By the Dead Sea

   

All content by © Sofia Hellsten 2010-2014. All rights reserved.

Tel Aviv pt. I

it was a long time since I published something here. I suppose life caught up with me (school, work an small projects that is). anyways I thought I’d pick this up again, maybe because I’m now living abroad for a while again. so here goes. I went to Tel Aviv in june. this was before the recent events that give me the chills just thinking about. even so, it was a really nice trip and here are some of the pictures.
  

All content by © Sofia Hellsten 2010-2014. All rights reserved.

Peaks.

so i did spend another week in the mountains. but different ones this time. surrounded by the astonishing peaks of mont blanc, les grand montets, l’aguille de midi, l’aguille de vert to name a few. the mountains works curious wonders with your well-being. it is like returning as a new person. so my resolution for the coming year is to visit the mountains more. much more.

All content by © Sofia Hellsten 2010-2014. All rights reserved.

Focus

my apologies for the lack of activity here. hard-drive crash happened. then exams happened. and then christmas grabbed my attention. still working on getting my computer in order. anyways. about a year ago i traveled around in east Asia (Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Singapore..). that’s when i met these guys, on a backstreet in Taipei – casually playing their everyday game of something i don’t know. i love their focus and concentration. a healthy reminder to cherish the moment and focus on the task at hand. easier said then done.

oh, and i’ll get another recipe up here whenever i’ve digested all that christmas food and sweets…

All content by © Sofia Hellsten 2010-2013. All rights reserved.

Facades of happiness

happiness is an interesting thing. so very intangible, slipping through your fingers, making you pursue the chase over and over again. come to think of it, what is even being happy? and do we know when we are? last autumn i spent quite some time lingering upon this. the circumstances gave me both mental space and opportunity to ponder the subject. having this glade of time for self-exploration in an otherwise paced life was greatly valuable. i read. listened to other people’s experiences. made choices solely with regards to what i enjoyed and felt i gained from in that particular moment. went running. studied what i felt like. explored new places. went to the same places over and over again. experienced flow. thought.

of course this was a luxury with limitations. at some point you need to do the boring stuff, take others into consideration when choosing. but it taught me something and i had time to figure out my values and priorities. i learnt to appreciate even more the little things passing you by in haste. being caught by the beauty of the afternoon sky. the old facades in my home quarter. a perfect apple. my sisters stream of words. the smile of my friend. a soft sweater. playing the same song over and over. and this makes a huge difference.

my conclusion to this experience is that giving a little thought as to how we can affect our happiness is greatly valuable. to think about the way we approach life and it’s challenges. you just need to make a little time to figure out about what makes you feel good. life can be fantastic or it can be a never-ending struggle. why pick the hard way?

We’ve come so far, it feels so real.
All this time, that we’ve waited for it.
And who we are, and where we’re going to.
All this time, preparing for it.
– Sort of Revolution, Fink

      

All content by © Sofia Hellsten 2010-2013. All rights reserved.

When in England.

last week-end i went to london to visit Em, browse photo galleries, have long breakfasts and re-visit all my favourite spots. pizza at Princi, hot chocolate at Verde & Co, jewelry at Spitafields market, art at Tate, tea at Fortnum & Mason, dance at Barts, shopping at Whistles, a peek into Swallow street, breakfast at Gail’s, lunch at Daylesford, stroll in Kensington Gardens, sleep-over in South Ken. burgers at Byron. a good week-end away.

       

 

  

   

All content by © Sofia Hellsten 2010-2013. All rights reserved.

Côte d’Azur.

two weeks ago i went away from my regular everyday life to spend a couple of days in france. we stayed in a wonderful little village at the Côte d’Azur called Bormes les Mimosa. what a retreat. still green, still warm and very french.

the purpose of the trip, apart from enjoying the mild autumn weather, was to prepare for our exam. we only took pauses to go to the local bakery for almond croissants in the morning or to drink a glass of champagne from time to time. and of course we made an excursion to St Tropez. other than that the stay entailed a lot of talking, cheeses, wine with lunch and lovely sceneries. just as you’d expect when in france.

i’ve introduced this new recipe at home that’s been a life-saver on late nights. i’ll try to get it up here during next week. though i can tell you now that you’re in for a treat.

All content by © Sofia Hellsten 2010-2013. All rights reserved.

James’ Kitchen

in december i went to taiwan. walked through dark and chilly streets of taipei and finally found this little gem. James served us some proper taiwanese food of which everything was delicious. we ordered heaps of dishes but what i truly remember is that incredible garlic rice you can glimpse among the dishes. if i’m not mistaken we all had two helpings (or even three…). i have to try and make it some day soon. from the outside the place looked like smallish but once inside we were proved wrong; even the japanese party besides us asked how in the world we had found the place. some good research and patience with the map i said.

 

All content by © Sofia Hellsten 2010-2013. All rights reserved.

Up north

i’m in jämtland, trekkikng with my mother in stunning surroundings and eating fantastic dinners and breakfasts. life. today we met this noble albino in the barren landscape towards the top of the mountain. i managed to get quite close before he got nervous and wandered off. i wonder if he’s the reincarnation of a reindeer me and C meet up here nine years ago… this makes me want to be up here always. now dinner awaits so i’ll get back to you with some recipes when i’m back home.

Strawberry and yoghurt ice-cream with date syrup

Mui Ne in Vietnam this january. beaches and kite-surfing.
yesterday i craved ice-cream the whole day, just like i used to crave it when living in south-east asia. a sunny, 26°c Stockholm does that to you (also eager to use my new ice-cream maker). so i came home and whipped together this from what ingredients i had in the fridge. super-easy and tangy with moderate sweetness (you can adjust this just as you like, yet another reason to try the flavor while making it..)  super easy, super fast, super fresh ice-cream, enough for 4 persons
one egg white (whisked until hard foam)
200 ml yoghurt
about 10 fresh strawberries
2 tbsp agave syrup (date syrup if you like! and adjust amount to your liking)

roughly mash the strawberries with the syrup. mix this with the yoghurt and then carefully fold in the egg white. i like it tangy, but flavor with more syrup if needed. pour the mixture in to an ice-cream maker or put in the freezer (if using the freezer, make sure you stir the ice-cream once every hour to avoid the “iciness”). when you have desired texture serve at once with date syrup on top. and maybe one of these cookies on the side?

(this ice-cream should be eaten straight away – keeping it in the freezer will make it quite hard and icy. but then again, why wait?)

All content by © Sofia Hellsten 2010-2013. All rights reserved.