Fall Foods

I have shared my excitement for fall so many times now, but once more: I love fall! and I love fall food! These are all seasonal and mostly local foods. I think it is obvious that the pomegranate is the odd one out as they do not grow in Germany as our climate is not suited. But I bought one to treat myself the other day. And I checked; they are in season.
Apples and pears and winter squash are all seasonal local foods right now that have me very excited for Thanksgiving. This year we are once again planning a potluck style dinner in my friend group. We did this last year because why not? And it is a great excuse to get everyone together. So if you are away from home and want to celebrate Thanksgiving with people you love and who love you do it. Just gather up everyone else who doesn't have anything better to do.
Pomegranates, oranges, clementines and the like are also very present in grocery stores now, but they have a very wintry vibe. So as delicious as all of those are, I am far more excited about the local foods right now. Also because these are delicious foods that can be and are grown in my area! And that is something for me to get excited about. Also this kind of harvest festival reminds us to take a look at what we eat, and for some of us that also means where that food comes from.
Happy Thanksgiving eve!

As the Days Grow Shorter and Colder

All I want is soup! I love cold crisp weather when I can put on layers and layers of coziness to cuddle up in. But there is something incredibly soothing about warmth from within, specifically from a hot meal. And nothing warms quite like soup. My personal favorites being any kind of chunky stew or miso soup. I know they are very different, but both are delicious. I also find them fitting for very different situations, and staying with the chunky stew something filling, warming, comforting and delicious that has a magical way of also not breaking the bank and being a great way to use up little bits and bobs that need to be used up before they go bad. what more could you want? Oh did I mention that it is also really healthy with fiber, protein and fresh veggies. Before I start, this can be varied in so many ways that the options are endless and you rarely have to go get groceries before starting.
First a nice flavor base for the broth. I started with one finely chopped onion and some sun dried tomatoes in olive oil. once the onions start to go clear I added some bouillon cubes and let that simmer with the occasional stir.

Then I add everything that takes a while and plenty of water. Potatoes are a must, and butternut squash (or any other winter squash or pumpkin) and lentils or beans go really nicely too.





While that comes to a boil I chop like a champion. This here is tomato, zucchini, eggplant, carrot, and mushroom. Along with that some spices for example fresh ginger and turmeric along  with the classics: salt and pepper. I also added a can of chick peas. Any kind of bean or pea out of the can should go in close to the end, whereas dried beans that have been soaked need to be added earlier so that they can cook through.

I garnished my soup with some plain yogurt and smoked paprika which made for a lovely finishing touch. I was also able to eat from this big pot about four times and give my roomie some. Something this delicious and Nutritious always hits the spot! 

Hello there

My life really is a work in progress, but I find myself having to look more and more to the future and plan what I want to do and where I want to be. Because I grew up in Boston for the most part of my younger years, I do play with the idea of moving back to the United States or staying here. While that decision is still wide open I was really hoping to do an internship abroad in the United States and idealy in Boston so that I can see my family while I'm there. I did contact several hospitals expressing my interest in an observationship. Since I cannot work with patients directly I would of course only be able to observe, but that too is a wonderful learning opportunity.

So now it is really happening! I know it will work and even though the final week is not yet set in stone it certainly is taking shape in a very good way. I am so thrilled about this so I really wanted to share since this is a personal blog. I hope these kinds of posts are interesting to you as well. 

Thanks for reading, 

Eva Mathilde 

Veggie Burgers

Hey there. I know I disappeared for a week, but I was on break from school and internship shenanigans. I did actually put a lot of thought into weather I was going to take this completely off or continue blogging, and chose this first because I was working at my side job and doing lots of things so I took the time for me to recuperate and am coming back full force. So from here on out the goal is once again posts every Sunday with eventual bonus posts during the week. And I have lots of ideas!

I love me some veggie burgers. I was watching YouTube videos and saw several videos from Sorted food as part of their #BeatMyBurger line and remembered some wonderful black bean burgers I made a while back. I don't however remember the exact recipe so I winged it with this one which has more texture and a wonderful flavor. So firstly, I cooked some black beans the day before so they are not quite as soft as those from a can, but both work just fine.
First I took about 1 cup of green Spelt. (This is a common ingredient here, but far less popular in the United States. I recommend checking natural food stores) and about the same amount of hot broth, or just enough to cover the spelt well so it can soak up most of the liquid. This takes about 15 minuets. Once it is finished and the spelt is softened and the broth liquid is mostly absorbed about 1.5 cups of black beans with some of their cooking liquid and any spices go in. I have here from the top left some sun dried cherry tomatoes finely chopped, salt, freshly ground black pepper, fresh herbs, coriander and cumin.


 At this point I used my hand to mix and mash everything really well, but with canned beans they might be easier to mash with a potato masher before adding. My mixture was a little too runny, so I added 2 Tbsp of fine oat flakes to thicken it up. If it is too thick , just add little bit of water 1 tbsp at a time.






then I just spooned the mixture into a hot pan and let both sides get nice and crispy. They do hold up really well and do not need any egg to bind everything making these delicious burgers vegan! So these are done now and I am just going to take the patties and some salad with lots of fresh veggies to work with me tonight. You could of course add a bun and the condiments for a more traditional burger if that suits you better.

Clean Cosmetics - a Closer Look at Parabens

I find the topic of safety of cosmetics fascinating and the more I look into this the more I realize that this is really controversial. The only thing everyone seems to agree on is that there is a lack of research. I found that it was easier to start some where and for some reason I had parabens on my mind, so why not start there?

Parabens are preservatives that are found in personal care products, make up, pharmaceuticals and even food. They are cheep to produce, effective bactericidal and fungicidal properties and have been used for years. Products need preservatives to keep from growing bacterial colonies or fungi, both of which are gross but also potentially dangerous. In more recent studies parabens have been found in breast cancer cells and have been found to mimic estrogen. The piece about parabens being found in breast cancer tissue doesn't however show that they case cancer, rather that the molecules are absorbed and stored by the tissue. The research that parabens are carcinogenic (cancer causing) is simply not there. The direct link has not been proven, but it has also not been disproven which makes all of this so controversial. Because not knowing means we can trust that its been like this for long enough or to avoid a potential risk to minimize any unwanted side effects. Parabens are also believed to mimic estrogen, which I personally find far more frightening. Any hormone or hormone mimicking substance can affect fertility and the general homeostasis and balance of your body this is particularly strong in children and children in puberty. When we are no longer developing the effects are not quite as severe, but also rather controversial and honestly a whole topic of its own. Studies also indicate that methylparaben in skin products reacts with UVB rays and increases skin aging and damages DNA.

 Essentially: knowledge is power and knowing what the deal is is crucial to deciding what products you want to use and buy. So I implore you to be informed, because this is an overview and I am not an expert and all the information I found is available on line. I take form this that I will from this day buy products that stay on my skin and are exposed to sun without parabens and minimize my exposure to them through “rinse off” products.

A Funny Story About Adventures

The story starts in 1995 with a baby Eva Mathilde being born in Dresden Germany, then we might as well jump to 2001 because nothing all too exciting or relevant happens before my family moves to Boston USA. Then we might as well fast forward to me trying to decide what to do with my life like so many high school seniors do. And for several reasons I decided to move back to Dresden.

I went into this thinking that it would be the big adventure of my life, and somewhere in the back of my mind I really wanted to blog about moving so far away from home and life as a so called adult, but I was too busy. So I thought I would just postpone any real blogging for when I got situated. And it hit me that about a year later I just started blogging more regularly as life has allowed me to do so. Which makes all of this quite the funny story with the real kicker being that my life if just my life. In progress.

But for today, I would like to share my little adventures from the long weekend. So here goes with Thursday night because we all know that when Friday is a holiday, the weekend starts Thursday night. I started my weekend with a lovely muscle and joint bath since I have been having problems with my knees lately and woke up this morning with mysterious shoulder discomfort that had not let up. So to conclude a day where I had been on my feet for most of the day starting at 7am all the way to 21:15 it was truly fitting and wonderful! No pictures here because the light is bad and there wasn't much exciting to photograph since I went to bed not long after.

Friday was Halloween, which is not quite as big here as it is in America, but it is an excuse to through themed parties which is always fun. In any case it falls on a national holiday which means that I had nowhere to be and didn’t leave my house until about 5pm. But I went for a nice walk as the sun had just set and I curled up in many layers and took an aspirin for my shoulder. I also opted not to go out tonight because of my shoulder despite my love for everything Halloween.

I spend about two hours waiting to get my shoulder checked out by doctor and about 15Euro at the pharmacy for the medication recommended by the doctor and some homeopathic remedies that I wanted to stock up on for my home pharmacy stores. But when I left the clinic I went for a lovely walk before being too weighed down with groceries to take any more pictures on the way home.

As much as I hate to admit this: I did not leave my apartment at all on Sunday. I got so caught up in school stuff and had some technical difficulties. So that just sucked up my whole day! I also talked on the telephone with some family members and then I made dinner for me and my roommate who came back today because she went to visit her parents for the weekend. But essentially I always have one big assignment over the internship blocks where I have to test all kinds of things on one patient and sum it up and then write what I did with them in one of my therapie sessions. I suppose it makes sence that this could consume my whole Sunday if I don't watch out or force myself to do something, but now that it is done and really only needs a final read through I am incredibly relieved. 

Also I would have posted this earlier but I was just now torn out of my bubble when I saw the time. So off to bed it is as soon as I finish this. I hope you enjoyed reading this and feel free to leave a comment below.