Update: Summer-Hair.

Summer is great in so many ways. But there are also things that suck: Humidity, being drenched in sweat before you even arrive at work and endless heat. I used to wear my hair in a bun most of the time. In the office, the only hairstyle I could do, was a half-up, half-down where you divide your hair into two parts and the upper part is put together in a little pony tail. My biggest challenge: I have a little crown on my front part that doesn't allow me to have bangs or wear my hair down.

Last week, I found myself on the couch with my sweaty curly hair sticking into my face. I couldn't see myself in the mirror anymore.
It was a disaster. I was thinking about cutting a big part of it off, maybe wearing it in a long-bob. Cutting it off was never a plan because I know I will look like a teenage boy with short hair. In that moment, I was overly dramatic of course. But the fact is: I needed a change. 

Thank god, I have a hairdresser in my family. Peggy literally saved my life. I have a little hair update for you. 

For the very first time, I tried a Keratin Treatment on my hair. Peggy showed me a product, that is formaldehyde free. It doesn't only make the hair shinier and silkier but also my hair only takes five minutes to blow-dry. It takes away the frizz. Check out the before-after picture down below. 

If you have fine or oily hair, this treatment is probably not right for you. It works best on medium to thicker hair types with coarseness and/or frizz. I would say my hair is medium thick (its definitely not the thickest) but for sure not oily. If I want to I can not wash it for 5-6 days. 

This is how it works: Peggy washed my hair with a special shampoo twice, so there is absolutely no oil left. The hair feels super sticky. Then she blowdried it well and applied the liquid keratin in very small sections. It is left to process for about 30 minutes. Then she washed my hair, but only for a few seconds, so a part of it stays in the hair. She blowdried it well and ironed it. Then she cut it. The entire process took about three hours. The price is about $350 CAD / $200 USD depending on Salon and product.

The upkeep of a Keratin Express treatment is more about avoidance of products than adding anything new, and you likely already have many of these products in your beauty arsenal. It’s just a matter of being selective and savvy about what you use. The treatment requires that you use a sulfate-free shampoo.

Summer Cake: Chocolate - Strawberry - Vanilla

This is - in my opinion - THE cake for the summer 2017. Its simple, you get the ingredients almost everywhere, and its delicious. It only takes 25-30 Minutes in the oven, while you can prepare the frosting and cut the strawberries. So you can serve it in under 40 minutes after you start mixing the ingredients! Here is the recipe for you.

Ingredients for the cake:
14 tbsp Vegan Margerine/Vegan Butter (for example Becel or Earth Balance), softened
1 Cup Silk Tofu
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Chocolate, chopped in small pieces.
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
6 tbsp All-purpose flour
1/8 Cup Cocoa Beans/Cocoa Nips, chopped/blended
2 tbsp Baking powder
pinch Salt

For the frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp vegan butter/margerine/coconut oil, softened
4 tbsp vanilla soy milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract (best is french vanilla)

For the decoration:
Strawberries (or other berries)

1. preheat the oven to 380°F / 180°C.
2. Grease a springform pan and line with parchment paper.
3. In a medium size bowl, mix all the dry ingredients: Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa powder, flour, cocoa beans, baking powder and salt.
4. Add softened butter/margerine and silk tofu and beat on low with a hand held mixer until well blended. The cake batter should be smooth.
Pour batter in springform and bake the cake on the bottom rack for about 25-30 minutes, until a center placed toothpick or knife comes out clean.
5. While the cake cools down, prepare the frosting. Blend all ingredients in a mixing bowl together until smooth. If it gets too dry, add more soy milk, if its too soft, add more powdered sugar. It should be thick but still spreadable. When the cake is cooled down completely, cover with the frosting and decorate with strawberries.

How to make a difference.

You're wondering, what is the idea of life? How do I even make a difference? What is actually going on? Why do I work my ass off? Trying to effect a meaningful change in any topic can leave you feeling powerless and frustrated. Maybe you don't have enough followers whilst others already have a community. It seems impossible to change someone else's mind for the better. But..

let me tell you something: Whatever you feel powerless, don't give up.

There is hope. And there are easy ways to discover and reinforce your power. Right now.

1. Look after yourself. This has to be number one on my list. If you are not happy, healthy feeling good, you can't do best for others. This one starts with three simple but essential points: Sleep well and enough (good sleep is the best, seriously!), eat healthy foods and drink enough and last but not least, move your body (not moving ourselves makes us feel like we are just turning around and around not going anywhere in life). And then spend time with your friends and have good conversations. Good conversations nourish our soul and creativity. Also don't forget to rest. If you look after yourself in the first place, you will still have enough energy to give to others. If you need time for yourself, take the time. Come back when you are ready. 

2. Educate yourself. This is so so so important. If you want to be listened to in whatever manner, you have to be professional in the topic. Get as much knowledge, collect information, watch documentaries, read books, listen to podcasts, etc. Someone might be interested and will then have questions and you need to be able to answer those questions. The more knowledge you have, the more people will listen to you and respect you. Know the statistics, talk in facts and no question, you will be persuasive. Its sexy to be educated. Also work on your strategies about how you talk to people. If its something you are really burning for, be careful. Too much passion can be a turn-off. Too many arguments might feel like getting punched in the face. On the other side there are some people that you need to be excited talking to, otherwise the conversation gets boring for them. Try to read your opposite like a book and try to understand what the best way is to talk to him/her. Feel yourself into the other person. 

3. Think of solutions. I know, sometimes it seems like there is no solution whatsoever. Let me tell you one thing. If you are not the change, who else will be. Someone has to start and if you already think different, think positive. Imagine the future as you want it to be. If you hate plastic bags, don't just look around and hate all the plastic bags sou see and all the people using them. Stop using them. From now on and forever. There will be a way around using them. Use social media to show everyone that, if you can do it, everyone can do it. Share your experiences. Find people that think different, like you. Together you find a solution. Nobody has ever built an electric car by himself all alone. Create a Facebook page or a WhatsApp group and talk about your ideas with friends.

Movie "Embrace" - Should we really say goodbye to the thigh gap

Yesterday I finally watched the movie 'Embrace'. What I like about it and what I don't like about it? Well, there are a few things...

Embrace is a movie, published in 2016, Trailer here. The main topic discussed in the movie is body-shaming, body loathing, excessive weight loss, and the daily struggle of all women to keep it up with what the media presents them: A lean and sexy but photoshopped model. 

The Body Image Movement is a fight for a natural and realistic body image. Women should see themselves as something positive and accept their bodies and learn to love them. This Movement started to redefine and rewrite the ideals of beauty. 

"Lose weight, reduce wrinkles, fight cellulite; we’re constantly told to fight a battle to be someone other than who we are. Women and girls are constantly lead to believe they’re not as good as they should be. And why? Because every day they feel they’re being judged on their appearance and how far away it is from an unachievable ideal.

At the Body Image Movement, we’re on a quest to redefine and rewrite the ideals of beauty. Our job is to harness and facilitate positive body image activism by encouraging women to be more accepting of who they are, to use positive language regarding their bodies and others, and to prioritise health before beauty. Our goal is to reach as many women as possible around the world and speak to them about how we can learn to fully embrace and love our bodies.

We say no to…

• Excessive “Photoshopping” of body images in the media
• Being programmed by the media and corporations into accepting unrealistic body images
• Prescribing to the notion that being a certain weight determines whether you’re healthy
• Sexualisation of girls in the media and modern culture
• The objectification of women
• Society and advertising preying on women’s insecurities"

And this is also what I like about the movie. It is time to fight this unrealistic ideal that the media presents us on every advertisement, the internet and every magazine. Every woman is different. We are not made like Barbie dolls. We are not all skinny, and we don't all have a classic 90/60/90 runway body. I like the idea that women encourage women to love their own bodies and accept themselves the way they are made. 

I see a lot of potential to prevent young women from getting an eating disorder. Advertisements are made to manipulate us. Every day. The Body Image Movement is made to bring this fact to our attention. Being aware of it is the first step to a new perspective - to a new way of self-reflection. 

The movie really shows us the negative side-effects of extreme dieting and how it is not healthy for our body and emotions to be skinny. There is always pressure to stay lean, to lose more weight and to become better and better in aesthetics. The movie also presents us women that are totally in peace with themselves. Women that love their curves. This is a really good aspect.

If I could bring up some critic, I'd say that one very important aspect is missing: The fact that obesity and a high body fat percentage (we are talking about someone that is clearly overweight) is not good for us. Simply for heath reasons we should try to be in a healthy weight, curves are ok, a little body fat is ok too, but not too much.
The same way they critique diets, they should critique overeating, binging and excessively packing on more and more weight. Every thing should be in balance, for our emotional and physical well-being.

I can see a second part of this movie that focuses more on long term aspects. I can understand that everyone has his or her ups and downs, and still: Emotional and physical stability and balance is something that is best for us. 

Us Women, we should finally stand strong and believe in ourselves. We are able to love ourselves. We are able to hold and keep a healthy weight. We don't need to compare ourselves to other women, we can see ourselves in the unique way we are.

In the end it doesn't matter if we have or if we don't have a thigh gap. It is nothing that we should care about. Happiness and Heath are aspects that are really important. A thigh gap is a trend that people care about in one year but not in the next one. It has nothing to do with health. It has nothing to do with happiness. Just embrace your legs as they are.

Worlds bestest cherry pie inspired by Katy Perry

Katy Perry's new song called 'Bon Appetit' is out. She published the new single together with her own cherry pie recipe and on the day after the release, fans could meet her in New York at a food truck giving out of her Cherry Pie. For me as a food-addict and hobby cook/baker, this was something I had to try.

Well... you know me, I always have to change recipes up and I did it here too. So as Katy Perry makes the "worlds best cherry pie", I make the "worlds bestest cherry pie". Check it out!

So, what I tried to do is: Stay as close as possible to Katy's original recipe. She postet a written recipe and even filmed a "how to" video. 

The only thing I changed was replacing the cows butter with vegan butter. I used the Earth Balance, it comes in a cube-shaped tub and in my opinion is really close to what non-vegan butter tastes like. Also as I didn't have fresh cherries, I used canned ones. Didn't make a difference in my opinion as you bring them to boil anyways. 

Now, my version of the cherry pie is cruelty-free. I don't know how Katy Perry thinks about veganism but she should try it. You get the same taste, the same flavors and you don't higher your cholesterol level. Milk and any other forms of dairy products clog your arteries because dairy is always coming with a lot of saturated fat. It's not good for your cardiovascular system. The vegan butter alternative is made of oils from plants, so it's made out of unsaturated fats. 

Right now, there is a lot of advertisement happening to promote dairy. But don't let them fool you. Inform yourself. 

Here comes my recipe of a cruelty-free vegan cherry pie. Bon Appetit!

Ingredients for the crust:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I think you could even use spelt flour)
1 cup vegan butter (e.g. Earth Balance)
1/2 cup ice cold water

Ingredients for the filling:
6 cups cherries (fresh or canned, probably even frozen)
2 Tablespoons vegan butter
3/4 cups sugar (or brown sugar)
2 Tablespoons Water
3 Tablespoons Cornstarch 

Directions:
Combine flour and vegan butter with your hands until you feel like the dough is too dry (moist sand) and then slowly add the water, one spoon at a time. When the dough is sticky enough to stay together, form two balls, form a disk and wrap them into cellophane foil. Refrigerate while preparing the filling.
Heat 2 Tablespoons of the vegan butter in a pan on moderate heat and add the sugar and simmer. Stir around. When the sugar is dissolved, add all the cherries. Combine Cornstarch and Water in a little bowl until the cornstarch is completely dissolved. Add it to the cherries and bring them to a boil. Stir and let it boil for another 2 minutes so that the starch can thicken the cherries. Set aside and let it cool while you prepare the crust.
Preheat the oven to 350-375°F.
Roll out the first disk of dough until its big enough to be the base in your pie plate (about 9-inch). Roll out the other disk of dough and cut long stripes with a knife. These ones will form the lattice on top of the pie. Add the cherry filling into the pie pan and decorate with the dough stripes in the typical pie-lattice shape.
Bake the pie for about 50-60 minutes. Let it cool or serve warm. Listen to Katy Perry songs. Optional: Add vanilla ice-cream. Bon Appetit.

Less is more.

This post is probably more important to myself than to anyone else. Right now, there are a lot of changes in my life and at the same time, I feel like I’m turning around and around till I end where I am already right now. I feel like I’m moving a lot but nothing is moving.

And I want to share the solution with you, that I figured out just now.

Before I get to the point, I want to say one more thing. The fact, that I’m overthinking a lot of things is not new to me. And if you can relate to that, don’t worry. This is not a bad thing and I think it happens to all of us, who travel a lot. We travel in our minds. The more “new moments” we experience in the outside, the more we reflect in the inside. And it can be a big distraction. Some days I feel like I am very busy but I’d still need two or three more hours to sit on my blog, write a recipe or do simple work like the laundry.

And then I end up being frustrated. That I wasn’t able to finish a project or work on my ideas. Sometimes I even get upset about myself and I feel like I’m wasting my time instead of being productive. Oh the patience…

The truth is: Change or transition needs time. And this is a good thing. We are humans, and as humans we don’t like to get things ‘for free’ or too easy. We can’t really appreciate them. Think about the love: Nobody is interested in a person that is ‘too easy’ to get. We want to fight for love.

People that win the lottery spend most of their money in the first year after they won. They don’t appreciate the money. Only the money one works for is money that one really appreciates. 

The solution is 90% less is 10% more. And here is it again. The p-word we don’t like, ‘patience’.

Less is more. Short-cuts are no option. Slow down 90% and focus on the 10%. 

Focus on the 10% that bring joy to you, when it comes to your job. Really concentrate on them. If you don’t like what you do, but you enjoy talking to the customer, really focus on the communication. Here are the 10% that you focus on. And you will get really good on these 10% and it might be able to find a new job in the long term.

• Focus on the 10% of the healthy foods that you really enjoy eating and create recipes with them. These foods will become your new basis for a healthy lifestyle and the foundation for your diet. Talking about me, I love sweet potatoes. I could eat them every day. I also love chickpeas, avocados and tomatoes. So as long as there are sweet potatoes and chickpeas, avocados and tomatoes in the house, there is no excuse to eat unhealthy. 
• Find the 10% that you love to do in your relationship. If you love to cook for your partner, then really focus on that and put all your love into the food you prepare. Maybe decorate the food on the plate even nicer. Your partner is going to taste the difference. 
• Find the 10% of exercise and do more of it. You hate swimming and running and all you love is yoga? Then go for it and do yoga every day. Maybe you will try different styles after a while and evolve. There is no need for everyone to become a triathlete that runs, bikes, swims and goes to the gym. But if triathlons are your passion, then off with you on your bike, or whatever you will start with. 
• Find the 10% of your books that you love reading and read them again. You get way more out of it than if you would force yourself to read new books that you don’t enjoy reading. 
• Find the 10% of your friends that you love to meet and spend more time with them. 
• And last, but not least: Find the 10% of the day that are just for you. Don’t do anything else in these 10% than focusing on yourself. If this means taking a bath at night, or walking the dog or meditating. Maybe it means going for a run by yourself, maybe it means cooking some delicious food just for yourself. Maybe it means singing loud to the radio in the car. Amongst all, we should never forget to look after ourselves. Find at least 10% of the day that you have with yourself.

If you concentrate on the 10%, that you like and that you are good in, everything will become easier. It will help you transform into a better version of yourself. It will help you smile more, be healthier, fitter and comparing yourself to nobody else than you (in the past). 

You don’t need to forget about the 90%, but just take it easy. Focus on the 10% that you love and it will make a big difference.

MEET in Gastown / MEET on Main

Hey, if you ever come to Vancouver, this should be on you top ten to-do list. Meet in Gastown or Meet on Main. I can totally recommend this restaurant, and now I'll tell you why.

Maybe you have experienced something like that in the past: You walk into a restaurant, you read through the menu and you just want to order everything.

Whatever I ordered so far was out of this world. When I first discovered MEET, all I could order was one of their burgers. They have so many delicious (all vegan) burgers on their menu, it's incredible (for example a "southern bbq burger" with whiskey sauce or a "mac n' cheez burger" which is loaded with mac and cheese sauce made from cashews). I always thought I'll miss out on something if I order one of their bowls or a salad instead of these crazy delicious burgers (that - by the way come with a little side salad and a mountain of fries). I was wrong. Their other dishes (for example "the lovely" - a bowl with brown rice, kale, coconut bacon, marinated organic tofu, shredded carrot and a fantastic almond satay sauce makes me hungry just thinking of it!) are also very good! They have a really tasty chili sin carne on their list, that you can always order on the side! 

However, for your first visit, I would always point to the burgers on the list. 

I don't really know if you can make a reservation (because we ended up there more or less spontaneously) but I would definitely recommend that. This place usually is extremely crowded, sometimes the waitress told us to come back in one hour. 

I didn't really get to order many desserts, because I was just so satisfied that there was no need for it. Next time, I will definitely try the deep fried banana or a cheesecake. 

The pricing is more than fair. You pay around $15 for a main dish, which is - in my opinion really a good price considering that there will definitely only be vegan food on your plate and some of the ingredients are organic!

If I am asked which location I like better, I'd go to Gastown. I just love the atmosphere there, vintage tables and loft style come together in the old part of the city. It's located at 12 Water St. and Meet on Main is located at 4288 Main Street. 

Check out the menu here.

Fact is: You get everything here. Vegan, optional gluten-free. Healthy and nutritious and a little greasy and fast-food-style. Go and check it out!