rather, didn't turn out). My first reaction was self-blame ("you must have misread the recipe"), then blaming others ("this recipe simply doesn't work") followed by regret ("why didn't I use the recipe I always do"). However, none of these reactions change the fact that things didn't work out the way I'd wanted them to.

If I had used my usual go-to recipe, I would have wondered whether a different one might have tasted better cause that's the way I am. I adore trying out new recipes and I have to embrace the fact that sometimes, this leads to failure. However, failure simultaneously means progress, learning how not to do something. It also means having to learn to accept that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, how excited you are or how much you want things to work out, they don't. And that's not the end of the world.

p.s. I used this recipe by the way and even though it didn't work for me, maybe it will for some of you. Let me know if it does.

shades of red

When you take a look around my room, the predominant colour you see is red. Red walls, red carpet, red closet and (depending on the week) red sheets. You'd think the owner of the room must really like the colour red, yet I don't.

I don't own a single red clothing item and I never buy anything red if there are other options (except if that option is orange. I really hate orange.).

While I don't appreciate the look of red, I can't deny the feeling of comfort it gives a room. I feel instantly calmer once I step into my bedroom and I give the dark red walls credit for that.

These are just a few snapshots I took over the past few weeks and quite liked. The jar on the last picture is filled with strawberry chia seed jam, which I really suggest you try, such an easy and natural way to create marmalade (I used this recipe).

Meat Nostalgia

One morning last week, while waiting for customers to turn up, I found myself in a conversation circling around delicious meat dishes. It was not long before my lunch break and I was literally counting the minutes when one of my coworkers started talking about the Currywurst she'd had the day before. I immediately started reminiscing the times when we'd eaten these sausages in Cologne which then led me to danish Hot Dogs and Austrian "Winer Schnitzel". We were all happily chatting away on the delicious world of meat when one of the girl's I'm working with stated the obvious : "You do realize that you're raving about meat right?"

I don't remember exactly what i responded but i do know that it only became clear to me in that moment that I had practically vowed to never eat those dishes I love again. This got me wondering, would I really be able to go through with completely cutting meat from my diet?

The more I thought about it, I noticed that all of the foods i found so difficult to let go of were linked to very distinct places and events and simultaneously evoked positive memories. 

I will always remember the skiing holidays when my dad refused to cut my Schnitzel for me so I would learn to do it myself and I still had one every single day, no matter how much I struggled with eating it (not my father's brightest educational moment by the way).

Our family holidays in Denmark would definitely not have been the same without the Hot Dog lunches at the beach and every single visit to Cologne ends at that same "Currywurst" stand, where my stepfather finally gets his sausage. I don't even want to imagine what Christmas is going to be like for me next year, when I won't be eating one of the only meat dishes I enjoy purely for the taste and texture of the meat: stuffed turkey. 

However, I believe that the greatness of these foods is most probably at least partially a product of my brain and influenced by Nostalgia. If someone would be offering me a Wiener Schnitzel at this precise moment, I wouldn't even contemplate eating it for a second. During the skiing holidays in Austria though? Entirely different question.
Some meals will always remind me of certain places and bring up memories, as well as connect me to the people I shared these moments with. While the food wasn't the most important thing in that moment, thinking about what you had for dinner that night often sparks a firework of positive memories surrounding that meal.

Even though I am almost 100 percent sure I will never crave meat in a way that would make me throw away the principles I believe in now, I cannot say the same for the dishes which have a certain sentimental value to me. Whether I am going to manage to refuse having a serving of turkey at christmas this year, I don't know, simply because I am not sure if I really want to forbid myself the pleasure.

Not having faced any such challenges so far, following a vegetarian diet has come quite easy to me and I still believe that it is the right thing to do, for me at least. I am only at the very beginning at this journey though and I haven't decided yet on how I am going to handle certain situations.

What is your opinion on this matter, do you think it's ok to have meat at certain special occasions simply because it is a tradition?

Vegetarian Update #1

Well, hello there.

So much for "blogging more often" or even the simple "weekly update" I'd promised (it's been a little over a week since my last post).

I could give you a long list of excuses now as of why I have not had the time to blog, but honestly, i've just really been enjoying my summer. Working at the bakery is much more fun than I'd expected it to be, turns out simply being around cake (and eating it, too) is a pretty good happiness booster for me, just as spending time surrounded by friends and good food in the evenings certainly has had its positive effects. Which brings us to the subject of this post: my experiences as a vegetarian so far. There are a few things I've noticed and I thought I'd share them with you!

1. People's reactions

I was extremely surprised by the way people reacted to me telling them I wasn't going to be eating meat anymore. While almost all of them were quite shocked at first, when I explained my reasoning to them most just shrugged and accepted my decision. While I did notice some of my friends don't really think much of vegetarianism in general, not a single person so far has tried to convince me to change my opinion. Some were even quite interested in the facts that influenced my lifestyle choice.

One phrase I heard a lot was " But how can you live without (insert favourite meat dish)?" to which I simply responded that I'd never liked meat that much or ever craved a burger in the way that other people might. 

In a nutshell, I'd expected to have to justify myself much more than I did and the reactions I got were overwhelmingly positive.

2. Food options

While I've never been much of a pure meat eater, completely cutting it from my diet made it obvious how much meat I really was consuming without even noticing it was there, out of sheer convenience. Whether it be the bacon in a quiche lorraine or the odd ham and cheese sandwich, even though I'd almost never choose a dish because of the meat, I really wasn't following a vegetarian diet in any way. Many dishes I was eating before taste just as good without the meat (in my opinion) but people still put it in there. However, most of the time, it is fairly easy to simply ommit it or choose a different option. Finding something to eat has not been difficult at all and deliberately choosing not to consume any meat has made me try dishes I otherwise wouldn't have picked. Which brings me to...

3. Eating out.

I really thought going to a restaurant would be quite a challenge but the exact opposite was the case. Usually, I'd study the menu for ages, overwhelmed by the amount of choices. Crossing out any dishes which include meat makes the decision-taking process much faster and smoother - to the delight of those used to my struggles when it comes to choosing what to eat. I also feel as though I am unconsciously making healthier choices, with vegetable-centered dishes replacing creamy pasta. During the past week, I've fallen in love with food I otherwise would have never tried and a whole world of delicious, fresh and colorful food I never knew was there has opened up.

4. Cooking

Due to the fact that I am working at the moment, I haven't experimented very much with my cooking since going vegetarian but there are literally hundreds of foods I want to try, recipes I want to cook and alternatives to usually meat-centered dishes which I am determined to find. Before last week, I'd never given tofu a second glance whereas now, I find myself more and more intrigued by the possibilities it creates. One thing I was quite worried about was how this was going to affect people enjoying the food I cook for them. After yesterday's lunch though, which consisted of a creamy, avocado based pasta sauce with soba noodles, I don't think this is going to be a real problem. Everyone thorougly enjoyed it, even my dad who is one of the biggest meat-eaters I know. Also, I've realized that my food choices don't have to influence the way the people around me eat. We are having people over for dinner tonight for chicken gyros and falafels - so I simply won't be eating any chicken.

There are many more things which I could talk about right now, but I don't want this post to be too long so I'll simply leave it at that. So far, I don't see myself going back to the way I was eating before( just over a week ago, such a long time right?). Not only do I feel better from a physical point of view but I am more calm knowing that my food choices don't counterdict my ethical beliefs anymore.

I hope you found this post at least the slightest bit interesting and I'll try to be more consistent with my blogging.

Going Vegetarian

The question of whether or not I should be consuming meat has been present at the back of my mind since I could understand the meaning of the word vegetarianism.
Every time i found myself in a conversation either with a vegetarian or simply about the topic, the same cycle of thoughts would be going through my head : 

"Well, I don't actually like meat that much, why don't I just stop eating it?
 But there's meat in so many things, and it would be so exhausting to always have to ask for something different to what everybody else is having. 
I do like animals, but in all honesty, I don't really care what that steak looked like before it got to my plate. 
If I don't feel passionately about these animals, why should I make my life so much harder through cutting meat out of my diet?
Maybe it would be more ethically correct to be a vegetarian but if I don't think about it any further, i can go on with my life as before.
I don't even eat that much meat anyways so where's the problem?"

The I'd push the issue aside and go on with my day, reassuring myself with the though that, if everybody was living this way, how wrong could it be?

“Not responding is a response - we are equally responsible for what we don't do.” - Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals

Extremely "wrong", as it turns out (although "harmful" would probably be a more appropriate word here). As Jonathan Safran Foer states in his book Eating Animals, by mindlessly consuming what everyone else around you is, presumably "doing nothing", you are already doing something. You are making a choice on a day to day basis to support an industry that is not only responsible for the suffering of millions of animals but also for the destruction and pollution of our world. This book really opened my eyes on exactly how badly a large percentage of farm animals are treated before and while they're killed and this knowledge made me wonder whether I could still support my own decision of consuming meat, even if it was only on a twice-weekly basis.

The thing is, I don't feel about the deaths of these animals the same way as most vegetarians (or at least those I know) do. I don't feel pity for them for having to die, and I can still eat the piece of pork on my plate, knowing that it once belonged to an animal just as (or more) playful and intelligent as your typical family dog. If I didn't feel this way, I probably would have been a vegetarian for a very long time. 

However, I am extremely passionate about every living being deserving a free and happy life. This might seem contradictory to what I just said, because how good of a life can an animal have if its mere purpose is to be consumed by humans? To me, if a pig was allowed to run around in the mud, was fed an appropriate diet and given shelter and medical assistance as necessary before being killed at a "reasonable" age, then I can eat the meat it offers without even a hint of a bad conscience. How I was ever able to believe that the scenario I have just described would even come close to reality,  I don't understand.

After finishing Eating Animals (bursting into tears on more than one occasion because of the sheer cruelty inflicted on the animals), I knew I would at least have to try to change my eating habits in a way that aligns with what I believe to be right. So I started by writing down the dishes including meat I thought I wouldn't want to live without. Turns out, I don't actually eat the majority of these foods because of the taste or texture of the meat(or seafood for that matter). Would I miss the chicken in my curry or the beef in Chili con Carne? Sure not. 

Yes, I do love smoked salmon, having mussels in the south of France and the stuffed turkey at christmas (which is probably the one to be avoided at all cost). However, except for the mussels, there is no way for me to ensure these animals were killed in a humane way, especially when eating out. And this, for now, means that I won't be eating them.

I set myself a period of 3 weeks (21 days is supposed to be the amount of time it takes to create a new habit) during which I will not be consumming meat at all and I'll see where to go from there. As of now, I am thinking about going 90% vegetarian or more afterwards (leaving room for my beloved mussels and the occasional organic burger), but it all depends on how I feel during and after the next 20 days. One thing i know for sure though is that I won't be having a cheap curry or Spaghetti Carbonara anytime soon.

I would love to write more on my "journey" on here if any of you are interested in hearing about it. Maybe a weekly update would be something you would like to read?I would sure love to have some feedback, whether you're a devoted meat-eater or a vegetarian yourself.

As always, I hope you enioyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it!

"How To Be Happy"

We all have those days where the world just seems to be turning against you: your bus is late, your boss yells at you for no reason and they mix up your order at your favourite restaurant.

Today was one of those days for me. I got up at 6 am because I had forgotten that school wouldn't start until 9 today and my feet were already soaking wet before I even got to my first class as I was wearing tom's (which are not shoes you want to be wearing in the rain). Combined with the fact that I was absolutely exhausted, this amounted to me wanting to simply go back to bed and stay there all day long.

I completely let these factors I had absolutely no influence on ruin my day; definitely not one of my proudest moments.

This video was exactly what I needed, a reminder that I am the only one responsible for my own Happiness. It is sometimes so easy to dwell on the negative, instead of focussing on all the positive things that are constantly present all around us. Patricia has been one of my favourite youtubers for over two years and I think this video of hers is another prime example for what a truly admirable, positive and inspirational person she is. I am definitely going to try to incorporate her tips into my daily life more and I believe they can be helpful to almost anyone. So, if you have a few minutes on your hands, please make sure to check it out!

A Summer Breakfast: Carrot Cake Overnight Oats & Maple Ice Coffee

I thought I'd do something a little different today and show you how to make one of my favourite breakfasts for summer (or any time really), as well as a super easy "recipe" for some delicious homemade iced coffee. This breakfast takes close to no time in the morning as you prepare most of it the night before, so its perfect for those rushed weekday mornings. Even the preparation is pretty quick so there really is no reason to stick with your boring old buttered toast when you can have something so delicious and nutritious with the same amount of effort. So here are my new obsession, carrot cake overnight oats and some maple iced coffee!

While i love my porridge all year round, when temperatures start to drop i mostly crave something fresh in the mornings. This is where overnight oats come in perfectly, they have about the same texture as your usual porridge without the heat! All you have to do is mix your oats with some milk or water (although i really prefer milk for overnight oats) and whatever other ingredients you want to add the night before, let it sit in the fridge overnight(hence the name), and in the morning, you've got your oats ready to be devoured. I even think preparing oats this way can give them

more flavour than when you cook them on the stove, as the milk soaks up a bit of everything you put in there.

It might sound a bit crazy to put carrots into your oats at first (after all, they are a vegetable) but believe me on this one, it's incredibly good! So good in fact that i've had it for three breakfasts in a row this week. It kind of tastes like a healthy carrot cake dough and i find myself savouring every single spoonful of it, so I really hope you enjoy it too!

Carrot Cake Overnight Oats (vegan and gluten free)

Ingredients:

some kind of jar to store it in

1/3 cup gluten free oats (or regular if you're not gluten intolerant)

1/2 cup milk (i used unsweetened almond milk)

1/4 cup pineapple

1/2 medium carrot, grated

1/2 tablespoon flax seed (or chia seed if you like the texture)

1-2 dates, chopped

1 dried fig, chopped

1 teaspoon cinnamon

optional:

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

a few drops rum extract

Method:

First of all, blend up the pineapple and milk in your jar by using a hand mixer (you can of course do this in your blender as well).

Then simply add your oats, flax seed, grated carrot, dates, dried fruit, cinnamon and any additional flavours to the jar and mix it all up with a spoon or by simply shaking the jar. Let it sit in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours or overnight.

When you're ready to eat, leave it as it is or top it with whatever you like. Fresh fruit  such as strawberries and banana, nut butter, granola and coconut flakes are my personal favourites!

The next "recipe" probably doesn't even deserve to be called that. It really is super  quick and easy and if you leave the coconut whipped cream aside, it takes close to no time at all to make while still being really tasty. I find that most of the time, the easiest recipes are the best ones!

 

Maple Iced Coffee (with coconut whipped cream)

Ingredients:

for the coffee:

~1/2 cup of freshly brewed or refrigirated coffee

enough ice to fill your glass at least halfway

as much milk as you like (i used oat milk)

1-2 teaspoons of maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want it to be)

(optional) for the coconut whipped cream:

a can if full-fat coconut milk

1-2 teaspoons maple syrup

Method:

for the coffee:

First of all, brew your coffee whichever way you like, i used my nespresso machine for this. Fill a tall glass of water with ice cubes, then simply pour the coffee over the top. Add milk and maple syrup to your liking and for a bit of a treat, top it with some coconut whipped cream. Enjoy!

coconut whipped cream:

 

Take your can of coconut milk out of the refrigirator after you left it there overnight. This step really is crucial so don't try to rush it.

Open up your can at the bottom so the coconut water just flows out and you're left with a more solid residue, the coconut cream (you can use the water for smoothies and such). Then simply beat it with a hand mixer until you get the  texture of whipped cream and add a bit of sweetener if you like. I find this much easier with non-organic coconut milk as the residue isn't quite as solid but you'll just have to beat the other onr a bit longer. Top your iced coffee with a tablespoon or two of your whipped cream and store leftovers in the fridge. This tastes delicious on basically everything: berries, crumbles(berry crumbles?), yogurt,...you name it!

I really hope you like this type of posts as i had so much fun creating it! I'd love to hear if any of you try out yhese recipes:)

on the future of this blog

I know it's been very quiet on here the last few weeks and the last post i wrote was one i didn't have to put a lot of effort into. We do have an extremely short last term of the school year so everything is kind of cramed together, meaning there isn't a single week were i don't have at least two exams to write. But school is only partly to blame for the lack of posts, the main reason is that i am not really sure where i want this blog to go.
I love skincare and makeup, trying out new products and writing about them but i want to put more of myself into my writing, my thoughts, worries and simply moments or things that inspired me. Personally, the blogs i love reading most are either beauty or health/food related ones where you feel like you know the person behind the website. I am talking about blogs such as Lipstick with some sunshine or The Blonde Vegan but also The Raw Foodsisters. I want my personality to shine through in my writing and I want to write about my own personal struggles and experiences, but this doesn't come easy to me.
Writing this post is already quite hard for me as i tend to keep my thoughts and emotions to myself, even if this means they are literally eating me up from the inside. Express what i really feel and to do so in a way that people actually want to read it is something i feel i'm not very good at,but also one of the things i strive for most in my writing.
The fact that english isn't my mother language is making it even harder for me to feel comfortable about my posts. While the words seem to just flow out of my fingertips at times,there are moments where it feels more like a fight, a constant struggle, me against the letters. Still, english is the language i want to write in, as much as i love german it just never sounds quite right to me, like it's impossible to express what i really want to say.

This post  was a bot more rambly than i'd entended but i just wanted to let you know that i am in fact still here, i am just trying to figure out  how i can turn this into the kind of place i know it can be: a place where i can share the things i'm passionate about and hopefully someday help and/or someone. For now, i am simply some random teenage girl writing to less than a dozen readers (whom i love, i am filled with joy every single time i see a new comment,page view or subscriber has come to this blog), and as most teenagers, i am still trying to find my path and place in this world. And while life is a constant search and there is no one goal which, once reached, will fill you with endless bliss, i do hope this blog can help push me in the right direction. As of now, there is just a sea of millions of  blinking arrows, all pointing somewhere entirely different and i have no idea which one to follow. Which you can probably tell by the way this post started out as something entirely different than what it  eventually ended up being.

Anyways, i hope at least one person found this post enjoyable and maybe you are or have been in a similar situation. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Berlin Wall

We went on a 4-day class trip to Berlin last week, and even though the sky was grey and gloomy almost the whole time we had a blast! I don't think it really mattered where we were to be honest, we would've had fun anywhere.

The days were filled with laughter, too much beer and far too little sleep, so i've been a bit of a zombie this past week. My bed is the most appealing thing to me right now and i can't wait to finally be able to sleep in tomorrow, it's all i've been looking forward to for days.

I was planning on taking lots of photos while we were there but on the one day where the weather was actually decent, i'd decided not to take my camera with me as it just meant additional weight on my already sore shoulder. I did take it along on our last morning when we went to the East Side Gallery and took some touristy shots of the Berlin wall. I hope you enjoy!

Madrid

During the easter holidays i not only went to Vienna with my mother but also visited my older stepsister in Madrid with my father's side of the family. She is doing an erasmus year abroad there at the moment and was really excited to show us around the city.

When stepping off the plane we were greeted by the warm spain air and i could not have been happier. The weather got better and better with each day, it honestly felt like summer. We spend 4 amazing days there, relaxed and full of laughter. What better than to explore such a beautiful city with the people you love, especially when the sun is shinning?

I absolutely fell in love with Madrid, it is incredibly vibrant, the people are friendly and the architecture is just gorgeous. Everything seems to be following a different clock there, slower and therefore less stressful. This feeling is only intensified by the fact that spanish people have lunch and dinner much later than we generally do, the shops are therefore open for longer (10 pm!) and you will still find people on the streets at 1 in the morning wherever you go.

Having someone with us who already knew the city was a blessing, no walking around planlessly or wasting time visiting places that, eventually, weren't worth it. It was great not really having to worry about planing much for the day ahead as we usually just did a "cultural" activity in the mornings and then strolled around the city for the rest of the day. 

For food there were two places which really stayed in my mind even days after we went there, Lateral and the Mercado San Miguel. After a slightly disappointing tapas dinner the first night we managed to get a table at Lateral the following day for lunch and the food was just heavenly. We ordered all sorts of different tapas but the avocado tartare with salmon and the grilled goat cheese salad were simply divine. However, all of their tapas were delicious and even the ice cream my dad had there a few days later seemed to have been really good.

Also tapas but in a slightly different setting is what you can get at the Mercados San Miguel. The market is situated right in the centre of the city, inside a metal "builduing". They have every type of food your heart could ever desire: from fresh juice to meat in all shapes and forms, pasta and traditional spanish cuisine as well as a huge selection of sweet pastries and dessert. Most things are sold in small portions, so it is a bit like eating tapas, just with much more variety. I had the most delicious mozarella toast there, as well as some kind of baby fish which looks and is eaten like pasta. The amount of choices can be a bit overwhelming and it can get quite crowded, but the quality of the food is so worth it!

Overall we had an amazing time and i'd love to visit this incredible city again as soon as possible.

Beauty Haul

I got quite a few beauty related items lately so i just thought i'd show them to you guys and also tell you what i think of them so far. Here we go!

1. Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, 12€

You can't even believe how excited i was when i went into this small makeup store in Madrid and saw that they had Real Techniques. They're brushes have been all over youtube and the blogging world for ages and everyone seems to be loving them so i really wanted to try them out. Unfortunately they didn't have the buffing brush which i was most exited about but i got the Expert Face Brush instead and so far, i'm really impressed. It applies my foundation beautifully and doesn't leave any streaks, unlike the foundation brush i used like 2 years ago which completely put me off foundation brushes - until now. Seriously recommend it if you can get your hands on it!

2. MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC20, 18€ for 9ml

Another product i've wanted to try out for a while which you can't get anywhere near where i live was the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer. I've read rave reviews on numerous blogs so i thought it must be good. So far i can't really say i love it, even if it's a good concealer. I find it accentuates my dry patches more than i'd like it too but the staying power is quite amazing. However, to me that's not actually a good thing as my foundation doesn't stay put as well so i'm just left with patches of concealer all over my face which become pretty visible. I don't think i am going to be repurchasing this.

3. NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Fiji 41€ for 30ml

I really need to start buying the shade lighter than the one i think fits my skin in store when it comes to foundations. Fidji looked like the perfect match in Sephora but in daylight and even just in my bathroom mirror it really is quite a bit too dark for me. However, i absolutely love the finish and the way it feels on the skin, it's dewy without looking shiny or greasy, kind of velvety. I also like that it doesn't really feel or look too much like makeup on the skin cause if there's one thing i hate about foundations, it's when it's easily visible you're wearing them. The staying power isn't extraordinary but it fades very nicely without looking patchy. Such a shame it's too dark for me right now, and so expensive too!

4. Smashbox Photofinish light, 13€ for 12ml

When i bought this primer i really expected it to be amazing as i'd seen so many youtubers, especially missglamorazzi, talk and rave about it. This however didn't work for me at all when i tried it out, my makeup got patchy way more easily than when i didn't wear any primer underneath it. It might have ben cause my skin was a bit on the dry side at that time so i'll give it another try sometime. So far though, i really don't think it's worth the price.

5. NYX Butter Gloss in Peach Cobbler and Tiramisu, 5 € each

For the longest time, i've absolutely despised lip glosses - i associated them with being sticky and just looking unnatural. These, however, have me converted.

They feel extremely soft and creamy on the lips and give them a nice tint with a subtle shine to them which - thankfully - doesn't have any glitter to it. And oh my, do they smell delicious!

For that price, i think you really can't go wrong with these. I'll definitely have to pick up a few more shades!

6. The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Oil, 15€ for 200ml 

On the flight to Madrid, the whole bottle of makeup remover for my face i had with me emptied into my suitcase. As the inside of my cosmetics bag is red (or was, i finally got myself to buy a new one), it stained a few of my lighter tops. Yay!

I used my eye makeup remover for my whole face for a few days but that was just way to oily so i went ahead and bought this cleansing oil from The Body Shop which i'd been eyeing for a while. I find the whole cleansing balm/oil thing really intriguing, especially as i have combination skin which gravitates more towards the drier side from time to time. 

While it is a bit pricier than my usual drugstore makeup remover it is so worth the money! This makes taking your makeup off at night feel like a treatment, it smells divine and leaves your skin feeling clean without the tight feelig i get from most cleansers. Love love love this! 

I recommend it to anyone as the oil really doesn't leave any residue on the skin but just helps keeping it moisturized.

These were all the things i bought, i hope you like these kind of mini reviews.

Cheers!

Seen: Divergent

After watching missglamorazzi's 2013 favorites where she talked about how much she loved the Divergent series i downloaded the first book onto my kindle, and i was hooked. I devoured all three books in less than 4 days which is pretty fast even for me, and i am quite a fast reader. I was immediately drawn into the story and at times i even had to remind myself that i was in fact not Tris (the main character) but still just myself. At one point i made my father wait for half an hour before we could go out for dinner, just because i needed to finish reading an especially thrilling scene. If that doesn't speak for the book, i don't know what does.

Only one or two chapters into Divergent i knew that it was going to be one of my favourite books, and the rest of the series didn't disappoint either. Even though i didn't enjoy Insurgent quite as much as the other two, it still is a really good book, i just found it to be a little less capturing.

The books since hold a spot at the very top of my favourite books-list, right next to The Rosie Project and Harry Potter (these books seriously are my childhood).

When i found out that a movie was going to be made based on the first book, Divergent, i was so freaking excited. Most of the time i am rather disappointed by film adaptions of books i like - either i imagined the characters to be different or i find there isn't enough emphasis on a part of the story which i find important (Hunger Games, Hunger Games, Hunger Games!). This wasn't he case at all for Divergent though: I absolutely love this movie!

All my doubts about Shailene Woodley being right for the role of the main character, were blown away only a few minutes into the movie. She plays Tris amazingly in my opinion and with Theo James as Four, it really can't get much better. Seriously, just look at that guy's face (or body). Seeing Shailene in Divergent made me even more excited for The Fault in our Stars where she plays the main role as well.

Thankfully, they didn't make the same mistake as they did with The Hunger Games and put too much emphasis on the action, that would have just ruined the movie for me. If there's one thing i hate in movies it's when they use so many special effects, the actual story gets kind of lost behind them. I loved the use of Woodkid's Run Boy Run in the more action-packed scenes, that song makes me want to jump and run immediately.

Overall, this was definitely one of the best movies i've seen in a while (might be cause i don't really watch many movies at all but whatever) and i highly recommend it to basically anybody, whether you've read the books or not.

Vienna

My mum and i had been planning to go to Vienna together for over two years now but somehow, something always got in the way. As we're not going on summer holidays together this year because it was too difficult to find a week where we'd all be free, we decided to take a 5 day trip to Vienna instead. 

Something about this city has just always drawn me to it, i love how long of a history it has (plenty old buildings to admire!), Austrians are some of the friendliest people i've met (in general) and i swoon just thinking about austrian food; Kaiserschmarren, Wiener Schnitzel, Apfelstrudel,...

People definitely aren't exaggerating when they say that Vienna is like an open-air museum, the buildings are just too gorgeous to be true and i honestly couldn't find a single "ugly" street.

We went to all of the touristy sights such as Schönbrunn palace, the Spanish Riding School and the Hundertwasser house but also went to a few museums which aren't quite as popular. 

I particularly loved the Hundertwasser house it is just so different to any other house i've seen before. It looks as if it was straight out of a fairy tale, trees are growing on the roof, not a single line is completely straight and there are mosaics incorporated everywhere. The people in the small cafe where you can watch a movie about the house were so incredibly friendly and seemed to be living in a whole different world. I love how dreamy and carefree the whole house looks and that the apartments aren't expensive at all and are only rented to people who don't earn too much money.

They have this thing where you can rent a bike for only 1€/hour and there are drop-off spots almost everywhere across the city, so when the weather was nice on tuesday we drove along the Ringstraße with our bikes. There are bicycle paths all across the city so it is very easy to get around that way, i would definitely recommend renting a bike if you visit. You see so much more of the city that way and it is perfect to go to the Danube Island, which we did on the last day we were there. That was probably my favourite day, we had breakfast at noon, drove around for a bit and got a Würstl (sausage) for lunch. Then we still had a few hours left before we had to leave so we just strolled around the Mariahilferstraße, which is probably the longest shopping street i've ever seen, it is huge! We also had some of the best ice cream i've ever tasted at Eis Greissler, and i am not an ice cream lover at all.

In general, the food was a definite standout for me, i honestly didn't have a single bad meal while we were in Vienna. The breakfast at the hotel was ok but other than that, everything was crazy delicious.

Even the sushi my mum and i had on sunday night when no other place was open and we were starving was pretty good and by the look of the restaurant, i was seriously scared i'd get food poisoning.

Food

Neni am Naschmarkt

You can see my meal at Neni on the 4th picture, it was sooo delicious, the hummus was super creamy and the falafels tasted amazing. Their pita bread was really tasty too and don't miss the homemade ice tea. We went back there for breakfast on friday which was pretty good as well, but nothing compared to their lunch and dinner menu.

Heindl's Palatschinkenpfandl

If you're looking for a good Kaiserschmarren, go to Heindl's Palatschinkenpfandl. We went there twice, just because it is so good, the best Kaiserschmarrn i've eaten in my life, and i've probably tried it at every restaurant on skiing holidays. They are technically known for their Palatschinken, the austrian term for crêpes, which they offer with what seems like a hundred different fillings, both savory and sweet. We tried some of those on our first visit nut while they were really good, the Kaiserschmarrn was the highlight for us and i can't have two crêpes and a Kaiserschmarren, that's just too much.

Zweitbester

We only went to this restaurant because there weren't any tables available at Neni but i'm so glad we did. The athmosphere is really relaxed as it is both a bar and a restaurant at the same time, the waitress was incredibly friendly and answered to all of our questions and the food was out of this world delicious. You can watch the chef prepare your plate which he did with such devotion, it was admirable. I had a rubarb and rocket salad with pear and grilled goat cheese, the flavours were really different and interesting and played perfectly together. For desert i had their sticky date pudding with caramelized bananas.so.delicious. The cake melted in your mouth and the bananas were the perfect addition to make the dish a little different. My brother had their creme brulée which was huuge, honestly, and it seemed to be quite delicious too. Overall a definite winner in my books.

Cupcakes Wien

We discovered this shop by accident as i had to go to the bathroom so we went into the MUMOK (museum of modern art) and had to walk past this little cafe where they serve -as if the name didn't tell- cupcakes. They looked just too pretty to pass by so my brother and i both got one. I had the blueberry-chocolate one which was really yummy. The frosting was very fruity and not too heavy as it was made out of cream cheese instead of buttercream and the cake was moist and rich, with bursting blueberries all through it. They have two other shops in Vienna too but this is probably the one where you're most likely to walk past as it's right in the Museumsquartier.

Bitzinger Würstelstand

It really is a must to have a sausage at one of the numerous sausage stands while in Vienna, so finally, on the last day we did just that. The Bitzinger is one of the oldest and most popular ones and as it is right next to the Albertina museum, it is right in the centre of town. I wasn't all too excited about our lunch plans that day (there are many many things i prefer to eat than sausages) but i was positively surprised. I ordered the Bosna which is just a regular sausage in one of their huge bread rolls, topped with mustard, cilantro, onions and curry powder. The cilantro was just perfect on there and i'd very much recommend you try this slightly more unusual sausage if you get the chance too.

These were definitely my highlights in terms of food places but as i've already said, everything i ate in Vienna was really good. I didn't even get to all of the restaurants and bakeries i wanted to try so i guess i'll have to go back some day.

Vienna is such a relaxed, beautiful city and i can imagine it to be even better during the summer when you can just lay around in one of the numerous parks, enjoying the sun and perhaps some of that delicious ice cream. While it can't compete with the love i have for Berlin and Melbourne, Vienna definitely holds a place in my heart.