Give Me Bananas

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

Oh my! I totally forgot that I have (literally) 10 different tooth brushes to choose from at my parent’s place. Well my mum’s a dental hygienist so I guess that’s self-explanatory.

I’m at my parent’s place because I brought my dad the cable to my Garmin. He’s currently using it..My precious running watch is super popular with the boys – Silvio likes it too.. I guess there’s just something about guys and their technical tools.. .

Speaking of running… I got new shoes today! I mentioned before that my Asics were bothering me and I knew that I had to get new ones before my race (which is on 22 May).

I actually tried them on yesterday but forgot my wallet at home (duh!) so I collected them today. My first run went smoothly and I am happy that I got a new (stable but light) shoe.

I was also given a free bottle of Gatorade though I must admit that I wasn’t too thrilled. However, I decided to try it.. I mean after all it could be beneficial for after the run, right? (Electrolytes and all..).

It made me feel nauseous.

I am sorry if I offend any Gatorade fans but who on earth drinks that stuff?? Sure, it’s got a great PR machinery behind it but it’s just water with tons of sugar, colouring, sodium and other weird chemicals.

Thanks but I’ll stick to my all-natural coconut water.

What is your favourite “energy drink” of choice?

We had whole wheat pasta with pesto and gorgonzola sauce for dinner tonight (plus some unpictured salad).

It kind of reminded me of yesterday’s lunch..

But that was still quite different. I cooked some sweet potato and buckwheat noodles and mixed it with pesto sauce and topped it (with raw goat’s cheese) on a bed of steamed veggies.

I want to finish off my post with a 10 minute strength workout that I did this morning:

• crunches x 25
• push ups x 8
• static lunges with bicep curl x 15 (change sides)
• dead lift x 15

Repeat 2x.

It was quick and easy and kind of kick-started my day. Afterwards I did some yoga and meditated on my yantra mat (will write a review in a few weeks).

Short and sweet post. Got to get my daily blog reading fix in and it’s already 11pm.. I already dread tomorrow’s 5am wake-up call (my mum likes to check the news online at this ungodly hour.. and the PC is in “my” room).

Hope you had a good Tuesday!!

What a wonderful weekend that was! We arrived at the camping place in Doussard (which is close to Annecy) at 11:45am (after getting lost a bit.. ) and I still can’t believe that you can get there so fast.

The group went paragliding in the morning but they returned just when we arrived at the camping site.

After some chatting they went off again and I laced up my Asics. I did a nice and easy 6 miles on a road which is mainly for bikers (no cars allowed). The weather and view was gorgeous but the road itself was super boring. That’s why I did a lot of running/walking/taking in the view.

Then I read a bit (I finished “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” and cried like a baby though I had to hide the crying because of the other people there.. ) and chatted with the other women. It was so relaxing and lovely.

After the first group got back we decided to start making dinner. I hate doing nothing so I volunteered to make the pasta dish. I cooked what was suggested – pasta with mascarpone sauce and veggies.

I decided to wait for “my” boys (aka the dad and boyfriend) and eat dinner later. Too many crisps were enjoyed on the way to France . The rest got back at 8:30pm or so and I made a second pot of pasta, as well as a veggie patty pour moi.

There was also some amazing cake that someone made and lots of wine .

Ps: Yes, I packed way too much food. As expected. It seems like I’m not the only one who over-packs though.

Sunday started off with a nice cup of green tea and a huge breakfast.

Everyone was actually way older than me but we had such a fun time. Age is only a number and doesn’t really matter much anyway.

We then had to leave the camping site by noon and so we decided to go to Annecy and “explore” the town a bit (some of us have never been there before). Annecy has such a beautiful old town!! I completely fell in love.

There was a marathon (and half marathon) going on which was fun. Seeing the people run through the finish was great. I could have spent the entire day there but I’m not sure if the others would have liked that .

There was a market too. Lots of sausages and cheese – as it is common in France .

I really like taking photos of markets even though none of the products (ok maybe except the wine and jam) really appeals to me..

It was rather difficult to find a restaurant where you could sit outside (because we were a group of 11 people). We found a nice crêperie though but had to split up. I got a crêpe (which was made with buckwheat) with onions, tomatoes, egg and salad.

I loved it but both my dad and boyfriend weren’t huge fans of theirs. Sigh…

Then it was time to go back home again! We arrived at my parent’s place at 6pm and had dinner together – lovely way to end a lovely weekend.

I can’t wait to go back to Annecy soon! It felt like we were on a holiday even though it was  rather “close” to home and only for two days.

By the way, do you remember the day when I forgot my camera at my parent’s place? Well I got my precious baby back and thought I’d share the photos of the homemade ravioli with you. This is hands down my favourite meal on earth. My mum makes everything from scratch, even the dough. The recipe is from Jamie Oliver’s first cookbook.

The (vegetarian) ravioli are filled with sundried tomatoes, mozzarella and basil and taste like heaven.

We always drizzle them with olive oil, pepper and parmesan cheese. A sauce would totally ruin the amazing flavours.

Mmmm these photos make me hungry!

Anyway, I better be off now. I hope you had an amazing weekend too!

Take care!

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?

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?

So things got really really bad after I published yesterday’s post. I won’t tell you all the details but it was about a major misunderstanding between my sister and I  and she went to my parent’s place to run with my dad and I went back home and was feeling absolutely miserable. Have you ever felt like the entire world is against you only because something “small” happened? Well that’s how I felt like. I was sick of everything.

But then my normal self crept back into my head and convinced me to go running in the freezing cold. It was the best decision I’ve made in quite some time. After two minutes of running it felt like I got some air and could think normally. I know that I sometimes take things too personally and should really work on that.
I got back home feeling cold as ice but so incredibly happy and immediately called my sis (who wasn’t at my parent’s place because she was still on her run…). My mum, Selina and I actually had plans to go and see New Moon in the afternoon (yeah.. don’t ask… It’s my mum’s obsession ) and I was so sad that our fight got in the way of our plans and so I asked my parents to come to our place for dinner. (Later it also turned out that the English showing of New Moon is at 8:15 pm –stupid dubbed films!- so we couldn’t have gone anyway.)

Long story short: Things are good again in the casa of K + S.  We sometimes have major fights but I guess that’s normal for sisters who are really close…

I had a really late lunch (at 3pm!) and was all about comfort food. (It was cold and I was starving). Boy was it glorious.

My fam got to our place a couple of hours later & my mum even brought her already prepared mapo doufu. I always get my own veggie portion .

I love candles in winter – they make a house so comfy and “home”. Candles are great for fighting the winter blues.

We also had some salad. I could easily live on salads and honestly don’t understand how some people don’t like them.

Silvio and a friend of Selina’s came around later as well and we had some pineapple and banana ice cream. I didn’t like the ice cream though (I know… Shocker! Ice Cream + Banana flavour + organic and I don’t like it???? sigh).

Featuring Silvio the hand model again.

And now it’s back to work!! Are you as excited as I am? (Major sarcasm in case you haven’t noticed).

I hope your Sunday wasn’t as dramatic as mine .

Good morning everyone! I’m currently sipping on some tea and waiting for my sister to get back home so we can go to the gym together. Only 1 1/2 hours to go.. sigh.

Yesterday was lovely. I got up pretty early and went to bodypump which was a killer. I had time for a lovely juice before I left though.

First I juiced the carrots, zucchini and apple and then added the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of orange juice.

My breakfast was a bit weird as I only had that juice and a piece of bread plus two chocolate chip balls on the way out

Bodypump was truly brutal and I’m completely sore today but the sauna afterwards felt so good .

I ran some errands and got back home and made myself a lovely sandwich.

It was enormous.

1/2 avocado, 1 egg, cucumber slices & mustard on a whole wheat baguette. It was quite impossible to eat which was highly amusing and made me feel like a kid.

Then, my friends, we went and got new RUNNING SHOES!!! Oh it’s been too long! You know, my old shoes were fabulous but completely ready for the running shoes graveyard and I was so glad that we had the time to go and get new ones yesterday. Selina also decided to get running shoes and my dad wanted to buy her first pair. It’s a “tradition” in our household. My dad got me into running when I was a kid and he also bought me my first running shoes (Nikes! I still have them ). So we were both quite thrilled when Selina decided to start running as well. Plus we all know how important running shoes are and to be honest, it simply isn’t fun (or healthy) to run in other sports shoes..

I also had to get the new runner’s world magazine because I was so excited. I will try the shoes today for a 5km run on the treadmill (I’ve never run on a treadmill before). Can’t wait!

For dinner we were invited to my grandparent’s place. My dad showed them my blog on his new fancy mobile phone . We had fondue for dinner which is always a classic (I’ve eaten this so many times already this winter!). Never gets old though . It was such a great dinner – we drank (lots of) wine, ate great food and enjoyed each other’s company. I really love being with my family but I don’t see my grandparents often enough even though they live next doors to my parents.

Afterwards I went back home to Bern and was greeted by Selina and her gang at the train station. I decided to go back home though because I was rather tired (it’s the old age!! ).

Now I’m still patiently waiting for her to get back home. Party animal. (Kidding. A bit.)

Breakfast was stellar though. The yellow/brown theme totally dominated:

I miss juice though. I should go and make some now.

Have a fabulous Sunday!

Question: What’s your form of working out?
I’m a running and yoga girl to the core but I also love cross training as I get bored pretty easily.

This, my friends, is a war wound:

But let’s get back to that later…

I was pretty proud of myself that I managed to get up at 6am yesterday morning, despite the fact that Silvio and I watched True Blood until 1am.. Anyway, I hopped out of bed, kissed the boyfriend goodbye and did the abs exercise from this month’s German Shape magazine.

Pretty in pink, huh?

Then I had a breakfast with whatever I found in the kitchen…

I kind of live for almond butter. That brown thing on the top is a leftover breakfast power muffin that I had in the freezer.

Work was a bit less stressful which was great.

For lunch I met up with Selina at tibits. This time we got some food from the buffet.

There’s so much on that plate… I had a bit of lasagne, risotto, quinoa salad, hummus, grilled veggies, tomato & tofu salad, dal, green beans & edamame salad, artichoke heart, tofu balls… What else? Oh all those flavours! Tibits is always jam packed at lunch and so we were really glad to find a table… It’s always quite a battle there .

After work Selina and I met up again and got vaccinated against the swine flu!! (Hence the war wound)
It wasn’t really that bad – I’ve heard so many stories about crazy pain but it was quite easy peasy. My arm hurts a little bit now but it seriously isn’t that bad.

We got vaccinated because of our trip to Japan, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it. But the thought of spending the entire holidays (vacation) lying around and being ill convinced me to get the vaccination.

We were in and out in a few minutes and I got back home, worked out on the stepper for 45 minutes while watching 24 and whipped up a weird but good dinner.

Warm arame salad with rice vinegar and sesame oil, bread topped with some hot paprika spread (and cheese), olives and scrambled eggs (1 egg, 1 egg white).

I’ve never had arame like that before but it was good.

That spread is so hot, my mouth was on fire!

It was so good to have the night off again and just be a lazy bum.. I did the dishes, made a new batch of raw vegan chocolate chip cookie dough balls and watched the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2009.

Today’s plan is:

• Go to Spin Class at 10am
• Get home & whip up a quick lunch
• Take the oral English exam at 2pm
• Bake cookies
• Go to Stephanie’s place for dinner (hooray!!)

So yes, I have an exam today. The hard part comes on Wednesday (written exam all day long..). I’m not nervous at all because I kind of like oral exams (is that weird?). I’m only afraid of being late for it! Last night I dreamed that I was in London and realized that the exam was in 2 hours and all the time I was thinking “Oh no! But there’s no way that I could get back home in two hours! The flight alone takes 1,5h!”. Sigh. The thought of being late really freaks me out.

Question: Are you afraid of the swine flu?
Me not at all. As said before: I wouldn’t have gotten the vaccination if I wasn’t going to go to Japan. Being ill with the swine flu certainly sucks but I think it’s stupid to think of it as the “horror flu”.

Damn, gotta run. I need to leave the house in 10 minutes and I’m still in my PJs and haven’t eaten breakfast yet. See ya!

The  nasty rain just turned into snow, hooray! I love snow and it was also about time that we got some.. I’m now really looking forward to snowboarding (best thing ever in winter).

Yesterday was fantastic and I whipped up some extremely delicious and simple food.

But first let’s go back to Saturday. Post-work I rushed to Silvio’s place for dinner. We whipped up some very basic stuff – potatoes, spinach, quorn cutlet (me), cordon bleu (him) and salad.

Oh, and garlic bread. We have a thing for garlic bread.

Buttaaaaah!!

Sunday

I had to skip brunch at Silvio’s parents place due to fun stuff like laundry and cleaning the apartment (gaaaah..) On the way back home I picked up some grapefruit juice.

I wasn’t hungry at all and so I worked out on the stepper (such a killer machine ) while watching an episode of 24.

…followed by some lovely yoga.

Afterwards I did the laundry + dishes and mopped the floor. I then felt like I needed some food in me after all. It’s so strange not to have any appetite at all, that rarely happens to me but if it does then it’s only on weekends or when I’m ill. Weekend eats are always rather weird..

Killer-sandwich

Lettuce, tomato, sprouts, goat cheese, ketchup and mustard. Yes it was as good as it looked.

Then I read some blogs and decided to try making Averie’s Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls. Yes tried because my processor absolutely sucks. It takes me forever to make almond butter (which is why I rarely make it from scratch) and so I wasn’t sure if it was up to some vegan goodies. However, I was so wrong to doubt my little food processor.

MY. GOD. They were even better than I imagined! And they only took me 5 minutes to make. And they taste like cookie dough. And they’re basically heaven on earth. And and and and.. I wish I took some to work.

I highly encourage you all to make a batch as well! And if some of my real-life friends ( ) read this: Let me know if you want some and I’ll happily make some for you as well.

Anyway, I had some stroke of creativity before I made these raw goodies and only needed two ingredients for this little masterpiece.

Soy sauce
Almonds

Simple? Oh yes indeed.

First I drizzled some almonds with soy sauce (just enough to cover everything)

Then I put them into the oven for 10 minutes on 100°C (About 210°F?!?)

I will definitely make a huge batch again because they’re such a yummy snack! (Again, I was surprised at how good they tasted!) They also require almost no active time which is an other plus.

Around 2pm I had to get ready and met up with my mum at the cinema for an other round of New Moon. Fabulous.

Healthy cinema snackeroo:

I then went back home with mum and helped her preparing dinner. I made myself some stuffed peppers because everyone else is on the meat-wagon.

Filled with mozzarella, parsley, sundried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, S+P.

I love stuffed veggies!

My dad made his super famous cèpe mushroom risotto. It’s seriously one of the best dishes I’ve ever tasted and anyone who ever gets to try this is a lucky person. My parents go searching for mushrooms in the woods which is fantastic (even though I hated it as a child – it was boring – but I now really appreciate it..  well at least the results of that hard work, lol).

He takes his job super seriously (“Is there any decent risotto rice in the house?”)

My plate:

(It’s impossible to only eat a small serving of the risotto – I tried it. And failed.)

and some amazing okra (Yes! Okra!), broccoli, garlic sticks + cherry tomatoes salad:

Whew, what a post. Hope you didn’t get tired .

Yesterday was lovely but a 1-day weekend is way too short. It was so hard to get up this morning! Tonight’s going to be great though. I’ll go and see The Sounds! Can’t wait!

I hope you’ll have a great last day of November!

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!

I hope you’ll have a fabulous time.

Back to yesterday..

Indian food is so unbelievably good, I could definitely live on it.

We kicked off last night’s dinner with some “drinks”. I had a martini (which looks like water on that picture..)

We had to celebrate New Moon after all (or something like that) .

For dinner I chose okra curry. I am a huge fan of okras but can’t seem to find them around here! But they must be out there somewhere..

They served it with a side of rice and a little dal.

I ate all of the dal and okras and 1/2 of the rice. Plus some bites of my family’s curries. So so so so good! (So so so so stuffed..)

Oh and I also had a piece of garlic naan.

And an Indian beer which was really good.

What a fabulous dinner! (Thanks mom and dad!)

Afterwards we went next door (literally) to see New Moon.

You know.. quite seriously… I honestly didn’t expect it to be so good! The film is so much better than Twilight (which is probably mostly due to the bigger budget and the new director). Some shots were absolutely fantastic and the script was so much better! The conversations were just flowing and not as awkward as in Twilight. And don’t get me started on the make-up.. (especially those eyes!! Such an improvement in the contact lenses department!).

It was overall a great film and very well adapted. I also thought that it was so amusing to be in a cinema with tons of women. All that whistling and screaming cracked me up. Though I guess that people in Switzerland aren’t really as obsessed with Twilight (what I’m really glad for) as America is. (I also bet that most women were also constantly reminding themselves that Taylor Lautner is only 17.. ).

Can’t wait to see it again!

The next post will be about how to stay healthy while travelling long distances.

Stay tuned and keep on dancing!