That vegan thing .

These are no steaks. 

They are not even meat. 

Yes, you guys got the right Blog. 

Yes, it is me, Fimbulmyrk. ☺️ 

The magic troll, in her usual awesomeness, had made some Seitan. Now do not get me wrong. I have some really big questions concerning veganistic mindsets, as in contrast to vegan food. Some years ago the WHO demanded to substitute every food with surrogates, slowly removing vitamins from daily victualies, and that, while understandeable in the context of ever decreasing Vitamin content in plant-based food, together with claims by the then Monsanto Corporation, now a part of the German Bayer Corporation to dominate the food market with genetically manipulated crop seeds and thusly reaching World dominion (no joke) made me a bit suspicious of buying surrogates, so to say. 

Now do not get me wrong again. I do not buy into any world conspiracy theories and please do not quote old uncle Fimbulmyrk. It is highly probable, but I really have no evidence either. I am deeply suspicious of any hooray about veganism is all. But I am deeply suspicious of any conspiracy theory as well. 

The soy and surrogates food industry takes up nearly as much space as the breeding of lifestock. If you want to do good (and have a tasty meal), buy locally, support small farming businesses, period. 

Anyway, for the aforementioned reasons I always was a bit reluctant to try surrogates. Also, I did not quite get the point. If I do not want to eat meat, I simply do not eat meat. ☺️ 

Now the magic troll, who is an absolute food conoisseur, and, truth be told, so little of a vegan that she gets the golden Patty of honour for veganists on Facebook unfriending her 😁❤️😈, made vegan food and liked it. 

Truth be told, we both are fascinated with all things alchemy, and that Seitan stuff triggered our fondness hard. Also it is dead simple to make, can be made with few and organic ingredients and is rich with protein. 

It is not suited for people with an adversion to Gluten. Because that is what it is. 

You make a stiff dough of wheat meal and water and knead it hard for some 20 minutes. Then cover with cold water, let it rest (I left mine over night) and then, by adding more meal, add some stiffness back to it and then knead out all the starch. Well, you might not get out all of it, but it does not matter. Cook it for some twenty minutes, then press out most of the water with a cheese cloth or something like that. After that, tear it into strings and knead the strings onto each other several times. It will then very much resemble chicken meat. 

Since I am not a vegan, I put smoked sprout heads and tails into strong vinegar together with salt for a fast Garum which, when used sparsely, adds a nice Umami flavour. I also experimented with fried tomato concentrate with fried wild garlic, roasted nettle seeds. Knead it well in. 

 I ate it with fried nettle leaves, fresh wild garlic and tomatoes, fried walnuts with fried nettle, lesser celandine, wild garlic and ground elder. You can also use chicken spice to make it more chicken - like. Actually it can taste very much like chicken with only a tiny hint of meal flavour. The more Umami you add, the less distinguisheable it becomes from real meat.

For me, it is poverty food, because those steaks cost me from 0.3-0.8€for a whole meal. I also want to try and make "hunger pills" from Seitan.

Actually, I will not stop eating meat, of course. But good vegan food is indeed possible. ☺️ ❤️ 

Foraging bimble-´shrooms are ´shrooming!

 Last week I went on an after work foraging bimble. Above is St. John´s wort (Hypericum, in German: Johanniskraut). Good against depression, antiseptic and simply great to look at. I make St. John´s oil from it.

German camomile (Matriacaria chamomilla, in German: Kamille) for tea and baths. Antiseptic, against diarrhoea, flu, cramps, for wounds and rashes. You can make tea, baths, and body oils, balms and lotions from it.

You might be vaguely familiar with this place, but this time I thought I´d post a picture from another perspective for a change. The lake;-).

A bit of scenery;-)...

....and a red cap, yum.

Grazing through the underbrush;-) strawberries for dessert.

Simple, but a great afternoon I had and came back with a loot of herbs and ´shrooms.

A long and beautiful Saturday

 Last Saturday was a day of meeting many people. Around lunchtime I met with Gesa, Mark, Erik and Per from "Frija Fresenia", some of my oldest (and youngest;-))friends, who now live in the North of Germany and whom I only get to see ever so frequently. I once worked together with Mark, who is a mason. Hopefully he will provide me with some pics and articles about his trade, for he is working in restoration of ancient Friesian stone houses and uses many traditional techniques of the trade. And Gesa is a very close friend of mine for about 19 years now, and this licce sister of mine;-) and I went through many ups and downs. I wish her all the best, for there are some downs in her life currently. But as they have a very great family and a big love for each other, I think they can manjage anything, and it gives me hope for my own life also.  

This is Mark, and little Erik, the berzerk;-) who missed his little girlfriend and was not a bit amused that the adults talked and talked and drank coffee and did not drive him to his little girl;-), but normally, he is quite a nice boy, well - mannered and well -bred;-)...
Little Per, however, had little interest in the situation beyond the good food provided by his mummy-yummy!;-) We talked a lot, and made mischief with the kids, and it was a great meeting we shall repeat soon.

Then it was off to Kai´s place to meet with that mad bastard;-). Of course, he had parts of him broken again. He always has something broken when we meet. This time it wasn´t the neck, but a big brute stepped on his chest when playing basketball in school - so some broken ribs and a spinal trauma this time. I might sound rude, but I wish him only the best, and hope, he will be well soon. I have to admire the way he takes it... that bastard;-) seems to feel no pain. Anybody else would lie around in bed. Kai showed me his new belt grinder... mind you, he even bought it this time!  

 This is his new dirt forge he made from an old steel box. Fire cement and a pipe tuyère setup. He broke his toes, too, when it smashed down from the table, I forgot to mention, but he did not limp any. Strange guy.

 The opening of the forge...

 And on the other side another door to push loooong steel projects through... I look forward to see a sword by him...

 Of course, the exit ;-) can be sealed with this firebrick he cut to size.

 The pipe tuyère.

 And this is his possibles pouch he stitched to keep his leather working tools in.

 Then Kai, Marie and myself went to Levin´s place (Weideland.blogspot.com). Levin is a poet and likes Irish music a lot. We did some cooking together and had a ball. Quizzical question: What kind of music mind these weirdos like best...?*ggg*








I like cooking... you can use your knives and still be socially accepted;-). Nessie did a good job on the salmon filets;-).

Oh, what might that be....;-)

Physiognomics for newbies: What does a rectangular shape of ... erm... every body feature indicate;-)....??? Kai taking photos. I know this perspective is silly;-) but I like this kind of jokes...

 Marie sampling away all the cheese;-).

 Waiting for more cheese;-).

 It was pasta with salmon, tomatoes and a whole load of cheese and fresh basil... yumyum!

 Mind you, we even had a beer!*ggg*

 ...or two...*ggg*

 ...or three...*ggg*

 Levin presenting the food.. thanks again for the invitation, bro! Have to do that more frequently...;-).

 More food, more beer*ggg*.

 This is a drumstick Kai made for Levin. Oak.

 And what for? Levin played us the bodhrán a bit.

Talking shit (in German) and playing that drum...

we have to do a session soon!

 When I finally got home, I was full of good food and I really enjoyed this day. Good people, good friends, good food, and a beer or two or three... perfect.

Quince candy - done!

My quince candy is ready to eat... just sprinkled it with some more sugar and flipped it over two times a day.

And half of it is already gone... hoggish....hog?*g that I am...:-)