Preserving berries and fruit

Tags

berries, Food, Good tip, preservation, Vinegar

I crave fruit and berries these days. I desperately crave them. And for days I wanted grapes. I found some big juicy grapes at the local supermarket and was thrilled. But the joy was short-lived. With a pregnancy comes superpowers, some are cool, some not so cool. The senses of smell and taste improve immensely! And thus as I put the first grape in my mouth, it was spit out again just as soon. The rest of the grapes were torn from Son’s hands. I could taste the pesticides and yuck that are sprayed upon these delights. The taste was foul! It felt like I was poisoning both myself and Son.

I discussed this with a colleague of mine a few days later. We are both inclined towards buying organically grown fruits and vegs, but juicy grapes and other foreigns fruit are too hard to resist. My colleague explained how she thoroughly cleans all fruit she buys. Especially if it has already travelled the globe.

I came across a tip on pinterest, and have had great success following it. The clue is to rinse all berries in a bowl of water, in which you have added just a tablespoon of regular vinegar. The vinegar helps reduce yeast and bacterias that result in mildew and rot. I tried this with the berries I bought over the summer. I also did it to the berries before making them into jam or ‘saft’. And it works! The berries stay fresher for longer. Now I have started doing the same to all the fruit and vegs I buy that I don’t boil or peal.

The vinegar does leave a hint of smell (that could be just me picking that up, Husband and Son cannot smell it), but by quickly running the fruit under cold water gets rid of that too.

Election night

Tags

Election, Norway, Politics

It’s election night in Norway. Local election covering the municipalities and counties. Norway consists of 19 counties, where each county again has a number of municipalities. There are national and local elections every fourth year, both are held separately which means there are two years between each election. We have a multi-party system, which means there are a bunch (say about ten) different parties. These, unless one party really stands out and get a massive amount of votes, must collaborate to form the government, or the local councils. The parties earn seats depending on how large a percentage of the votes they get. A candidate from the party with the most votes is usually placed as prime minister, mayor, or similar positions (depending on the election) – but only if the largest party is able to (form a coalition with other parties in order to) hold the majority of seats.

The rose is the symbol for one of the parties. It does not necessarily mean it was the party I voted for. This rose, however, was given to me by a representative from that party and is the only election-related photo I have.

 

I have been struggling a lot this year deciding which party to vote for. In fact, I didn’t even make up my mind until I was on my way to vote. I always take an election seriously. A few parties I have eliminated long before I even start thinking about the election, but that still leaves a fair amount of parties to chose from.

This year I narrowed it down to four parties. I started looking at one part, studying the party’s pamphlets and flyers. I looked at their main concerns and goals – nodded, smiled, and I was content with what they were saying. Turned the page and I was happy. I was thrilled and hoped I would be able to make up my mind weeks before the actual election. But I was wrong. I turned the page again. I read a few lines and my heart sank. I sighed, I cursed, and try to find logic in their arguments. I read on, shook my head, sighed again, and felt hope leave my heart. I face-palmed the colourful leaflets. I turned to another party and a new doze of propaganda. History repeated itself: face-palms, sighs, curses, rolling eyes, and desperation. With every one of the four parties, the four parties I was left with after carefully eliminating every one of the others, history repeated itself. I turned to technology, the local newspaper has set up online tests to see which party you should vote for. My highest score was 37%. I could agree with “my” party in 37% of all cases. My other three parties scored somewhere between 32 and 35.

Of course I can’t not vote (yes, double negative, meaning I do have to vote) I at least I have to give my vote to anyone but the parties I early in the process eliminated. A few coin-flips and a few good discussions and a short walk to the ballot boxes later I was able to chose a party. Now, I have given them all I can, my one vote. The only one I got, and I hope they won’t let me down too much. If they do, I guess I have to consider a career in politics myself… (which I just couldn’t do – I find my choices logical, as will everyone else. Which would give me no competition against the other parties and make Norwegian politics logical and perfect, but also plain and boring – it would just be too unfair to everyone else, so I’ll refrain. You’re welcome!)

Mango madness

Tags

Food, Mango, Tutorial

I am truly sorry if you thought this post would on Snapple’s Mango Madness, which is it not. And after now having mentioned it, I promise I will not do so again, at least not in this post. Now, this is about mangos and rather my madness concerning this fruit. I often eat mango at work, or pack as snack for Son and me (Husband can’t stand it, so we don’t waste any on him). The fruit is, as you probably know, one of the most eaten fruits in the world (I thought it was the banana, but I guess I was wrong. However, here in Norway it is only during recent years that the mango has come to be found in most supermarkets at a reasonable price. Still many don’t know what to do with the fruit, and thus find obstacles to eating it. I have thus made a wee, well, call it tutorial if you like, on how to prepare a mango.

I start by peeling the mango with a regular peeler used for potatoes and the like. Then I cut of a wee bit of one end, so that it will more easily stand upright for the following steps. The bit cut off is no more than a centimetre thick, about a third of an inch.

Hold the mango upright, and slice of the flesh of the fruit on each side, avoiding the stone. Then diagonally slice off each corner of the fruit. You are now left with the stone and very little flesh. Leave this for the mango lover in the house who will probably be more than happy to gnaw of what’s edible.

The now large pieces of flesh I slice into smaller pieces and serve. These can easily be left in a box in a backpack for an entire day and still be wonderfully tasty. 

Making out the make-up mystery

Tags

Eye-shadow, Make-up

Unfortunately for me I skipped out on the mandatory ‘how to apply make-up without looking like a tart’ education when I was in my early teens. I have just assumed that everyone else was taught or, one way or the other, picked up on how to do these things. I never did. Or, well, I did to some extent, but the knowledge was limited to knowing what the various products were: mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, and how to apply them, which was again very limited.

I thought, as I said, that everyone else knew much more about this than I did. But, when talking to a good friend of mine, a successful, bright and highly intelligent young woman, had never taken time to learn more about this than I had.

During my maternity leave (which was little on the long side) I found myself with quite a lot of extra time on my hands (I have a quiet child who is rarely up to no good) and decided to find out some more about these things that until then had been rather lost on me. YouTube became my best friend.

I came across this wonderful woman with the most delightful accent. And I now, if nothing else, feel more confident about eyeshadows, blending colours, mixing colours and exactly how to shake my head when applying mascara 😉 Hope you pick up a few tricks, or at least enjoy listening to the accent.

 

A big win for worried moms

Tags

Autism, MMR, Vaccine

A friend of mine came into contact with a an autistic boy this summer. I make this sound like something remarkable, which it is not, but this meeting had consequences for my friend. The boy was lost when my friend found him, but after a few phone calls she had him reunited with his mom. His mom, after thanking my friend for taking care of her son, left her saying “He wasn’t always like this. It all happened after his his MMR shot.” (The MMR shot is against measles, mumps and rubella.) Ironically this was only a few days before my friends was to take her son to get that same shot.

En venninne av meg traff på en autistisk gutt i sommer. Uff, nå fikk jeg det til å virke som noe det er verdt å skrive hjem om, men akkurat dette møtet fikk litt konsekvenser for henne. Gutten hadde gått seg bort da hun traff ham, men etter et par telefonsamtaler var mora på plass og fikk hentet ham. Etter å ha takket min venninne for å ta seg av ham, avsluttet moren med å forklare guttens tilstand: “Alt gikk så feil etter MMR-vaksinen”. (Vaksinen mot meslinger, kusma og rubella, fås rundt 15-18mnd alder) Ironisk var dette kun få dager før min venninne skulle på helsestasjonen for å gi sønnen denne vaksinen.

A paper was published in 1998 claiming there was a connection between children developing autism and receiving the vaccine. I first heard about this on some talkshow with Jim Carrey’s ex-girlfriend. Her son is (or some rumours said he was, that he was somehow cured!?! Don’t quote me on this) I’m not saying she said her son developed autism from the shot, but the connection between the vaccine and autism was mentioned.

I 1998 ble det publisert en artikkel basert på et studie som så på sammenhengen mellom autisme og MMR-vaksinen. Jeg hørte om det første gang på et talkshow noen år tilbake hvor Jim Carreys ekskjæreste var gjest. Hennes sønn er autistisk (eller var, jeg hørte noe om at han visstnok var kurert!? men ikke siter meg på dette) Jeg sier ikke at hun sa at han var blitt autist pga vaksinen, men det ble i hvertfall nevnt i programmet.

Jenna McCarthy and Jim Carrey, at the beach. No need for a picture, just want you to know who I'm talking about, and the text gets awfully long with nothing to rest your eyes on 😉

 

I read up on the subject back then, and again when I was pregnant. Most sources claimed the initial paper on the subject was, well, a bit phony. But I still felt a little unwell giving my son the shot. Today, everyone who’s ever had that silly thought sneak into their head can now relax. “In response to the GMC investigation and findings, the editors of The Lancet announced on 2 February 2010 that they “fully retract this paper from the published record” says Wikipedia. And on their main page today it says BMJ (British Medical Journal) claims the whole study was a fraud.

Jeg leste litt om emnet da, og igjen mens jeg gikk gravid. De fleste kildene mente den første artikkelen, var, vel, humbug. Men jeg må innrømme at jeg var litt småkvalm dagene rundt min sønns vaksine. Men i dag kan alle som har fått hodet invadert av denne skumle tanken puste lettet ut. “I henhold til GMCs etterforskning og funn har redaktørene for The Lancet (tidsskriftet som publiserte artikkelen) annonsert 2. februar 2010 at de “foretar en fullstendig tilbakekalling av den publiserte artikkelen” (oversatt selv) i følge Wikipedia. Og på hovedsiden sin i dag står det at BMJ (British Medical Journal) har erklært hele studiet for falskt.

So if ever anyone tries to scare you from giving your child the MMR vaccine, shake it off, and remember that plenty of studies have now been made on the subject and there is no link to be found.

Så viss noen prøver å skremme deg fra å gi ditt barn MMR-vaksinen, så rist av deg usikkerheten, og husk at mange studier er gjennomført på dette emnet og ingen kan finne en sammenheng mellom MMR og autisme.

 

Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy

Bacon – med noko attåt! (and the secret ingredient is…!)

Tags

Bacon, Dextrose, Phosphate, Secret ingredients

I bought bacon to use in a soup. As I fried it I noticed that it contained phosphate. (I was stupid enough to read up on how you can spot phosphate in food, unfortunately you have to fry it to be able to see, and as there is no information on the package, you get what I’m saying. Ignorance is bliss for only so long) This was expensive bacon with very little fat, and supposedly good quality. (I know some of you are giving me a face-palm now. Bacon!?! But back to the case.) As there was phosphate in it, I became curious to what else might be in it. And the label said it contained dextrose, which is grape sugar, now what is up with that?

Jeg kjøpte bacon til å ha i suppe. Mens jeg stekte så jeg at den inneholdt fosfat (jeg var dum nok til å lese om hvordan man ser om kjøtt og fisk inneholder fosfat, så hver gang jeg steker noe med fosfat så vet jeg om det…) Dette var dyrt bacon, filet type, med lite fett og virket som bra kvalitet. (ja, jeg er litt håpløs, det er tross alt bacon det er snakk om – men det er ikke poenget). Siden jeg da hadde oppdaget fosfatet, ble jeg nysgjerrig på om det var andre spennende ingredienser jeg fikk på kjøpet. Og joda, dekstrose, som er druesukker. Druesukker! I bacon! Er det bare jeg som blir forvirra?

I want my food to be food!

Tags

Additives, Food, Nestlé, Processed Food

I’m a little pissed off, maybe not the best mood to be in when I trying to reach out to other by the use of blog. But I have to get it out, I’m angry, disappointed, sad and exasperated. Again, this is another post about. Or, to be more politically correct it is rather about a lack of food. After I became a mom I have become more critical about I eat, what Husband eats, and not least, what Son eats. I’ve never seen myself as one of those hysterical persons who fret about everything. I have lived by mottos such as “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” and thought that as long as you “bad” things aren’t eaten every day, it’s ok. Well, the meaning of the post is not to prove my sanity. Let me elaborate:

 

After becoming mom and being introduced to Nestlé’s baby food, scare tactics and ‘well-meaning words’ I have changed my way of life, considerably. And I have begun to develop an interest about food and become more aware of what I eat. And the more I read, learn and find out the more exasperated I feel. I want to share this knowledge and awareness, but I don’t want to make this just another thing that you have to worry about. But I am, and I become more and more convinced that we in this country need a food revolution. Actually not only in this country but let’s start out in a small scale. (Country-wide revolutions are a piece of cake!)

 

I want to, and I believe that everyone has the right to, demand that the food we buy mainly to consist of FOOD! I don’t my food to have been processed by people with PhDs in chemistry. I as pure ingredients as possible. I want food, not food additives I can barely pronounce. I’m willing to pay extra for decent food, but that does not mean proper food need to be ridiculously expensive. And I want people to see what’s happening.

 

It was recently announced that the owners of some of the largest foodchains in Norway won’t eat the food they sell because it has phosphate added, which can be added without any information being given to the customer. Why should we have to accept such additives? Why need there be flavour enhancers in so many products? Is there not enough taste in natural ingredients? Yes, there is, of course, but tasteless junk is so much cheaper, so we get spice mixes whose main ingredients are salt, sugar and flavor enhancers.

 

I want the food I eat to be food. I understand that some products need preservatives but there’s so much else added that is not necessary for anything other than the producer’s income. A panel in Belgium should not be necessary to tell us what we can or cannot eat. We need no discussions about the influence of substances on the body if no products contain these substances.

 

The food industry is out of control, and do exactly as they please. Cheaper is better, regardless of content. People are malnourished, despite sky-high calorie intake. The man in the street should not have to need higher education and develop special interest in food in order to read food labels.

 

I want more information, better products and normal food for everyone. We deserve it!

(I want to publish this asap and thus simply translated my Norwegian post and had Google Translate help me. It was done quickly and hastily and thus probably contain a number of typos, misspellings and embarassing gramamtical errors…)

Jeg finner ikke en tittel som er bra nok til at du garantert leser dette

Tags

Fosfat, Mat, Matvarer, Råvarer, Revolusjon, Tilsetningsstoffer

Jeg er litt forbanna, kanskje ikke det beste humøret å være i når jeg uttaler meg i sosiale medier og ikke aner hvem leseren er. Men jeg må få det ut, jeg er sur, skuffet, lei og oppgitt. Igjen skal innlegget handle om mat. Eller, for å være mer politisk korrekt så er det vel heller mangelen på mat. Etter jeg ble mamma er jeg blitt mer observant på hva jeg spiser, hva Mannen spiser, og ikke minste, hva Sønn får i seg. Jeg har aldri sett på meg selv som et “hysterisk kvinnfolk”, litt politisk ukorrekt igjen, men du vet kanskje hva jeg mener allikevel? Jeg har levd etter motto som “det som ikke dreper deg, gjør deg sterkere” og tenkt at så lenge ting ikke blir spist hver dag, så er det vel ikke noe farlig? Vel, meningen med innlegget er ikke å overbevise deg om at jeg er et oppegående menneske. La meg utdype:

Etter å ha blitt mamma og blitt introdusert for Nestlé sin barnemat, samt skremselspropaganda og ‘velmenende ord’ har jeg endret livsstil, betraktelig. Og jeg har begynt å interessere meg for og blitt mer obs på hva vi faktisk spiser. Og jo mer jeg leser, lærer og finner ut jo mer oppgitt blir jeg. Og jeg vil videreføre denne kunnskapen og bevisstheten, men har ikke lyst til å skape enda en dårlig samvittighet ovenfor småbarnsforeldre (og i de tilfellene jeg har observert er det som regel mødrene som tar det mest over seg) som allerede blir bombardert med tips og råd fra alle og enhver. Men jeg er, og blir mer og mer, overbevist om at vi I dette landet trenger en matrevolusjon. Egentlig ikke bare her til lands, men la oss begynne i det små. (landsomfattende revolusjoner er jo bare blåbær!)

Jeg vil, og mener vi alle har rett til å kreve, at maten vi kjøper hovedsaklig skal bestå av MAT! Jeg trenger ikke at ingrediensene I maten jeg spiser har vært innom et menneske med en doktorgrad i kjemi. Jeg vil ha så rene råvarer som mulig. Jeg vil ha mat, ikke tilsetningsstoffer som jeg knapt klarer å uttale. Og jeg vil ikke bli veganer, stemme RV, sove ute og dyrke all min mat sjøl for å oppnå dette.  Jeg betaler gjerne ekstra for skikkelig mat, men det betyr ikke at det skal få lov å bli latterlig dyrt. Jeg vil vekke mennesker der ute og få folk til å bli mindre lettlurte, for ja, det er vi. Dessverre.

Nylig ble det kjent at matvaretopper ikke spiser den maten de selger fordi den blir tilsatt fosfat. Hvorfor skal vi måtte godta at det blir tilsatt slikt i maten vår? Hvorfor skal det være smaksforsterkere i så mye av det som selges? Er det ikke nok smak i naturlige råvarer? Joda, det er det, men smaksløst fyllstoff er så mye rimeligere, derfor får vi krydderblandinger hvor hovedingredienser er salt, sukker og smaksforsterkere.

Jeg vil at maten jeg spiser skal være mat. Jeg forstår at noen produkter må ha konserveringsmidler, men det er så mye annet som blir tilsatt som ikke er nødvendig for annet enn produsentens inntekt. Et panel i Belgia skal ikke være nødvendig for å fortelle oss hva vi kan spise, vi trenger ingen diskusjoner om stoffers påvirkning på kroppen viss ikke produktene tilsettes disse stoffene.

Matvareindustrien kjører på akkurat som de ønsker. Rimeligere er bedre, uansett innhold. Folk blir feilernært til tross for skyhøyt kaloriinntak. Det er ikke meninga at mannen i gata skal måtte spesialutdanne seg for å lese innholdet av maten han spiser.

Mer informasjon om råvarer, renere produkter og naturlige råvarer til folket.

Week plan

Tags

Family Life, List, Planning

For a few years now we have made a list, or I should rather say, we have a form we fill out every Sunday. We plan dinner for every day of the following week and write a list over what we need to buy. I check out the commercial leaflets from some of the larger stores in the area for inspiration, or to see what deals they have for the coming week, and often plan the meals accordingly. After using this list for a few years, I don’t think I would survive without it. I don’t understand how people can come up with what to have for dinner after coming home from a long day at work, and without having the ingredients in stock.

Filling out the list doesn’t take me more than 30 mins, I am sure we get varied meals, make sure there are two fish dinners during the week, and plan so that left overs aren’t simply tossed out, but used for a different dinner later the same week. I am also convinced that we spend less money on grocery shopping, as going to the store twice a week is usually enough. The two boxes on the bottom right we cut out and take to the store. One for early in the week, one for later (usually Thursday or Friday).

The form also have the daily chores printed on it. I like to be able to cross something of a list when I’ve done it. That’s just the way I am, and it helps me get things done around the house. At the bottom left we have a small week plan for special events and small reminders.

I’ve added the plan as a pdf. in case you feel inspired to try it. The list is already filled out for this week, but some things might seem a little cryptic to you as it is written for me to read…

To Do List

Chicken Nuggets

Tags

Chicken, Favourites, Food, McDonalds, Nuggets, Processed Food, Recipe

I have recently developed an awareness to what is actually to be found in processed food. I’m trying not to become too hysterical about it and keep a healthy view on food. My general belief is that if you can’t recognise the contents of something as food, you should stay away from it.

I am ill today and haven’t wanted anything to eat all day, so I have no problems watching this video. If you have recently been to McDonalds or are planning on having a late night snack, or a meal, anytime in the near future, then I’d advice you not to see this film. 

If you want to make your own chicken nuggets (or any other type of nuggets) it is dead simple! (a bit more expensive though)

Cut chicken breast into small nugget-size pieces. Whisk an egg and pour into a soup plate, pour a few table spoons bread crumbs onto a second soup plate (You can also mix in sesame seeds with the crumbs). Season the chicken as you prefer, then dip the chicken pieces in the egg. Continue to cover them with crumbs and fry in a pan using a bit of canola oil. You need a bit more oil than normal here to get a crispy brown surface on the chicken. Fry until they are light brown and crispy on both sides.

These nuggets are delicious for dinner, in a salad or as a snack. Enjoy!