FOOD FOOD AND SKORTS

Suprise! I’m still here, haven’t left this time! January is halfway through, and I’ve been trying little by little to change some things and work on other things. As I mentioned before I’m trying going to lose some weight. At the same time I have to save some money because my new apartment cost a little more than the one we’re renting now. Given that we have had three months notice to cancel this apartment and the one we wanted was available NOW; we’re going to be paying double rent for 3 months. So in a combination of trying to be healthy and trying to save money I have some DELICIOUS dinners to share!

I’ve had a spinach fetish lately (that sounded weird but given my poor vocabulary I’ll stick with it). This salad is made up of spinach, some regular salad (hjertesalat in Norwegian), pasta, pork meat, red pepper, spring onion and feta cheese. YUM! Seriously one of the better salads I’ve ever had. I know I suck for sharing a dinner here without knowing the entire recipe, but Paul did the meat and made a kind of dressing to put on it. All I know is there was balsamico and white vinegar in it. *Drool*.

Last night’s dinner was surprisingly yummy despite it’s simplicity. I took some water, added some vegetable broth and cooked up pasta in that. Then in a frying pan I put some sliced smoked sausage (kjøttpølse), added chopped broccoli and cauliflower, some salt and pepper and finally added the cooked pasta. Cheap and yummy, not to mention filling!
At work we still have the big new years sale going on. There I found a pair of shorts I drooled over this past summer, but didn’t buy because to sum it up: I didn’t wear shorts that summer. I don’t care much how I’ll look in a bikini this summer, more so I want to wear shorts and not feel like a heffa in them. So I bought these shorts in the biggest size we had left: 40. Let’s put it this way; I used to be a 42, am currently 44. So they’re my skorts; SKinny shORTS, and my goal for summer is to get into them without looking like a muffin top.

And the good news is; I’m on my way! Since January 1st I’ve gone down 1,6kg (3,5lbs). I’m very happy. It’s a slow process but it’s also a lifestyle change. I feel super awesome every time I leave the gym, so hopefully I’m going to keep it up and reach my goals!

Thumbs up for looking piggypink in January! That’s a good sign in my opinion.
How are your new year resolutions going?
Sarah

CROCK POT HONEY SESAME CHICKEN

Since I was working late last night I had a good excuse to try out my new crock pot again. After looking through crock pot recipes with my boyfriend (who I’m convinced is only days away from getting his own pinterest account to save recipes on), we found THIS recipe. Except forgetting to read the part where it says cook on low for 3-4 hours (I worked 5 hours + about one hour prep/post-prep time), it was delicious! I’m pretty sure you could make this in an oven as well, so I recommend trying it even if you don’t have a slow cooker. Nomnom, is all I have to say about that.
Though school doesn’t start until the 18th of January for me, I’m going to try to start studying some this week. Personally I didn’t feel my first semester went well because I couldn’t find any study techniques that worked for me. So I’m going to try again, round two, and hope I find something that works well! The adaption from high school to a university is kind of challenging, everything is different. I still have 5 semesters left though, lots of time to learn and change!
Do you or did you have any study techniques that worked well for you?
Sarah

GETTING OUT THE DOOR

I actually like exercising. I rarely feel bad after a workout, and I know I’m not alone about that. Getting out the door is the hardest part, but having someone to push you out helps a lot. I got up early this morning and prepped a cheesy new playlist…

The name of the playlist is the cheesy part, I don’t find Justin Bieber or Bruno Mars cheesy when working out. They’re some of my best workout buddies. I also love Ellie Goulding’s new album Halcyon, awesome workout music.
 
A cup of coffee and some smoked salmon on bread for breakfast, and I am now seconds away from getting through that door. Just need to brush my teeth so I don’t kill anyone at the gym with my fishy breath.
What’s your favourite workout music?
Sarah

SQUARE ONE

Happy new year!

I love how a new year is synonymous with a fresh start, a new beginning, back to square one. We all know that in all honesty it’s not really true. What we did, ate, liked and hated last year is still kind of “here”. However, our wonderful little minds tell us that this is it, this is your chance to change and be awesome! I like it, it’s like a personal coach you get each January. Too bad that coach usually leaves by February. Oh well, I’m gonna try again!

I had a wonderful Christmas that I got to spend with the love of my life and my family. I had a great time and got AWESOME gifts, one of which was a crock pot I will try to share my experiences with right here on the blog. I also got awesome food, mama’s food. I think that says it all. After living with my boyfriend for 6 months, emphasized by Christmas, I’ve realized that I’ve fallen into that comfortable state in my relationship. In just the time I have lived in Oslo, I gained 22 lbs and got stretchmarks from the fast gain. Not even having turned 20 and never having had kids, this stung.
Now, thanks to my inspirational mother who has been doing super good since she started working on her weight and my supportive boyfriend who is trying to keep me “at bay” from snacking and such; I feel highly motivated!

Also, some exciting news! Me and Paul are moving to a bigger apartment! Our current apartment is 322ft², with no bedroom, a tiny bathroom and an even smaller kitchen. It’s been cramped. The new apartment, however, is 592ft2 with a seperate bedroom, slim but bigger bathroom and this wonderful kitchen in the picture above! We’ll be moving in February and there WILL be interior decorating pictures, I promise.
Last news of what is to come on this blog in the year 2013; I am travelling to Vienna, Austria in February. I am very excited, with high hopes for some spectacular pictures of that beautiful city.

What are your plans for the first months of 2013?
Sarah

Getting ready for Christmas

It’s officially December, and my tree is already up! I wanted to decorate as early as possible this year so I could enjoy my own decorations before going home for the holiday. That wasn’t easy though, especially since my boyfriend/roommate is used to the Norwegian tradition of decorating the 23rd of December. However, he was very nice and let me have my way! The result:

Sadly, it’s a plastic tree so the shape isn’t quite right. I’m proud though, in many ways this is our first Christmas tree. Not bad in my opinion, not bad at all…
When do you decorate for Christmas?
Sarah.

TABIBITO

In order to celebrate me and my boyfriend’s 3 year anniversary today, we decided to check out an asian restaurant called Tabibito in the Oslo city center. Definitely worth the visit. The restaurant had a nice and clean but warm atmosphere with burning candles and dimmed lights. Our coats were taken at the door (we’re students, we don’t eat at places where they usually do this…), and we were shown to a small table in the middle of the restaurant. Because of our occasion, we decided to try a five course dinner they had put together and a four glass wine menu to go with it. WOW is all we can say. The food was delicious.

For starters we had sichuan spring rolls and crispy wontons, followed by three different main courses: seafood wok with scampi, scallops, mussels and “seafood balls(?)”, chicken gong bao and fried pork coated with sesame seeds in a spicy sweet and sour sauce. Finally, for dessert, we got tapioca in a creamy coconut milk soup filled with fruit and coconut sorbet. Yes, it really was as exciting as it sounds. Everything tasted great, with tons of flavor! And as if the food wasn’t good enough, the service was excellent. Our waterglasses were never below half empty, we were checked on multiple times by our waitress and she gave us detailed descriptions of what we were served. Definitely a 5 star rating from us!
Have a wonderful week!
Sarah

Long time, no see

I haven’t blogged since September 25th. In the time since then I haven’t been able to think of anything to blog about. I’ve contemplated shutting down my blog, change my angles, shut it down again, start blogging every day, blogging just once a week. I guess we all have those times when we just don’t want to blog, we don’t know what to blog about. I sometimes wish I had something exciting to blog about, like fashion or great recipes. Posts about all the places I’m travelling or about great causes I’m working for. That I took more pictures and shared my “photography”. That this would be the blog people went to for where to travel, where to go when out on the town in Oslo, or how to cook awesome food. However, I have no fashion sense, I rarely follow recipes while making food. I’m a student, so there is no time or money for travelling, I suck about going out on the town and when I do I never bring my camera so all that “photography” is never taken.

We’ve been seeing others lately…

I think to myself: what can I blog about? There is school, but being a student doesn’t have much more excitement than books, lectures and coffee addiction. I have my work (which I have neglected to tell anyone who reads my blog that I’ve gotten) at Lindex which is fun, but again limited as to what I can write about. The new clothing we get? Cool customers I meet? Maybe.. Then there is the living-with-your-boyfriend-for-the-first-time experience which would be fun to write about, but then I think that maybe the simple things that make us laugh are kind of weird and not completely understandable to others…

Then there is those deep thoughts. They’re easy to share, but also so easy to change. I notice myself writing that I want to do this and that, then the next moment I’m writing that I want to do that and this. I’m a month away from 20, I’m going to change my mind a lot in the next years. Maybe it’s ok though? Maybe my blog should simply be a place to air my thoughts, write it out and figure out if it makes sense or not. It’s not like I’m good at writing down my thoughts. I have a diary I’ve had since 2004, and I barely write 2-3 posts a year in that. But I like blogging. It might not be my deepest thoughts and secrets, it might not make any sense, I might write posts as rarely as snow falls in Texas and that are in no way exciting to anyone else but my boyfriend (who better be happy about the fact that I actually finally blogged). But it’s my blog, it makes me happy to write about things in my life and that is probably the only reason I always keep coming back to it.
I love you blog, thanks for being here no matter how long it takes for me to come back.
Sarah