A Day With Me

A little different post this time with the theme "a day with me". Not the most typical day as I am still on sick leave due to my back (returning to office tomorrow) but this could easily be a description of a Sunday as well (yes, even with the wake up time). Nothing special going on, but that's how life often is no matter what the day :)

5.25 

Fiancé's alarm goes off. 

5.30 

My alarm goes off, fiancé gets up and goes to finish his packing for national team.

6.10 

Fiancé tells me to get up. It's time to go wish him a safe travel to Riga for the first rehearsal game with the French national team. He'll be back on Saturday for two days so I save my emotional speech for next Monday, when he'll be leaving for a month's period.

6.20

Fiancé's out. We stare at each other with the dog for a bit and decide to go back to bed. My neck is hurting after last night's physiotherapy and I slept badly. I decide to give myself a break and fall back asleep.

8.36

I wake up. Head feels foggy and I feel there is a risk of getting "hangry" if I don't get up soon. I answer the text I had received from fiancé, I wish him safe flight and ask to send me a text after each flight. He's got a connecting flight in Warsaw. 

9.00 

Quick shower and a glance at the mirror. I'm not happy with the tired puffy eyes that look back at me. I go take a look at the weather through the living room windows. Looks grey and the weather forecast tells there's a risk for rain. I decide to skip the longer walk with the dog and curl my hair a little to look more human.

A completely unnecessary face shot.

9.20 

Walk with the dog. He is pulling like crazy again which is hurting my back. I'm thinking what tonight's physiotherapy will be like and if after each session I'll be more in pain. I decide pain can be good. Keeping it positive can help. I pass the shop downstairs and can smell the freshly baked buns and bread in the air. I curse myself for not taking my wallet with me but then soon thank myself for the same reason. Time to go back to oatmeal after being a complete pig this Easter weekend. 

9.50

The wind is nasty and I hope my friend Monsieur PatPat will finish his toilet business quickly so I can get to my breakfast. He's laying on the ground. A familiar elderly man from the neighborhood approaches with his little mixed breed dog. Patu and mixed breed fellow sniff each other's butts and we say our hello's. I don't need to explain to this guy anymore that my Polish sucks, he's aware. I smile and nod and we head our ways. I see a white van and it makes me smile, my best friend and made of honor has told me to watch out for white vans as they might come collect me at any time. I run different scenarios in my head and wonder what kind of crazy stuff they've come up with for my bachelorette party, her and my sister. I sigh and think how I miss my family and friends. Patu decides to make his business right in front of our building. Great. Time to collect the jackpot.

The fifty shades of oatmeal. 

10.15

Oatmeal is getting ready. In the meanwhile I'm collecting a few t-shirts and random items fiancé left around after un packing and packing. I get grumpy by the mess I've made myself too. Why can't we just be super tidy people? I want a maid. 

And another one. I love breakfast, I love oatmeal.

10.30

I take an unnecessary amount of pictures of my breakfast, the Easter tulips that still look great and a stupid face capture of myself. I wonder if it's healthy to take so many pictures of everything. I decide to go with positive thinking again. I like to capture things with camera, and that's ok. 

11.15 

I try to log onto my Blogger account and Google asks me to create a Google+ profile. I am confused but go for it. My blog has disappeared, Google tells me I have no existing blogs. I get angry and curse quietly. What have I done now?! After a while I realize it helps if you log in with the correct email address, the one linked to your blog. I feel stupid. 

12.10

I get a text, fiancé's boarding his next plane. I start thinking about traveling and where I'd like to go to next. I can't help but think it would be a place somewhere warm, with nice tracks for running, a pool, seaside, fresh lemonade, the perfume of summer flowers lingering in the hot air, exotic birds singing on the background... I remember the forecast promised +19 for Friday. Spring is here, my favorite season.

12.40 

There is a random show on the French channel. Earlier there was one talking about producing cheese, now there's an old document about love, people talking about love. Only French would make this type of a document, I think to myself. It's horribly made but I leave it on anyway. I wonder when we'll go to France the next time. My thoughts wander from Paris to Bordeaux and somehow from there to work. My sick leave finishes tomorrow and I decide to open up my laptop and prepare a todo list for tomorrow. It'll help as the workload is likely to be high after being gone for two weeks. I should go buy an exercise ball to sit on at the office, my chair is not great for a crooked back. I try to remember to go get one later this week.

Monsieur PatPat doing what he does best, sleeping.

13.26 

I feel drowsy. The dog is napping. I get a text, fiancé's landed to Riga. I decide to take a little rest myself before having something for late lunch. 

Leftover lunch.

14.15

I receive a call from Medicover explaining my physiotherapy for the day has been cancelled as the physiotherapist has fallen ill. I decide to eat the leftovers of the kale/ spinach pasta I made earlier in the week and think of a plan for the rest of the day. My head is plank. I make a cup of coffee and do the dishes to get my thinking going. I eat a couple raw chocolate covered cashews. I decide to wait a bit, take the dog for another walk and see if I have the power to go for a little jog after the lunch settles in.

17.15

Finished an hour long walk with Patu, somehow the plan of a small walk and run got switched to long walk together instead. That made the fluffy buddy happy. Time to hang the laundry to dry and fix some dinner (and tomorrow's lunch). Feeling bummed about the cancelled physiotherapy, neck is feeling stiff. I decide to make a massage after dinner. 

19.00

Eating dinner. I look for movies in iTunes but nothing's really tempting me. I decide to opt for How I Met Your Mother instead. I make a massage for my back and take a pain killer. 

19.45

Patu needs a final little walk outside before we head to bed. I don't want to go outside as I feel perfectly comfy indoors. I suck it up and sneak my furry friend to the back yard. Hurry up I hear myself thinking.

20.00

 We get back inside and I feel really tired. I decide to hop on to my pajamas and allow myself to fall asleep while HIMYM plays on the background. I set my alarm for 5am, tomorrow there's no going back to sleep after the first ring and no fiancé to tell me to get up. I do a little meditation exercise to relax all the muscles on my body and I'm good to go catch up some ZzzZ.

Good night!

Avocado Lover's Breakfast Toasts

Ok ok, even I need a break from oatmeal every now and again. This doesn't happen too often but every once in a while I get a craving for something else. This time it was for a delicious breakfast toast that would be of fresh flavor but would include some protein as well. The person guilty for setting oatmeal aside from my morning plate is actually my fiancé who sent me pictures of blogging ideas late last night after the game and these just happened to be toasts :)

I made a spread out of "feta" cheese, avocado, olive oil, piment d'espelette and pickled red peppers, fried two eggs on a pan and laid these on two loafs of country style bread I had around that was going to dry out if I didn't use it now. I have a horrible tendency to buy bread and not eat it (such a waste). I would recommend this goodie to be served rather on top of rye bread, sweet rye bread even better. In Finland we have the perfect bread for this which is called "Saaristolaisleipä" meaning something like "archipelago bread" or "islander bread" in English - it is just divine and we're lucky to have my mom bake some for us each time she comes around.

Avocado Lover's Breakfast Toasts

serves 1-2, time 20 min 

2 large loafs of country style bread (or rye bread)

2 fried eggs

ham (smoked or parma)

Avocado breakfast spread

pickles for decorating

Avocado Breakfast Spread

half an avocado

2 table spoons of "feta" cheese (I used Apetina but any will do)

one slice of pickled sweet red bell pepper (according to taste)

drizzle of olive oil 

piment d'espelette (or chili)

In a small bowl smash avocado half with a fork, mix in the feta cheese, add olive oil and the bell pepper chopped in to fine small pieces. Taste, add a hint (tip of a tea spoon) piment d'espelette and see if it needs anything added. Depending on the feta cheese you're using you might need to add honey to keep the flavors balanced between sweet and sour. 

Once the spread is ready, fry the two eggs on a pan so that they are attached to each other. Once the bottom half is cooked, flip the other egg on top of the other so you'll end up with one fried egg. Cook to the level you like but not too runny as it won't hold on top of the bread. Set aside.

Cut the two loafs to half so you have four small loafs. Add the Avocado Breakfast Spread and cut triangles from eggs on top. Take strips of ham and form rolls of them and attach to breads with tooth picks. Finish with pickles and persillade spice or fresh herbs on top. Enjoy!

These would work on a picnic or brunch as well. In that case one portion would be enough for four people as you would be serving other snacks and bites as well. 

My Everyday Oatmeal

Those who know me, also know that I love oatmeal in all different forms. Nothing beats a warm bowl of oatmeal in the morning with some cottage cheese and fresh berries or banana and peanut butter or honey and cinnamon - the sky is the limit. I eat oatmeal almost every morning and wanted to share my most common oatmeal combo for you to try.

Breakfast overall is my favorite meal of the day and if I skip breakfast I end up feeling foggy and cannot concentrate well on anything. A bowl of oatmeal is an ideal breakfast as it gives you energy on a steady pace throughout the morning and prevents you from falling for sugary snacks before lunch.

Finding the right ingredients wasn't easy in the beginning when we'd first moved to Poland, I knew no words and doing your grocery was always a lottery. It wasn't just once that I bought cream but actually ended up having kefir or sour cream instead. Now I know better and what makes my oatmeal loving heart very happy, is that I've found the Finnish 'Elovena' oats here! I've tried the Polish ones too, but these make the most tender porridge you can dream of.

My Everyday Oatmeal

serves 1, time 10 min

1 dl Elovena (or other fine texture instant oats) oats

2 dl boiling water

pinch of good quality salt

half a teaspoon coconut oil

On top:

150g cottage cheese

berries or fruit (pear works well)

nuts & seeds

(cinnamon)

Mix oats and salt in a cereal bowl. Bring water to boil and mix well with oats. Let rest for 2-3 minutes. Mix the coconut oil in, add toppings and enjoy with your favorite hot drink!