POLE DANCING

  My friends and I had a little get together recently. Our gatherings take place only once a year with this group because we all live in different parts of the country. So when we do meet it´s all about girly fun! This time we tried out pole dancing.

Only one of us had tried pole dancing before, and that was only once, so we were all new to the sport.

We did easy beginner´s moves of course, but still it felt awesome to let my whole weight hang on only one of my arms while swirling down around the pole. You know, doing something completely new with my body, something I´m not familiar with. Cool!

By the end of the class we all got a slight hang of it and were able to rely on our strength and body more. That was awesome, and I felt like a hyped up little kid learning her physical limits!

Some of the positions were really tough to do. Like this one I couldn´t master at all!

  My muscles were sore for days and days after this one hour session. It hit the muscles I never use in my everyday life. Clearly pole dancing would benefit my physique balancing out the usage of muscles. But it also made my skin wear out and bruised my legs. But it was so much fun!!! If given the chance, I´d definitely do it again!

KALE & CRANBERRY SALAD

  This is a super delicious, and healthy, kale salad I had today for lunch:

Cranberries and orange rule the taste, followed by garlic and kale. I never imagined plain kale could be this delicious in a salad!

The recipe (serves 1):

First make the dressing by whisking together:
1/2 orange, juiced
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 small clove garlic, minced
pinch salt
pepper to taste
dash of soy sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil

Then pour half of it over:
100g kale, destemmed and finely chopped. Mix and squeeze the kale with your hands for a while to make it softer. (This is when I started drooling... =)

Finally add and toss in the rest of the ingredients:
1/2 orange, peeled and cubed
a snug 1/2 cup (1dl) dried cranberries
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced finely
1/2 parsnip, grated
1/2 shallot onion, finely sliced
3/4 cup cottage cheese

Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to two days.

This recipe is a slight variation to Mimi Kirk´s "Upscale Kale Salad" from her book. I basically just replaced nuts with cottage cheese and left out additional sweetener (agave or dates). That lady can make some darn tasty raw food dishes, and look fantastic doing so at 75!

PARSNIP COUSCOUS

  This is so good! The taste is mild but so satisfying, and it leaves me full but energetic. One of my favorite lunch finds recently.

Raw couscous made with parsnip and avocado! No nuts or seeds, so my stomach adores it too.

The recipe (serves 1):

1 small parsnip, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
a drizzle of lemon juice
pinch of salt
1 oz. (35g) rucola
1 pear, peeled and cubed
1 avocado, cubed

+ Run the parsnip in a food processor until the consistency reminds of rice. Pour into a bowl and add the olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Toss. Add the rucola, pear, and avocado, and mix well.

  The original recipe is from Erica Palmcrantz´s book, and it called for 2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds instead of the avocado I used. Good either way, but my stomach does not agree with seeds right now. =)

NOVEMBER RAIN

  This is why I dislike November:

It has been like this for weeks now. I reckon the last time I saw the sun was two weeks ago, and even then it was just for about five minutes.

This is from the other weekend. The weather is trying to draw all positivity and optimism out of me, much like dementors in Harry Potter.  =)

  But I must stay strong, drink my green smoothies, and memorize last summer´s never ending sunlight.
  Luckily this darkness is temporary (although feels forever now).

FUNERAL DRESSES

  We attended a funeral recently. Funerals are never fun, but it is fun to plan what to wear to the occasion. Overall I try to keep a positive mind on funerals, thinking it is the last party thrown to the person, and we´re there to celebrate having known her/him and all the good things shared together.

  In the past four years we have been to four funerals, and I thought it was time to make myself a new outfit. My daughter doesn´t have such dark clothes in her everyday wardrobe, so I knew I´d have to make her something in any case. So why not make matching dresses? She is still so small, that it counts as cute. =)

  Here´s the one I made for her:

Instead of all black, which is too harsh and sad for a little girl like her, I chose a more subtle print in grey and black. The fabric is nicely soft, stretchy, and warm for the weather. Even party wear needs to be comfortable to wear, so one can concentrate on partying, not worrying about clothes.

The pattern is a casual one, not complicated. For example, I also made the Bad Piggies dress with it. Raglan sleeves are always comfy.

To avoid dullness I added pompoms to the hemline. And by a great coincidence I found the same kind, but in larger scale, to my own dress.

Like mother like daughter. We both surfed through the ceremony with comfort, ease, and style! And rose a few smiles on the guests´ faces on the way. =) In addition to that, I eased my own sorrow by wearing aromatherapy earrings with bergamot essential oil on them.

I gotta to use this opportunity to share an idea I came up with for the flower bouquet. I wanted to make one myself to show respect for the deceased. Usually the arrangements are directly from the florist´s, are quite pricey, and don´t last long  (especially now that it´s so cold outside). So my innovative own idea was to make a wreath-based arrangement with a center piece in the middle. Here I chose a spruce twig garland and placed a lantern in the center hole. To top it off I added red roses to circle around the lantern. The whole deal is placed on a plywood round to keep it all together. People liked it, and said they especially enjoyed the calming flicker of the candle flame. This is something I will definitely redo in occasions to come, always altering the design according to who´s being celebrated.

TODAY´S GREEN SMOOTHIE

  This is the third day of gulping down masses of green smoothie. Here´s what nourished me today:

Looks delicious like this too, but I would not enjoy eating the greens whole. Blending magically makes the tough greens "disappear", and what´s left is a sweet fruity flavor.

A two-quart (liter) pitcher full of green gold... heavenly.

Here we go again! Yum!

The recipe for "Tummy Settler" by Victoria Boutenko (makes 2 quarts/liters):

3 cups romaine lettuce
1 cup parsley
3 cups pineapple chunks
2 bananas
3 cups water

+ Blend all until smooth.

FIRST SNOW

First snow fell today! I doubt it´ll last, but it gives a nice preview to the months to come.

GREEN SMOOTHIES

  Victoria Boutenko´s new book "The Green Smoothie Prescription" finally arrived at my house! I have eagerly been waiting for it to come for some time, because I´m eating green smoothies/puddings for breakfast through Samhain, and having wise recipes makes it more sensible.

  This morning I made the first smoothie by one of her recipes:

Victoria´s approach to green smoothies is different from what I´ve used to hearing. She recommends making a huge bunch in the morning and then consume it all throughout the day. All of this went into my smoothie along with 2 cups of water.

The pitcher became full, and I poured a glass (2 cups) for me, half a cup for my daughter, and the rest into a big glass jar to await consuming.

Needless to say, it was good!

The recipe for "Natural and Easy Weight Loss":

2 cups parsley (parsley is sold in pathetic little pots here, which cost quite a much, and produce more plastic waste than I would like. So I used only one pot of parsley, and replaced the rest with baby spinach.)
1 cucumber, with peel
3 pears
juice of 1 grapefruit
2 cups water

+ Blend all until smooth.

  With each meal I drank 2 cups of the smoothie, and for supper there is now only about 1 cup left. It is somewhat filling, so I didn´t eat as much "real" food as usually. My stomach has not complained, so I will go ahead and make another smoothie tomorrow, using a new recipe.

  Blending breaks down the particles into very small pieces, which helps digestion and enables more nutrients to be absorbed in the body.
  Super-guru of raw food, David Wolfe, says in his book "Sunfood Diet Success System" that one day he wishes to be a liquedarian 100% of the time. He swears by the easiness of blending and juicing. Well I only have one day experience behind me, but it felt like I only "cooked" once today. It was so easy just to grab the jar of smoothie out of the fridge and pour a glass full. Then simply have something chopped with it, like slices of zucchini with mustard and cheese today. Or a bowl of yogurt. I´m impressed and excited! Can´t wait for tomorrow!  =)

SLICE N´ STACK PIZZA BITES

  This has got to be the easiest, fastest, and healthiest form of pizza imaginable. I made these for lunch in a super hurry last weekend:

A plate full of bite-size pizzas just waiting to be stuffed in my mouth! And in they went, up to the last piece...

The "crust" is a slice of zucchini, a tomato slice has the role of sauce, and a slice of cheese (goat´s in this particular stack) on top, seasoned and garnished with fresh oregano and basil.

The recipe (for 1):

1/2 zucchini
2-3 tomatoes
3 1/2 oz. (100g) cheese (preferably organic goat´s)
fresh basil and oregano
sea salt
black pepper

+ Slice the veggies and cheese. Sprinkle a serving plate with sea salt lightly, then stack the ingredients and season with black pepper to taste. Enjoy!

SAMHAIN FASHION: THE HOBO

  This outfit I actually started making last year already, and only now got finished:

The modern-day hobo. A look inspired by old-times silver screen and particularly Charlie Chaplin´s movies.

  Check out the whole story and more pictures on my column Nelland Living on PaganPages!

SAMHAIN GRAVEYARD

  We have a tradition of going to the local cemetery for a walk on Samhain evening when it gets dark. The whole place is flooded with twinkling candle light. It is absolutely beautiful!

We did not see ghosts, but there is a suspicious looking shadow entering the little church in the back... Lucifer himself?  =)

  None of our friends or family are buried here in this cemetery, or in our home county overall, so these walks aren´t emotional. We simply enjoy the beauty.
  But we do have a funeral on the way, because my dear grandma passed away recently. It´s been three years since the last funeral we attended. My son is unfortunately very familiar with the occasion, but my daughter has never yet been to one. Well, that´s life I suppose. We hurt but at least we get to go on...