Give Me Bananas

I hope that I’ll be in Japan by now hehe. This is a prepared post (obviously) and I hope you’ll enjoy it. It’s basically a recap of my year.

31 December / 1 January

We partied hard had a raclette dinner at my tiny place and drank way too much wine. It was such a fabulous night.

Yes these are indeed Winnie the Pooh hats. We had to celebrate in style. Well afterwards we went to an indie party at our favourite club but left the hats at home. Sad thing.

March

LONDON!!! My pal Christine couldn’t come because she got huge stomach pains before we left which turned out to be cysts but we had a lovely time over there anyways. It was the first time that I went to the Jivamukti Yoga centre and met up with my Californian friend Puneet. We forgot our cameras at home so we had to use disposable ones. So old school!

April

We packed our bags for Easter break, took my mum’s car and headed to Burgundy, France!

June / July

3 weeks of London / Helsinki / Stockholm / Canoeing with the boyfriend. Best holidays ever! Check out some canoeing photos over here!

September

PARIS! The train ticket was actually my birthday present to my sister and of course I had to go with her as well! We met up with our friends Michelle there and spent ages in Le Marais.

October

Started this baby here!

Ok, these photos are mostly of travels but I rarely take photos of myself at home. You know, in a “oh! life is so good!” kind of way. 2009 was really great and I got to spend it with so many people I love. I feel truly blessed.

Thanks to you guys for reading my rant and sticking around. I hope you won’t ditch me over New Years . Have an amazing and safe end of the year! I’ll probably just hang out with my grandma, mum and sister and enjoy their company. In the end, that’s all I want.

Morning! I just stumbled out of bed and wonder why getting up is so much easier when you’re leaving for a trip . I’m still a bit tired as I prepared guest posts until 12pm last night and could not fall asleep (due to my mind that was racing and our cat that was “singing” in front of my door). Oh well. I got up after roughly 4,5 hours of sleep. This is going to be tough. I can never sleep on on planes and remember that last time I went to Japan I was awake for 36 hours. I’ll probably look like a Zombie when we arrive in Osaka. Oh they’re going to welcome me with open arms!!

I’m actually writing to say goodbye & so on . I really hope you’ll have an amazing time, especially on New Years and I am excited to keep you entertained with some truly lovely guest posts.

The lovely Karla passed me on this lovely award the other day. Thanks, that’s so amazing!!!

So I should write 7 random facts about myself and nominate 7 people. Therefore I’m nominating Caroline, Shelley, Anna, Janetha, Kat, Allie and Naomi.

Here are my 7 facts:

7. Pigeons scare me. A lot. They’re seriously the worst animals out there.

6. I can type very fast which comes in handy when you have a blog.

5. My favourite stores have always been bookstores and I could spend ages in them. Reading is a huge passion of mine and I wish I had more time for it.

4. I love fashion even though I mostly wear comfortable basics. I could never walk around in crazy Louboutin heels all day long and wonder how those starlets do that..

3. I have a weakness for all things Sanrio, especially Hello Kitty. As I said before: I’m 5 years old at heart.

2. My perfect day would be some running, a bit of yoga and (after it started to rain) watching a film while being in bed and drinking some tea. (Doesn’t take much indeed to make me happy ).

1. I’ve been scared to death to start this blog but did it anyway. I guess it’s that “but no one is going to read your blog anyways!” paranoia. Oh well, I got over it.

So here they are. Not very exciting facts but my brain still works a bit slowly. I need to get some food in!

Well I better be off now. Enjoy life, food and everything else & take care, ok?

Hasta luego!

Living on the 4th floor of a house that has no elevator is pretty annoying in these situations:

1. When you have to move
2. When you go on holidays and have to carry 2 bags and 2 suitcases downstairs

It doesn’t look like much but BOY was that heavy!!!

My day started a bit too late (7:45 am to be precise) and I got right to preparing the guest posts (yes there will be guest posts during my absence!! So stick around! ). After some time Silvio got up and we made breakfast..

Scrambled eggs with zucchini (leftover from the lasagne) and chickpeas.

Plus some OJ and a pear

Plus bread with cream cheese + jam.

Then I went into the city and bought more clothes at H&M (got to love sales!) and some things that will make the flight more bearable. I also got my glasses fixed (seriously, I go to that place all the time, they must think I’m nuts. But I think my glasses fit ok now..). We also bought some food for lunch.

Then we got home again and I did other fun stuff like folding clothes, packing and paying bills (taxes, I love you. Not.) and eventually it was time for lunch. We quickly threw some salad, grilled cheese sandwich and broccoli & cheese sticks together. Those broccoli & cheese sticks were surprisingly good and not as bad (nutrition wise) as expected from the name or the look of them.

Then I did more blog stuff and finished packing (and checking everything 18972342 times.)

The red thing that’s hiding underneath there is my yoga mat. My family thinks it’s weird that I’m taking it with me but I can’t do nothing while being in Japan!!

The suitcase is basically empty. Seriously, there’s so much room left! Well, that means that there’s more room for stuff to bring back home .

It was quite a miracle that I had time to watch an episode of 24 and work out on the stepper at the same time.

Then I rushed home to my parent’s place. Thank god for dads who have cars and want to pick up their daughters from the train station. Cheers dad!

Dinner was risotto with some cheese patty.. thing. To be honest, I didn’t really like it (the cheese not the risotto).

Plus salad

Plus oreo balls

Plus fruit salad

Woah.  Good stuff.

I quickly want to show you the most important things I’ve packed for the journey (you know, food/health wise. I left the wallet, keys, passport, ipod, books.. unphotographed).  Remember this post?

I packed a toothbrush, hand lotion, cleansing wipes, moisturizing cream, apples, cashew nuts, deodorant and rice crackers. Soy sauce almonds aren’t pictured but they’ll definitely make their way into my carry on bag as well.

I’m getting really excited now. I know that I have to deal with lots over there – my grandpa’s funeral (which is on the 49th day after his death. That’s how they –or at least most of them I think -do it in Japanese Buddhism. More about that can be found here.) but also going back to a place that is home to me as well. Being a child of two nations is sometimes really confusing. It’s like you don’t really belong anywhere. But I’m glad that I am a citizen of two countries. That’s totally in right now.

Give Me Bananas won’t sleep during my absence. Oh no, it already developed an own brain and can write its own posts. Ha! Kidding. That would be a bit too much Terminator. But there are some great guest posts and ramblings by yours truly so stick around!

I hope you’ll have a great time and a very happy New Year!! I’ll miss you guys and your blog posts. But I guess that being away from the internet and just spending some time with my family is quite amazing as well.

Q1: Which is the farthest you’ve ever travelled?
Japan. I’m boring.

Q2: Favourite fruit?
That’s a hard one. But I’d say banana. Who would have guessed?

I’m currently actually writing a to-do list – it’s very strange to think that I’ll leave for Japan in less than two days! Don’t you sometimes feel like that as well before holidays (vacations)? You know, all of a sudden the day’s here and you’re almost overwhelmed. But don’t get me wrong, I can handle stress that travelling causes very very well . (I wonder why that is, hehe)

But now on to food.. Today I decided to take photos of (almost) everything I’ve eaten. You know, in true food blogger fashion.

By the way, yesterday after dinner we had dessert. That fact alone really isn’t that exciting but all of a sudden, as I wanted to take a photo, my battery died! So I waited until it loaded a bit and could take a photo of our dessert. Now that’s true blogger dedication! S&S thought that I was being silly but hey, you got to do what you got to do.

It was worth waiting though (ok the photo isn’t really pretty but I bet you can all imagine how good it was – the dessert I mean – not the photo )

Silvio made some sort of parfait with cooked apple, curd cheese and other ingredients. Good stuff and happy tummies!

So today I had breakfast at work – some good old fashioned cereal with a pear that looked really beaten up and some tea.

Work was NUTS! It was my last day before our trip and I had to finish everything and make sure to leave at least 29381237 notes for my colleague who will return from her holidays soon.

Of course I didn’t miss lunch though . I mean, come on, who am I??

Are you tired of those salads yet? Well to mix things up I also had my daily dose of calcium.. Or something like that.

Woooo hot nails, aye? They will lose their colour tomorrow though because of the trip. I’m not the girl who can constantly take care of her hails. No patience. None at all.

After work I found the best coat ever at H&M and it was on sale! Hooray!

Oh crap, I forgot my snacks. Hey, I said I’d take photos of everything!

These were the last soy sauce almonds! I really need to make a new batch for our trip.

+ Non-poisonous apple

Then I met up with da gaaang aka Selina, Silvio and Christine for dinner at Punkt. This is such an amazing restaurant, I daresay my favourite in Bern. It’s an Asian restaurant that mainly has Thai, Indian and Japanese cuisine.

Silvio and I started with edamame, Holy moly, I’m obsessed with edamame. Seriously, if I’m already like that.. how would it be if I’d ever get pregnant? Ok let’s not think about that for at least.. well.. a long time.

And then I had red Thai curry with tofu. Sorry about the photo, it all went a bit fast and I didn’t really plan to only take a photo of the plate .

Thai curries are so good! Especially at Punkt . I honestly don’t understand how some people don’t like trying foreign food.There’s so much food that truly blows my mind.

We got back home and had some ice cream – again prepared by my fab boyfriend. He’s such a bad influence .

Good stuff. Happy Karin. The end.

Q: Ice Cream: Yes / No? +Which flavour?
HELL YES! i love ice cream but recently had it too often. Oh well.. I’d choose chocolate over any other flavour almost any time.

I love relaxing Sundays without any plans at all. I basically spent the entire day (or at least a few hours) watching 24. Season 2 is so much better than season 1.

Yesterday morning I went to the gym and it was jam packed! I bet they all wanted to get rid off the Christmas pounds . I did the usual 30 minutes on the bike and 30 min on the elliptical. I pushed a guy off a bike to get on one. Kidding.

I came back home starving and made a salad and spelt pasta with olive oil and garlic

The concert was really great but that kind of music makes me want to fall asleep – not because it’s boring but because it’s so calming (seriously!). Dinner was even better but I didn’t take any photos. Selina and I had too much fun having a huge party with my aunt’s gay friends.

I’ve been indulging a lot lately (in moderation) because we had some really great Christmas meals  but today I really needed a lot of fruits for breakfast. Plus scrambled eggs with mushrooms.

& Then I proceeded to be lazy and helped Jack Bauer save the world.

Don’t you just love lazy days as well? I never really just do “nothing” but today I just had to take some time for myself (aka being glued to the sofa).

For dinner we made an amazing vegetarian lasagne that was filled with zucchini, eggplant, spelt lasagne pasta, mozzarella and tomato sauce.

And guess what we’re doing right now? Yep, watching 24. We’re boring.

That was such a short post but there really isn’t much more to say. I’m currently really busy with helping Jack to save LA. ¨

I will catch up with your blogs tomorrow when I’m back to my old non-lazy self.

Hasta luego!

Q: Do you watch TV series?
I love watching TV shows but only on DVD or online because I seriously can’t stand the commercial breaks.

Good morning! I hope you all had a great Christmas!

We had a really great time with my family. Here’s a little recap..

Christmas Eve

After work we headed back home to my parent’s casa where I got started on the appetizer. I’ve had this combination in my head forever but never really had the chance to try it. I topped a round brie with fig jam and crushed soy sauce almonds.

Then I baked it for about 15-20 minutes at 200°C  (about 390°F) and served it with toasted bread for dipping.

That was SO good! I have to make that more often. The cheese + fig flavours mixed so well and the nuts added a lovely crunch.

My mom did a great job cooking for 8 people (and for 14 on Christmas day..) despite feeling a bit under the weather.

By the way, just look how the table changed from the 24th…

…to the 25th.

But back to Christmas Eve:

We started with an amazing salad. The sauce was so good! Thinking about it reminds me that I forgot to ask about the recipe.. It was a warm (!) sauce that worked so well with the salad.

I think my mum thought I needed some protein as well (everyone had some meat on their salads) and so I got an egg.

The main course was so good! It’s really hard to describe how good they are . Seriously, it’s my favourite food in the entire world: My mum’s famous homemade ravioli! She got the recipe from a Jamie Oliver cookbook. The photos don’t do it justice..

We always have them with a bit of olive oil, pepper and parmesan cheese. The raviolis are filled with mozzarella, basil and sundried tomatoes.

Of course I had some great wine as well (some rosé and red wine).

(Stunning portrait  with amazing lightning) –> check out all those bananas in the background!!

For dessert we had chocolate cake and some vanilla pudding. I forgot to take a picture first but managed to take a measly one before we finished eating everything.

Christmas Day

Well, we kind of slept in but I got quite restless around 8:45am and did the dishes and annoyed Silvio a little so he would go groceries shopping with me. He eventually got up and we went to the city to get some food for a fab brunch.

And then we played Monopoly. My sis and I got the game for Christmas .

It’s the one with credit cards. (Never seen that one before but it’s fun!)

We spent hours playing that game (or rather: they did. I was the first to lose all the money.)

Then I did some detox yoga and walked to the train station and called it my workout of the day.

Back at my parent’s place I got started on appetizers again..

Whole wheat wrap with cream cheese and cucumber

I also got help from Silvio who cut the veggies

My mum made salmon bagel bites that looked amazing. I don’t eat fish though so I had none.

The main course was some meat (very vague description I know but I don’t know what kind it was..) with saffron risotto and salad.

I had some veggie pastry (again, I forgot to ask my mum what exactly it was) with some rice and salad.

Then I went back and had an other huge plate of salad. Got to get those greens in .

Dessert was orange tiramisu but I completely forgot to take a photo again. This time I didn’t think about it until we’ve finished eating. Sad thing. It was really really good though

Today

We got up at what felt like 5 am but was actually 7:30 am (Silvio had to catch the train because he wanted to go paragliding). I somehow got back home and made breakfast. Back to clean eating!

I had bread topped with AB and banana, some mini tomme cheese, green tea and a fruit salad.

I have a laundry in the washing machine but I’ll later go to the gym. Today’s going to be an easy peasy day. I only have plans to go to a classical concert tonight. Yes indeed, a classical concert. My sister and I will go with our aunt and uncle and their friends. We will also have dinner together afterwards but I’m not sure if I’ll take photos even though we’ll go to one of my favourite restaurants. We’ll see.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

ps: I’ll post the recipe of the soup tomorrow

Q: How was your Christmas?

It’s finally the 24th! I am so ready for a break (only got to work on Monday and then I’m OFF!!). Tonight we’ll go to our parent’s place for a fabulous dinner and Selina will bring along her brand new boyfriend! (He got here early.. She ordered him from a catalogue as a Christmas present to herself. KIDDING!). I met him before so I’m not that excited .

I’m currently still at work (until 5:15 pm. Duh.. Have they never heard of leaving work early on Christmas Eve? Guess not) but I can’t wait to go home.. I’ll bring the fabulous oreo balls for dessert. Speaking of them; they are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
To be honest, that isn’t really much of a surprise either. Give me some Oreos and I’ll love you right away.

Go and make them RIGHT NOW!

Thanks Jessica, you’re a star!!

I had yesterday off (and work today.. Weird right?) and basically spent the entire day in the kitchen. My boyfriend has been ill (which reminds me.. I should call him and ask how he’s feeling today..) and couldn’t help with making cookies but I went to his place anyway because 1) he has a bigger oven 2) I had to make sure that he’s eating some healthy food that will make him feel superfantastic in no time. Before I left I had a yogurt mess with banana, apple + muesli.

Plus some lemon water and green tea on the side.

And then I thought that this breakfast is kind of naked and made it a bit more fancy with goji berries.

Much better.

After I got to Silvio’s place I made him almost the same breakfast as well..

And then I got to work!

Flour hearts me.

First I made Janetha’s chocolate chip cookies:

Afterwards I made the dough for Anna’s Sugar Cookies but it got all crumbly!! Does anyone know why?? Sad thing. I froze the dough though. I’m not giving up!

At noon I wasn’t very hungry but wanted to make a veggie filled lunch. So I got ready and prepared soup! (The recipe will follow tomorrow). While it was simmering I went on a quick 30 min run. The ground of the forest was still covered in wet snow and it was extremely slippery. On one hand it was a great stability workout but on the other I was so stressed because I constantly thought that I’d fall flat on my face soon (happened before ).

I got back home without any injuries, showered and finished preparing lunch. It was the best I’ve had in a long long time. Seriously.

Fab beet soup

Leftover black beans (topped with goat’s cheese – such a great combo!)

And yes Karla, that’s some funny beet on spinach

I made sure that he ate everything. He should better be healthy by now!

Last year we made some amazing orange cookies and I wanted to make them again for this year’s Christmas. They’re SO good!
Unfortunately I can’t share the recipe but it’s basically like a ground almond, sugar, orange zest & orange juice sandwiched between two sugar cookies. Glazed with a powder sugar/orange juice mix.

Slivio felt good enough to eat the ugly cookies.

I found these cute bags at the groceries’ store the other day and was so excited! They are so adorable, aren’t they? My relatives who will get the cookies must think that I’m 5 years old. Which I am. Sort of.

Oh no, the face is all wrinkly!!

Last night I wrapped presents and wrote cards until 1am.

I adore classy wrappings but I’m also all for childish wrapping paper. Still have to find some with Hello Kitty on it.

Today I hopped out of bet at 6:30 (5 1/2 hours of sleep sucks!) and did level 1 of the 30 day shred. An oldie but a goodie. It surprised me that it was pretty easy. I remember the shred being so tough – especially the push ups. I’m so happy that my strength improved especially because I tend to neglect strength training.

For breakfast I had some super boring but super good oats. I’m not happy with my breakfast photos at all and so tried flash. Not that great either.

Can’t wait for dinner!!!

Have a fabulous Christmas eve!

Question: How/when do you celebrate Christmas? Do you have any Christmas traditions?

We’ll have dinner at my parent’s place tonight (just the four of us plus the two dudes who claim to be our boyfriends) and tomorrow it’ll be the hole gang of my dad’s side of the family. My Japanese relatives don’t celebrate Christmas.
We have no Christmas traditions but my dad always tends to get the tree on the 23rd and so we always end up with a very ugly piece. That’s ok though – even ugly trees need some love . BUT… apparently, my grandpa got one for us this year. AND.. apparently, it’s as ugly as all the other trees we’ve always had.

Hello there! I just got back home and still have to wrap a present and burn a CD so this has to be a very short post again. In fact I just wanted to stop by, say “Hello, the Christmas madness has finally reached me” and leave you with some sneak peaks…

I had today off (which was glorious) and I basically spent the entire day in Silvio’s kitchen, baking 239482348 cookies and taking care of the ill boyfriend. Tomorrow we’re invited to my parent’s place and he has to come because my mum will make her super famous homemade ravioli. She makes everything from scratch – even the dough. He mustn’t miss that!

Anyway, I will write a much longer post tomorrow but I really have to finish preparing everything now.

Have a good night/day (wherever you are…).

Some people get into the Christmas spirit right after Thanksgiving. I on the other hand tend to realize that it’s Christmas time about one week before the 25th.. This year wasn’t any different but I’m really proud that I got all the presents (well ok.. except the one for mum). I also tend to get my Christmas shopping done on the 23rd (and then I’ll promise myself to start shopping sooner the next year).

Ahem. Well there’s no morale to the story. But I’m trying to lead you to the Christmas cookies, that’s why I started babbling about Christmas shopping…

Oh no, wait! Before we get to the cookies, here are some major news:

But… It rained today!!! So much for a white Christmas.

What I actually wanted to say is: I’m really getting into the cookies groove. Yesterday’s chocolate covered apricots aren’t cookies of course but still great sweet treats.

I’m currently making Jessica’s oreo balls (well they’re in the freezer right now – I’m not that good at multitasking ). Can’t wait to try them!

Tomorrow I’ll make at least two other cookie batches with recipes by other bloggers. You’ll see you’ll see…

Speaking of bloggers: I always see so much great food on other people’s blog and always mean to try this and try that but there’s just so much (too much? never!) fabulousness! I wish I had more time. Can I get an additional 2 hours per day for Christmas please?? Thank you very much.

Tonight I also made the Frijoles Parados based on the recipe on Karla’s blog. I will actually bring them to Silvio’s place for lunch tomorrow (he’s ill and I want to make sure that he’s eating anything else besides carbs and chocolate..).

I wanted to try a spoonful first. Which quickly turned into 13975387. Oh dear, these are so good!!

To some other eats of the day..

Breakfast protein oats – I think I found the right “recipe” for me.
(1/3 c oats, 1 c water, 1 scoop protein powder, 1 banana, some cinnamon, a squirt of agave). I topped the porridge with flax and goji berries. And PB of course.

(Lunch was a boring egg sandwich. Nothing über exciting that made me dance around like crazy.)

Dinner was very random but so good! I can happily say now that I love goat’s cheese.

I made scrambled egg with spinach, onion, mushroom and goat’s cheese. I also had some toast with cheese that Selina made me.

The cheese kind of looks like plastic..

How to get to the office..
I was wondering the other day how other people go to work. I generally take the tram to the train station and walk from there (it’s only 15 min by foot to my office). Walking and listening to music is a fabulous way for me to just “switch off” and relax a bit.

The only bad thing about snow of snow/rain (as we have it over here right now) is that you really need good shoes so your feet stay relatively dry. But.. boots aren’t really that fancy in an office. So that’s why I wear these boots when I go to the office:

And change into these shoes once I’m inside.

Ok, I only did that today. Not that you think that I’m always wearing the same shoes and only have two pairs. Come on! I’m a girl!!

You get the idea…

I kind of feel like some New Yorker chick. Minus the high heels. At least on most days.

How do you go to work/school?

Bonsoir mes amis.

Sorry for my absence but life kind of got in the way. I just got back from seeing Avatar (in 3D). Wow. Such an amazing film! But anyway, it’s 11:45pm now and I just wanted to stop by and say hi.

“"Hi!”

Ok. Now we got that done .

The weekend was truly lovely and I was completely restless yesterday. I went out on Saturday night but only drank water and tea (it looked very cool – drinking tea in that club. Kind of badass. ). I got up without problems (aka no hangover) and headed for the gym where I did 30 min on the elliptical and 30 min on the bike with some ab work in between. Afterwards I went to my parent’s place as I had plans to go running with my sister and dad. I was tired but felt great during the run. However, it was really cold and started snowing. It was my first real run with my sister and I’m so proud of her! She has a great endurance even though she “only” does pilates.

Work has been kind of like a madhouse today, I guess people want to get everything done before Christmas break. Time flew by and when I got home Selina was already cooking dinner. Hooray! She made a pasta dish with veggies and cream. Not going to complain, it was great

The film started at 8 pm and we still had some time so I wanted to make some chocolate covered dried apricots! We have them every year during Christmas season and I honestly don’t know why we make them more often. They’re so easy to make and so so good!

We just used dark chocolate and dried apricots and got started.

I never melt chocolate in the microwave or in a pan but only in a bowl over a pan (with boiling water in it). This is a great way to prevent burnt chocolate.

Just check out these gorgeous chocolate covered apricots! They’re such an amazing treat and don’t take that much time to make at all.

I made them with Silvio which was rather stupid. I swear, he ate half of the batch he made.

Ok I’ve got to go to bed now. I just wanted to leave you with these gorgeous babies We’re going to make cookies on Wednesday. Yay!

Question: I’m still looking for great cookie (or any other sweet treats) recipes. What are your favourites??
Come on, I need ideas!