Holy oven!

You might have thought the blog was kind of dead... But it isn't! True that it has been quiet for personal reasons, holidays, laziness... But again I have something to share with you and I couldn't wait to post it! It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm visiting Emma next weekend in Paris and I'm scared of our inevitable blog meeting... :-S

One of my favourite blogging-topics is cooking, especially if it's related to a healthy lifestyle, and even better if I can share something that would spare you some time in the kitchen!

Yes, I guess you know I'd like to talk about the oven, this incredible machine! For years I thought (as many people) that the only things you could get from an oven are creamy and sweet cakes full of sugar, chocolate muffins, fetty pizzas, delicious but rich-in-calories quiches (at Emma's place), cheesy gratin pasta, etc etc etc... I couldn't be more mistaken!

Since I started my healthier cooking habits, and adding vegetables to all my meals, the oven has become my closest friend in the kitchen! (well just after Eva, my flatmate!). I didn't have to buy a book "oven recipes for singles" or anything like that! What I do is soooo simple, you might think I'm wasting blog space! I preheat the oven, I put 2 drops of olive oil on an oven dish, and I just put vegetables on it! No preparation, just peppers, eggplants, onions, tomatos, zucchinis... Sometimes I don't even cut them into pieces! I let them roast for 30-40minutes and they are done! I love them with a little bit of salt, olive oil and rosemary, on a slice of bread. When I don't finish everything, I boil some rice or quinoa and I add the veggies to it, for my lunch on the next day. Can you think of something healthier??? It's delicious and you can watch TV, have a shower, play with your dog, while preparing the dinner!

My friend Olga, who also shares this veggie-roasting obsession, brought me last week a new veggetable/ root/ thing, absolutely new for me: topinambur. Do you know what it is? It looks like something between a potato and ginger, and after being roasted it tastes like an artichoke! No joking! I love it!

And if you want healthy snacks, you can make chips! The sweet potato chips are my favourite, you just have to cut them into thin slices and put them on an oven tray. The oven shouldn't be too hot, under 100 degrees, and it will take a couple of hours, but again you can leave it there and do something else.

I hope I could help you find another healthy dinner option, I know it's sometimes difficult! Enjoy!

My first crowd-funder experience

Since I write this blog, I am following a few blogs to get some insights, experiences from others. There is one that I especially like it is called Generation Berlin. A French artist lives in Berlin and talks about her experience there. As I spend 5 years in Germany and have a German boyfriend, a part from me is still over there. I  really like reading her blog.

Anyway,

She realises a short movie. The shooting is between August 25th and 29th 2014. The film, "The prison guard's daughter", is about the friendship of two girls and a teen ager in the summer in the french counrty. The project needs some more funding. So she decided to use the following platform touscoprod.

So I went on the website. You have different level of funding for which you get something: the script of the movie, a postcard from the shooting team, an invitation to the Premiere, a day on the shooting…

And I did it, I invested...

What I like about crowd funding?

I feel now part of the adventure

I know where my money is going

I feel special by getting something back

I am really looking forward seeing the movie

I 

So go on this link, and you too make this project happen! Only 13 days left...

Summer is coming... it is time to DETOX

A few months ago, my boyfriend wanted to embark on a detox cure, trying to include more alkaline food in our meals. Well, I did not know anything at all about this. I just knew that at this point of time, I was not quite fitting in my favorite clothes and with summer ahead of us my diets were certainly not the healthiest I could boast of. So I thought, Why not? Let's try!

The cure duration lasted one month. And it was so liberating, I lost seven kilos, I feel so much better now. This must sound hippy, MY BODY IS GREATFULL TO ME! And I get to do new shopping again, because well all my clothes are now too big :) 

We followed a program from a German website.

http://www.zentrum-der-gesundheit.de/basische-rezepte.html

Based on my experience, I will share with you a few lessons.

1. No Bread No Diary Products.... No Cheese

YES, you heard no cheese, no bread. For me, a French girl, this was (and is) the hardest. I was a cheese junky. No diary means no yogurt, no milk, and no butter... Now I am eating cheese again... like a normal person.

The Ersatz: for yogurt, you may, from time-to-time, try Soya Yogurt. It is very tasty. To cook, use plant-based oil, such a coconut oil.

2. No Coffee, No Black Tea, No Soda

These drinks are full of acids, which is not ideal for your body. When you feel sleepy, what you need is either vitamins or a nap. The first few days of detox may be challenging because you are addicted to these beverages and everyone around you drinks them.

The Ersatz: green tea, jasmine tea, herbal tea, and my favorite ginger and lemon in hot water

3. Breakfast

Start with Millet, buckwheat, and cereal-based “seeds porridge”. Warning:  It’s not going to be love at first bite. I usually add a fruit to give it more taste. Then, I take a ginger/lemon infusion. 

4. Lunch and Dinner

One of them needs to be 100% veggie: soup, salad, cooked veggies. Whatever you like! –as long as they are veggies. No meat/fish for all your meals; once or twice a week should be more than enough; you don’t need to be a vegetarian to do a detox.

For the other meal, I would follow one of the recipes from this website.

http://www.zentrum-der-gesundheit.de/basische-rezepte.html

[Apologies, it is in German]

Tip:  Just cook chez vous. Avoid pre-cooked meals, burgers, ready-made sauces etc. Cook what you like and do it from scratch with organic products. Simply by doing, you are removing conservatives and unhealthy stuff that exists in those products.

5. What about snacks?

Of course, you may snack, and when you do: have a fruit (ex: apple), or nuts! No worries. You won't get nut! And once in a while why not a little bit of super dark chocolate?

6. Alcohol?

Since month without cheese is hard enough, a month without alcohol would be torture. I did have some wine in the weekend. It is up to you. If you want to do it hardcore, No alcohol.

Ready? Go for it! You won't regret - just take your time, plan for the start of an interesting detox experience and CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

5 things to do in the rainy Bremen

I have to apologize, I haven't writen a post for ages. I don't want to look for excuses, but... Ok, I've found one excuse! It's been raining sooooo much in Bremen!!! How is the expression in English? It's been raining cats and dogs! and mice, and tigers, and elephants! and I'm not one of those who say (with a cheesy voice): "Oh, I love it when it rains and I'm at home with a hot tee and a warm blanket and I see raining through the window... so romantic...." NOPE!!!! When I see it's raining outside I just feel like crying and yelling because I think of all the awesome activities I could be doing if it was sunny and warm!!!! I hate everyone and everything on TV, I want to eat anything I don't have in the fridge, so I must go outside to buy it, I feel ugly and fat, and sad, and angry, and and and.... you know what I mean, right?

So I could only think of depressive topics for the blog like: 10 reasons why not to come to Bremen, the trendiest rain boots spring/summer 2014... and then Emma showed me her amazing and colourful post about the favelas in Rio, and I decided to wait a couple of days until it stops raining, so I could feel a little bit more optimistic. And of course it hasn't stopped raining. But the clouds have given me a break today (10min?) and I would like to give some ideas of what to do if the weather is so disgusting as it was the last days here, and how to forget the rain outside. In my case, I don't feel like doing sport, or cleaning up my apartment, or doing my taxes but:

1. Go to a sauna-spa with your girlfriends. I did it last Friday after work, and it was an awesome idea!! It was warm, fun, we chated, we laughed (I guess we aren't used to nudist spas yet... ;) )

It doesn't seem it's rainy outside, does it? 

2. Meet your friends to plan a trip to a sunny country. The way to the cafeteria/restaurant/apartment where you meet will be rainy, but you will forget about it once you start planning and choosing the bikini you're going to wear in a couple of weeks!

3. Organize a wine & cheese event at your place. Everybody loves wine and cheese, it will start early in the evening and you will have a great time with no need of discos, expensive restaurants and fancy cocktails. And it's at your place, so no need to move!

4. Go buy ingredients and bake cakes the whole weekend!!! Sweets make people happier, and you can go for dark chocolate and light quark if you want to reduce calories.

5. Make some online shopping! If I would go shopping personally, I would get depressed because I would think nothing suits me and my mood would get worse, but if you buy online, you will see pretty clothes on pretty girls in sunny environments, and you just have to click and wait at your place!

My flatmate Eva makes everything much easier for me, since we can get angry together when it rains, and she loves saunas, sun, wine, cheese, healthy cakes and online shopping! And she gave me the idea for this post! And since rain makes me a little bit emotional, I share a pic of her because she's awesome :)

Another look on the Favelas of Rio

For my holidays I went to visit my family in Rio Brazil. Of course I went on the beach of Ipabena and Copacaban and saw the Corco covado (you know the big jesus that you see on all the pictures). What touched me at most was the visit in some Favelas. In this article, I will write what I learned about the favelas during my visits.

What is a favela?
Favelas is a term for slum in Brazil. It was supposed to be temporary habitations for soliders and now families have been living there since generations. What defines them is that constructions are not made by a plan, follow no influence of the state. Inhabitants left on the side of societies had to organize hemselves to get some road build, get electricity and water. The community feeling is very strong in theses places.

Favelas have a very bad reputation, known for their drugs dealers and violence as in the movie, the city of gods:

If this is still true it is not the case in all favelas. Their inhabitants are human beings. I invite you to watch the movie 5x Favelas. The trailer is in protuguese, but if you get the DVD you will appreciate those 5 short stories giving another side of the life in the favelas.

As a preparation to the world cup and olympic game, some favelas are being "pacified". This means that the police comes and install some policemen in the favelas. The people are being told a week in advance so that "caids" go away ... or just stay quiet. The pacification police unite then will settle in the favela. Different projects are then done to bring in infrastructure, education and culture.

Graffiti in the favelas:
I visited two favelas with a lot of graffitis, Prazeres and Vidigal. In the favela of Prazeres, a project supported by a local NGO, organised to have grafters from all over the world to redecorate the favela. There are two goals:
-Make the living of the inhabitants better
-Enhance local economy and tourism by getting visitors to see the graffiti. We did the tour accompanied by Young people linking there.

Here, you can see some pictures I took. Enjoy the art and the view!

Garden View from Prazeres

Graffiti in Prazeres

Graffiti in Prazeres

Graffiti in Prazeres

Graffiti in Prazeres

Graffiti in Prazeres

View on the favela of Vidigal

Graffiti in Vidigal

Graffiti in Vidigal

Graffiti in Vidigal

Graffiti in Vidigal

And there are a lot more to say. So if you visit Rio, get off the beaten tracks!

How to organise an Unconference : from the idea to the day it really happened.

During the last years, I travelled to conference in South Africa, in Italy, spend a few weeks in Strasbourg to meet my fellow space enthusiast and share innovative ideas and views on the Space Industry. One day, while flying back tired from the travels and the fight to get the fundings, I thought : I have in Bremen plenty of people that are working on exciting them with which I would like to share ideas.

I saw on the internet the Space Up concept popping up abroad, Paris, Belgium, New Zealand. To know what is a Space Unconference please see my article. I knew this format would be awesome. And this happened on April 11-12th. 

What are the important steps to start?

1. Get a team with motivated and independent people
2. Make the website and flyers as soon as possible
3. Get some sponsors and make them commit to the event (Let them pay! otherwise they can say no, and your are in trouble)
4. Find a place to accommodate your event with enough rooms and light
5. Organise a cool DJ that will rock your breaks
6. Choose the catering. If people eat well, they will be happy. Happy participants is important for an happy event!
7. The whatsapp group for the organisers save your life during the event
8. Communicate with to have new participants, to connect with them
9. Find some cool keynotespeakers (see below our astronauts Reinhold Ewald)

Lessons learned:

1. Make people pay so they can commit.

I wanted to have a free event so everyone can join whatever the back-ground. However, we had a full event and refused some people, which was a pitty because 20-30% of the people did not show up or just stayed an hour or a day...

2. Dealing with the budget is not that easy

It takes some time. So maybe dedicate one person to do this job.

3. It is important to push the participants to participate 

Even if the event has no rules, the participants have to be the conference, it is important to explain to the people the concept, give them the confidence to be on stage, propose some subject, get prepared to different topics.

What next?

1. Help the new team to make Space Up Bremen 2015 even better
2. Try to apply this format of conference to other areas
3. Get people over 35 to participate

Lucie's 4-month adventure on Mars

I hope you are all enjoying your Easter holiday! Sometimes it's difficult to find some time to write a post when you are so busy visiting family and friends or sun bathing under the Spanish sun with a beer on your hand (the sunlight makes it impossible to look at the laptop screen...). Emma has also been busy getting ready for her trip to Brazil (yes, we all hate her!) (no, not true, we all love you, Emma!). Anyway, I've looked through the window this morning and I've seen it's raining (it sometimes rains in Spain), so it's time to write a post about my very good friend and colleague Lucie, who is spending Easter in a very different way: she's on Mars!

She is also an aerospace engineer and she couldn't wait until the next European Astronaut Selection. She wanted to know what it feels like to be on Mars with a crew, a habitat, freeze-dried food, an unknown desert around and complete isolation. Thus, she has joined the HI-SEAS mission in Hawaii. Yes, how cool, Hawaii! But remember I said habitat, astronaut food and isolation. And desert, not beach! And I forgot to say that every time she goes out from the habitat she has to wear a space suit, no bikini!

Habitat on a volcano in Hawaii

 

HI-SEAS crew

 

She will spend 4 months in a closed habitat doing space-related research with 5 other space enthusiasts. Life there is an experiment itself and it's one of the "almost-on-Mars" experiences you can have nowadays. And this is not the first time she does something like this! If you are willing to know more about this mission, or you want to see more pics of lucie with a space suit, have a look at her blog, 100% recommended! And you don't have to be a space freak to read it!

We miss you, Lucie!!!