meat free monday

Since my terrible attempt at a quick Meat Free Mondey I have been reading up on the vegetarian recipes! However this week we are moving Meat Free Monday to Thursday - in order to go out to a restaurant for the celebration of my birthday!

I therefore leave you with this raw food recipe - I am very intrigued by the raw food trend, but can quite get into it- may be this one will do it?

Why Meat Free Monday

90% of all our meat are factory farmed. In order to keep animals alive in such cramped quarters they need to be fed antibiotics. These antibiotic partially remain in the meat and make their way to the ground water. What's more, this prophylactic use ( the antibiotics are served in the animals food at every meal) causes bacterial resistance to the common antibiotic which is an immediate threat to our health and safety, as antibiotics will stop having an effect. This could lead to a result whereby we no longer will be able to treat diseases like pneumonia.

I am not a rabid vegetarian. I think the human body needs proteins that naturally occur in meat. We also can not stop factory farming from one day to the next. But we can open our eyes to what is out there and understand that, when we pay less for a kilo of beef, that savings comes is often borne by society in such a manner that it is hard for us to quantify in any direct way.

That's why I try to take at least one day to "formally" stay away.

Rhubarb and strawberry jam

We have this tiny, tiny cottage on an island in the fjord. It sits on a huge lawn. On Friday the five of us piled into it for the weekend. I love the idea of spending time there, however I am really to old for the cramped quarters and so for the first few hours I am very crankiy. But then I get into it, sitting on the porch with my morning coffee watching the young dears trying to position themselves to the "ladies," listening to the birds.  And all this is only 30 minutes from our apartment in the center of town- sheer luxury! The garden is huge and under-developed, but we are slowly getting to know it , and know what we want to do with it. 

This weekend I spent most of my time in the raspberry brushes, which the scratches up my arms will prove. And I found some long forgotten and overshaddowed rhubarb patches.

I just LOVE rhubarb and strawberry jam so I picked the few who seemed to have grown properly, saved the some strawberries from breakfast and, when we got home, I made this one jar of precious rhubarb and strawberry jam!

Keeping it real

Linking up with Monica  at ink and chai this Friday - a wonderful idea i think!

Lows

too much to do - so tired

raised my voice at him when I had promised my self not too

still chaos in the attic - what will the neighbors say?

peaks

seeing her in the parade

cleared my sewing desk

realised its all good!

this moment

{this moment}

- A Friday ritual.A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

 

Meat free monday -in a hurry!

It's always seemed too me that good vegetarian food requires a bit of love and labour but this afternoon I had absolutely no extra time - so I decided to be clever!  I bought two tin cans ( yes canned food) of ratatouille. I did follow Jamie Olivers advice for canned tomatos  "they are allright if you by the high end stuff" I heated it up, added some green lentils and boiled some very nice basmati rice. Then I garnished it with some fresh organic basil and really good parmesan cheese. All told the whole operation took 15 minutes. ...............-And it was abysmal!  I might as well done a jar of uncle Bens sans meat on rice.

Why meat free monday?                                                                                                                              

-More than 90% of all meat we consume are factory farmed. The animals suffer more than we can possibly imagine.  If we all ate a little less meat and paid a little more for the meat we ate, good old fashioned farming would still be sustainable.

Chocolate

Its been a hectic few weeks and, by Friday, I felt quite rundown and sorry for myself. It was clear: I nedded some medicine and TLC. And sometimes the only thing that can fix a girl is good chocolate - and lucky for me the best chocolate store in Oslo SJOKOLADEBITEN is right in my neighborhood. Its run by Eva L. Mathisen who learnd all about high quality chocolate in Belgium. 

This is a true little speciality store. You leave with great shopping satisfaction and lots of great tips, whether you bought 3 prailines or ordered chocolate for 150 wedding guests.  If you live in Oslo, this place is worth a visit. 

She sells the best pralines, with the most surprising taste combos - dark Belgian chocolate and koriander is a favorite of mine. There are chocolate covered almonds, bonbons filled with raspberries and chips of all qualities fram 80% cocoa to caramel-flavoured milk chocolate.  I think I'll enjoy melting some of that over popcorn....

You find SJOKOLADEBITEN (the chocolate bite) on Schultz gate, a few bloks up of Bogstadveien. 

This moment

{this moment}

- A Friday ritual.A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

meat free monday

Meat free monday is starting to turn into quite hit at our house - I guess because we often fall back on the old favorite bean burritos. I think we need comfort food on a Monday, and besides, with almost all the toppings being homemade, how bad can it be?

Why meat free monday?

Because more CO2 gases are emitted by the meat industries (cattle, pork, fish and foul) than all transportation modes combined.  Added to carbon dioxide is the emission of methane, an even more malign greenhouse gas, from land-based animals bred for food.

It should make one wonder why we have to process the grain through the cow before we eat it. 

This weekend.....

• I baked muffins in the colors of B Boys soccer club and pondered at how busy it gets around here when spring comes. The soccer season starts in spring, which means practices, matches, tournaments and the occassional early Sunday morning muffin-baking to support the tournament's refreshment stand sales. 

• I took some time to enjoy the the spring forest floor and the forest paths.

• I picked up this great sign that I bought from BRINJA after she showed it in one of her blog posts. She runs that business so well - I sent her an e-mail and she shipped it right over. It really was a very pleasant shopping experience. I highly recomend visiting her blog. She has the cutest store in Copenhagen (which I really hope to visit one day!)

• I was really moved to tears and laughter when Lini Bean verified message from that sign by pointing out sticky jelly stains on the floor from breakfast, burnt muffin batter stuck to the sides of the oven and then she shouted : AND I AM REALLY HAPPY!! She has got such a great sense of timing and humor!

• It was a really busy but good weekend , how was yours?

{this moment}

{this moment}

- A Friday ritual.A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama