Categories
foooood

slow carb breakfast frittata

one of the things that was hard for us in the slow carb diet was the prescribed 30g of protein for breakfast… you start looking at the labels, and unless you want to eat steak, chicken breast or protein shakes for breakfast, your options look rather grim.

that was until we discovered the almighty frittata!

frittatas are cool. they take little active time to cook, keep for a day in the fridge, are filled with protein and if you can get your hands on egg whites from a carton, the waste is minimal. we love them! :)

we use a variation of mark’s sausage & egg breakfast bites for ours. you need 8 eggs (we use 7 egg whites + 1 full egg), about 250gr of minced meat and whatever else you want to add (mushrooms, spinach, sundried tomatoes, etc).

cook the raw veggies and the meat until they’re done. mix it with the eggs, then pour it all on a greased pan. put it on the oven in medium heat for 20 minutes or until everything is well cooked. plim!


if you break the frittata into 4 equal parts, you’ll get about 20gr of protein in each part. add some lentils and ham to top up the proteins, some avocado w/lemon juice and voilá! problem solved!

Categories
foooood in germany

cupcakes…

…make our cheat days a lot sweeter! :)


these little beauties are from cupcake in krossenerstraße 12, friedrichshain, 10245 berlin.

Categories
pretty things

bmw isetta

what a cute little car, it could almost fit in a hug! i wish they still made these, i wouldn’t think twice! :)


actually, i’d probably have one in every color…

Categories
in germany

a bike for berlin

i’ve had quite a few bikes throughout the years and the countries… but i had never had a real dutch bike. i dreamed of it, so pretty and elegant… so, when we came to berlin, i made a point that this would be the country where i would choose a dutch bike. well, here she is, straight out of a nearby second hand shop:

it’s actually a raleigh, which means it’s a british bike, from one of the oldest bike companies in the world. but nevertheless, the concept is pretty much what i wanted: a simple & sturdy bike, with pedal brakes and a sort of moustache handle, that i can ride upright (and not bent forward, like on mountain bikes).



it’s been a pleasure to ride it around :)

Categories
just life

orthopedic intermission

things haven’t been right for awhile. if i’m being honest, i think i’ve had back pain of some form or another for over a year… in the beginning i’d notice it more when we had to drive for long stretches (driving from portugal to slovenia), a persistent and nagging pain on my lower back that shot all through my right leg until it became uncomfortable to sit. then it started appearing when i had been sitting for awhile… which in my line of work is everyday. then 2 months ago or so, it got so bad i had to lay down, load on painkillers and just… wait. that’s the thing with backpain, everybody tells you to slow down and wait. most of the times, it goes away by itself.

mine did too, to a certain extent, but never fully. and then about 3 weeks ago, after a trip to ikea, it came back full force and with a vengeance. i could barely walk or turn in bed, and even loaded on painkillers, it was excruciating. so we got some heat patches, and took a trip home, almost directly to the emergency room.

an x-ray and an mri later, and my doctor told me i have a spinal disc herniation. basically, the cushion between my vertebras has been abused and is being forced out of its place and into my spinal canal, pressing on the sciatic nerve. this is what makes my leg hurt. it looks like this:

the treatment? well, after a week of rest, a cocktail of drugs and a shot of corticosteroids, i am almost as good as new, pain-wise. the doctor says this won’t ever go away, i’ll just have to learn how to live with it, which includes not doing heavy lifting or sitting for long periods, and strengthening the lower back. so i’m taking up light swimming this summer, doing some back exercises and just generally taking it easy. if you spend a lot of time sitting down, you should too!