There are two health food/lifestyle books that I absolutely love:

“Thrive” by Brandon Brazier and “The Kind Diet” by Alicia Silverstone. There are a lot more that I find absolutely inspiring but I always seem to go back to these two books. In fact, “Thrive” already looks extremely beaten up and is full of post-its. I kind of feel sorry for it .

Both books are different though inspiring in their own way. Brandon certainly knows his stuff and it shows though he doesn’t seem like a know-it-all. Very refreshing! Alicia also feels so positive about her lifestyle that you can’t help but get hooked. It seems like a friend is talking to you. Coincidentally both books are about the vegan lifestyle.
Well I’m not a vegan but the vegan cuisine is one of the most inspiring, creative and versatile (to me) out there. I prefer eating a plant-based diet though most of the food-pics posted recently involve some kind of treat (cake! ice cream!) haha. It’s definitely not all that I eat but I’m a bit ashamed of taking countless pictures of boring salads. And yes, they became quite boring lately.. (Need to change that!)

I think people should stop thinking that vegetarianism is only something for old hippies or exocentric exhibitionists. Even Hugh Jackman bulked up for his Wolverine role with the Thrive Diet! (And we all know how gorgeous he is ).

Anyway, that somehow came out of the blue. I always have some random thoughts that I need to share with the world.

The other day I read on the homepage of the German “Shape” magazine that a vegetarian diet lacks protein and calcium (among other things) and I got so mad that I wrote a letter to the editor. Well they replied (surprise!) and said that they only wanted to point out what could happen when you’re on a vegetarian diet. Too bad that the article said something completely different.

I’m not a vegetarian missionary and I didn’t get mad at them because they don’t support the vegetarian lifestyle strongly enough. It was simply the terribly false information that they put out there. There are so many women (and men) who read fitness magazines and believe everything that’s written there. Losing 10 pounds in 2 weeks! Bananas are the worst diet food!… etc.. I can imagine that it’s so confusing to someone who’s always struggled with weight issues and lack of self esteem

It doesn’t surprise me that so many people have issues with being healthy (yo yo dieting anyone?). It’s sad.

On a much lighter note; today’s dinner was a treat! I made whole spelt Spätzle with my mum’s home made pesto sauce and sautéed some mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, mung bean sprouts and leek in olive oil. I love veggie stir-fries!

Q: Do you read health magazines? I do and I actually really enjoy reading them. I’m generally a very sceptical person and like to question certain “facts”, therefore I’m not very influenceable.

Q2: Which health book has been an inspiration to you? See above for my answers.

Ps: In case you are up for more reading (hehe), go and check out this article. It’s about a day in the life of Barack Obama. People should stop complaining that he does too little; he’s only human after all. I’m so glad that I’m not a president but a normal citizen!

There’s no need to point out how much I love travelling. I guess that’s pretty obvious.

But I have to admit that coming back home is sometimes equally as wonderful.

For me it often boils down to cooking. Whenever I’m away I just miss my own kitchen. Even though you can cook in hostels or on camping sites it’s just not the same as cooking with your own pots and pans and eat from your favourite bowls and plates.

I had some frothy carrot & ginger soup in my most beloved bowl for dinner last night and I enjoyed the comforts of a homemade meal with some faux burger, sea weed salad and cooked eggplant on the side, served with a side of “Gossip Girl”.

I’m actually not the biggest fan of that TV show because all that drama gets on my nerves but I kind of missed New York .

For some reason I’m having huge troubles with my jetlag. I wake up incredibly late in the morning which is so unlike me and I feel like I have no energy at all. At least I’m not feeling as dead tired as on Monday/Tuesday and I’m treating my sleepiness with green smoothies that definitely help lots.

Q: What do you usually miss most when you’re away from home (besides your family and friends of course)? Besides my bed I really miss my kitchen equipment. I know I sound like a grandma but cooking’s just not the same when you’re away! I also miss my heart-shaped measuring cups when I’m on the road.

I am so incredibly jet lagged and honestly don’t understand how all these party people do it. Or the models. I turned down several modelling gigs only because I hate the jet lag. Kidding (obviously!)

So I owe you a San Francisco and New York recap. I’m so sorry I never wrote that that I promised the day before yesterday but travelling was quite insane. Our flight back home got delayed because of “technical issues” (very reassuring, I know) and the plane had to be brought to the mechanic (!). In the end we took off 3,5h later than planned and I was so glad that it flew at all.

In the end I got back home to my little apartment at 2pm yesterday afternoon and found it with Lindt chocolate balls and other treats all over the place. I love my guy! (Thank god there were no roses at the airport! – I’m all for chocolate!! ). Ok, I’ll end the gushing now.

Let’s start with San Francisco.

(Man, that seems like ages ago. Time flies!)

Driving into the city is – plainly said – a HUGE pain in the ass. Please excuse my language but you’ll understand my feelings when you drive through the city.

Once we got there we were informed that the office of the rental car company was already closed and that we could drive the car to the airport’s office. No, thank you (it was 7pm and we were tired). We ended up spending 29 bucks on an overnight parking place. Nice.

We had plans to stay at the hostel and cook something there but after all those troubles (we also drove to an other office but without any luck) we just needed two things: beer and Thai food.

On the next day we started exploring the city. One question:
Where are the hippies?

I know, I’m such a tourist but I thought that things were a bit more flower power-y. I wasn’t disappointed though, guess every city moves on with time

We walked to the piers (those hills!!) and made a quick stop at Trader Joe’s before heading to Pier 39, aka tourist magnet. We had to go and do something touristy though!

Look, it’s Alcatraz!

We dropped off our stuff at the hostel, walked around a bit more and then made our way to a very special dinner meeting. We thought that we still had time to have a drink beforehand but it turned out that the Mission street was a bit further away than we thought .

When we got there I realized that I didn’t write down the house number. And, I guess you all know how long these streets tend to get.

I started to freak out a bit. It was 5:45pm and we planned to meet up at 6pm. Where is Gracias Madre? By 6pm I was power walking like a mad woman. My poor friend Simone! Anyway, I asked some random dude where the restaurant was and I was nearly crying and hyperventilating and he pulled out his smart phone and told me the correct number. 8 blocks down? Ok.. we walked by the restaurant before and didn’t even notice the sign! (It turned out to be tiny – no wonder why we didn’t see it!)

When we got there it was 6:20pm but our lovely dinner dates didn’t mind. So who did we meet up with you ask?

Well nobody guessed! (Don’t you know the food blogger elite of SF?? )

It was Me-Linh and Stef two fabulous food bloggers from the Bay Area! (They actually both go to Berkley – those smart chicks!).

They didn’t seem to mind our delay at all (which made me think they’re even more amazing than on their blogs – who waits 20 minutes without minding it at all??)

We actually met up at Gracias Madre, which is an organic and vegan Mexican restaurant and simply AMAZING (highly recommend that place!). I had such a hard time choosing anything because it was so overwhelming to be able to choose everything. I also had to constantly chat with the girls so it took me forever and a few additional decades to decide on what I should get.

In the end I simply picked the tacos (which were – as you probably guess it – fantastic).

So sad that the picture got blurry! I took an other one, though that makes you think of something nasty.. I’ll post it anyway.

Told you it looks nasty on the picture!!

After dinner we headed to Bi Rite Creamery & Bakeshop

You know the place is good when there’s a line in front of it!

Simone and I dug in and ordered a sundae. I never felt any guilt or shame when ordering huge desserts (and there were many, trust me) – you only live once and we can’t go to places like Bi Rite on a daily basis (though I would love to)..

Salted caramel and chocolate coconut ice cream, topped with caramelized peanuts, chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Or: Food porn at its best.

I will write more about the food we ate on our trip soon but I need to include the most amazing eats of our San Francisco stay in this post.

Oh I love having friends who take me to food heaven that no guide book knows of. Actually, I’m only friends with them because of that. HA! Kidding!!

We parted ways after making plans for meeting up on Wednesday again (we had dinner on Monday).

On Tuesday we met up with my good friend Puneet (who also lives in the Bay Area) for a 10am brewery tour at the Anchor Brewery. Yes TEN A.M.

I was actually feeling more like having coffee but after the first tasting (at 10:45am) it felt fine to drink beer.

Then we headed out to Ike’s Place, a sandwich shop that got famous with amazing sandwiches (it was also on Man vs. Food).

Puneet actually drove us there. I was amazed.

What do we know about lines?

We ended up waiting for one hour.

It was worth it though – the sandwich was heavenly!

Too bad that the photo is utterly awful. I just had no time to take a decent picture .

After our in the picnic in the park we decided to go to the thing that pops into every person’s mind when they think of San Francisco:

The Golden Gate Bridge! Puneet told me that it wasn’t red but “international orange”. Did you know that?

We were so lucky, the weather was amazing!

Afterwards we headed to the Haight which is a pretty cool street.

Puneet insisted on taking this picture.. Needless to say that I wasn’t that thrilled.

Then we were already off to see the Painted Ladies! Full House anyone?

Right before dinner we passed the City Hall (where Harvey Milk and George Moscone got assassinated – so sad)

We headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner! Now this restaurant serves some portions.. Holy mother!

This is the biggest salad I’ve ever seen. I didn’t eat all of it because I needed some room for cheesecake (obviously). The sauce was also way too sweet for my taste.

We all had to get our own cheesecakes of course.

I had the last one – red velvet cake cheesecake. Mmmm!!!

Unfortunately we were both feeling under the weather and couldn’t go out. I hate feeling sick on a holiday! I felt still very blah-ish when I got up the next day but decided that it wasn’t the time or place to be ill so I told my bad feeling to go away. It actually did in the afternoon .

We met up with Puneet and went to see the crooked Lombard street.

And afterwards we headed to the pier where we got picked up by Stef and Me-Linh. After a short lunch we already had to say goodbye to Me-Linh which was sad.

Stef had a docror’s appointment so we hung out a bit (see the size of that iced coffee??)

..and then went to Lululemon after she came back. I am SO glad that we don’t have that shop over here (or otherwise I’d be broke very quickly).

One fro-yo and one yoga outfit later Stef and I headed out to yoga while Simone and Puneet went to the park.

It felt so incredibly good!! I missed yoga so much on our trip and it felt amazing to practice for an hour (even though the guy next to me moaned like there was no tomorrow).

Our foodie insider Stef made a reservation for dinner at Udupi Palace, an all vegetarian restaurant so we met up with Simone and Puneet there after yoga.

Food heaven? Check!

Afterwards we finally did go out which was a perfect ending for a perfect stay in San Francisco.

Me-Linh and Stef: I loved meeting you guys! It felt like talking to old friends Come and visit me soon!

Oh and Puneet, I loved seeing you too of course. Next time you’ll come to Bern and we’ll swim in the river, okay?

I will post the NY recap tomorrow as this took me almost 2h to write and I’m pretty sure you’ve seen enough pictures for the day.

Tip of the day: Don’t go back to work the day after you came back from a long trip

Q of the day: Have you ever met any food bloggers OR have you ever been on a blind date? (Let’s face it; they’re quite similar – though with different intentions hehe)

Yo kids!

I’m sure as hell adapting to the US slang y’all. Oh no wait.. don’t you just say “y’all” in the south? Nevermind..

We’ve walked. A lot. But I got an adapter that fit (hooray!) and so we can hang out online as long as we like. Too bad that it’s already 10pm-ish.

So today’s post is going to be lots, and I mean LOTS of fun. My gorgeous, sweet and smart travelbuddy Simone is going to write parts of it (hooray no. 2!)!! I’m sure you all (y’all!! ) are glad to get a break of my rant.

Let’s clap our hands for Simone!

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Hello world.

Today was intensive. We started with an, to say it in Karins words, “easy run”. For me it was a run, had nothing to do with easy, but it was fun

After breakfast we went to the Pier and tried to see some ferries. But there was so much fog, that our plan didn’t worked very well…

Later we had to buy a HUGE muffin at the Pike Place Market. We didn’t managed to eat the whole thing yet, but is was/is definitely yummie.

In the beginning of the afternoon something strange happened – suddenly the sun was shining and there was blue sky! Due to that, we could feel safe of vampires, Eddie and his friends don’t like the sun as we all know. (Btw. Seattle is crazy about Twilight! There are souvenirs you can’t imagine. The best one was a “sparkling lotion” )

That’s the view of our room. Nice isn’t it?!

Because the sun was shining so bright and we just had to walk around a little more, we went to the Seattle Center. That’s where the Spaceneedle is. (Does anyone of you know, why the Spaceneedle was built? For fun? Were they looking for aliens?) In addition to this “tower” there are a lot of quiet beautiful buildings and a park. We both loved this place, it was kind of peaceful there.

An other goal of the day was to see the library of Seattle. On the way there, we saw a Urban Outfitters by accident. If it was magic, we don’t know, but we had to go in there… Karin was strong and could resist. I can’t tell that from myself… Anyway. We went to the library. It’s a nice modern building. If I would live here, that would be the place, I would work.

That was my part of today’s post. The pen is Karins again. I know you’re glad about that…

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Isn’t she the cutest?? She’s actually much MUCH cuter in person than on pictures (and yes that’s possible):

She probably already hates me for posting that many pictures of hers but that’s alright

What she didn’t mention was that we walked a shit lot today. I consider myself a walker by nature (so much more fun than taking the bus) but boy.. my legs are going to fall off soon.

There are more pics of today btw!

For dinner we went to the International District (aka the former Chinatown).

We got some Chinese food which was really good though healthily drowned in oil. I had some green noodles that I’ve never had before.

Fortune cookies aren’t that “big” in Switzerland so I never got one. Today was the first time ever..

This is what mine said:

Yeah.. I’m not really sure about that either .

And then we stumbled upon a HUGE Japanese food market. I thought I died and went to heaven. No seriously, this place was absolutely enormous.

Ok, let’s not think about all the environmental consequences because of all the imported goods for once..

I already sent a picture of it to my sister as I’m sure she would have loved it too. We both go nuts for Japanese food markets as they remind us so much of (surprise surprise) our stays in Japan.

I limited myself to a few goodies

We’re currently sipping on some Rainier beer (the one that Charlie Swan is drinking – wonder how much the company had to pay for that) but should probably go to bed soon as we’ll leave the lovely city tomorrow and head to the mountain that gave the brew its name.

Nigh nightt! (Or morning for our Swiss pals)

Q: Have you ever been to the state of Washington and/or Oregon? If yes: Which places would you recommend visiting?

Thank you SO much for your kind words on my last post. You truly are the best!

I woke up this morning at 5:45am and felt extremely bright eyed and ready to go. Well this definitely isn’t me. I always feel a bit sleepy first thing but on most days I still drag my butt out of bed to do some running, walking or yoga. However, this morning I felt like doing a HIIT and so I sprinted along the river at 6:10am feeling utterly amazing (yeah I know.. WTF? In a good way ). I’m sure that being excited is some kind of drug.

I felt utterly bouncy all day long and caught up with my to-do list at 4:45pm. Hooray!
After work I did some last minute shopping – it’s always the same but I never learn anything! – and headed back home to make a lovely dinner with the boyfriend.

No, my food wasn’t blue. I just forgot to change the settings on my camera.

For some reason I really like veggie sausages but never liked the real stuff. Wonder why that is.

Apparently American Airlines has some extremely bad film system. There’s only a main screen on most flights and they only show two films or so. I’m the first to admit that I am a HUGE film snob when it comes to films on flights. I just need a huge selection to keep me entertained because there’s no way I can sleep on flights. (Everyone has weaknesses, right? )

I just hope that the info is completely wrong and they have personal screens and tons of films to choose from. (A girl can dream!)
Silvio is currently trying to load some DVDs onto my netbook in a very complicated way (that I don’t understand..). If that doesn’t work I still got some books to keep me entertained:

I know, it’s a shame that I haven’t read them yet.

“A Long Way Down” by Nick Hornby is also in my bag but I’m already halfway through that. I’m also currently looking for some good audio books on iTunes, though I should slooowly go and crash now since we’ll leave at an ungodly hour tomorrow morning.

I won’t post any guesties this time but I’ll write as often as I can.

Take care sugarplums and keep on dancing!

Ps. Got a long distance flight ahead? Go and check out my tips!

I don’t particularly make lists for every little thing but when I’m busy and need to get certain things done before a deadline (aka in my case: the holiday) or just have to remember certain things such as what to pack.. I make lists.

Damn, I just remembered that I forgot to write down the PJs. See? That’s why lists are great. I’d forget tons of things otherwise. (“Wait a second, my passport is right..FFFFUUUUU..dge!”)

In the last couple of days I became a crazy lists-lady. I made lists for everything..
What to pack
What I still had to buy
Which projects I have to pass on to my colleague
What I must finish at work before I leave
What the names of my former boyfriends are

I really like ticking things off.

Tonight I wasn’t particularly feeling like going to pilates class so I went and had dinner with my sister (who ditched class too). We’re quite rebellious you see.

I love it when restaurants have good bread. This lovely piece was so moist and flavourful (tons of olives!)

The restaurant generally went a bit heavy on the sauce though..

Under the green leaves is a small sea of oil. I swear I could have taken a swim in there.

Gnocchi.. I love gnocchi.
I also love olive oil but boy.. do you see that lake?

Over the top.

It’s a bit odd.. I already took out my contacts assuming that I could simply put on my glasses. Well, I forgot them at my boyfriend’s place.
So I’m currently writing this while having my eyes oddly squeezed together. I probably look like I chewed on some lemon.

I will post a recipe tomorrow that still makes me think that I’m dreaming. I will test the final product in the morning but if it’s really as great and simple as I imagine I’m sure that it’s going to be the bomb dot com.

There, I said it. Bomb dot com. I’ve always wanted to do that.

Night kids!

Random veggie tip of the day:
Don’t order risotto (especially in Italy) without asking about the broth first. Even vegetable risotto is often made with chicken broth!

I don’t know about your family but mine is pretty… strange.
When my sister and I still lived at home we often did spontaneous taekwon-do fights or yoga pose “battles” after dinner.

Yesterday, at my parent’s place, we tried out the sports modus on our new camera.

Don’t worry, our neighbours are used to such behaviour.

I’ve been absolutely loving our new camera. It makes food look so much better .

I’m sure the boyfriend will miss it when I’ll take it with me to the states but hey, he gets to take it to Colombia in October and I won’t be able to use it for 3 months so I think it’s only fair that I steal it for 3 weeks.

My friend Christine is currently house-sitting her aunt’s place and they have a lovely apricot tree. I had to go and help her with those as they were ready to be eaten.

She sent me back home with a huge bag of fresh organic apricots.

I’m thinking about making agave sweetened jam, does anyone have a good recipe?

5 days until Seattle! And my to-do list is continuously growing!
No need to hyperventilate. Yet.

xoxoK

It’s been raining a lot.

And I had a vegan whole spelt chocolate chip brioche for breakfast.

And a chocolate protein smoothie too.

Needless to say that life is good when chocolate is involved.

In one week my friend Simone and I will leave for the US of A and I still haven’t wrapped my head around it. So much more is happening right now and I can’t wait to share it with you all but you’ll have to stay patient for a bit longer.

Anyway, we will fly to Seattle on my mum’s birthday, 31th July. My parents will drive us to the airport at 6am. Aren’t they crazy? Aren’t they fantastic? No wonder why my genes are so nutso. Haha!

It still feels like the holiday (or in American English: "vacation" ) is so far away. Is it really true that we will drive down to San Francisco in less than two weeks? Will we really stay in New York for one day on our way back? It all feels pretty unreal right now.

Simone and I have planned everything, besides the exact route we’ll take. We just know that we want to visit Mt. Rainier, Yosemite and Napa Valley on the way. Everything else is still unsure.

Do you have any insider tips? Which restaurants in Seattle, San Fran and New York do you like?

I only know a bunch of (apparently) great places in NY (Pure Food & Wine, Candle 79, Babycakes NYC…) though Simone and I already talked about eating our way through NY. I like that.

It’s odd, I’ve never been that far west before. Also, it doesn’t really feel like I’m leading my life right now. I’ve never travelled that much before (Rrmember Japan in January, Florence on Easter and London in May?) and you know what? It’s getting even crazier! But that’s still a secret. I hate secrets so I’m really sorry that I can’t share it with you right now.

Oh well, I work my butt off so it’s time to get a breather.

I usually spend most of my money on food (who would have guessed) but I LOVE travelling. Cheap. I stay in hostels and do lots of camping which allows me to "save" some money and travel a bit more. Maybe it’s my multicultural background but I always have an urge to pack my bags and explore the world.

On an other note, my lovely friends Christine and Janine came around for dinner. We made some whole wheat pasta with tomato/zucchini sauce, served with garlic bread and salad. I was feeling a bit carby you know .

Tomorrow I’ll go hiking with my besties Livia and Daniela. I can’t wait! It’s my first hike this summer and it’s already the end of July!

Do you like travelling? What’s been your favourite place you’ve ever visited? There are so many great places I’ve seen, it’s nearly impossible to choose one. But I’d have to say that I really love my grandmother’s place (in Japan). I always feel extremely “home” there even though I’ve never lived there. The countryside is breathtaking (except for in winter ) and thinking about it makes me miss it so much.

Meet my new friend:

He’s been hanging out at my place for a couple of days now. He (yes it’s a he) is a bit dusty and doesn’t pay any rent so that kind of sucks.

Let’s call him Dusty, shall we?

Well Dusty has been loving that red pot and has been walking his rounds quite diligently. He likes to work out.

He didn’t help with dinner though which was kind of lame. I don’t mind having guests over for some time but he didn’t even bother joining us for dinner. How rude!

That’s why Silvio and I had to make our eggplant Zucchini lasagne for ourselves.

The idea for that dish came up when I was thinking about what I had at home. Zucchini, eggplant, carrots.. LASAGNE! The non-traditional way that is.
(Is it just me or do you also think about food at work?)

So we started with the layers. Layered food is our thing – it’s what we did on our first date! We made tomato mozzarella salad, lasagne and some sort of layered dessert. When my then-soon-to-be-boyfriend suggested that we should make a layer-themed dinner I knew that he was a keeper.

That’s my story to layers.

Let’s get the layers party started!

fascinating, isn’t it?

Cheese!

Dusty my old friend, you totally missed something. Ha!

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!