BLOG – VOLUNTEERING – Tirol

I guess these past weeks have shown us that it is the time to discover new sites, of ourselves, of our behaviours, of our routines, of our surroundings… It’s the time to try out new things, learn new things, be aware of different things.

To bring something fresh to my “quarantine routine” and something new to my culinary repertoire I decided to make a vegan week. I started by thinking about ingredients I never bought before and recipes I would like to try (or some that I have done before but that I would like to cook again). So for a little overview, in case you feel inspired by also trying a vegan week, here comes my “menu”.

for breakfast 
I was either eating Porridge (which was just simply oats with oatmilk, cinnamon and grated apple) or Müsli (own mix of oats, nuts, seeds) with fruits and fermented coconut “yoghurt”. Of course for my typical Sunday pancake breakfast I made some Chocolate Pancakes with chocolate sauce and strawberries. 

for lunch 
In general I’m always eating Sandwiches so I just needed to get some vegan spreads. I really like to make different types of hummus. My favourite one is with chickpeas and beetroot, but I also like different types with lentils, beans or peas as basis. I always mix it with some kind of herbs of veggies. Apart from this, also avocado, peanut butter, olive oil, or some vegetables like cucumber, tomato, lettuce, or grilled aubergine/ courgette are very nice toppings for sandwiches. 

for dinner
I started with something easy like a Lentil vegetable curry with rice. Just very basic with onion, carrots and celery. Another day I made some homemade Falafel and Naan bread. This was very delicious together with lettuce, cucumber, grated carrots, an avocado-coconut dip and a sweet and sour ginger dip. Coming to an ingredient I never cooked with before: tofu. I decided to buy the smoked one cause I was curious about its taste. After I freezed it for one night to get out the water more easily, I marinated it for 3 hours. After it became part of a Asian style vegetable-noodle pan. I must say it was tasty but I could also eat with pleasure just the vegetable noodles without missing the tofu. I think its more something I would cook with if I would rely on its protein. And a last great meal I had was a Vegetable strudel. I think this is a very easy way to make a kind of more special dinner in a very simple way. You can just take any kind of vegetables you like, spice it up and just roll it into a strudel dough. It’s amazing! This time I filled it with a potato and onion spread, and fried cabbage-turnip, carrots and spring onions. I spiced it with curry and parsley. 

All in all it was a great and refreshing experience. But at some point I was really wishing for cheese, so I guess that is the main point why I don’t want to be vegan forever. In general I just like to have this wide range of possibilities, so that I can choose day by day if I want to eat vegan, vegetarian or animal products according to how I feel like. I think its just very important to have a balanced diet with which you feel physically, mentally and ethically good and responsible. 

I hope you got some inspiration and if you feel like trying any of these meals, just leave me a comment to get the recipes.

Lena C. 

This recipe I just mixed up with the ingredients I have in my kitchen, and … tried this with lentils pasta, which is healthier and has lots of proteins … so good for after working out!

When I am creative while cooking, I dont use any specific measurements, I just mix everything how it feels right and of course I give a try on the taste.

You can try it too, and see what recipes you can create! And perhaps to share with it others! Good luck!

#mahlzeit #and #enjoy #the #sunday #in #2020

Terry pratchett died in March 2015 from Alzheimer disease. He left behind more than 70 books, thousands of fans, and a loving family.

After tuesday meeting, I surfed on the internet for a while, for things related to him. I was impressed, albeit not surprised, by the number and quality of fan-made products referencing him and his work since then. He may have died a few years ago already, but what he created and, above all, what he inspired in other, still remains.

With the current crisis, we are seeing a lot of familiar names in grim circumstances, either famous people mentioned in the news, or closer, more personal tragedies. I personally don’t have any deep answer, or any way to make it in any way better, so I just search for them outside. Looking back at this, what I could find was a quote from the man: “No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away.”

Hopefully, this time too some ripples will still carry on.

Nicolas

«The 11 European Youth Goals summarise the issues that affect young people in Europe and (…) that show in which areas change still has to happen so that young people in Europe can use their full potential.»

10. Sustainable Green Europe 
This goal refers to achieving a society in which all young people are environmentally active, educated and able to make a difference in their everyday lives.

I know this is such a big topic and sometimes we feel like that as a single person we can’t do enough. But the truth is that we can. Because if every single one of us takes the action, at the end we can make a big difference all together. I’m going to give you some examples about simple actions that I follow in my everyday life to try to make our planet a bit more sustainable and clean.

Buying local and seasonal products, preferably on a market, at a farmer in your town, from the bakery, butcher or fisherman. For example, talking about fruits and vegetables I really don’t see the point why we need to have strawberries or melons in winter time coming from the other side of the world. The beauty of eating seasonal and local is that throughout the year you have this bunch of variety. And it also makes every single fruit and vegetable more special.

Eating everything but in a moderate way. Have you asked yourself why there are so many vegetarians and vegans nowadays? My answer to this is that when there is one extreme there has also to be the opposite extreme. This means that as there are so many people that eat meat every day, that there has also to be the complete meat avoiders to make sure that there is some balance. In my opinion the right way would be a balanced diet for everyone but I’m not going to dig deep into this topic today. Fact is that the production of meat and other animal products has come to a point where it is neither environmentally nor ethically sustainable…

Avoiding plastic. I know this is a big challenge sometimes, mostly also related to economic possibilities, but try. I’m happy that supermarkets at least got to understand that packing bio fruits and vegetables in plastic packaging to be recognized as such is just contradictory. Nowadays you have everywhere this reusable net-bags for fruits and veggies and they are just great, not only to avoid plastic bags, but also because they let their content breath. I also never saw the point why we need to have plastic in between cheese or ham slices. Also if you live in a country where you can drink tab water, just do so instead of buying plastic bottles. Even if you can’t drink the water directly from the tab, you can cook it first. And if you need a bottle just get one of those aluminium ones. And of course there is much more you can do.

Avoiding palm oil. Since some years I don’t buy any products that contain palm oil to contribute to avoid the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest due to the plantations of palms for the palm oil production. It’s incredible in which products you can find it. It’s basically everywhere. I think it’s a real shame that known brands like Ferrero don’t change the ingredients of their products (like Nutella) to avoid the use of palm oil. A good example is Tuc that some years ago switched to sunflower oil for their salty crackers. 

Returning system. I think this should exist in every country: a returning system for bottles and glasses. I don’t understand why such a little amount of countries in Europe has adopted this system. In my eyes it’s perfect to avoid a big part of plastic and other trash. I mean from juice, over water, to tomato sauce, milk, yoghurt, and so on, everything can already be found in glass containers, so why not creating a returning system for all these?

Well I guess there is much more to say, and much more you can do but I guess the most important is that everyone contributes in some way. We all should be interested in making a difference to enhance not only our own quality of life, but as well the one of future generations. We should be aware of the consequences of our actions and make responsible choices in every matter of our life, to empower a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle amongst our society.

Lena C.

In Latvia there is a tradition every spring to collect and drink the juice of a birch tree.

It is naturally abundant in the tree at this time of year, and the tree is happy to nurture us with a lot of vitamins and minerals.

The birch sap tastes almost like water when it is fresh, and it gets more sour after some time, but still good and drinkable.

I have enjoyed this wonder of Nature since I was little. I remember helping my dad drill the holes in trees and set up the containers.

Another tree to get a very tasty and good juice from is the maple tree.

Apparently the people in Austria don’t take juices from trees, but that’s OK, they have other wonders – like the Apfelstrudel, for example!

Kaspars.

L’école des Glénans is a french sailing association, one of the biggest and most well known in Europe.

They operate mainly from the eponymous archipel des glénans, an archipelago located off the coast of Concarneau, south of Brittany. However, they have several other bases across the country: one near Vannes, one at Paimpol, and two at Marseillan and Bonifacio, in the Mediterranean sea.

They offer classes of usually one or two weeks, on various supports ranging from small dinghies and sailboards to actual keelboats and yachts.

An interesting part of the school is that it aims to be more than a sailing club: it tries to teach the people who joins it, not only about sail and boats, but about the sea, nature, and life.

The archipelago is small and isolated from the mainland, linked only by a few boats. Most of the day-to-day activities, such as food preparation and cleaning, are accomplished by the trainees themselves, who are expected to participate in those supervised activities a set number of days during their week.

The organization also tried, especially in later years, to develop environmental awareness, and a sense of responsibility toward the sea and ecology, through various studies and workshops.

But the big specificity of this school is its extreme reliance on volunteering.

Beyond a small group of around 100 employees, most of the activities are accomplished by volunteers. This include most of the teaching, fleet and site maintenance, cooking, opening and closing the bases for winter, supplying the isolated isles with food and material, animation, and much more. All in all, it’s more than a thousand volunteers from every age and background that comes every year to make the association run.

It’s the first place I volunteered in, and probably one of the big reasons why I am currently here. So, with the sea now far away and all activities cancelled because of the virus, I thought I might as well share a bit of illustrated nostalgia.

Nicolas