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!

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!

I’m sorry but I have to admit it: FOOTBALL IS BORING!!

Please don’t throw rocks at me.

I get that it’s “bonding” and loved by almost everyone. It’s emotional. But my goodness.. I really don’t understand why people get so extremely sad when their team loses.

Oh well, at least it’s fascinating to people from all over the world and World Cups can help with cultural exchange as well. So it’s not all bad.

(I just wish that some football fans would also start doing sports – lifting beers not included)

After watching 15 minutes of the Holland – Spain final I decided to go back home and relax a bit. It’s been a really hot day and I’ve been craving ice cream like a mad woman. However, I didn’t feel like eating real ice cream…

So I whipped up some chocolate banana protein soft serve!

Believe it or not but I’ve never made banana soft serve before. I know, it’s quite shocking.

I combined 1 frozen banana, 1/2 chocolate protein powder (I used Sun Warrior) and a little bit of rice milk in the food processor and let it do it’s thing.

Oh heavens. I feel really Swiss right now because we always miss the major trends. (Ugg boots came up last winter!!!)

Better. Than. Ice. Cream.

There. I said it. And I will not take it back.

It’s healthier for you too.

I have some fun news to share with you tomorrow! And even more news by the end of the next week (hopefully).

Ps. Speaking of being Swiss.. I saw a Federal Councillor this evening in the old town of Bern. In case you didn’t know: Switzerland doesn’t have a Prime Minister or President. There are 7 Federal Council member that “rule” the country.
Anyway, I saw her walking around on her own and realized how unusual this is.  Aren’t such important people supposed to walk around with an entourage? Ha! Just imagine Obama or Cameron walk around on their own.

Pps: *Cough* my incredibly neglected TV is on. I need to hear when Holland wins after all *Cough*

If you google „Karin“ (in the German Google version), the first sentence you’ll get is:

“Eine Frau, gefangen im männlichen Körper.“

Meaning: A woman, caught in a male body.

Two questions that don’t need to be answered:
- I am a woman who is caught in a male body???
- Why do I google my own name?

Moving on! (The wine is speaking)

I went to the end of the world last night. A place called Gunten.
And no, you’re not the only one, I haven’t heard of that place before either.
It was my friend Mike’s birthday and so I hopped on a train to Thun and then on a bus to Gunten. It was a bit like sight seeing. That bar/lounge/restaurant was amazing though; it was right by the lake and you could see the mountains and the sunset. It was absolutely magical! We also ate some amazing Tarte Flambée.
We all decided that it was utterly silly to work when it’s so beautiful outside. Maybe we should hand in a petition. Wonder what my boss would think of that.

Right before I left for Gunten I whipped up some Krazy Kokonut Karob Bites. Minus the carob. I got the recipe from Toneitup which is a page that I stumbled upon a few days ago. The recipe for the bites can be found here. They are basically like Lärabar balls (Läraballs?? ) and perfect pre-workout snacks.

I should have a few of these in my fridge all the time because they’re incredibly delicious and great on the go.

Tonight after squash I had dinner with my boyfriend at one of my favourite restaurants right by the river Aare. I left my camera at home and enjoyed the company (and food! and wine!) which was lovely.

Life is good.

8 more days of work to go until I have a day off. Partaaay!

My friend Kirsty told me yesterday about a cleanse she’ll do, starting today. It’s quite simple: Lots of veggies, grains, protein in form of fish, chicken, eggs and tofu. Well I don’t eat chicken or fish (and neither does she) but decided to join her. Mainly because I like “experiments” like these –> Challenges that aren’t too challenging .

I don’t expect it to make me feel completely different because it’s only for three days and I usually eat the same food anyway (I just have to give up on wheat, chocolate and dairy – which is easy since I can live a few days without bread, pasta and chocolate and I rarely eat dairy anyway).

But yeah, I’m doing a “cleanse”.

Tam Tam Tam

When people hear that word they first think of ridiculous juice fasts or other silly things (master cleanse anyone?). I don’t believe in starving, even if you’ll feel “great” afterwards. Fasts/Cleanses that are based on juices might be do-able for some people but not for me. I like chewing.

So in spirit of the cleanse I decided to turn this blog into a food journal for three days. Are you ok with this?

Yes?

Good.

Breakfast was a massive bowl of cold oatmeal (1/3 c oatmeal cooked with 1 c water and ½ banana the night before) with soy yogurt, the other half of the banana, hemp seeds and blueberries (as well as two lone raspberries). You know, I REALLY don’t like berries in hot oatmeal. Something about that bitterness makes me gag. In fact, the only fruit I like in hot oatmeal is banana.

Mid-morning snack was a wonderful nectarine that was incredibly sexy to eat.

(It kind of pretends to be an apple in this picture.)

Ok, I know that white rice is like blasphemy in the healthy food blogger world but my boss and co. had a lunchtime meeting and my colleague and I decided to order sushi as well. That was last week when I didn’t know anything about that cleanse back then. Oh well. It was a huge but great lunch . (And actually also completely fine with the cleanse rules)

I had another “impossible-to-eat-in-front-of-other-people” afternoon snack. Watermelon. Hot.

No surprise that the watermelon left me starving when I got back home so I nibbled on some gluten free & vegan crackers that I recently found at the organic food store.

Oh god. I’m addicted. I had approximately 3x of what’s shown above.

Dinner was with my sister Selina before Pilates class. We went to the good old tibits and I got all sorts of yummy things and a green juice!

Workout for the day:

-1 h pilates class
-lots of walking (actually more than usual..)

Other “rules” of the cleanse are as follows (in case you were wondering):

How to eat
*Meals should be regular – three a day, and a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack.
*Eat moderate helpings of good lean protein with main meals: fish, eggs, chicken, tofu
*Dandelion coffee, ginger (in tea or added to juice of food) and nettle tea all good for cleansing/supporting the liver.

NO to
alcohol
processed food (except tofu)
no sugar
no red meat
no caffeinated drinks
no wheat or dairy
very little salt

Yes to:
drink at least 2 litres of water/herbal tea a day
eat plenty of vegetables except white potatoes
good veg for detox = artichokes, beetroot, bean and seed sprouts, carrots, pumpkin, red cabbage, spinach, sweet potato, tomato, watercress
Cruciferous veg = broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts – important in supporting the key conjugation pathway to the liver
Eat fruit. Esp good for detoxing – apples, fresh apricots, berries, cantaloupe, melon, citrus, kiwi, papaya, peaches, mango and dark grapes.
Grains – a half tennis ball sized helping of brown rice, corn, millet, oats or quinoa
Pulses
Nut & seeds (great for snacks with some fruits)
Oils – use extra virgin olive oil or flaxseed oil.
LEMON WATER

Each morning, start the day with half a lemon squeezed into a glass of hot water.

Here’s how Day 1 is supposed to look like: (The other days are really similar)

Day 1
First thing: Lemon water
before you shower or bathe: – skin brushing
During the day : a brisk walk to help circulation
Treatment Body scrub
Bed: Try to be in bed by 10pm- read or listen to restful music if you can’t sleep

Dang. No skin brushing was done. And it’s already 10:41pm. Oops! Time to go to bed!

Q: What do you think of cleanses? Ok I’ll admit it; it’s quite silly to call this (in my case) a cleanse since I mainly eat that way anyway. However, I’ll just take it as a chance to be more aware of what I eat – in a good way. Sometimes I nibble on things mindlessly – who doesn’t? – but it’s nice to focus on good food for a few days.
As for cleanses: I’m not a huge fan (since I’m lacking major will power). Other reasons for my dislike are stated above

My sister is the cutest person on earth. Though she’ll probably kill me if she sees that I posted this pic on my blog. Oh well.

My bike ride back home yesterday was quite a success! I only got lost twice and bravely fought against the wind. It didn’t feel like a workout but I was a sweaty mess when I got to my parent’s place. Thank god that I have the same clothes size as my mum .

I know, certain people run faster than I bike.

Dinner was great too although I only had bits of this quorn-thing.. My mum thought that I’d like it but it was so heavy and blah .. I hate wasting food but this was absolutely awful. Sorry mum!

Sweet corn is evil. It always sticks in my teeth. I had to go and floss during dinner because it was so unbearable.

I had my very first fresh fig (this summer) yesterday. Figs kind of look like monsters.. Don’t you agree?

For lunch today I had an amazing mix of things. I was actually craving sweet potatoes but needed to eat up those raviolis before they went bad.

So far I’ve done nothing useful today. I went groceries shopping and wore a cute summery top (yay!)

And I’m currently blogging on my couch and drinking a beer. Yes. Oh and I had chips (or crisps ) before. I actually wanted to bbq with my friends tonight but then we cancelled our plans. I have no idea what I should do now, especially because I really want to go out and have dinner with a friend. The boyfriend asked me if I wanted to have a barbeque with him and his friends but I declined because I feel like the others wouldn’t want me there. Which is silly. I know. I just feel uncomfortable to I “invite” myself.

Ah! Someday I really want to leave this shy girl behind and grow up.

Time to read my Stieg Larsson book now, though it makes me miss Stockholm.

Hasta luego!

My boyfriend has been working on his thesis and currently has 2 weeks – I think – left. The other day he mentioned that he’s kind of living off bread at the moment. Well.. you know me. I have to change that. (Though I’m not sure if he’s aware of his “luck” haha)

Eating a balanced diet is so important – especially when you’re under stress and need proper fuel. It’s what keeps us going! I really like pepping healthy food for other people because I care about them.

But anyway: Stress is exhausting and a lot of people (me included) sometimes just don’t have the time or energy to prepare some food.

Sure, we can go and grab a salad or sandwich from the takeout but I get tired of those pretty quickly and don’t want to spend 7.- on a measly salad while I could have made a much better one for half the price (or even less). But again, a lot of people don’t really want to spend some time in the kitchen prepping food. I get that.

So here are a few ideas for healthy + quickly prepared snacks/meals that even the busiest Businessmen would have time to prepare:

• Big batch of soup made on the weekend & frozen in portions. You can easily reheat that on the stove or in the microwave
• Fruits that aren’t too complicated to eat
• Cherry tomatoes (currently obsessed with them)
• Hummus & crackers
• Big batch of roasted veggies for dinner and leftovers for lunch (if you have time for a more time consuming dinner)
• Two slices of bread and everything you have on hand sandwiched in between
• Yogurt
• Bars
• …

What are your favourite healthy + quickly prepped snacks and meals?

Just make sure to stay away from processed take-out, sugary drinks (sugary almost-everything in fact ) and anything else that has things on the ingredients list that you can’t even pronounce.

I guess most of you know these “health tips” already but I for my part can completely forget about healthy food when I’m super stressed (though I tend to forget eating altogether which is really bad. I normally always think about food! ). So i just have to remind this list the next time things get too stressed.

On Sunday I prepared some quinoa salad for Monday’s lunch. Apparently quinoa’s really filling because the boy couldn’t eat it all (though I must admit that I stuffed his tupperware to the brim ).

I used black quinoa which you should all try if you haven’t already. It’s really nutty and kind of.. crunchier than the white quinoa.I also added all sorts of veggies that I had on hand, as well as nuts and seeds.

It might look incredibly messy and not so appetizing but it’s basically a small bomb of magical deliciousness.

I had some more quinoa in an other form tonight. Quinoa pasta! I mixed it with a bit of bear’s garlic pesto and topped it with grated parmesan and parsley. I was a bit too lazy to prep some salad and therefore had two small carrots and pickled daikon on the side. Lazy person’s healthy dinner so to say.

Happy Tuesday!

I love summer.

And I hate summer.

Seriously, weather? It’s been cold and rainy on and off for weeks. No wait, months! Occasional sunshine and hot days don’t count!

I.Want.Summer!

At this point I honestly don’t care if I sound like a 5 year old, I just need my rays! (And a light tan. )

I am glad to have some fantastic summer fruits on hand though. What I really hate about winter is the lack of various  fantastic fruits.

Strawberries
Cherries
Peaches
Apricots
…

Anyway, change of topic, I’ve been eating my weight in sweet potatoes lately.

Olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano. Love.

Two questions: How is the weather where you live and what is your favourite summer fruit?

Got to do some housework now. At least I don’t feel like I’m missing out on something since the weather is so awful. (Always got to look on the bright side of things )

While most people (at least my fellow Swiss citizens) are probably watching soccer right now I enjoy my time home alone with the Vanity Fair DVD. Historical films are so much fun to watch. The clothes are amazing and I’ve always been incredibly interested in history even though we had quite a few boring history teachers.

I went to an amazing yoga class after work and quickly fixed a dinner plate once I was home and showered

Yes that brown little blob is hummus. Homemade hummus. HA!

Even though I occasionally go through phases of being incredibly addicted to hummus (ok.. it’s a phase that never really wears off) I don’t make homemade hummus that often. Which is kind of silly because it’s so easy (and cheap) to make.

I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of canned chickpeas though. It takes no work at all to let dry ones soak in water overnight and then cook them for an hour.

I sometimes have the weird habit to put lunch together 10 minutes before I have to leave the house. And by putting lunch together I mean making hummus and stuffing it into a pita with some spinach.

Pretty, aye? I am the master of amazing lunches, I bet you are incredibly jealous of my skills.

In case you were wondering: I made the hummus with approximately a ton of chickpeas, 2 teaspoons of tahini, the juice of one whole lemon, some water and lots of spices such as paprika, garam masala and some good old s&p.

My lovely little goodies bag from London is still producing amazing goodies and I tried that Pack Tunch bar as an afternoon snack. Heavens, why don’t we have such amazing bars over here? It. Is. Unfair.

And now I shall continue watching Reese being vain.

Have a wonderful Friday night my friends!

Often when I feel like I need to relax I turn to my computer and watch the silliest TV shows online (not on TV – I hate commercials!). Currently I’m watching Vampire Diaries which is so silly but entertaining. I often feel guilty though because there are so many things that I could do instead (like meeting up with friends, blogging, replying e-mails) but there’s just some sort of inner struggle and I can’t handle it all. It sounds overly dramatic but I think we all need some down time. Then again I wonder how those crazy managers manage to work 14 hours a day, sleep 4 hours per night and are ok with that. Well I guess they don’t really have a private life anymore.

Anyway I ran out of Nature Path’s cereal last night (see my sad face right here??) so I went back to an oldie but a goodie.

Ah it’s been too long since I last had porridge! I topped mine with flax, shelled hemp seeds, chia seeds and chocolate peanut butter.

Up and personal close up.

After lunch I snacked on a small package of blueberries.

The blueberries were enormous though.

Here’s the thing with my UK goodies: I don’t want them to “go away” (aka end up eaten) but I have to try them (right?). Conflict!

Today I had the Berry Burst disc for my afternoon snack which was heavenly. Sad to see it go but what can I do? Someone had to eat it.

For dinner I made a multicultural food baby out of Chinese noodles and pesto sauce. Topped on a bed of steamed spinach with some tomatoes.

I am stuffed to the brim. I don’t think I can move although I should be well on my way to my boyfriend’s by now. Today is our 1,5 year anniversary!

So I hope you won’t mind when I say goodbye now.

So: see ya!

Q: What do you turn to when you want to relax? I really like taking my mind off things with watching TV shows and films or reading books. Exercise also relaxes me!