I love stinging nettles. I think of them as untamed spinach ;)
Nettles are bursting with nutrients – loaded with minerals and vitamins. Use the nettles as you would use spinach! Just make sure to get rid of the sting first.

Be careful when picking the nettles! Use rubber gloves, long sleeves and a pair of scissors. The tops and the young leaves are delicious. The older ones tends to have very tough stalks and a bit of a funny taste, so don’t use them.

The easiest way to get rid of the sting is to blanche the nettles for a minute or two in a kettle of boiling water, but they can also be steamed or dried. The seeds can be used as well, also dried; they are very rich in estrogen.

Nettles are great in parathas, dosas/galettes, soups, bread, pesto etc. Dried nettle powder sprinkled over a salad tastes great. Oh, and they are excellent to make tea from as well! Or why not make your own nettle oil by soaking nettle leaves in olive oil for three weeks?

A friend of mine loves making pancakes with blanched nettles, soymilk, eggs, (spelt) flour and a bit of salt. (Thanks, Urda!)

Here is my favourite nettle soup recipe, it serves two:

CREAM OF STINGING NETTLE SOUP

Ingredients
1 litre (4 cups) lightly packed nettles – tops and young leaves
½ red onion – diced
1-2 cloves of garlic – finely chopped
A small piece of fresh ginger – finely chopped or grated
A bit of fresh red chili – chopped
5 dl (2 cups) vegetable stock
½ dl cooked rice (or 3 rice cakes)
Ghee, butter or olive oil
Salt
Black pepper, ground
Nutmeg – ground or finely grated
¾ dl (0,33 cup) cream or milk/soymilk, optional
Fennel seeds, optional
1 boiled egg, optional
Freshly squeezed lime juice, optional
Fresh herbs, optional

Method

1. Pick over the nettles and wash them thoroughly in cold water. Discard any tougher stalks.
2. Blanche the nettles for 3-5 minutes in a kettle of boiling water, and then drain them.
3. Melt the ghee/butter in a large pan and sweat the onion, garlic, chili, ginger (and fennel) until soft but not brown.
4. Put the nettles in the pan, stir, and after a couple of minutes add the stock and cover with a lid.
5. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
6. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
7. Add the rice and blend right in the pot with an immersion blender (or in a mixer).
8. Add cream/milk and bring to a boil again.
9. Serve the soup hot with half a boiled egg and a dash of lime juice. Garnish with fresh herbs.

Variations

• Add garam masala (instead of fennel and nutmeg).
• Serve with a bit of creme fraiche or thick yoghurt.
• Instead of eggs, add some diced and crispy fried tofu or paneer.
• The rice can be substituted with other thickeners:
  Potatoes – peeled and finely diced, add them at the same time as the stock.
  A paste of flour mixed with twice as much cold stock, milk or water. Add it at the same time as the stock in step 5 above.

Good luck! Enjoy :)

I love romanesque broccoli. It’s hugely weird-looking, but oh-so-tasty. Romanesque really brings that sense of playfulness to the dining table, tempts you to start fantasizing about aliens and faraway places. I love the colour as well, very fresh!

I love avocado. What’s not to like about it, anyway? Soft, smooth and wonderfully rich. Nutritious. Have you ever noticed the nice grounding quality it has, when you let it rest in the palm of your hand? It is best friends with kidney beans, fresh lime and black pepper – together they make my favourite meal, when I need something superquick and easy.

I love Kenzo Amour, the parfume. It is one of the most delicious and comforting scents I’ve ever come across in bottled form. It’s fuschia coloured bottle is a gem in itself, flaunting a very feminine, curvy and sensual shape. Getting yourself enveloped in a very subtle cloud of Kenzo Amour turns any gray day into flowing moments of romance and warmth, that encourages you to open up and flirt with life. It’s a whirling mix of frangipani, steamed rice, sandalwood, vanilla, cherry blossom and musk  – sensual, flowery… and it insists on teasing you over and over again by conjuring up memories and images of SouthEast Asia and India… of incense and bare feet, temples and flowing chiffon sarees, heaps of fresh flowers, friendly strangers, serenity within, warm rains and vibrant colours.

There is a limited edition of Kenzo Amour called ‘Indian Holi’. To me, it’s very different from Kenzo Amour, a completely different perfume altogether. Indian Holi is – true to it’s name – even more colourful than the original. There’s swirls of rose, pink pepper and peony that makes it more flowery, and with a different kind of spicy twist that really sets them apart. It’s also very sweet and a lot stronger, more long-lasting.

However, I personally don’t associate it to the feelings I sense in my memories of celebrating Holi in India. I don’t feel that crazy, intense, playful or bold attitude that Holi is an embodiment of.  That being said, who cares – it’s a really cool name for a wonderful scent!

That being said, the one single thing that I love the most is her unique way of expressing that which is not there… the living, breathing space left behind when something or someone is lost; the unspoken emotions and thoughts that take form and start living their own lives, feeding off a flawed relationship… and how she uses this space to allow her characters the distance needed to have a proper and fresh look at themselves, to discover who they are not… and through that, they are getting to know who they really are. I find it very inspiring, and in a sense very spiritual as well.

Another thing that amazes me about the spirit of her writing is that it really translates well even into other languages. I prefer reading them in their original language, of course, but the Swedish translations of her books are actually quite lovely.

My absolute favourite is My Lover’s Lover. If you have a chance, read it.

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Maggie O’Farrell official website:

http://www.maggieofarrell.com

Beedi is sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and Sukhvinder Singh. Vishal Bharadwaj composed the music, while Gulzar wrote the lyrics.

I love to put a few of them in my hair, or tuck a couple of them close to my heart. I love wandering through the temple gardens, pausing to offer a handful of frangipani flowers to Buddha, Shiva or Ganesha. I bring some of them back to my room, my home for now, and offer them floating in a bowl of water to the symbols of Stillness on my altar. I find them such a pure and beautiful expression of love and life.

I love how a few drops of frangipani perfume oil caressing the curve of my neck brings back colourful memories of beautiful moments spent in stillness and peace, of journeys in exotic countries and encounters with unforgettable people.

Paheli is incredibly colourful, and it brings out some of Rajasthan’s most stunning elements. It really makes me want to travel there, now! The costumes in this film are absoluely gorgeous, and they really highlight the femininity and beauty in each and every woman. (I wish I felt as beautiful as they look..!)

It’s no secret that I adore Shah Rukh Khan, yet his brilliant acting and charisma can’t be mentioned too many times. Paheli, I reckon, is one of his very best films. Rani Mukherjee is as brilliant as ever, I really like her. And she’s perfect in this role.

The music of this film is absolutely fantastic. My favourite one is Dheere Jalna, a song that has melted me over and over again – so often that I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to recharge my mp3-player…

What I love the most about Paheli is how it makes me feel when and after watching it. Aaaah… This fairy-tale flavoured story is pure pleasure! Heart-warming, unique and really well told. Vah, vah, wonderful!

Dheere Jalna

translated lyrics by Palacerani

Burn slowly…
Burn in the flame of life.
Burn slowly…
Burn in the flame of life.
Your fragile dream might melt;
think carefully before nursing the flame.
Burn slowly…
Slowly, slowly…burn.

What has to happen, will happen.
It won’t stop from happening,
just as the sky doesn’t lower to the earth.
Burn slowly…
Burn in the flame of life.
Burn slowly…
burn in the flame of life.

In the soft sunlight of your beauty,
I must bask for just a few moments.
I’ve already seen in your eyes
the dreams you have woven..
There are splintered dreams in your eyes; they pierce me through.
Burn slowly…
Slowly, slowly…burn.

What has to happen, will happen.
It won’t stop from happening,
just as the sky doesn’t lower to the earth.
Burn slowly…
Burn in the flame of life.
Slowly, slowly burn…

I never imagined that
I would find life worth living again,
that my eyes would thirst
to drink their own tears.
Slowly, slowly…burn.
Burn in the flame of life.
Burn slowly…
Burn in the flame of life.

Your fragile dream might melt;
think carefully before nursing the flame.
Burn slowly…
Slowly, slowly…burn.

What has to happen, will happen.
It won’t stop from happening,
just as the sky doesn’t lower to the earth.

Something excellent to bring with you here, besides a cozy blanket and a thermos filled with hot cocoa, is a collection of WB Yeats’ poetry. Yeats was strongly inspired by pagan Irish legends, and he spent much of his childhood in Sligo. His words still truly resonates with the colourful vibrations and tastes of the surroundings. Now, can you too sense the presence of the faeries..?

The Stolen Child
by
William Butler Yeats

Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we’ve hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping
than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping
than you can understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping
than you can understand.

Away with us he’s going,
The solemn-eyed:
He’ll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping
than he can understand.

If you like this poem, make sure you look up the song recorded by Loreena McKennitt (Elemental, 1985). It’s absolutely beautiful. Magical, even.

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