Food tips!

Now when the Autumn is here, it's nice to make warm foods again from seasonal ingredients!

I notice a change in my habits: a salad might not be enough anymore, I need something stronger!

Here's a few easy things to do, try them!

First I must tell you I have found a new vegetable: parsnip!

I'm swept away by its' sweetness, it's really good! Just don't know why now, why not earlier?? 

Well, better now than never!

Here's what I do:

I chop parsnip, carrots and sweet potatoes, put them in the oven trey, add olive oil, rosemary & thyme, nuts & almonds, and blue cheese or feta, and put the trey to the oven for 30 min., 200 degrees Celcius.

They come out perfect just like that and the flavours are so good!

It can be a side dish for something, or just a dish of its own! Easy!

Then my favourite sandwich of the moment!

I mix a John West-tuna with lime & pepper with mustard mayo, add some chive and put it on rye bread, and add some avocados on top, yummy!

I like Real-bread the most but others work fine too! 

If you cut the bread in four, you get perfect cocktail-treats!

Next a pie I made Yesterday:

broccoli, cherry tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, goat's cheese and red pesto!

On top I poured sour cream mixed with an egg, and voilà!

200 degrees, 30 min.

And finally we need some dessert too, right?!

A sweet pie filled with apple slices, rhubarb, syrup, cinnamon and flaked oats...mmmmh!

I love it with vanilla ice cream! 

200 degrees, 30 min.

This is how we survive the new season! Hooray!!

Past few days!

Inspite the rain there's been a lot to be glad about this week!

First of all, we went out with the girls Wednesday night!

It was a celebration of a birthday and it took place in Farang!

Oooh, what a journey of flavours, atmosphere and joy we had!

This was my first time there, and definitely not the last! 

It was incredible!! Beyond words really, I'd feel like an idiot if I even tried to start analyzing the food. Such rich and fresh tastes, so many different ones at the same time, it was amazing. We took the tasting menu which was clever, that way we got a vast range of what they had to offer. Have to go back! Soon!

Before the reservation we enjoyed the premiere of the latest Finnish film Kekkonen tulee!, skipped the official party and had some beautiful Prosecco under a tree in Kaisaniemi Park instead, then continued to what they say is the best restaurant in Helsinki today!

It was dreamy, it really was, thank you sisters!!!

And here's the happy girl giving her new bag a walk Yesterday...!!

1st of May!!

Whoa!
I'd say we started the new season good!!
After the traditional Vappu-concert it was time to eat and joy!
Oh, the food was excellent! We had Vietnamese summer rolls, fish eggs with smetana & onions, cheeses, green salad, potato salad, plus the grill was singing for the meat eaters, so many delicious flavors!! My friends are the best cooks ever!
We toasted with Champagne and chatted like there was no tomorrow, it's been a while since we all got together! Friendship is the most beautiful thing in the world, and I'm so grateful of ours! Heart is overwhelmed!!

The sun went down and we still sat outside having heavenly rhum hot chocolate to keep us warm!
It was fantastic!!


All set for the concert!

I wore this beautiful ring that I've gotten from my dear friend! Isn't it pretty!

Time to eat!!

Just love the guys, they know how to think about everything!

Hey Mr. DJ!!

Time for a toast!

...and other kinds of bubbles too!

Flea Market & lunch at home!

I'm enjoying some free days at home! Cleaned everything up and got some fresh flowers Yesterday, heavenly! There's definitely some good Feng Shui going on when everything is on the right place! Clean up your home and you clean up your head as well!

I had a very spontanious morning today: I talked with my sister on the phone, and an hour later we were in the car with our Mother, on our way to Kaivarin Kanuuna! This is the ultimate flea Market of Southern Helsinki! Really good stuff, you can imagine the wardrobes of the ladies of Kaivopuisto, it's good! My sister found a jacket and a scarf that were screaming her name, plus shoes from Minna Parikka! And now I mean literally!
Miss Parikka herself was unloading huge bags filled with shoes, dresses and bags up for sale! She's gorgeous! We talked for a while, I was wearing my orange shoes from her spring/summer 2012 line, which she of course spotted immediately! It was so funny! We shared a laugh and I thanked her for being an inspiration and we wished each other well!
But really, she had loads of used shoes, all size 39, so hurry up, I'm guessing they won't be there for long!

Here's the address: Kaivarin Kanuuna, Merikatu 3

Now I'm about to leave for an appointment at hairdresser's, wohoo!
It's about time!
See you later!

A Tricolore-salad for lunch! Tomatoes, mozzarella and avocados, plus some Spanish strawberries which I couldn't resist! Yummy!

Since I thought everything was so pretty over here after the clean-up, I took a few snapshots!

And here are my orange devils!
Hooray for spring, there's no turning back now!!

Getting inspired!

Those cupcakes I saw Yesterday didn't leave me alone, so some baking took place this morning!
I was improvising a little because the shops were still closed, but the outcome was quite good after all! I went for chocolate, and isntead of regular cacao I used mint chocolate powder..! I added 70% dark choclate by Lindt (which I always have in stock!) to the dough, and it was amazing! Then mixed some creamy cheese and powdered sugar, turned it pink with food colouring and added sprinkles on top! We had a real big breakfast with dessert too, it was lovely!

Later I drove to my dear friend's place, packed a few cupcakes for the whole family, and we had some delicious cups of Kusmi tea!
My friend looks so beautiful, she's pregnant with her third child, and that glow on her is just amazing! She's definitely showing already, and I'm so happy for her, for all of them!
I hugged my sweet Goddaughter good and drove back home.

Let's continue having a nice and cozy Sunday!

Good energy!

Today began like a hurricane! I'd barely recovered from last week, the weekend just flew by, and now it's Monday again! The unexpected snow did not make things easier either! What's with that, seriously?! We're almost half way through April! Well, it's bound to melt soon, let's just watch and wait.

The weekend was full of nice things: sunshine, sushi, visiting Grandmother, dinner at our friend's place, and some good sleep!
At the moment I'm just lying on the sofa with a cup of tea, quite exhausted from today, which turned out to be long and a little challenging, but I treated myself with such a delicious salad and am now feeling better and relaxed.
Working hard does pay off: it makes you feel good about yourself, especially when things go smoothly at the end, and it's nice to notice that you learn new things, difficult ones too. Getting out of the comfort zone is good every now and then!

As an energy boost, being Monday and all, I just have to tell you about my favourite fruit of the moment: Jaffa Shamouti Oranges! They're the best oranges ever! So juicy, just perfect! Call me crazy but every spring I wait for these to arrive in the shops, they come a little later than the ordinary oranges, and our fridge is loaded at the moment! They've been around for some time now, and at least the ones I've had, have been sooo good! Try them, a lot of vitamins up for grabs!!

Let's start this week together and make it a good one! Hugs and thoughts my dears!!

I just love to mix chévre chaud with fruit, they're a perfect pair! Here with banana and red grapes!

And here are the little pieces of sun! My absolute favourites!

A romantic dinner at Muru!

Yesterday my sweet husband took me out for a wonderful dinner! I got to choose the place which was such a beautiful little restaurant in Fredrikinkatu, Restaurant Muru! I love the name! It fits so well for a romantic evening! But it sure is popular! It was pure luck that we managed to get a table due to a cancellation, otherwise the weekends were full until May!! Good for them, and truly it is no wonder, the food was just heavenly!!

We took the 4-course menu with delicious cheeses after the main course, oooh, beautiful!! Husband had helmikana (guinea fowl) and kateenkorva (thymus), and I had made (burbot). The starter was an artichoke soup with white fish, so smooth I couldn't believe it! And the desserts were incredible, chocolate fondant and pot de créme... The whole evening was a real treat and everything worked beautifully: the atmosphere, the lighting, candles, service, the food, and us of course! I love evenings like these, thank you my love!!

Leftovers!

I read an article from the newspaper the other day about how much perfectly good food we throw away. The amount was overwhelming. Many foods are still perfectly good after their due date, you can make bread from old porridge, pies from almost anything etc. The woman who wrote the column told how she learned to cook food for her family 30 years ago and on the side learned to use the leftovers as well, that it's all about planning and just a little bit of some extra thought to the whole issue.
I started thinking about our food policy and got completely red in the face. Today's world is so fast, we are used to getting a lot of things very quickly, considering every aspect of life really, things have been made quite ready for us poor helpless people always on the go. A big part in all this belongs to even the smallest of shops which are open almost around the clock: it's very easy to get something fresh. There are 3 food shops within 500 meters from our front door, so planning does not happen too much around our food table. We act quite spontaneously, and that leads to buying too much food. We put a lot of food in the freezer, but I must admit that food does go to waste as well.
So Yesterday, once I got back from work, hungry of course, instead of rushing to buy something, I took a good look at what actually was in the fridge. Among other things there was a big chunky piece of goat's cheese, a few days past its best-before-date and perfectly good I thought, half a jar of tomato pasta sauce, lots of cherry tomatoes ( I love those!), and sun dried tomatoes. So I just put the pasta water on the way and started frying the tomatoes and the sauce, and in 15 minutes I had such a delicious portion on the plate with the goat's cheese on top! It made about 4 servings so we've covered today too!
It's good to wake ourselves up concerning our habits, whatever they may be. And there must be a little bit of that extra time the columnist wrote about to plan a little bit more, no matter how busy we are! Have a good start of the week my friends!!

A Day-Off!

If possible, there's no sweeter thing than to allow yourself a day-off in the middle of the week! I started early, really early, I was in the swimming pool at 7.55, swam a kilometer and enjoyed the sauna! Such a heavenly start for the day! Sweet husband was still asleep when I came back, so I made a good cup of coffee for him!
We left together, I walked to the center to get us tickets to a movie tomorrow night! We're going to see The Master. We both are huge fans of Philip Seymour Hoffman, and it's supposed to be a good film. A movie night coming up, yay!

I did some shopping, had sushi for lunch in the sweet Sushi Bar in the corner of Annankatu and Uudenmaankatu, and still continued my way to Korkeavuorenkatu and Lungi, where I bumped into an old friend!

Matchy matchy! My See by Chloé-bag and the Melissa's make a perfect match!

Can you guess which shoe shop I'm in?? This is their brand new boutique in Aleksi, they gave up the beautiful space in Bulevardi and moved here! Very nice!

After lunch-walk in Punavuori! Always keep your eyes open and you'll spot pretty things!

And yes! The best shoe shop in town!! I'll show you the inside of this bag later, bye for now dears!