Style Bytes

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Thank you all for reading Style Bytes so far; I hope the blog will be even better with the make-over.

I was asked to show off of my apartment a while back, and I finally got around to take some pictures. This hasn’t got much to do with fashion except that you occationally will see a shoe or a necklace, so if you find this totally useless just keep on scrolling.

The flash makes everything look a little sader than it is. The apartment I live in is small so I haven’t been able to do everything as I’d like to. I also share it with my boyfriend, which has made me have to make some compromizes. Still I am pretty pleased.

For the kitchen I wanted to go for a 50’s kind of style. I am especially pleased with the diner table, but I haven’t found matching chairs yet, so the ones I have are just to have something to sit on. I guess these are pretty common in the US, but here I’ve never seen a table like mine. I also have a lot of 60’s stuff, making the whole kitchen looking a little grandma-ish. My grandparents actually had the same dishes I collect. The bookshelf is Ikea, and it works as a perfect room seperator. It is wide enough to fit books on both sides. On the kitchen side I keep my kitchen stuff and cookbooks, on the other side I keep mostly books.

Some of my kitchen flea finds.
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With: Mom, two of my sisters and one of my nephews.

Where: Nesna, a tiny town up north in Norway.

Got: Fashion Now 2, Max Factor eye shadow, a year of Elle, Paper Chase CD, suitcase, beauty supplies among many other things.

Ate: Alot. Traditional Norwegian dishes like dried fish soaked in lye and I got home some nice dried reindeer meat to put in the coffee.

Saw: Northern lights, shooting stars, lots of snow, several moose and very little TV.

Best: When my dad came to visit and brought a box of my grandma’s old stuff.

Worst: Spending 28 hours on a train. (I love travelling by train, but when all you see is snow it gets dull after a couple of hours.)

…so I don’t know how often I will be able to write posts. I believe I will have internet access, so there might not be any changes at all. If things doesn’t work out though, I’ll be back in business 27th of December. In the meantime I have two 14 hour train rides to get through…

Have a Merry Christmas everyone! Leaving you with a picture my boyfriend took out in the woods, which perfectly represents Norway during Christmas.

Ok, I know I tend to strech what concerns fashion quite a bit. But these days around Christmas with all the preparations and shopping and all the parties, it’s a shame to get sick. A few days ago my throat started to hurt and I was afraid to come down with a cold. I made my very simple miracle cure, and I was fine again. I just had to share it with you so that you won’t miss out on all the sales these days.

An inch of fresh ginger, sliced

1 tbsp honey

A splash of lemon juice

Put it all in a cup and pour on boiled water. Leave for a bit and drink. Usually I save the last few sips until it has soaked really long, then it’s extra strong. I drink this as soon as I feel like I’m coming down with something, and in 9 out of 10 cases it works. If it’s too late I keep on drinking it and I get well faster.

After weeks with nothing but studying (which I hope pays off) I finally have a life again. My week startet at Wednesday after my final exam was over:

Wednesday: Had dinner with my study group to celebrate. (We were supposed to have food in the line of what we are studying but the junk food was too tempting.)

Thursday: Met mom, who’s in town this week, for lunch. Went to a Christmas party at the evening and saw several concerts.

Friday: Met mom for lunch again. We also went to the Nobel Peace Price Center. At night my boyfriend and I made Kurdish food and coudn’t stop eating so we had to stay indoors. Imagine ten liters of food gone in a couple of hours. (The best with Kurdish food is the drinks: natural yoghurt mixed with water and salt.)

Saturday: Went to see a friend at the hospital. Bought a bunch of beads and went crafty. Was at a birthday party and then at this pub called Paragrafen. (Strange place in a really old building with tons of small rooms and stairs.)

Sunday: Cleaned the whole apartment down to the smallest detail. Had a typical Norwegian Christmas meal at my uncle’s. He had bought me these dishes and cups that I collect. They were made in the 60’s and has gone out of production and they’re hard to come by, not to mention expencive. (Yay! I’m so happy!)

There are many Christmas gifts left to be bought and I have to save in on some areas to afford all the presents. Luckily I have made a deal with both my boyfriend and my best friends to rather spend money on a trip and have some fun together. I like the idea of investing in some nice experiences rather than new things. But there are other presents to buy… Here are a couple of ideas for tasty and affordable food that will help your budget survive though the holidays. No photos yet, but will be added later.

Chili & Banana Soup

This soup is just a starter as it’s not very filling. But it tastes really good and is easy and cheap to make. Serves four people as a starter.

oil

50 g spring onions

2 cloves of garlic

half a can of coconut milk

4 dl chicken stock

3 tbsp of fish sauce (nam pla) or soy sauce

1 big banana, finely sliced

1 red chili, sliced

a little salt, sugar and pepper

Heat some oil in a pan an put in the spring onions and garlic. Fry for a few seconds. Put in all the other ingredients except the banana and cook for 5 minutes. Put the soup in a blender with 3/4 of the banana and until it is like a purè. Pour the soup back in the pan with the rest of the banana and boil for 3 minutes. Voilà!

Italian Creme Fraiche Pizza

Pizza is really cheap and you can just use whatever leftovers you have in your fridge. Here’s my favorite one that uses creme fraiche in stead of tomato sauce. If you haven’t tried it before I can assure you that you’ll love it!

First you have to make the dough. This will of course take some time, but while you’re at it you can make some bread of the rest. Lately we have started to make more pizzas to put in the freezer for busy days. This dough will be enough for two pizzas but I often double the size.

8 dl flour

little more than half a pack of yeast (30 g)

1 tbsp oil

2-3 dl water

1/2 tbsp salt

Mix the dry, then put in the wet. Bash it around for a while. Leave four an hour. Now it’s ready to become pizza. Remember to make it really thin cause it’s supposed to be the Italian way.

Now to the topping. Here you can of course choose what you like the best, but try out this:

Ham

Pesto

Creme Fraiche

Olive Oil

Champignon, finely sliced

Cheese

Fresh tomatoes (or sundried tomatoes), finely sliced

Cover the pizza in a thin layer of Creme Fraiche, then cheese. The rest (ham, tomatoes…) goes on top. Put some dashes of pesto here and there and a little olive oil at the end. Put in a hot oven until it’s getting a little color and the cheese has melted.

I am eating cheap right now to afford all the Christmas gifts, but I am hoping to save up to this dress by Anthropologie cause I need something velvet.

Style Bytes has had some downtime lately, sorry for that. I am planning a transfer to a new and better home, but at the moment things are going a little slow. I’m having my last final exam tomorrow so things are a little crazy around here at the moment. Reporting back with more fashion news in a day or two!

My last weekend of freedom before the final exams kicks in.

Friday

My boyfriend made Mexican hen for dinner. (He loves cooking.)

Went to two art exhibition openings. First was crap. Second was pretty interesting.

Went to a party, but got tired and went home early.

Saturday

Had to study a bit.

Made sushi. (Yummy. And I even like the home made the best.)

Tested my home made beer with some friends. (It seems to be working pretty well. Was wearing my new belt buckle I got from Ebay.)

Sunday

Was not hung over after the beer the night before. (A good sign.)

Another round of secondhand shopping, but ended up with nothing. (For the best really, I have to put aside some money for Christmas gift shopping.)

Studies again. (Can’t wait for Christmas.)

My boyfriend made italian style pizza for dinner with asparagus as starter. (Did I say he loves cooking?)