Give Me Bananas

Howdy people!

How’s life? I actually wrote an entire post but accidentally deleted it. Duh! (Don’t you love it when that happens?)
I will keep this short and sweet, I hope you don’t mind.

The Gurtenfestival was so much fun! The weekend was filled with lots of music, laughter and friends. Can’t beat that!

Are you tired of concert pictures yet? If not.. here’s an other round:

Gossip!

I love seeing Beth Ditto in action. The last time I saw her she stripped on stage. That woman is one hell of a force of nature.

The main stage area turned from this…

Into this… within minutes!

Maybe they were scared of the rain?

Editors (again!) it’s actually the third time in a year that I’ve seen them in Bern. I don’t mind it though – their music is fantastic.

I’ve seen lots of bands that were playing at the Festival before even though I’m not that much of a concert-goer anymore. However, it was my first time for Biffy Clyro and they were great live. I like their music.

Stereophonics – As good as ever. Their bass player once wanted to chat with us after a concert but we were already walking towards my friend’s car. Once we left we realized who that actually was. Oops!

I was SO excited for Florence + The Machine. My boyfriend stated that it was a pretty lame name but I love her voice and songs. I’m currently listening to her music nonstop.

An other band that I saw were The Parlatones. I’ve never seen them before but I really enjoyed their music. It’s a band that still wears matching outfits (remember when Franz Ferdinand did that? Oh the times..)

Yes I know, I’m an Indie girl at heart. Don’t fight who you are, right?

Alright let’s move on for those who don’t like music that much.

I had french fries, pizza, garlic bread and crêpe at the Festival! I rarely eat that stuff (well besides the pizza ) so that was ok. I guess I burned off those calories by running uphill.

(It’s blurry because I was racing up there. Uh-huh)

There are two ways of getting on the Gurten hill:

• Take the Gurten rail
• Walk

It takes 25 minutes to get up there if you’re a really fast walker but don’t take all the shortcuts. It often takes less time with the rail even though the line seems a bit crazy. However, I’m really not good at waiting and standing around and I always rather walk.

As I was walking uphill I thought about strolling and realized that I can’t do it! Isn’t that odd? I can sit still and meditate without a problem but strolling annoys me for some reason..

Let’s move on to food!

I made Tone It Up’s Blueberry Protein Muffins on Sunday and they turned out a bit dry.. Maybe because I left them in the oven too long or because I should have added more water.

However, they are great with some almond butter sandwiched in between..

Mmmm chocolate!

Gurtenfestival Day 1

Festival people

Festival Feet

Sisters

Friends

Empire State of Sun

JET

Babyshambles (Isn’t that obvious? )

Randomness

hahaha

More words..

• There are always less people on the first day (Thursday) than on the other days but tonight it got really crowded. I miss the good old days .
• I left after watching the first half of the Babyshambles concert. I love Pete but I love sleep even more.
• I really don’t feel like working today.
• A few more hours until the weekend! Hooray!
• Hope you’re having a good Friday!

Have you ever tried doing HIIT outside?

Give this workout a go the next time you lace up your running shoes:

• 30 min warm-up jog / easy run
• 1 min sprint, 2 min jog (repeat 6x)
• 10 min cool down

I did this yesterday morning and started my day feeling refreshed and ready to go. Of course you can also just run for the first 30 minutes or just skip that part. I just decided to take it easy because it was 7am and I was still a bit sleepy.

What I really love about doing HIIT outside is the variety of sprint intervals. The first one went straight uphill which was a killer but it made me push myself more. The third interval went downhill and it made sprinting so much fun and felt like flying. It kind of gave me the feeling that I could tackle everything. I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the skyyyyyy…

On to FOOD!
 

What on earth did I do before I discovered hummus?

I must admit that I like hummus so much better than seitan. You know, I really like this good source of veg protein but it’s kind of.. rubbery. I’m still not sure what to think of it.

However, it was pretty good in tonight’s stir-fry which I made for dinner.

I’m currently cooking some quinoa for tomorrow’s breakfast. When I go to the gym in the morning (as I do tomorrow) I really like to have all things (workout clothes and food) ready so I can grab my bag and go. Otherwise I maybe would sleep in.

The next few days are going to be busier than usual. The Gurtenfestival starts tomorrow and I’m super excited. It’s a very relaxed/fun/happy festival on the Gurten hill which is right next to Bern. You have an amazing view from up there.
Tomorrow I only want to go and see Jet and Babyshambles. I’ve seen them both before but I’m looking forward to their gigs anyway (well as long as Pete appears, I’m happy). The Babyshambles concert ends at 0:45am and I guess that I’ll be at home at 2am-ish. Well the only problem is that I have to work on Friday.

Oh well, aren’t festivals all about lack of sleep, a bit too much beer and sunshine? I hope that I’ll get at least 5h of sleep from Thursday to Friday because I’ll need the energy to dance the night away then . I just have to make sure not to fall asleep at 12pm. I wish I weren’t such a grandma.

Q: Have you ever been to a festival? If yes, which one was your favourite? I’ve been to a bunch of festivals. There are TONS in Switzerland, it seems like all we do in summer is to go to festivals. My favourite will always be the Gurtenfestival though. Not only because it’s in my town but the feeling up there is really special. You should all come and see for yourself, it’s an amazing atmosphere!

PS: I went and saw Eclipse last night with my mum and sister. We giggled like morons. WHAT A CHEESEFEST! I can’t wait to see it again. Haha!

My recap will follow tomorrow, I promise. In the mean time I have something else (but equally important) to share with you all.

There are certain events that make you want to hug the entire world. Family gatherings, reaching the top of a mountain after a hike, passed exams or..

..a concert

I’ve said it before and will say it again: Muse is too fantastic for words! I can not begin to describe how amazing yesterday’s concert was.

Strike a pose Matt!

Now, I know that the focus of this blog is mainly on healthy living, aka good food and exercise. However, certain events are so incredibly uplifting that makes you feel ecstatic. Things like these are important. Of course it doesn’t always have to be a concert, small things (like a jar of chocolate peanut butter – I almost screamed when I saw that in London) are equally important. As long as they are dear to you, they’re good.

Especially during bad time we tend to lose focus and get the good things out of our sight. That’s why I believe that it’s absolutely crucial to have amazing little things in life.

Ok.. yesterday’s concert was rather big.

But nonetheless amazing.

Muse is, hands down, my favourite band on earth (I might have mentioned that before as well – see? I just love those dudes!). And also:

Their music is fantastic for working out!

I especially love running to HAARP, their Live CD. It’s incredibly energizing.

What are your favourite workout songs?

Here are some current favourites of mine:

• Bulletproof – La Roux
• I like the way – Bodyrockers
• We Are Golden – Mika
• Everybody – Goose
• Are You Gonna Be My Girl – JET
• Telephone – Beyoncé & Lady Gaga
• Zero – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Boom Boom Pow – Black Eyed Peas
• Magic – Ladyhawke
• Heavy Cross – Gossip
• Kids – MGMT
• Uprising – Muse
• Start Me Up – Rolling Stones

But I can also run to ballads if I’m in the mood for it

Or if you don’t have any workout songs recommendations – what band/song/album are you currently listening to?

Right now I listen to Florence + the Machine, Mumford & Sons (amazing for relaxing – I can imagine.. ) and Marina & the Diamonds.

Got to take a shower and collect the laundry now… And it’s already 10:30pm! Can I have some extra time please? Thank you!

This weekend was so much needed and soooo good to the soul . I hope you had a good one too!

The past week has been insane indeed but I hope that everything will calm down a bit now.. starting with today! I actually have the day off and have to get lots done such as buying new running shoes, cleaning the apartment (!!), groceries shopping, making holiday plans with Simone…

I am really sorry that my posts have been so scarce but this will hopefully change asap .

Saturday’s plans were definitely cancelled as it was raining. Hiking just isn’t that much fun in this weather. So after some discussion we decided to go to Lucerne where we went to the IMAX, walked along the lake, went to a comics exhibition and then got on a boat where we played yahtzee for two hours. The boat ride was lovely, despite the awful weather..

We ended up in the very heart of Switzerland (you know, where they still yodel and such.. hehe kidding, sort of..). Afterwards we headed to Zurich for dinner.

Silvio’s brother knew a place and so we took the bus to nowhere and were wondering where on earth that restaurant was.

All of a sudden we found it: The greenhouse!

I’ve never been to such a cool restaurant in my life. It was literally in a greenhouse and looked like a jungle.

I got a plate full of veggies and rice and was a happy camper. (No pics though.. the lightning was awful!!)

^^^^^

As you probably know, Sweden’s one of my favourite countries. Every year I’m thrilled when it’s time for the Sweden weeks. It offers an amazing programme such as great readings, viewings and concerts of Swedish films and bands, a special Swedish beer and so on.

On yesterday’s programme was a Swedish brunch at the Altes Tramdepot. I knew that we had to go there.

Unfortunately we arrived at the restaurant at 11:15am and only had 15 minutes left until the buffet closed. So we decided to load up our plates.

I’m horrible when it comes to buffets, especially when I don’t have much time.

I grabbed everything in sight…

Yes that was all for me. After eating the eggs and rösti I was full to the brim. Ha! Not much of a surprise huh? I think I ended up eating 2/3 of everything. Oh my god. that was WAY too much food.

Needless to say that I only had a salad for dinner.

This definitely wasn’t my best healthy eater behaviour but you should have seen this buffet, it was insane!

The weekend ended with an amazing Yann Tiersen concert. He played some of his most famous songs (from the film Amélie) very very differently (think: on a violin, synthesizer and guitar instead of the piano or the accordion). I loved that he gave the songs such a creative new twist!

Q: Weekend highlights??? Mine was the boat ride, brunch and concert. I feel really lucky

Hello and welcome to April!

Sorry for yesterday’s no-show. Let’s just say that I can’t wait to go to Florence tomorrow .

I haven’t run at all this week but I’ll make sure to race around in Florence. It just seemed like there was always something going wrong (like a stuffed nose, completely sore legs because of that damn “No More Trouble Zones” DVD..). You know, I won’t sweat about it. I try to follow my training plan as closely as possible but I also listen to my body. I must say that the blog world can also put pressure on people and they feel like they might have to prove that they’re not lazy. Well, I can happily say that it doesn’t bother me at all that I didn’t run this week. I know my limits and don’t want to get injured.

Anyway, cheers to Karla and Sophia for explaining that my plantain wasn’t ripe enough. Well I thought that too at first but was too impatient to not try dehydrating them . I’ll be wiser next time.

Another thanks to BBC for telling me how GORGEOUS the weather in Florence is going to be. Or not. Whatever, I’ll pack my umbrella. Nothing will damper my spirits.

I’ve been prepping snacks like a madwoman the past few days and yesterday I got to work on some cookies. I had the recipe for the thumbprint cookies of The Kind Life for ages and finally got to make them.

I followed the recipe to the T nd they turned out great. However, 1/2 cup is too much oil and I’d recommend using 1/3 cup and maybe a bit more if it gets too sticky.

My cookies kind of melted away…

..but were still scrumptious! I’ll definitely make them again as it didn’t take that long to make them.

While they were baking away I packed some clothes and did the dishes. Domestic party!

For some reasons I was busy until 12pm and so I decided to skip the gym this morning because I really didn’t feel like getting up after 5 hours of sleep. So I gave in and crashed for an other hour & did the “No More Trouble Zones” DVD again. I’ve had the DVD for a long time but haven’t done the workout and I was really surprised at how tough it was! I read on some blog that it was a good workout for a “day off”. What the eff?? I was a mess afterwards. I like this DVD much more than the 30 Day Shred (but Jillian, you are cruel!)

Other eats of the past days:

Leek + split pea soup. So good and simple.

This was a new to me pudding. I simply mixed some silken tofu, cocoa powder and agave until it felt just right.

There were also many many salads and other unpictured snacks. Nothing too exciting.

After my plantains disaster I dehydrated some real bananas and some apples. Sweet, ripe bananas should take over the world!

I’m definitely on a dehydration kick.

So.. that’s it! I haven’t done many exciting things (besides packing of course ) but I’m so looking forward to the long weekend. Also, I’ll go and see Mika tonight! Aaaah, I see an other short night in the future !

Q: Do you “celebrate” April’s Fool’s Day? I actually don’t really like the 1st of April because I always expect someone to trick me or something.. It has never happened before though .

Btw, check out that page: The Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time.

#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.

A spaghetti tree would be fun! And handy!

I thought this one was hilarious:

#3: Instant Color TV

1962: In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station’s technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen. Stensson proceeded to demonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

Hi guys! I’m posting this a little bit sooner than usual because I’m going to have dinner with my family (Korean!) and then go and see “You’re not in Kansas anymore. You’re on Pandora” AVATAR. Yes I like seeing films twice at the cinema. Feel free to call me a nerd! (But to be honest: My parents want to go and see it and they threatened me to drag me by my hair to the cinema if I refused to come. Seriously! I mean, come on.. You wouldn’t want to get your jacket (and hair!) ruined either, would you? ) +For people who don’t understand my weird sarcastic humour and are scared of my mum and dad: I was kidding.

Other great news of the day: I’m going to see MUSE again! I got the tickets for their show in Bern this morning and I’m very very VERY excited.

+Cheers to you guys for all those tips! I think I need to eat a bigger afternoon snack and something light before those late classes. I’m not a huge fan of eating afterwards because I usually get back home around 10 pm..

I had a very hard time getting up this morning. Something about warm blankets and cold winter days I guess. Eventually I got up and did some yoga. I was having fun doing planks so I did 2 one minute planks. I think I could have held it longer but my goal was just to reach one minute.. Tomorrow will be 1:05 and then I’ll add an other 5 seconds every day until I reach 2 minutes. Wonder if I can do that.

Breakfast was fantastic. I seriously wonder why people sometimes don’t bother with eating breakfasts – it’s my favourite meal of the day!

I had some whole wheat cereal, hemp-nola, soy milk and a kiwi.

At work I snacked on a clementine and was super busy until I realized that it was time for lunch.

I had lots of leftovers so I grabbed two small WW wraps and stuffed one with about 1/2 cup of spinach quinoa and 1/4 avocado. The other one had some plain yogurt (about one TBSP) and the last veggie sausage slices. Very good and filling lunch!

And then my sweet tooth kicked in. So I decided to go to the groceries store and buy bananas (which I needed anyway). After I got back I still wanted something sweet and so I grabbed two mini Basler Läckerli’s. We always have sweets in our office but it’s not too hard to resist them (because I most often don’t like them that much ).

In the afternoon I snacked on a banana. It’s absolutely impossible to take a good photo of a whole banana (have you ever tried snapping one?). So here’s a weird one:

I’m actually typing this on my work computer (but not at work ) but I’m heading out now for some fun time with my fam. See ya!

Howdy people! Please excuse my absence yesterday but I didn’t really have the time to sit down and write a post.. I got to work early this morning though so I hope I can publish this post before 9am… which is in 10 minutes. Ah, I doubt it. Well maybe I won’t be too busy today and can use a few minutes or so for blogwork, muahahahaha. I also really need to catch up with everyone’s blogs, I feel so bad for neglecting them. Anyway, let’s back up a little.

Tuesday night (so long ago!)

..Rushed back home and made a super quick dinner. While cooking I nibbled on some rice cracker.

Dinner was a very weird combo. I also cooked too little pasta. The serving sizes were ridiculously small which is weird because I generally always cook too much.

Pasta + 2 scrambled eggs + Cheese. Told you it was a weird.

Served with a side of bad lightning.

My sis and I met up with Christine at 7pm at the concert venue where we steered to the bar and got some beer. Now that’s my kind of evening .

The Editors had two supporting bands and I generally don’t really like it when there are two bands prior to the “main” band.. It just takes so much time until the main act gets on stage and I’m often a bit impatient at concerts . However, both supporting bands were really good. It was a little bit strange though because the first band’s lead singer sounded like Placebo’s Brian Moloko and the second band’s lead singer like Elvis Presley.

The Editors were fabulous. I think there’s no way they would ever play badly live.. It was very stuffy in that hall though.

So we decided to go back to the concert hall to prevent some embarrassing fainting

Got back home at 11:30pm and slept until 7:30 yesterday morning. So much for my kick ass yoga practise in the morning.

Wednesday

I lounged around a little until I had to rush to work.. I had some bread & PB & apple there. Sounds familiar? Yes, I already had that on Tuesday..

Oh and today as well. But with banana. Ain’t I creative?

Work was a madhouse yesterday and I literally had no time to sit down. Ok, except for lunch when we had sushi. Mmmmm…

Busy days are good though – makes the time fly by at work. I got back home at 6:15pm and decided to squeeze in my missed yoga practise. I did 60 minutes of vinyasa yoga and it was brutal. I think I cried out loud a little as well. However, it felt glorious afterwards and I’m a bit sore today. If you fancy standing splits, crow pose and all the fun stuff check out 60 minutes Mixed Level Vinyasa of 10 march 2008 by Grace Yoga Podcast by Arlene Bjork on iTunes.

I then made a fab dinner that I haven’t had in a while..

Inspired by this video by Tara Stiles. So good.

After dinner I met up with some friends for the Lady’s Night at a cinema – we saw Zweiohrküken which is the sequel to Keinohrhasen (I wrote about it some time ago..). It was good .

I actually wanted to go to yoga class this morning but couldn’t leave the bed. I was glued to it I swear!

Ok, I should really stop making excuses and get up earlier. What’s wrong with me? It didn’t used to be a problem.. I’m probably lacking discipline.

It’s 9:45am now and I wrote this post with a couple of breaks (I have to work after all ) – not that you’d think that I’m a slow writer. My typing speed is super fast.

Question: When do you get up and how do you motivate yourself to get up early?
I used to get up at 5:30-6am every morning but am “sleeping in” (until 7am) all the time these days.. I also have zero motivation to get up early even though I want to work out and always have the best intentions before I go to bed (“Tomorrow I will get up early…”). Still.. I’m really lacking motivation over here.

Yes, I really like using song titles .

The concert last night was absolutely amazing. I really don’t know how they have all that energy. (Check them out in case you don’t know them). It was so good to see The Sounds again!

My dear boyfriend decided to come along which was fabulous (and made the train ride less boring ). We then met up with my friend Fabienne and their pals and went to the venue. We were a bit late and only heard the last few songs of the supporting band but we were luckily in time for The Sounds..

The lead singer Maja is amazing and has great legs (no, this isn’t a weird statement.. Just watch this video and you’ll know what I mean).

It was pretty cold outside and so I grabbed a cup of cappuccino for on the train.

So warm and comforting.

We got back home at 12:30am which is kind of super late and got about 5 1/2 hours of sleep. Oh well, it was worth it.

Food

..was super boring yesterday and not photographed. Just imagine cereals for breakfast, leftovers from Sunday’s dinner for lunch and a dried tomato + mozzarella sandwich for dinner.

Today’s eats were much better.

After checking out my boyfriend’s kitchen and randomly doing the dishes (I love doing the dishes, isn’t that weird?) I decided to go and get some stuff for breakfast. And lunch.

I ended up with tons of groceries shopping before I had to go to work.

I ended up eating…

bread.

peanut butter.

apple.

You get the picture .

Work was busy but good and at 12:30pm I put my lunch together. It’s been too long since I had a huge salad (Saturday! Gasp!)

With a side of tofulinos that I got at the health food store. They’re soooooo good! Especially when served with that delicious sweet and sour sauce..

(They look fried but they aren’t. I always check them and they’re always not fried. ).

Tonight I’ll go and see the Editors!!! I usually never go to so many concerts in a row but I had to see the Sounds and the Editors. Plus they’ll play in Bern tonight so I get back home at a decent hour .

Workouts have been a bit neglected but I planned to get some ab work done before the concert and then do a super long yoga session tomorrow morning.

Q: Do you often go to concerts / Which is the last concert you’ve been to?
I used to go to concerts all the time but these days I just seem to have no time for them..