On goals and changing the world

It's been a really busy few days and I haven't had the time to blog, or a camera to document things with... This is an important project to me, so it's a bit contradictory that I've left it aside lately. Today I wanted to share a realization that I had.

Lately, I've been setting a lot of new goals. I write them down, but then I almost instantly forget about them -there's too many to realistically keep. I have many pending things right now taking up my thoughts besides my homework, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't worry about the future. I'm constantly thinking ahead. While I have many exciting projects to choose from, I sometimes feel overwhelmed by everything. I can't choose what's most important, so I try to do everyting and then I stress.

I'm surrounded by many great people, yet the routine, the stress and the lack of new and exciting things means I don't always appreciate them. I worry that I end up spreading my negativity, my stress, my worries instead of being a source of love, comfort and inspiration.

Today I'm writing my statement of interest for my application to study in Toronto for the coming fall semester. Toronto wasn't my first choice and initially I was a bit disappointed and scared about going there. I'm finally in a place where I'm genuinely happy to be going there for a few months, and it's all thanks to my amazing family and friends. Re-reading my personal statement from when I applied to my current university two years ago felt like finding the missing piece of the puzzle.

In the last sentence, I talk about my longest-standing goal: being able to change the world around me by doing what I love. Reading this reminded me about what's really important -not goals like 'read a book every month' (that's also good, but not worth stressing about!), but giving by being the best I can be.

A wise woman told me that you can change the world whether you're a yoga teacher or a politician. It doesn't matter what you do, you always have an impact on those around you. It's about starting small.

In other words, it's about having the attitude! Instead of poisoning those around me with worry, stress and negativity, I want to try to fill them with fresh ideas and nice feelings. Give back some of the amazing support I've received. Supporting each other in hard times is an important part of friendship, but motivating and lifting each other's mood on a day-to-day basis is just as valuable.

So I wrote down my goal: sometimes you need a visual reminder for things that are so basic that you stop being conscious of them.

Soup, soup, soup.

Here are two really nice (potentially vegan) soups I can't take credit for.

After a failed attempt at making beetroot soup (trust me, that was a big fail) I resorted to the internet and loosely followed a recipe that turned out great! Basically:

-Put half a tin of chopped tomatoes in a baking tray covered in aluminium paper and sprinkle a bit of olive oil and some garlic powder. Roast at 190C for about 15 mins.
-Softly fry half a chopped onion in a bit of olive oil in a pot.
-Grate about 3-4 beetroots (more if yours are tiny like mine!) and add them to the pot with about 600 ml stock. Boil for about 7-10 mins until the beetroot is tender.
-Then, add the roasted tomato to the pot and process everything together. Season, add some more stock if you want a thinner soup, and heat it all through before serving.

The colour is awesome!

I already told you I got a load of carrots, so I followed my friend's instructions to make a nice carrot curried soup. The concept is pretty simple:

-Softly fry a chopped onion and some garlic if you like with some olive oil or wok oil (for extra flavour).
-Add a good tbsp of curry paste, and some curry powder and chilli if you want it extra spicy. You can also add ginger but I didn't have any. I also added a few tablespoons of tomato passatta, but you don't have to. Continue to cook for a couple of minutes.
-Meanwhile, peel and roughly chop the carrots. Add them to the pot with enough stock to cover them and let it boil until the carrots are cooked through and soft.
-Add a chunk of coconut cream or some coconut milk and some coriander if you have it, and process until smooth. You can adjust the consistency with more stock. Serve with chopped coriander, ideally.

..

Wardobe rehab

This is going to be a long post about my wardrobe, but if you stay put you might learn a thing or two about how to make the most of yours :)

I live in a single room/studio appartment, and when I moved in I decided that I didn't want to clutter it with a big, bulky closet (I find a big sofa that my friends can sit on in much more important!), so I've just been using this hanging rack for all my jackets, skirts, sweaters, dresses and shirts/'special' tops. The heels at its bottom are just there for exhibition purposes as they don't get worn day-to-day (my everyday shoes are by the door), and I store my jeans, shorts, T-shirts and underwear in various shelves and drawers.

It's a bit of a pain to find a place for all your clothes when you don't have one of those huge 'black hole' closets, but I'm actually thankful for this. My space limitations force me to constantly edit my little collection of clothes. There are no hiding spots for 'forgotten' or ignored garments, and any addition needs to be considered carefully (although my student budget also takes care of that part!).

I love that my clothes are exposed in this corner of my room like a little boutique, and I even arranged them by colour -slightly neurotic, but it reflects something important about the way I see my clothes: I take care of them, because I love them. But it also works vice-versa. I love them because I take care of them.

I've used the title 'wardobe rehab' as a wink to Geneva's series where she teaches you how to edit your wardrobe and make sure you have all the basics you need. But for me, the main thing about having a wardrobe that works (whatever you have in it), is this: you have to show your clothes some love.

This is another kind of rehab*.


1. Make sure that you'll be wearing everything hanging in your closet.

If you're not going to be wearing it because you don't love it anymore, or because it's out of season or whatever, then there's no reason for it to be distracting you from the clothes you'll actually be choosing from. Store it, donate it, resell it (accordingly)**. Obviously, I'm not telling you to get rid of your gala dress because you don't wear it every week, but you might want to separate it from your everyday clothes.

2. Make sure everything fits.

Alter or, if you don't wanna throw it out, put it in storage. You probably don't have time in the mornings to remember that you need to shorten those pants and have to change your outfit.

3. Make sure everything hanging in your closet is ready to be worn:

Clean, stain-free, and if possible wrinkle-free too. Bonus points if it smells nice.

4. Make sure you're helping your clothes (and accessories) last.

Part of having a 'curated' (this is the new 'it' word in fashion) wardrobe is loving the pieces in it instead of constantly replacing them. Here's how to care for them:

-If it should be hand-washed, hand-wash it. Dry your wool sweaters flat.
-Dry clean whatever needs to be dry-cleaned.
-Keep leather bags in their dustbags (they don't like the sun!)
-I don't really have a problem with moths, but lavender bags/lavender spray (none of that chemical stuff) can never hurt!
 -Take care of your shoes. Clean them, polish them, take them to the shoe repair when they need to be resoled. You'll be able to keep them much longer (without looking like a bum!).
-Repair holes and tears and replace missing buttons. There's nothing more annoying than not being able to wear the shirt you want because you still haven't gotten around to sewing a simple button -I should know!
-Store your things lovingly.

5. Make sure you can see everything and you know where to find everything.

Obviously I have my own system (aesthetic purposes also factor in, in my case), but find what works for you. Just make sure to be organized, whether you arrange your clothes by occasion, type of garment, colour or anything else.


The result?

The other day, my friend said to me: "I love your wardrobe."
Me: "You mean the rack I use to hang my clothes on?"
She said, "no, I mean everything in your wardrobe. Every single thing."


Now, you can put this down to similar style preferences, but mostly, I think, to the fact that everything is organized, visible, and lovingly taken care of. And if your friend loves it just by seeing it, imagine how much of a difference it'll make when getting dressed in the morning!


*Don't worry -you can still make a list of everything you want to buy when you're done ;)
**I have trouble getting rid of things, so I sometimes put clothes I haven't been wearing in a 'trial period' where I try to wear them to see if they work or not. If they don't, it's time to break up with them. :P

All I do is cook these days

There's a student initiative in my uni where every two weeks we buy fresh season fruit and vegetables from an organic farmer and then everyone gets a big bag of them for about 10 euros. Last week I gave it a try, and I got all of this (plus some new potatoes):

That's apples, a bunch of kale, carrots (we're talking a lot here!), a parsnip, beetroots and a small pumpkin. 

So what did I make out of them? For starters, the apples were delicious so I've just been eating them as snacks. But they're also very good cut into little pieces in a kale salad.

I don't even like salads that much but this one is good! Here's how you make it: 

1 apple, cut into small match sticks

1 carrot, grated

1 bunch of kale, washed, dried and chopped.

a handful of any sort of nuts and/or dried raisins/cranberries etc. 

Combine all of the above in a big bowl.

Make the dressing by mixing 

1 tsp rosemary (or any other herb you like)

1/2 tsp mustard

a couple squirts of lemon 

2-3 tbsp olive oil

a bit of vinegar

salt & pepper

And pour it over the salad. Mix well. The longer you let the hard kale infuse with the dressing and the juices from the apple & carrot, the better your salad will be, so this is perfect to make in advance/save for later.

More on what I did with the vegetables coming soon! :)