Saturday, October 18, 2008

I'm going to Berlin!

yes, that's right! i am going to Berlin to meet up with a bunch of lovely ppk'ers!, including Bazu from Where's the Revolution! i think we're gonna have so much fun! i haven't been to Berlin since i was a child, and i have heard so many good things about the city, so i am excited to go and explore. we are going to hang out at vegan restaurants eating bunches of great food, and i am planning on going shopping for vegan foodstuffs you can't get here, and clothes. so, yeah, it will be pretty amazing.
also, Melisser of The Urban Housewife called in a favor, and is fixing us up with vegan cupcakes. thanks, melisser!
After hanging out it Berlin for a couple of days or 4, Bazu is coming back to Copenhagen to stay at my place, and check out the city. we are probably going to Malmö aswell, to eat at Vegegården, an everything-is-deep-fried chinese restaurant, and Astrid och Aporna (astrid and the monkeys), a vegetarian supermarket with loads of vegan stuff.
all of this is going down in late november. i can't wait!

/D

Friday, October 17, 2008

VeganMoFo - danish food.

I cooked something 100% danish today. i rarely do that. it's called "stuvet spinat", which can be translated into spinach gravy, served over mashed potatoes and some brussels sprouts and black beans. it was delish! and i can proudly say that today i got my greens!




and i found this really nice bottle of white truffle oil today. i love white truffle oil! i will have to cook something with it when the boy isn't home, though, he can't stand the smell of it. i guess it's my own fault, for trying to feed him somthing with truffle oil, while he was really sick, some time ago. poor boy.

on another note, i had my mom and sister over for a visit today. i rarely see my family, partially cause they live far away and i am lazy, partially because i have so much stuff going on in my life at the moment, that just leaving the city for a day, isn't really going to happen. when i have a whole day off, i usually opt. to sit in my pj's all day, eating icecream and watching movies, enjoying my own company.
so i am a bad daughter. but who cares?
it was really nice seeing them. i always like to hang out with my sister, because 13 year old girls are awesome, and i am in a very superficial state of mind at the moment, so we have a lot in common. + you know, i wouldn't want to miss out on following her while she is growing up. i had her up for a visit in the summer, where she just stayed at my place, and we had fun shopping, eating shitloads of berries, and watching mary-kate and ashley movies. the movies is really what should earn me the best sister of the year-award, cause damn, i could have spend those 1,5 hours on something a little more interesting than watching a movie about the twins traveling around the world because they need to be undercover, and ending up in Australia, where they meet the cute surf guys. but she had fun, i enjoyed her having fun and all was good.
and i always enjoy my mom's company. she is a really great mom, and i love her so much. she always have advise for all of my crazy problems, and she cares so much about me. it is really great, just spending a day drinking coffee and talking with her. we just places my sister on the couch with SATC the Movie, and a fashion magazine, and then she entertained herself for a couple of hours.
what i really enjoy about my mom's company is that i can feel her growing as a person all the time. she is not one of those moms who are always the same. she always looks for new things to try, and is interested in my point of view. but at the same time, she maintain this calmness about everything. and she is intelligent. i guess i can just hope for them all to see the light, and move closer to copenhagen. i would really enjoy being able to go and hang out at my mom's place, or just dropping by for a cup of coffee. but i guess that it won't happen any time soon. i can still dream about it, right?

after having my mom and sister over, A came home, bringing some of our stuff from the storage room, including tons of clothes. i am so happy to have my clothes back! i had forgotten how much fabulous stuff i have. tomorrow will be the first day i can choose whatever outfit i want, since the 1st of august. i am probably gonna spend 2 hours just dressing up in my own clothes, deciding what to wear. it is gonna be amazing.

i think i will go outside and grab a smoke, and then take a shower and head off to bed. it's already 12:48am.
much love,
D.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

I want to share with you..

My favourite online interior design sites:

The Selby

Design*sponge

Apartment Therapy

i think you will love these as much as I do!

and one of these days i will post about our apartment project. it is not completely done, but hopefully it will be before christmas!

VeganMoFo - Pasta Della California

I've been planning my menues for this week, cause we've gotten into this bad habit of buying random veggies that end up back in the fridge, only to be found 3 weeks later, half rotten. and we haven't really been buying veggies for a while, except from when i got into a sudden "I WANT TO COOK RIGHT NOW, LET'S GO TO THE GREENGROCER NOW NOW NOW" crazy-state. to be honest, i've been really lazy about food for some time, but decided that this has to end. no more take away food. no more bread with vegan cream cheese or jam. no more pasta with esme's Special Sauce.

this was my planned menu:
monday: Fingerling Potatoes braised with Smoked Paprika, marinated vegetarian tuna and a warm salad made from asparagus, green beans and carrots.
tueday: noodles with sesame seeds, asparagus and tofu.
wednesday: probably eating at Wagamama (japanese restaurant)
thursday: potato/spinach/chickpea curry and rice
friday: Pasta Della California
saturday: mac'n'cheese with tomato salad and green bean salad with salted almonds
sunday: leftovers!

but since we decided to go to wagamama friday or saturday instead, i decided to make the Pasta Della California today. and i am so glad i did!
damn, this dish is so easy, yet tasty. it is pretty high fat, but what the hell. i used whole wheat spaghetti instead of linguine, because i am cutting down on the regular pasta. i will definitely be making this dish again. and if you haven't made it yet, do so!

VeganMoFo - Vitaminas is the new black.

sometimes i sugar crash. hard. even though i try my best to eat foods that stabilize my blood sugar, and even though i stay away from regular sugar (well, most of the time!). i eat a big breakfast every day, eat a high fiber diet, eat healthy all over really. the sugar crash usually comes after spending a couple of hours wandering around stores in the centre of the city. it sucks! i think my body lets out a ton of adrenalin, while i look at amazing stuff, and then i just feel bad when i get home. i want to keep the excitement going! or at least feel okay.

i think i have finally found a solution. Vitaminas.
What is a Vitamina, you ask? It's a Latin American version of the smoothie, only more filling! it only takes a couple of minutes (especially if you own a magic bullet, or a knockoff, like i do).


this is what you need to make your very own Vitamina:

1/4 cup of oat flour, made by grinding up some regular oats in the blender, then putting them in a cup.
2/3 of a banana
3/4 cup of frozen strawberries
1/4 cup of frozen blackberries
some applejuice
some soymilk
some soy yoghurt (optional)

blend up everything, except the oat flour, in the blender. it should be like a thin smoothie. add in the oat flour and blend until it is nice and smooth.
you can definitely taste the oats, but i think it's a yummy addition!

i am sure you can do this with your favourite smoothie recipe aswell. if you like it sweet, i would recommend that you leave out the soy yoghurt, and maybe add a little agave. just don't leave out the milk and the oats! that's what makes it so filling. i also wouldn't leave out the banana, or at least replace it with some avocado or something equally filling. anyway, just make one, okay? i bet you're gonna love it.

VeganMoFo - Veggies Rock!

i love vegetables! that's all i really wanted to say.



rice noodles with stir fried tofu, mushrooms, asparagus and raw spring onions, steamed carrot and green beans and a salad made from lettuce, cherry tomatoes, avocado and olives.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

VeganMoFo - today I cooked just for me!

it rarely happens that i cook just for me. usually i cook for the boy and me, or have friends over for dinner. or i have dinnerparties. or i cook at work. it's like, when you cook for a living, you just don't bother cooking for yourself.
but it is a shame, actually. it feels really great to put a little (or a lot) energy into cooking a meal, just for your own joy.

i've had a really bad week. actually the past two weeks have been really crappy, for reasons i won't bore you with. and today was not better. so when i got home, and just wanted to cuddle up on the sofa, with a blanket and Gossip Girl, i decided that i wanted to cook. just for me. just because i like cooking.

and i did it. let me present to you: my lunch!



Polenta with Cherry Tomato sauce, Artichoke puree and a Salad

Yum! you should do this sometime. spoil yourself a little. you deserve it.

/D

VeganMoFo - the tale of the vegetarian tuna

you know when you are in a store far from where you live, and you see a product that is so wierd that you HAVE to buy at least three of them, without tasting? i do this all the time. usually it goes pretty well, but sometimes it goes terribly wrong.
like when we were in sweden, and went to this amazing store called Astid och Aporna, which is a health food store with all sorts of amazing and weird things, loads of vegan candy, loads of soy stuff, fake meats, including vegan crab meat, lobster, chicken, beef and tuna! and since the boy have been talking about how he misses tuna sometimes, i thought "let's buy a load of these!". so we grabbed three huge "tunasteaks", looking like this:

i should have KNOWN. i should have just bought one, and then bought some of the fake chicken that we ate at a restaurant 30 mins earlier that i actually LIKED. i should not have spend $30 on three fake tuna steaks. i never liked tuna! what was i thinking?
so we went back to the house we were staying in, and i decided to fry it up to use on a piece of bread. it wasn't exactly good. but it was edible! i just had a single piece of bread witht he fake tuna, and left the rest to the boy.

then yesterday i decided that i wanted to give it another try. so i marinated it in a vegetarian stir fry sauce with a bit of lime in it (the marinade was delicious, btw), added the tuna, let it sit on the countertop for a while, and then i fried it up. it was the most vile thing i've ever had. it was horrible. i couldn't even eat a tiny piece. the taste of the fake tuna overwhelmed the marinade, and it was literally pukeworthy. i had a very hard time keeping the tiny piece i had eaten, inside of me.

i hate this product. it is the worst thing i've ever had.
and the really wierd part? on the package it says vegetarian tuna with big letters, and then it says in german "veg. lambsmeat".
i gave the last package to a friend, but warned her about it being really bad. i just couldn't let it sit in the fridge next to my delicious organic veggies, and the vegan cream cheese that actually deserves my love and attention.

on a more positive note, fatfreevegan's Fingerlin Potatoes braised with Smoked Paprika is delicious!

/D

Monday, October 13, 2008

Vestine's story

this is so horrible. i can't even begin to describe it. please read this. awareness is the first step in changing the world.

Vestine's story.

autumn isn't all that bad

i feel bad for dissing on autumn in my last post. i like autumn. it is pretty and nice and brings apples and pears and plums, and i drink way more tea than in the summer. those are all good things! so i thought i would let this post be mostly about the pics. this sums up my autumn: up till now:

















i think that was it for today. it's a little bit about food. guess you'll have to do with that for today!

/D

Sunday, October 12, 2008

fuck you, autumn-weather

hey peeps.
i'm still sick, and i blame the autumn. this would have never happened in the summer. i actually lost my voice completely, and have been spending the past few days in my pj's, not leaving the apartment. at. all. fuck you autumn. i actually really like you, and then you do this to me! i thought you would be nice and cozy, and pretty. not make me sick! i've even been wearing warm boots and my winter jacket!

this of course means that i haven't exactly been into cooking. actually, quite the opposite. i have been living off fruit, soy yoghurt, crackers and soup. luckily, my boyfriend can manage to cook up a soup once in a while, so it hasn't all been crappy pre-packaged foods.
two days ago, one of my friends dropped by with a bunch of organic veggies; two huge artichokes, a white pumpkin and something else (i don't remember what it was and i am too lazy to leave to couch to check), so yesterdaythe boy steamed the artichokes and made a pumpkin soupl. unfortunately i didn't feel like eating the soup at all, but i had artichokes!
this morning he made me a big fruit salad, and has just finished a bowl of oatmeal. not bad at all. and while i feel sorry for myself and get spoiled by the boyfriend, i hope to be feeling better by tomorrow.

so no VeganMoFo today. probably not in the next couple of days either.. i will just relax and not stress too much about anything.

/Ditte

p.s. if you ever get a wierd craving for a movie called "Twitches".. don't give into it. it is so bad.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

You know who i love? Blair Waldorf!





I am a big fan of the TV show Gossip Girl. i love it. usually i don't get very drawn into stuff like TV shows, but Gossip Girl hits the spot, right in that big empty hole that Sex and The City left.
What i needed was a storyline that kept my interest, gorgeous people and last, but certainly not least; fabulous clothes.

It is no secret that since i've started watching this show, i have used Blair as an inspiration, when it comes to my look. i love her ladylike, yet chic and fashionable look. but while Blair is the owner of a limitless credit card, i am not!
that's why i have picked out a couple of favourites that i want, or want to find vegan versions of:



This Topshop dress looks great, and has a really nice color. I need to find a version that isn't made from silk, though.



This is another Topshop dress. I am usually not into big bows, but this dress is simple enough for it to work. again, i want to find something similar, that is not silk.



Yet another Topshop winner. can you tell that i am a fan? what i love about this dress is that it is simple, yet still looks amazingly chic.



I would love to pair all three dresses with these leggins. they are simple enough to wear any day, yet gives any outfit an edge.



if you like Blair as much as i do, you should check out Chic and Charming's feature on Blair; http://www.chicandcharming.com/2007/11/chic-women-blair-waldorf.html & The Glam Guide's feature on Gossip Girl; http://getglamorous.blogspot.com/search/label/Gossip%20Girl . they are both very inspiring.


<3 Ditte

ps. because i am still sick, there will be no VeganMoFo post today. sorry folks!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

VeganMoFo - about sushi

sushi is amazing. if you don't like sushi, you are crazy to me. it's that good.
i've had my fair share of sushi. i like buying it, making it, looking at it, and most of all eating it.
it can be a super fast lunch, a healthy fast food choice, a dinner extraordinare and even a project amongst friends!

i have had weeks where sushi has been my main food source. i love it.

so imagine how thrilled i was, finding out that a new sushi restaurant had it's grand opening yesterday. not just a regular sushi restaurant, but one with a vegan menu! i went there last night, but they were fully booked with orders. so today, while feeling a bit sick, i asked my boyfriend to call in an order. this is what we got:

umeboshi with fresh mint roll
go vegan roll: mango, umeboshi, enoki, cucumber
shiitake roll: teriyaki marinated shiitake, carrot, salad, avocado and sesame
tofu n nuts roll: smoked tofu, marinated shiso, cashews, avocado, cucumber
gobo roll: yamagobo, avocado, macademia, cucumber and sesame
crispy radish roll; tempura radishes, cucumber, macadamia and avocado
+ some edamame, chili mayo and seaweed salad.

damn, it was GOOD. we got most of them with brown rice, and it was surprisingly delicious. iøve never had brown rice sushi before, but i was pleased. it is definitely not the same as with white rice, but it was good.
the place we got it from is called Sushi by Us and is located at; Nørrebrogade 153, 2200 KBH N. drop by if you're ever in the city. sushi aint cheap in Denmark, but it is worth it!

this was a quick lunch, made from leftover sushi rice and delicious filling, made sometime last summer:



now, go make eat some sushi!

VeganMoFo - i know i'm late!





I am always late. no matter what i do i am late. VeganMoFo is no exception.

If you have no idea what i am rambling about, check out Isa's post about it; http://theppk.com/blog/2008/09/16/veganmofo-is-upon-us/#more-520
there is no need to add more.

so now that we are clear on what VeganMoFo is, i want to tell you why i am late. because i am so damn busy! i have been working hard, and things are crazy busy. but i am here now. don't you worry.

i have been a bit boring about food lately. it must be the stress from living on the couch with a huge pile of boxes with stuff that have no place to go. and the fact that we don't have an oven, but anyway, this lazyness and boredom makes me not cook as much as usual. which can be a bit of a problem, when teaching people about cooking is what i do for a living.
but last thursday i had the greatest day at work, cooking a nice curry with cauliflower, potato, onions, garlic, kale, coconutmilk and a home blended curry. served over basmati rice, with a nice homemade chapati, and homemade apple chutney + a dollop of soy yoghurt, and people were raving. there were so many people coming to eat, that some of them had to stand up while eating. the soupkitchen project is amazing, and we're having so much fun. and some of the girls who were helping, made an apple pie, that was really good.
unfortunately, the dishwasher broke, and we had to do a ton of dishes by hand, but people had lots of fun anyway, and it was a great night.

food is awesome, cause it brings people together, and makes them talk. i really like that.

i have no idea what the point of this story is, exept being a story. but i like it anyway. maybe it is mainly being posted for my own rememberence. i don't know. i am sick and have had nothing but oatmeal, sandwiches with soy cream cheese and soy yoghurt today. i get wierd when i have nothing but breakfast foods. i guess i just wanted you all to know that i haven't forgotten you or VeganMoFo.

oh, and i am excited to read your posts throughout the month! happy VeganMoFo!