Lussebullar

So I had a little Christmas party last night and my Swedish friend persuaded me to make this very typical Swedish pasty, which is only done over Christmas. The Lussebullar. 
Baking these was so so so much work but they turned out really well and everyone really enjoyed them. I think I ended up with 60 or so pieces of which I froze 20 and the rest were all eaten.. we were around 10 people :D

I can recommend this recipe, you just have to have a lot of patience for it! 

I adapted this recipe I found online here . These are the listed ingredients I basically changed it all, everything in bold is what I used:

 INGREDIENTS

• 3 tbsp (50 g) of yeast for sweet doughs 
• 3/5 c (150 g) of butter or margarine vegan margarine
• 2 c (5 dl) oat milk
• 1 c (250 g) quark cheese (creamy; note: cream cheese can be substituted)
• 1/5 tsp (1 g) saffron a couple of drops of saffron aroma (couldn't find the real deal)
• 3 tbsp (1/2 dl) of sugar
• 1/2 tsp (4 3/4 g) salt
• 6-7 c (17 dl) of all purpose flour 12dl of Spelt flour
• 1 egg (to paint dough)
• raisins

DIRECTIONS

1. Crumble the yeast into a bowl.
2. Melt the butter in a pan. Pour in milk and stir, heat until warm to the touch.
3. Pour the butter mixture over the yeast, stir until dissolved.
4. Mix in the quark cheese, saffron*, sugar and salt.
5. Add most of the flour and work the dough in a machine or by hand, until it releases from the edges of the bowl and is smooth.
6. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let the yeast ferment for 30 minutes.

This is the dough before giving it a 30 minute rest

7. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead

the dough until it is smooth and shiny.
8. Split dough into 5 parts. Each 5th split into 10.
9. Take the small piece of dough and roll into it 20 cm

long rolls and shape into a figure 8.
10. Put onto cookie sheet that has been covered in baking paper. Push one raisin in each end.

11. Cover with cloth until they double in size, roughly 20-30 minutes. 
12. Paint with the whipped egg.
13. Cook in preheated oven 440°F (225°C) for roughly 8 minutes. 5-6 minutes
14. After removing, let it cool under a cloth. It can be then stored in plastic bags and/or frozen.

I basically followed these steps except for putting the dough back in the bowl and covering it so it doesn't dry and just ripping off smaller pieces as needed. I also don't know how long each rolled out piece was and I rolled it into a S shape turning in each end the opposite way to roll in like a snails shell.

This is the dough after the 30 minute rest

I don't know how many I ended up with but there were a lot and I froze 20. Seems like I made them smaller.. 

Here are some pictures I managed to take in between.

What the S looked like before going into the oven

   

fresh out of the oven

C’est vendredi 13

Happy Friday the 13th. Mine started off with waking to screaming (past 5am = win!), nursing on one side while pumping on the other, and breast milk leaking all over the sheets. Change diaper, throw sheets in laundry, make coffee and finally make juice with the juicer (yay!).

 Thought I’d enjoy my juice and coffee while doing some yoga with B next to me doing her tummy time exercises on her mat. She did do some awesome tummy time moves ( her head and upper body are getting so strong!), but I don’t know who these people are who recommend 10-15 minutes of tummy time 3 times a day at her age (or did I read that totally wrong in a sleep deprived state in the middle of the night? Very possible…).
Anyhow, her moment of tummy time awesomeness lasted a solid 90 seconds before the screaming resumed. My yoga video was still going through the initial deep breathing exercises. The first moves were on all 4’s so I grab B, put her on her back on the yoga mat, under me while I’m doing bird dog’s and cat cow’s. She’s smiling, laughing and making me laugh in the process. I feel like I could be in a yoga for mom’s and babies video- #Hero ! Then suddenly the exercises switch to pelvic floor and glute exercises on back. I decide I can hold Brielle while doing these no problem (#hero right?!). So the glute bridges start and I decide that I can also get some bicep work in by lifting B up every time I do a bridge (as Jillian Michaels once said,, you’re wasting your precious time if you just work one muscle group at a time…Somehow I don’t think this is supposed to apply to yoga, or that I should be thinking about being productive , or thinking at all- hmm maybe I’m not the best suited for yoga!), . Anyways, feeling oh so productive, start feeling like a Boss once again until suddenly, mid-glute bridge, I feel something thick and slimy explode onto my chest and run down the inside of my shirt…Yep, the yoga with baby #Hero /Boss was suddenly covered in puke.

Explosions seem to be the theme for the day, as before noon I managed to make oatmeal explode in the microwave (which I had completely forgotten was in there until returning from dog and baby walk in the rain), pick up an explosion of poop Skylar was gracious enough to leave in the yard (what on earth did she eat last night, I don’t want to know…). Oh and of course deal with a few diaper explosions. The exciting part is that one of these said explosions occurred in a cloth diaper, and actually stayed inside the diaper (I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but every time I’ve attempted to use a cloth diaper until today, half of what was supposed to stay in the diaper ended up on B’s leg and everywhere else on the change table – if I even made it to the change table that is).

So what does any of this have to do with creating new health habits? Well, originally, I was hoping to be going in the direction of daily yoga routine and core work, but if this morning is any indication, that is as likely to happen as exclusively using cloth diapers.

So instead, I‘m going to give myself a 30 day challenge of laughing more often at the crazy random chaos, as I did this morning, both after being puked on and discovering my forgotten oatmeal. I want to add some other challenges in eventually, but I think starting with more laughter will be the key to success (and survival!) in any other area.

Hope it’s a great weekend for all,

Daniele XO

takeaways from a trainer..

My training sessions will be wrapping up soon, so I tried to write down as much as I could remember. I think it would be easy to replicate the workouts on my own at the gym.

Here is a list of item to chose from to mix and match. Usually you would pick 4 or 5 moves. Do them in sequence. Repeat 3 times. If there is time leftover at the end do one or two more moves.

Back to Basics

So guys it's been a while.

I've been one laaaaazy bugger. Seriously since my last post it's basically been 6 months well 5 really but who cares.

Let's see I had a super busy summer and have therefore barely done any workout. I haven't been home much so I haven't gone to the gym much. I haven't restarted boxing yet because I was gone for three weeks and so it goes on.

I have however started private training sessions with a friend of mine tomorrow is my third class, my friend unfortunately can't make it, so this should be interesting.. 

In my last class I got some homework --- to practice doing a cray which is something you do to practice getting into a handstand supposedly..

Anyway I plan on being back and sporty next year. I have signed up again for a level 3 poledance course this will be the third time i'm doing that. So that'll always be wednesday evenings. Tuesday mornings at 8 I have my personal training sessions and mondays and thursdays i will start with boxing again.

It's time to get real and back to business :) Especially with it being december again ..

I shall review my training session with you tomorrow ! Wish me luck 

Badminton, Running in Boston and Back to the goodlife

Slowly getting back into things..

Last week S and I went to Badminton on Wednesday night. I hadn't played in ages and my arm hurt for so long. No joke, i couldn't squeeze out conditioner for a good 5 days after! That may explain why my hair looks so crazy..or maybe just the wind.

Here we are running along the Charles River in Cambridge.

We stopped for a bit at this cool outdoor gym!

Here I am like, what can I do? I was tired but I kept wanting to go further to get better views. one more bridge..okay one more..okay one more.. we made it all the way to the end, crossed over into Boston and back and then ubered home. Actually ubered straight to 3 little figs..

So nutrition is still a work in progress. trying to eat healthier since being home. the weekend in Boston was a write-off.

We walked up the Bunker -hill monument, that has about 300 stairs and I was huffing and puffing. That doesn't bode well for my upcoming hiking weekend in the Adirondacks..

I went to body shred Monday, soccer yesterday and hopefully badminton today :) I also packed lunches today so that's a start. Fall back to the basics I guess!

Back to the Grind

I hate letting myself get out of shape, because getting back into shape is a b*tch!! But hey, it beats the alternative of staying lazy and barely squeezing into clothes.

After a wonderful vacation and amazing summer I gained 5 pounds. unacceptable.

So, what now?

well, Goodlife membership started up. This week I did:

Monday pm spin

Tuesday am short run with S and Maya the dog

Tuesday pm soccer but I was late because of work so only 1 hour instead of 1.5

Wednesday lunch yoga

I am hoping to go to badminton tonight with S

All this don't mean nada without proper nutrion and last night I had beer and wings. yikes!!

Today so far i've eaten healthy, musli yogurt and raspberries for breakfast, salad for lunch, carrots and apple for snack.. so far so good.

That's all for now, I'll try to post regularly with workouts and nutrition.

get up and get out!

Finally I got up and got out! And I was happy I did :)

I started out my day with a good, quick 5k run :) it started raining on my way back and I got quite soaked but it was a rather nice cool down!

Going to the gym later to do some weights training - been doing a lot of shoulder/arm/legs training so I might to arms/stomach today or legs/stomach

Has it really been so long

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted on this blog! 

What can I say too much to do not enough time...

I've done a couple of runs, kept up boxing still did a bit of pole dance, which I've given up on just because it's a bit too pricey and sadly the classes I want to do always intervene with my boxing -.-

I've also travelled a lot! 

I've been to Africa, America, Turkey, England, France, Sweden and I'm headed to Italy, England (again) and AUSTRALIA! 

Very excited about that!!!

I sadly haven't been doing a lot of running, I've been in a running slump... but I've done more and more HIIT training on the bike, which has improved my cardio immensely :)

I've also done a fitness check up and in comparison to 2014 july I've lost 5 kilos of fat and gained 3 kilos of muscle!  LOVE IT! Although now i've gained some weight and can't seem to lose it -.-

I've become more social, started going out more, more dinners, more drinks but balancing my workouts ... I've been trying to go to the gym at LEAST 5 times a week and for the past month or so it's been working with of course a couple of exceptions.

Here are a couple of photos I've taken for the blog over the last couple of months and haven't posted ...

forever and ever

I can't believe the last time I posted something on here was in May.... MAY that's forever ago ..

So much has happened since then.. let's see I finished Pole Dance level IV I did a pole perfection LVL III I finished my Kickboxing class I went PARACHUTING I ran I walked I biked, I've been doing a lot of indoor biking lately at the gym just not that motivated for running anymore..

I've now started polerina now that the "summer break" is over and I'm counting down the days for boxing to start again! 

I've been trying to eat healthy as well not sure how I'm doing as I've had non stop guests meaning lots of cake and ice cream :)) 

Here's a couple of photos from pole dancing, some tricks we learnt the first one is a leg extensions, the second a layout and the third is called rosebud. The fourth photo is a pole "kiss" and the fifth of me on a run in the countryside :D

That's it for now :) 

Time for a run or two..

So I haven't posted something in a while. I've been busy. Since my last post I ran a small 6km run called the "Frauen Fun Run" Ladies fun run .. managed to finish in a bit over 33 min, which I was proud of :) These ladies also always give out fantastic goodie bags, which are of course half the fun :D

Here are a couple of photos:

I wasn't too excited about running the race tbh because no one came with me and I thought I'd be a total loner. Turns out I was wrong. The race was fantastic over 2,000 women running & nordic walking through Viennas Prater. Before the run there was a great warm-up session hosted by the Big Smile Club. It was fantastic, I couldn't stop laughing but I joined in and loved every second of it :)

I also took part in a Hip Hop Pole fusion class which was great, something new also enjoyable sadly it was only a one time two hour course. I have however also signed up to Pole Dancing LVL IV ! EEEEEK I start next thursday ..

My cousins came to visit me as well. Of course we went to Parndorf one of Austrias shopping outlets and I bought a bunch of stuff at Nike.. naturally. 

Both E and I got matching rain jackets for running outside just because it was reduced from €80.- to €20.- and it's pink... who doesn't love pink? It sure as hell pimps my fitness wardrobe, which consists of mostly black, some grey and if you're lucky a couple of coloured shirts given to me by E.

Today I went for a fast 6,55km run wearing my new rain jacket I LOVED it! :) It drizzled a bit, but I didn't get wet waheeeey ! Successful buy? I think so :)

Here are a couple of photos of this fantastic pink jacket:

It has a great pocket in back, which I didn't use but could've stuffed with tissues or a hat ? 

The closest nike has to offer to the jacket online is this I guess..

My goal for the month is to get to my next milestone on nike.com, which is only 54 km away ;) 

Wish me luck! 

Spring cleaning

It is officially spring although you wouldn't know it by the weather here. I still cross country skied on Sunday and there was a lot of powdery fresh snow!

It is time for spring cleaning..and that includes my diet.  I was struggling yesterday in my workout and decided that my bad eating habits weren't helping.  I had a super fun weekend and ate and drank a lot.. and didn't sleep much. Well, I sure felt the consequences. It was super worth it, but now it's time to get back on track.  After the workout I went straight to the grocery store to get a big huge bunch of kale. I also got frozen berries, almond milk, carrots..anything healthy and delicious I could get my hands on. nom nom nom


Bring on the healthy eating.

My workouts have been inconsistent. I was sick for a few days and was slow to get back into a routine after. I have been a lot more slack, working out about once ever 2 days or so.  I have done a mix of skiing, conditioning, and squash..with a little running and spin sprinkled in. I want to add back some yoga and get back into daily workouts. Hopefully the weather warms up and I can start building up my runs again!

What are you doing to kick start spring?

Time to catch up

So the last time I posted something was over a month ago.

Let's recap. So I had started level two pole dancing, I had started my boxing and I had started my super stretch course. Since then I have completed my level two pole dancing course and my super stretch course. I have however started pole dancing level three and I completed a booty shake course this weekend.

Yes a booty shake course, it's exactly what it sounds like just way more dirty I thought I could learn some new clubbing moves I was wrong... these moves are for special people only :p

I've also continued with boxing (of course) it's still only me with a group of guys sometimes 3 sometimes 8 it varies... I have also finally gotten my boxing gloves. They're my babies and I LOVE THEM! 

I've also been trying to do sport every day for example :

Monday - Boxing
Tuesday - Gym Training
Wednesday - Gym Training (or my day off)
Thursday - Pole Dancing Level III (morning) and Boxing (evening)
Friday - Gym Training
Saturday - Gym Training (day off)
Sunday - Gym Training

I try to get at least 1-2 rest days in my schedule just because I do wake up super early every morning and am at work all day everyday so I don't do much for myself except for when I'm at the gym...

Hope to be posting some photos soon :) Oh today I went for a quick 6km run outside because the weather was so beautiful ! I couldn't have asked for a nicer day :)

How does your workout schedule look like?

About time...

So it's been a while since I've posted. I have been active though! So let's start:

When I got back from "Christmas Break" I went to the gym in the evenings, I then started boxing again on the 12. of January, sadly I wasn't able to make a couple of sessions and only went again last Thursday the 29. It was me against the world.. no not really but I was the only girl to 6 guys and I must say I held my head up high and kept up with the lot.

The last time I went for a run outside was January 20th, I felt like speedy gonzales going 5:23 per km and managing 5,5 km in 29 minutes. I then went for a run on the treadmill on the 25. since then nada. 

I have started pole dancing level two though and have been going to a super stretch course on thursday mornings from 7:00-8:00 am! eeeek

I must admit that i'm not feeling more flexible but I feel nice and pumped up ready for the day once the class is over :) I've signed up for Pole Dancing level 3 now as well which will be Thursday mornings from 8:30-9:45 right before work wohooo and then i'll have boxing in the evening. laaaaf it. Give it all or nothing right?!

I've also signed up for a booty shake course which should be fun unts unts unts. 

Oh right I've started drinking protein smoothies. I just use a normal hand mixer, almond milk and some chocolate flavoured protein powder, sometimes well 99% of the time I add peanut butter cuz I just can't get enough ;)

Btw I was in London and ran into an H&M, discovering their sports collection!!! It's amazing! I LOVE IT! I bought myself this long sleeved running top and used it the second I got back to Vie. It's light, comfortable, keeps one warm and doesn't cost the world. I highly recommend H&M sports products!! I've also discovered that they have a sports corner in Vie as well so I'm deffo hitting it up sometime this week. 

Time to get to my sunday workout session :) enjoy! xx

Dance Dance Revolution!

Wow thanks El for the new design for this blog it looks amazing!!

And despite my total blog slacking, January has been/ was actually a decent working out month!
My only real workout goal so far for 2015 has been to try something new and I already did...in the form of a cardio dance class!!

Total disclaimer, I look not one bit as coordinated/ put together as the ladies in this photo! As Katy can attest to, because bless her heart she tried it too...and we have actually sort of ( albeit drunkenly) agreed to go a second time, and possibly convinced someone else to go with us!!

I have more updates to share but will have to be when I'm more awake :)

Workout Update

I can't remember where I left off on here.. my workout schedule has gone something like this:

Mondays: Douvris

Tuesdays: JM workout video, sometimes a run on the treadmill

Wednesdays: Douvris, sometimes a workout video

Thursdays: Workout video or rest

Fridays: yoga or spin, and soccer

Sats: cross country ski (once), sometimes curling (is this exercise?)  douvris

Sundays: cross country ski

This past weekend I was in Boston. Friday and Saturday Claire and I did fitness blender workouts. It is so cool, its a husband/wife team of trainers and they have so many awesome and free videos. Claire is following an 8 week fat-loss for busy people program so we did the workouts in her plans. She kept telling me how cool the fitness blender site was and for some reason I hadn't wanted to try it, but now I really like it. It turns out my boss also does the same videos- ha!

Sunday we went to Health Works, what a  great gym!!

We did a trampoline class and it was a lot of fun.

Since I've been back:

Monday: Lazy Mclazierr , was tired and felt like I was getting sick, so rested

Tuesday: 5k treadmill run at lunch to get out of my slug mood, and squash at night- soo fun!! hadn't played in years.

Wed- today: this morning Tamara and I did a quiet cardio for apartment workout on fitness blender, which included "quiet burpies". Spoiler alert: they suck almost as much as loud burpies. Tongiht I am going to dourvris.

On the nutrition side, my "diet" has been absolutely atrocious, I need to start planning healthy, filling meals so I eat less junk.

How's everyone else doing? Making it through the winter ok?  

Travelling

I am sitting in the airport waiting for my plane to board to Boston and It is taking all my willpower not to go buy a muffin/donut/croissant/ who knows what at Tim Hortons! There is no reason for me to do it. I ate a half a bagel and half a yogurt on the way to the airport and now the banana i brought with. I am also sipping on a half coffee half french vanilla.. To keep me awake. Lots of halfs today..

There is just something about travling that makes me indulge (food) and splurge (spending). Am i the only one? 

I am sure i will eat lots of delicious unhealthy food, but will try to not start it out with a 500 calorie muffin before I even get on the plane :p 

what is worse..

 ..than doing 50 burpees as fast as possible for time at the beginning of a workout?

that's right..doing another 50 at the end! Aiiieee. I was in shock.

I was so sore from the workout last night that I was up at 3-4 am because I couldn't sleep I was so sore. Mostly my legs from so many thrusters, weighted squats and jump squats.

No pain no gain.

Incase normal pushups are just too boring

You can always try out these:

Back at the gym

So I've been back from my "Holiday" since a week now and I've had my gym bag in the car with me since wednesday and only got to the gym today. -.- In my defence I had so much work to do and I started my Russian classes again by the time everything calmed down the week was over it was saturday and I was starting my Level 2 Pole Dancing course. 

Level 2 aka Level of Pain is what I've heard the most painful level from the 12 levels. We climbed a lot and I have to say I'm super proud of myself that I got up on the pole so high, sadly I couldn't do a lot of the new tricks because I forgot my hot pants at home and only had normal leggings on... The coming up saturday I'll be in London so I'll be missing one class of pole :( boohoo.

Anyway I'm doing Pole Dancing with an ex colleague/friend of mine and she surprised me with an awesome foam roller! You read right a FOAM ROLLER! Boy have I dreamed about having those since I was a little girl (not entirely true but since about a year :P)

This Foam Roller is a Trigger Point therapy Foam Roller, we have these at the gym and I love love love them! Needless to say I used mine the second I got home :)

Today I ended up going to the gym and did pure weight training for 1,5 hrs. This includes jumping rope, floor workouts etc etc. and I did all this with a totally bruised foot. I told El I'm going to write a blogpost her comment was "I predict some feet photos" so now I can't let her down! Here's my bruised foot! No pain no gain am I right!?

Anyway I also went to the Finnish sauna for 15/20 minutes and it was absolutely fantastic ! Love love love going to the sauna after a good workout :)

I also need to tell you about my amazing new Jump Rope well Speed Rope from Kettler I got over the "Holidays" I love it so much and used it every day when I was away to help me keep fit! Hope it helped because I start boxing again tomorrow :p

Here are my beautiful foam roller and speed rope together.

I can highly recommend the Kettler as well as TriggerPoint for the foam roller, both items do not disappoint! 

Enjoy the rest of your sunday!