anniversary party, drumming and bean flour pancakes!

Well, my friends, it's been a whirlwind week.

I have been moving all week, which is very exciting and at the same time pretty stressfull. And today we siblings threw our parents a 25th Anniversary party which turned out awesome. It was nice because people respected me and did not try to micromanage me! I hate it when people tell me how to do stuff that I already know how to do!

Tomorrow I am moving into my cabin. Finally... yes, at long last Ill be there! I really cant wait.

And... I thought Id be able to finish this blog before I got too tired but... I think thats going to be hard.

I ate SOOO much today. I had some lovely corn chips with guacamole, some really great gluten-free brownies made by our buddy Cher, all kinds of random servings of food all day and night. There was also a chocolate cake with strawberry mousse filling. Ive got to learn how to make those gluten free brownies. As far as I know Im not gluten intolerant, but the texture of them is just SO good. Gluten free flour is slightly more ''gritty'' than regular flour, and so it gives what you cook with more of a texture. If eating gluten free wasnt so dang expensive, Id probably buy cookie mixes and stuff all the time because I love the way it tastes!

Speaking of gluten-free, I had some bean flour that I made breakfast pancakes with the other day and they turned out great! But I forgot to wash the pan well the night before (after I made spicy stir fry) so they had a certain unexpected heat!

I also played the drum set today... and totall rocked the garage off its foundation. AMAZING!

OK I guess I stuck it out a little longer than I thought!

kitchen skills!

Tostadas are so good... I ended up having to go to my parents again tonight to pick up something I had left there, and since I must always be cooking, I made tostadas!

For those who are unfamiliar with Tostadas, they are a Mexican treat made with corn tortillas, beans, chicken or vegetarian protein, onions and green bell peppers.

Here are tostadas according to Haley

You need these things

about 15 small corn tortillas- I use just soft ones... you can probably use the hard ones, although they are not really the same.

2 cans nonfat refried beans

4 large chicken breasts- boiled and shredded/ vegetarian chicken type stuff, shredded

1 green bell pepper, cut into short, thin strips

1/2 onion, cut into short, thin strips

1 pack taco seasoning

some water

FRY the onions and bell peppers so that they get a little floppy

ADD the chicken to this, and toss in the taco seasoning and add a little water to give it some moisture.

SIMMER this mixture until you are ready to use it

SPRAY some Pam or put some oil into a large skillet.

COOK the corn tortillas until they are pliable

SPOON some beans onto each tortilla, then add some of the chicken mixture

TOP with some cheese if you do eat dairy

BAKE in a warm oven for about 5 minutes, just to heat everything up

SERVE with a nice green salad and a BEER!

EAT with TONS of salsa on them, and sour cream if you want.

The new place!

Well today, I finalized the deal on my new place. I am so stoked and excited about it. It is a studio type cabin, with light wood laminate flooring, nice sized kitchen, bathroom and living room area. There is a den for the bed or for use as a small dining area depending on what you want. There is even a small fire place with a glass window so you can see the cozy fire place on a cold winter night! OMG there is just so much about it! Its going to be SO perfect for me.

I will post pictures of it in early September!

recipe time again!

OK! Just made something I didnt think would fly- oatmeal in a crock pot! This is super nice to wake up to now that its starting to get a little chillier in the morning.

The difference between this oatmeal recipe and ones you may have done before is that you use STEEL CUT OATS (not rolled!!!!!) and use the crock pot as a double boiler!

This recipe serves two- its all my tiny crockpot would hold!

1/2 Cup STEEL CUT OATS

1 1/2 Cup water

dash of cinnamon

dash of vanilla extract

MIX these two together and evenly devide between two medium sized coffee mugs with handles.

THEN fill your crock pot about 1/3 up with water.

PUT cups in the crock pot- the water level should be OK for the cups to sit in it like sort of a bath- and for the water to not run into the oatmeal mixture.

COOK on LOW for 8 hours. Mine was on from 9.30pm to 7 am... so thats like 10 hours almost.

GO to sleep.

WAKE up and eat your nice, chewy, hearty, healthy, steamed oatmeal!

Now Im gonna go for a run... gotta keep training for that 10K coming up!

tankar för dagen

Ja, här är lite poesi... det heter Jeopardy Categories....

Some poetry... this style is called Jeopardy Categories

arms, legs, necks

the spine

wonderful creation

hurt

healthy

sighs

snoring

jerking back to life!

... nämen det här är svårt! jag kan ju inte skriva poesi när jag är så här trött...

... men det är hur det går när jag ska beskriva exakt hur jag känner vid ett visst tillfälle

Just nu är jag

trött

öm i armarna

sömnlös

glad att få flytta till ett ställe ute på landet

lite nervös för kommande arbetsdagen

glad för att jag är frisk och har vänner

det kommer bli kul när jag får flytta in i mitt lilla hus på landet! Äntligen ett ställe där jag får grilla, spela min fiol och prata högt med vänner långt in i natten!

Börjar sakna Karlstad och Stockholm igen också!

Im moving!!!

I am so excited! Ive been entertaining the thought of moving out of town for a while, and finally the opportunity has presented itself! Im going to rent a cabin out in the woods, reduce my working days to 3 days per week, and persue more satisfying things in the free time. Ill still be working where I work now so things will be fine in that department!

This cabin is quite small- but its the fact that I no longer will live in a box in town that has me so happy. I will have my own space, a yard, a place to BBQ, the possibility of late, loud nights of chilling out with friends without angry neighbors... breathing room for lack of a better descriptor! The more I think about it, the more right it feels. And Ill be close to the family and most of my friends!

It may take some adjusting, but Im willing to give it a shot. Im making a promise to myself that I will live there a full year before deciding to move again. I think thats healthy and reasonable. I was here in T town for only 6 months, so it feels kinda lame to pull up my roots and start over, but it wont really be starting over as much it will be returning to the familiar.

Fun times ahead, Im sure!

kontakter

Dagen har burit med sig många trevliga överraskningar. Jag har haft kontakt med en släkting och två vänner från Sverige idag. Ann-Marie ringde idag helt slumpmässigt, precis som jag gick in i mina föräldrars hus. Jag kännde igen numret som visades och svarade genast! Släkten mår bra och alla gör sin sak bra. Min kusin har flyttat till Ängsbacka i Molkom för att kunna lugna ner sig lite- hon har drivit eget företag ett par år och jag förstår att hon blir utmattad en hel del. Hmm.. sen hörde jag ifrån två vänner i Karlstad och det var också kul för det kändes att man tappade kontakted med dem efter ett tag.

Ja, vad kul när man har ett nätverk av vänner på avlägsna ställen!

vad betyder det att vara hemma egentligen!?

Ordet ''hemma'' är ett interessant begrepp. Vad betyder det att vara hemma? Jo... för mig och kanske många andra betyder det inte bara att vara i sitt eget hem utan mycket mer. Först och främst bor man i sin kropp. Vi kan inte göra någonting utan en kropp, och samtidigt tror jag inte att vi ÄR våra kroppar fast vi bor i dem. Men allt som vi är och gör är bunden till en fysisk hjärna, och det kanske innebär att vi ÄR på något sätt våra kroppar! Vem vet!

Hemma betyder kanske också den platsen på jorden vi befinner oss på! Jag är hemma i Tacoma, snart ska jag vara hemma i Vaughn, jag har varit hemma i Karlstad och Stockholm med!

Men hemma är också där en känner sig hel och fri att vara sig själv- här i Tacoma känner jag mig hemma... det är rätt skönt här. Och när jag flyttar till Vaughn nästa månad kommer jag också vara hemma för där växte jag upp!

Vad tycker ni?

what a CROCK! a little bit about crock-potting

I love my crock pot. I have NEVER had anything I put in there not turn out extremely good. Last night I threw chicken broth, brown rice, asparagus, kale and green beans in there quite haphazardly and the result was the most interesting and beautiful risotto-like creamy soup imaginable. I wish I had a picture of it. It was seasoned with the chicken broth and I also added a packet of chicken-rosemary soup mix to it.

1/4 cup rice

2 or so cups of water/broth

1 cup fresh chopped kale

10 asparagus spears

1 cup frozen green beans

vegetarian bacon (didnt really add so much flavor, but still OK. Id maybe use a ham hock if you are a meat-eater)

Cook on low for like 8 hours. Make after you eat dinner and turn on around 10.30 pm. When you wake up the next morning, you have lunch and dinner covered!

The rice absorbs the water and gets really thick and creamy, and the veggies stew together and become really delicious. Id bet if you added butter to this it would be super good, and even better for you than this version.

I just threw the following in my crock pot in the hopes of a hot breakfast:

1/3 cup brown rice

lots of cinnamon

2 cups vanilla unsweetened almondmilk

1/3 cup sugar

a generous squirt of vanilla extract

It will cook on low for about 8 hours and hopefully be ready for me to eat for breakfast. I am not in the mood for cereal tomorrow... it will be drizzly and its rare that I get to eat a hot breakfast. ITs good for the soul.

Sunday plans

I have plans for Sunday, and they do NOT involve baking anything of any kind! Im out on the KP again today at the parents house and I dont want to have a hectic day tomorrow after I get home. I am going to Fred Meyer to stock up on a couple basics... almondmilk, cooking spray, butter, veggies for stirfrying or roasting, some falafel mix, etc. I dont want anything complicated! Simplicity is beautiful.

I have a few projects to start. The first is to make a seahorse of wool for my mom. She likes the little felted animals I make now and then and I think a seahorse would compliment the octopus and mermaid of clay pretty well.

The second is to do my bible studying. Im reading a book about the Acts of Apostles. Its very inspiring to see how these ''spiritual giants'' in the Bible had really similar concerns to what we have today.

Id also like to do some financial planning tomorrow, to see if I can simplify life and get by on less. I have a nack for wasting time when Im at home, so I will need to practice structuring my time a little better in order to get things done!

So thats that.... now Ill get back to my weekend!

KEFIR!

Kefir is a superfood! If you are familiar with Swedish FILMJÖLK then we are on the same page. If not, kefir can be compared with effervescent sour milk, thin sour cream or thin yogurt. It sounds wierd, but its soo good. I love the sourness of it. Ive never been a fan of regular milk only! I always drink plain kefir because I dont like added sugar in my basic food, but you can get raspberry, blueberry, all kinds of it!

Kefir is so special because it can supposedly re-colonize the digestive tract after a course of antibiotics. It generally contains more kinds of bacteria than yogurt. I know that my digestion is a lot better after drinking about 8oz of plain, lowfat kefir every day. I did go through about 10 months of twice a day, heavy duty antibiotics for my acne, so even though I had a tough time with dairy before, it got really bad during and after the antibiotics. So Im hoping that the kefir will help get the natural good bacteria back in the system.

Make sure to try it sometime. I have it with Kashi Heart to Heart oat cereal for breakfast and dessert. Ive also had it for dinner, because its pretty filling!

more info at www.kefir.com or www.lifeway.net

This stuff has got to be the next best thing!

Thai food! Swedish and English!

In English further down... I know all you Swedes read English really well, but I have to practise somewhere ;)

Ok, jag har precis kommit hem från en härlig middag hos en bekant ute i Gig Harbor. Hon är granne med en familj från Thailand (mannen är amerikan men bodde i Thailand i typ 20 år, pratar thailändska till och med!). Arie, som är mamman, jobbar ibland som privat kock- det går att ringa henne och beställa thaimat som hon då lagar hemma hos sig eller hos den som beställer! Ikväll var det en curryrätt med ananas, och så äggrullar och ris till. FY vad gott det var. Jag tycker inte ens om ananas i varma rätter, men det här var otroligt gott! Jag tror inte jag har ätit nånting så här gott på flera månader faktiskt. Och jag brukar inte äta mycket fett alls vanligtvis, men jag jag kände att den här gången var det nyttigt för mig att äta lite fet mat. Det blir så ofta sallad och grönsaker och bröd och mandelmjölk och sånt. Rätten hade coconutsmjölk i så det var rätt fyllig!

MUMS! Det blev mat över, så det kan jag äta till frukost och lunch, eller lunch och middag. Med det var länge sedan jag åt middagsmat till frukost. Om jag gör det så blir det sen frukostmat till middag!

Just got home from a wonderful dinner with a friend out in Gig Harbor. She is neighbors with a family from Thailand (the husband is American but he lived in Thailand for like 20 years, even speaks Thai). Arie, who is the mother, sometimes works as a private cook- you can call her and order thai food which she then makes at her place, or at the home of whoever orders. Tonight it was a curry dish with pineapple. DANG it was good! I dont even really like pineapple in warm dishes, but this was unbelievably good. I dont think ive eaten anything this good in several months. And I usually dont eat so much fat in my diet, but I felt that this time it was healthy for me to eat something a little fattening. So often its just salad, vegetables, bread, almondmilk and stuff. The dish had coconut milk in it so it was pretty rich.!

YUMMY! And theres leftovers, enough for breakfast and lunch, or lunch and dinner. I havent had dinner for breakfast in ages, it would be kinda good! Then I can have breakfast for dinner! :)

food you MUST try #2

I love chocolate, I love ginger, and I love muesli. I also really love cookies.... What would be better than combining them? I couldnt resist!

PREHEAT to 375 F

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

MIX the above in a medium bowl and set aside

2 tbsp softened butter
1/4 c plain apple sauce
1 large egg
Vanilla extract, I use like 3 tablespoons in my cookies
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups fruit muesli, mine had oats, wheat, puffed rice, apples and papaya
1/2 cup chocolate chips

chopped candied ginger pieces, as much as you like

MIX together the sugar and butter in a large bowl- it will be kinda crumbly. ADD the EGG, then the APPLESAUCE, then a generous pour of VANILLA EXTRACT. Mix in the flour mixture just until everything is combined and you dont see any flour left on the sides.

ADD the muesli, chocolate chips and ginger pieces.... it goes downhill from here, especially if you are me. I LOVE cookie dough.

Bake for 5-10 minutes depending on how gooey you like them.

I usually have really good self control when it comes to food, but these cookies have VANQUISHED me completely. Good thing I only made a half batch! Well, I actually only ate two. Thats not so bad, right? :)

Happy baking everyone!

sushi basics and baking plans

Well, today I learned Sushi basics, and it was really fun. We had a sushi party at my parents house and I learned how to make Nigiri and Rolls.

Nigiri is cool because you make little rice balls then stick a topping of your choice (eggs, avocado, fish, etc) on top of it then dip in soy sauce and eat with a little of wasabi. You have to mix in some vinegar type stuff with the rice to make it a little sweeter and pliable. Its called sushi seasoning or something.

Then, the rolls- they are tricky but actually not as hard as I thought it would be. You press some rice out on top of a sheet of nori, stick a strip of toppings down the middle, then roll it up and squish it together, then slice it. YUM.

Tomorrow is another cooking adventure. In the evening, I am going to make wheat bread for the coming week and then also make some chocolate ginger cookies. I make all my meals at home- breakfast, lunch and dinner, but I never really make the breakfast bread, or the cookies or any of this other stuff!

So my idea for bread is to make a basic wheat bread, then find a way to tweak it and mix some muesli in it, to make it like oat bread. It will sure be interesting to see how it turns out. The muesli has wheat, oat and spelt flakes and then dried papaya, raisins and bananas so should turn out nicely.

The cookies will be fun too. I have powedered chocolate, chocolate chips and crystalized ginger at home, and I would really love to experiment a little with those things and make something yummy. We shall see.... :)