Tuesday 30 June 2015

Thursday 25 June 2015

Doing the Little Adder (Yoga in the Commune)

I have been practising yoga on and off for around eight years; to begin with in a gym with loud, thumping music next door, then in the serenity and insense smoke of Triyoga in Primrose Hill and now mostly at home in Kannesten. Yoga is something that clears my mind makes me feel great.

Lately, I have convinced the rest of the family to join in. Some take a bit more convincing than others (cough, cough, pappa), but once in a while we move furniture out of the way and I lead the gang in breathing and stretching. And giggles when I try to explain downward-facing dog and pappa renames the cobra pose "lilla huggorm" (little adder).

Not sure this little fella would approve of the cobra pose!
I must admit that I find it a bit tricky to lead yoga suitable for all abilities. Initially, I mainly used ashtanga sequences, but I soon saw that it didn't work too well, so now I am including some kundalini and hatha yoga in the practise. Needless to say, I have lots more to learn. At least I have a good group to practise on.

Setting up the mats for tonight's yoga session. #paulssonpaleo


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Thursday 18 June 2015

Trying Out New Types of Yoga


Enter through this back door on a back street in Halmstad on an early summer's morning to achieve peace and calm. Cecilia and I can highly recommend Kundalini Yoga with Gilla. So relaxing, but still strenuous. Read more about the studio here: Yogastudion Halmstad.

Wednesday 17 June 2015

Heart in a Jar

In preparation for more caveman coffee breaks, we're working on perfecting the beef heart jerky recipe (the paleo balls need no improving, they're a bit too perfect, in fact, nom nom nom).

The result of last night's experiment turned out really well, I am happy to report.

No, these are not turds in a jar.
For a jar of crispy-chewy jerky, I used the following:

450 g beef heart from a grassfed cow (Rödkulla from Lindegrens to be precise, name of cow unknown, however)
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons applecider vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 thumb of ginger, finely chopped
Black pepper to taste

Day 1
  • Trim the heart (be sure to remove all fat, especially) and cut into big chunks that will allow you to cut very thin slices. 
  • Freeze for an hour.
  • Cut thin slices with a very sharp knife (or with one of those electrical thingies that slice veeeery thinly).
  • Put the slices in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
  • Stir occasionally.


Day 2
  • "Hang" the slices on a wire rack and place in the oven at 65 degrees. Keep the oven door slightly ajar with a wooden spoon or similar. 
  • When the pieces start to shrink and dry up (usually around 2 hours depending on thickness), dislodge them from the rack and put them on a normal baking tray, occasionally stirring them to make sure they dry evenly. 
  • Really thinly sliced jerky should be dry enough at the 3 hour mark, but depending on how thickly you sliced them, it can take longer. Aim for chewy rather than completely crisp. 
  • Store in an airtight container, preferrably in a dark place. The fridge is NOT the right place, as the meat will attract moisture. 

Enjoy!

Saturday 13 June 2015

Eating Clean - An Ode to Our German Friends

We had two visitors from Germany this weekend, lovely Christina and Werner. It was a surprise visit for mamma's birthday and she was immensely pleased to say the least!

They were of course curious about the way we eat. Perhaps because both mamma and pappa are down to the same weight as in their twenties? 

Our standard blurb on our eating habits usually go something like: "Mostly meat/ fish/ eggs and vegetables. And butter."

I can't vouch for the flowers being edible. The heart mince burgers were awesome, though. 
Their reaction was slightly different to what I am used to. You see, they actually eat just like we do, except for the potatoes, bread and beer. They weren't the least bit fazed by our meals. It was just food. 

And I guess that is the problem with our current food culture. Many of us have forgotten what real food is and rely on processed products to nourish us. We don't need to look far to see the devastating effects this has had on us: obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease are so common that we simply accept them as a part of our lives. 

Perhaps some cultures are a bit more protected from this than others. When most Swedes jumped on the ultra-processed low fat/ high sugar bandwagon of the 80s and 90s, our German friends (and probably most of continental Europe) stuck to their butter, full fat cheese and charcuteries. 

I'm not saying there aren't any overweight people in Germany, mind you. Just that the leap to healthier eating habits may be a bit shorter for some our European brothers and sisters. 






Monday 8 June 2015

Birthday Week

I turned 40 last week (cue: "oh my gawd, you don't look a year older than 39!"). 

As I have thankfully already ticked "major life crisis leading to drastic lifestyle change" off my to do list, I figured I have cause for celebration. For at least a few weeks. If not for the rest of my 41st year. Or the next decade or so? Let's not be stingy here. And all I want for my birthday decade is to welcome as many of my friends as possible to our new place. 

London lovelies Liz & Laurence hopped on a plane to start off the celebrations in Copenhagen. 

Pre-dinner welfie: please note the very paleo pork scratching in the front
I am lucky to have extremely thoughtful friends, who went out of their way to book the meatiest restaurant around (Nose2Tail), with OFFAL on the menu. Except they called it innards. Cute. 

We rolled out of there. And went straight to bed, funnily enough. That is what middle age does to you.  

Lamb leg to the left, lamb liver to the right

The rest of the weekend was spent at PaulssonPaleo HQ, working off all that Danish meat (organic, mind you!). L & L were really excited to pitch in, so we went straight to work:

L & L finishing off the sixth vegetable bed at lightning speed
A spot of barefoot stream clearing to keep your core strong
Our new rustic side table for the bbq spot!
We fed our guests a bit too, promise

I just hope we didn't break them... We may have to work on the "reigning in" of ambitious city folks. 







Wednesday 3 June 2015

Welcome Sheep


On Monday, we welcomed our first four-legged guests to Kannesten. A friendly neighbour is lending us seven rams for a few weeks in order to eat some of our now very plentiful grass. We are treating it as 'try before you buy' and we were all smitten as soon as they moved in. It is a great feeling seeing the sheep munch in our field. It is as if they simply belong there and the field didn't have a purpose before they arrived. Very deep, I know.

We are now more convinced than ever before that we need some sheep for our land. There are so many benefits:
  1. They eat the grass and shrubs in the field. As a result we don't need to spend hours with the scythe. There are more than enough areas where we can do our core exercises with the scythe.
  2. They poop, i.e. they fertilise the fields. We may even collect some to feed our vegetables, which feed us. I love the biodynamic thing!
  3. They make you happy by just looking at them. Hours can be spent watching them graze.
  4. They have lambs, which are even cuter.
  5. Their meat is tasty. 
  6. The wool is beautiful.
I can't wait until we have some of our own! Meanwhile, I will enjoy looking at the seven handsome rams.


Actually, I got a total of 104 kg. ❤️ #paulssonpaleo #kettlebellcollection


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