One of my New Year’s resolutions was to eat a proper breakfast every day rather than just swallow two or three cups of coffee and so far I have been successful. My secret: Sunday evening baking.

Each Sunday, I make buns – cardamom buns or cardamom buns with raisins – and freeze them. Then every morning I briefly put a bun or two in the microwave and eat the buns with slices of cheese. I drink some sort of fruit juice and cups of coffee.

This may not seem much but for someone who has difficulties facing food in the morning this is quite a step.

For more inspirations, you can read this old post or try Leora’s Best Bowl of Oatmeal.

I made this simple dish on Friday wanting something light in anticipation of a heavier Shabbat dinner.

Ingredients (per person):
- 2 small leeks
- 1 parsnip
- coarse sea salt
- olive oil

Wash and peel the parsnip. Carefully wash the leeks. Slice all vegetables coarsely. Steam for five and a half minutes for one portion, seven if you have doubled the ingredients. Once the vegetables are cooked, wait for a couple of minutes. Drizzle with olive oil and season to taste.

Nice on its own but also with baked salmon.

If you enjoyed last year’s post about my students’ heroes, you may wish to see who their heroes are this year.

- Coluche, he was a French comedian and actor. He is remembered for the Restos du Cœur – the charitable organisation he created – whose main activity is to distribute food packages and hot meals to the needy. (5 students)
- Martin Luther King Jr (4 students)
- Christopher Columbus
- Albert Einstein
- Michael Jackson
- Kelly Slater
- Two soccer players: Zinedine Zidane and Lionel Messi
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
- Barack Obama
- Neil Armstrong
- Frederik de Klerk
- Winston Churchill
- Nelson Mandela
- Charlie Chaplin
- Lady Diana
- Rosa Parks
- Emmeline Pankhurst

- Have a goal. You feel you want to start learning a language or improve one you learned but fear you can’t remember. However if you just fancy learning a language without really knowing why, your enthusiasm will probably soon disappear. Learning a language is not very hard but it takes a little time.There are all sorts of good reasons to learn a language: a trip abroad, a book you want to read or a series you want to watch in the original version, family history you want to investigate… What is yours?

- Find your own method. Remember how the way you revised for exams was different from the way your friends did, this still holds true. Try to imagine yourself working – with a book, on the computer, with your mp3 player – and find a method that suits your style.

- Search the Internet. Whatever the method you have settled on, do some research before you spend your money. You will need to know the strong and weak points of the method you have set your eyes upon. Read what other people think of a language book on online bookstores and search inside the book if you can, visit the local university bookseller and talk with the shop assistants, type key words and see what people have written on forums. Some websites have a few free lessons before you are asked to pay, try them.

- Take advantage of free language learning tools. There are lots of them on the web. They may not all be great but they are free. Here is a short list.

- Set a specific time for your lessons. Don’t think you will work when you have the time, you may never start. Ten minutes a day is easier to find and much more effective than an hour once a week. Set this time for yourself and keep to it.

- Get a dictionary. Whether you prefer a paper version or a smart phone app (some are quite cheap and good), you need a dictionary. You may also find it useful to have a small notepad where you write the vocabulary you acquire and which you can use as a revising tool every now and again.

- Vary the sources. Once you start making progress, try to broaden the way you learn by incorporating authentic documents in your learning process. Follow a recipe in your target language, watch movies, read articles online, play vocabulary games…

Good luck!

This photo was taken last september.

For more watery photos, visit Watery Wednesday.

Last January I wrote about dieting and the benefits of healthy habits. However, while I still strongly believe that the Japanese diet has a lot to offer, I have also found that it is difficult to stick to it as there are so many ingredients we cannot find here.

Because of the similarities in climate between Southern Scandinavia and Northern France, which greatly influence available produce, I have come to the conclusion that the so-called Nordic Diet works best for me.

Using local products has been greatly helped by the CSA basket I get every week and this diet does not mean you have to relinquish all the recipes and tastes you like. Thus it is quite possible to make a curry with vegetables that are grown locally.

I hope you enjoy this following list, which more or less reflects what I make and eat regularly.

Nordic Recipes:
- My Latest Favorite (root vegetable gratin)
- Root Parsley Recipes
- Vegetarian Pyttipanna
- Swedish Fish Soup
- Rye Soda Bread
- Rye Focaccia
- Cardamom Buns

Mediterranean Recipes:
- Ribollita con Ceci
- Panzanella (Italian Summer Salad)
- Tian – Vegetable Gratin

Asian-Inspired Recipes:
- Thai Fishcakes
- Butternut Squash and Chard Red Curry
- Tofu Burgers
- Salmon in Foil
- Ramen Stir-Fry

More on the New Nordic Cuisine:
- Claus Meyer’s website
- I am a chef therefore I cook, a lecture by Trine Hahnemann

I was privileged to receive a review copy of Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz‘s first book, Jewish Ethics and Social Justice. Yanklowitz is the Founder and President of Uri L’Tzedek, the first and only Orthodox Jewish social justice organization and a columnist for a number of Jewish publications.

Jewish Ethics and Social Justice is an anthology of articles. They were written over the past few years and many have been published in various publications such as The Jewish Press ,The Jewish Week, Conversations, HaAretz, etc.

All the essays are deeply rooted in our every day life. Rabbi Yanklowitz writes about a variety of subjects such as child labor, the role of women in Judaism and in the world, vegetarianism, globalization, the Davos World Forum, life in prison, hotel workers, and so much more. He starts by presenting a topic, then explains what the Jewish tradition has to say about it – drawing from the Talmudic sages, Medieval commentators as well as contemporary Jewish leaders. He then brings his own conclusions on the topic and shows immediate and concrete implications in our post-modern society.

In addition, Rabbi Yanklowitz encourages us to act as a community and constantly reminds us of our collective responsibility as a unique people, making sense of our presence in the diaspora as “light to the nations”. Thus, he never shuns disturbing topics such as the Rubashkin scandal or money laundering among the Orthodox community.

Obviously, what appeals to me may not appeal to other people, but I found that most essays are thought-provoking, engaging and easy to read.

The 54-essay format is also a great idea because s it means the book could be used by reading groups – as well as individuals – on a weekly basis following the Torah reading cycle.

Those who are familiar with this blog know how important it is to me to stress the relevance of Judaism in our time and within our environment, what Rabbi Yanklowitz calls “Street Torah”. This is exactly what this book does. It challenges the reader and won’t leave you indifferent.

- The scenery: the landscapes are magnificent. You are never far from a lake or the sea and there are lots of forests.

- The cities: Stockholm and Göteborg are two large cities with plenty to offer. There are numerous interesting museums and art galleries, synagogues with regular services, canals, lots of shops and restaurants. With under one million inhabitants for Stockholm and half a million for Göteborg, they have a reasonable size that makes them very pleasant to visit.

- The food: the Swedes eat a lot of fish and are very careful to serve both fresh and tasty food. The breads and desserts are quite nice too.

- Languages: 99% of the population speak English. If you are more adventurous, mastering a few basic Swedish words and expressions is not too hard. In addition, Swedish grammar is not very different from English grammar.

- Swedish literature: I am a fan of Swedish crime fiction and enjoy crime stories when I need to escape. I recently discovered Johan Theorin‘s novel Echoes from the Dead and strongly recommend it for its atmosphere.

- Music: Swedish pop music has not acquired international fame but some groups and individuals are quite pleasant to listen to. If you have a little time try Kent, Jonathan Johansson or Håkan Hellström.

- Movies: you all know about Ingrid Bergman but the Swedish film industry is still strong and alive. The Millenieum movies are worth watching, so are the Kurt Wallender series or the films by Lukas Moodysson.

- The welfare system: low unemployment, no beggars in the streets, free lunches at school for all, 480 days of paid parental leave for each child, daycare, etc. This is better explained by Gabriel Stein in The 10 best reasons to move to Sweden or My truth about tax in Sweden.

- Health and the environment: much before it was fashionable, and necessary, the Swedes have cared for their health and their environment. Recycling, walking, cycling or public transport (rather than driving), affordable organic produce, waste management, homemade food, nature protection are part and parcel of their every day life.

- Last but not least, the Swedes: the Swedes are usually welcoming, unassuming and kind. They are very proud when you take an interest in their small country and are more than happy to share the things they enjoy.

10 Reasons to Visit Italy

10 Things I Love About Belgium

Ingredients (serves about 4 people):
I red onion, thinly sliced
2-3 garlic cloves
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 red pepper
1 parsley root, peeled and cubed
1 carrot, peeled and cubed
1 tbsp of red curry paste
lime juice
coconut milk
1/2 can of chickpeas

Gently sauté the onion, then add the garlic. Add the vegetables after about 5 minutes. Cover with water and add the curry paste. Cover and simmer for half an hour.

When the vegetables are cooked, purée the soup until it is very smooth. Add some coconut milk to taste, 2 or 3 tablespoons of lime juice and the chickpeas. Simmer gently for another 5 minutes. Season to taste – I added a splash of soya sauce – and serve.

Option: sprinkle with chopped cilantro just before serving.

I was quite awed last year about having a trainee for a full year – I needn’t have been: my trainee was competent, conscientious and also very pleasant.

When September came this year, I was confident that I would probably have a similar experience and be responsible for a youngster who was eager to learn and share teaching enthusiasms and doubts. I didn’t worry – I should have!

This year my trainee is 56. When he was younger he had no desire to teach and he went to college to study economics and management. Later he specialized in IT and worked in this sector for over a decade.

At some point in his professional life, he decided to switch to teaching and because he had lived in Britain for a number of years, teaching English must have looked like a good idea. Like all potential teachers in France, he took, and passed, the very difficult exam that allows candidates to become qualified teachers – provided their training is a success.

Unfortunately the last part did not happen and he is now repeating his training period, with me as his tutor. His weakest point is class management. This man shuns conflicts and thus implicitly allows the students to test his limits. Therefore the noise level in his classes often reaches an intolerable level as the students are busy talking rather than working.

Advising trainees on class management is far from easy. The way you manage a class has to do with who you are as a person. What works for me – apart from common sense – might not work as well for another teacher. In addition my task is all the harder as this person is older than me and not always ready to acknowledge his failings and shortcomings. It does not help that he is also not very brave and will use the same lessons and tests with very different classes.

Because of this reluctance, each of my visits is followed by a short exchange and then an email where I try and clarify what went well, what went wrong and how he could improve. So far however I have seen very little change and I am not sure how I can help him in a positive and efficient way.