A Night at Berns - Stockholm, Sweden

One of the things you definitely have to do -when in Stockholm- if you like great food, beautiful interior, good music and dancing, is pay a visit to Berns.
This hotel/club/bar/restaurant is huge, beautifully styled and nourishes all your senses. You can spend a proper night out there and sleep in royally afterwards without ever leaving the premises. 

I have been visiting Berns on several different occasions throughout the year now and the vibe has always been awesome. Most recently I was there to meet up with my friend from home - Amsterdam's sweetheart DJ Carlos Valdes - as he was playing an all night long B2B with Swedish artist Axel Boman.

It was a very busy saturday evening, and while we enjoyed a scrumptious, abundant meal together with friends, other DJ's and the evening's host, the restaurant and bar filled up with lots of people. The Asian cuisine they serve at Berns is a delight to the taste buds; the service always great, professional, attentive and kind.  

The dining area is luxurious and amazing, with gorgeous lights dangling from the ceiling. Despite the enormity of the restaurant and bar the space still feels intimate and cosy. Berns is also well equipped for smokers as they have a big smoking balcony on the top floor, with a bar and DJ booth. Whether you smoke or not, take a peek upstairs and enjoy the great view across the restaurant and its wondrous chandeliers. 

For dancing there is an equally huge and traditionally decorated room on the main floor. If you are into pop music you'll find your place here. For the more alternative clubminded people check out downstairs while you are at it and visit Berns Gallery 2.35:1, where Carlos and Axel were playing that evening.

Situated in the basement with low ceilings, and modern weird art decorations, Berns Gallery 2.35:1 is the opposite of all the grandeur from upstairs. Here a different kind of cool rules. The walls are decorated by local artists and spare corners are filled with contemporary art exhibitions. A nice way to keep things fresh and attract different crowds. 

While Carlos and Axel were getting things pumping, the atmosphere quickly turned into a warm bath of cozy sounds, with happy faces getting into the groove. A lot of international renowned great artists have played here, so check their website and make sure you don't miss a chance to see your favorite dj perform a sweaty set in this cosy club. Gallery 2.35:1 is also home for some other great talented young Swedish artists who, like Axel Boman, have a residency there.  Nima Khak is one of my personal favorites amongst them, so try to catch them too in this intimate setting!

Final word of advice, by three o'clock you have to be alerted that a lot of (insanely) drunk Swedes will make their way down from upstairs, so hold on to your drink, guard your spot on the dancefloor & just keep on dancing.

Big Love,

**Nuri**


For more info on Berns check:
http://www.berns.se/en/?lang=en

  
  

Asian Mushroom Stirfry with Red Cabbage Salad

A day with a chef

On tuesdays we have a  special workout - cooking day. I train a chef during his weekly workout and afterwards we prepare a delicious easy going vegetarian dish, according to the veggies in season. Mostly organic if we manage to get our hands on them. Although it is spring by now, this one definitely can be saved for some cold upcoming winter weather later this year. 

If you don't eat fish or oystersauce, try to get your hands on a bottle of mushroom sauce, it's perfect replacement for the non vegetarian sauces, they are mostly found in asian toko's. 

Start with preparing the salad, because the stirfry is really quickly done.

What you need for Asian Mushroom Stirfry for two:
80 ml soy sauce
1 tblspoon oystersauce
1 tblspoon fishsauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 red pepper chopped
10 cm ginger chopped
50 gr. tauge
150 gr shitake
50 gr oystermushroom
80 gr tofu cubed
frying oil
handful of salted cashew nuts
two green springonions (leave some green for garnish) roughly chop

Heat oil and stirfry garlic, pepper and ginger for a minute , add mushrooms and stirfry several minutes more, then add tofu. Than also add sauces and continue to stirfry, add vinegar, tauge and cashew nuts, stirfry just a little longer and take wok of heat, you want to keep the tauge crispy.


What you need for Red Cabbage Sesame Salad for two:
1/4 red cabbage, very thinly sliced  and sprinkeled with rough chunks of seasalt
2 tiny ramanas peeled and grated
1 carrot medium size grated
little leftover over ginger finely grated
1 springonion, finely chopped
2 tbls  sesame oil
1 tbls ricevinegar
1/2 tbls fish sauce
1 tbls black sesame seeds
1 tbls white sesame seeds

Sprinkle cabbage with seasalt and let it sit while you prepare the rest.
Mix grated ramanas, carrot , ginger and chopped onion together. Rinse salt of cabbage and mix all in bowl. Add sauces & sesame seeds and stir well. Add some leftover green of springonion to garnish.

Bon Appetita!
Nuri

Chocolicious Raw Chocolate Love - simple, fast, healthy recipe

Raw Chocolate Love - simple, fast, super yummie and also a bit healthy

Until recently I wasn’t the world’s biggest chocolate lover. Where most women would kill for a single piece, one could easily leave me with a bar of chocolate and guaranteed you would get it back untouched the next day. All this changed when i stumbled upon a bag of raw cacao during my recent kitchen cupboard spring clean. I started to experiment a little which resulted in this recipe.  Ever since then I am hooked.. This chocolate is filled with so many ‘good stuff’, it’s not only super tasty but - in comparison to a lot of chocolate out there even ‘healthier’. 

Also -as you need just a few ingredients - it’s easy to make this chocolate in a few minutes.  Ofcourse - chocolate will never be totally healthy - but these few organic pure ingredients will definitely make a better candy snack for your body in comparison to a lot of other chocolate out there. Once you have these few ingredients in your kitchen, you‘ll be able to turn any chocolate craving into a small party. 

What you need:  

2 Tb.spn. Raw Cacao 

2 Tb.spn. Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

2 Tb.spn. Organic Raw Cashewnut Butter (any other nut butter will do too)

1 Tb.spn. Maple Syrup

Pinch of Himalayan Salt

(optionals) 1-1/2 Tb.spn. Cinnamon / Maca / Coconut flakes / Goji berries / Raw nuts 

Raw cacao - Superfood

Raw cacao, where to start? Raw cacao is the non processed, unheated version of the cacao powder you ordinarily buy in shops, and is definitely a so called superfood. Raw cacao contains many essential nutrients for your body. It’s a long and dizzying list, but to name a few : antioxidants. Raw cacao contains 30 (yes you read it correctly) times more antioxidants than any other food, even more than green tea. Antioxidants fight diseases and boost your immune system. 

Antioxidant levels : Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC per gram). 

ORAC is an ultra modern way to measure the antioxidant-capacity of nutrients.

In comparison :

Alfalfa sprouts                        9,30

Black berries                        20,36

Blueberries                           24,00

Broccoli                                 8,90

Cacao powder                    260,00 (roasted/ heated, non organic)

Chocolate Pure                  131,20 (roasted/ heated, non organic)

Plums                                  57,70

Raisins                                28,30

Strawberries                       15,40

Spinach                              12,60

Raw Cacao powder           955,00   (raw, unprocessed / unroasted and organic)

Raw cacao also contains a big amount of magnesium, which protects the body against heart and coronary disease. Magnesium is also muscle relaxing and stimulates a good bloodcirculation. Some other essential minerals which can be found in raw cacao are sink, iron, mangan, sulphur, copper and chromium. And to top it off  vitamin A, B1, B2, C, D & E.  And last but not least it’s filled with feel good stimulants like theobromine which induces serotonine production. And as we all know serotonine gives you that happy feeling, who doesn't want that? 

In the case of the ordinary processed cacao, loads of these good nutrients get lost by overheating, roasting and the adding of sugar, milk and preservatives .So if you want the best for body and soul use raw cacao, a true superfood. 

Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil

I’m a big fan of this natural miracle nutrient, and it has a permanent residency on my kitchen shelf. You can use it in so many ways, and as far as I’m concerned it’s one of the best things one can use, both internally as externally. The extra virgin coconut oil is said to enhance your immune system, raise your metabolism and to give your skin a healthy glow. 

Coconut oil solidifies at room temperature and is  liquid above 26 degrees Celcius (78,8 F). I could write an entire blog about the many uses of coconut oil, but for now I’ll stick to its digestion advantages. In comparison to other saturated fats, coconut oil is an unusual blend of short and medium chain fatty acids.  It is this unusual composition that may offer some health benefits. These medium chains are, in comparison to the longer chained saturated fats, easier for the body to breakdown and digest. This makes coconut oil a powerful source of instant energy to your body.  Nevertheless there is still a lot of dispute about whether or not it increases your cholesterol levels. So my advice is, eat in moderation.

Organic Maple Syrup

Sugar accelerates the aging of cells and we should all try to avoid it as much as we can. Especially when we are feeling ill, sluggish or have a disease. Cancer cells for instance live on fast sugar, which most forms of sugar are. Most of us know by now we should avoid refined white sugar, cane sugar, cornsyrup, fructosesyrup etc. etc. Nevertheless most of us have a sweet tooth, thats why I made use of  one of the alternatives, maple syrup class A.As its still sugar I prefer to use just a little of it. Start with one 1 table spoon, and if thats not satisfying you can also use a bit more. Of course you can also use some stevia, but be careful with its dosage, it easily can give a synthetic taste. 

Cinnamon

This is optional but I love using cinnamon for its sweet warming flavour.  It also contains a lot of minerals, magnesium, mangan, calcium, kalium, sink and Vitamin A, B1, B2, and C.  All supports and aids your body to function properly. Recent research even consider cinnamon to be a superfood. Superfood or not, I love it. When you use cinnamon you wont need to use as much sweetener as you normally would.

Himalayan Salt

Himalayan  salt has at least 84 natural minerals and elements like calcium, kalium, magnesium, sulphur, sink and iron. Due to its high concentration its very strong in taste, so less is needed, compared to ordinary table salt.  Himalayan salt is millions of years old and more pure and free of toxins found in seasalt. 

How to make it:

Melt the coconut oil  au bain marie or on a very low temperature in a ceramic pan until its runny. Take of the heat and mix in nut butter, cacao, maple syrup, cinnamon and salt.  Stir until an even sauce. Now you can poor the runny sauce into an icecube holder or spread it out on a small tray, depending on the desired shape of your chocolate, let your imagination run free. You can now also add goji berries, nuts, coconut flakes, whatever fancies your taste buds, after all its your party.  Let it sit in your freezer for about two hours and there you go, chocolate heaven! 
Eat your chocolate straight from the freezer or let it sit for a bit. You can preserve the chocolate for quite some time in your freezer or fridge, if you can keep your hands of it for that long that is...