Old becomes new!

When I was a child we had the prettiest little table that was a newspaper and a magazine stand as well. My Mother didn't remember how we got it but it's 50's style, made of rattan and had a beautiful green glass as the table part itself. When I moved away from home to my very first own appartment, I got to take it with me, and since then it's moved with me around until the last moving day five years ago the glass got broken. We placed the poor thing to the attic until a couple of weeks ago my Mother called me to say she'd found a similar table and thought I might be interested! This one was rattan as well, a little different, but from the same era, and the table part was wood instead of glass. I went to get the old one from the attic and took both of them to a special glazing shop where I went through different options for new glass to each one. And today I got a phone call that they were ready and collected them after work! They are so beautiful!! A new life for something that was all worn out and tired! These will make a perfect pair, we have now the prettiest individual little coffee tables! Or a tea table in my case! And the most fascinating thing is that the glazing shop is situated in the very same old building here in Töölö where I first moved! What a sweet coincidence!
Here they are, aren't they just adorable?!


The first two pictures are how they looked:

And here they are after the renewal!
I wanted the glasses to be different in colours, since the tables are a little different altogether. The design of the glass is the same with delicate little flowers, this kind of glass is typical in old furniture like cupboards and little doors and such, and it fits just perfectly in these as well!

Ice-skating!

Good evening!
Here's a few pictures from Yesterday's skating! We went to the Rautatientori ice rink, my very first time over there! It's been there for a few years already, I don't know why I haven't been there before. But better late than never, it was really nice, the evening sun was shining and we enjoyed ourselves a lot!

Once our feet were done we had some after-skate in the National Theatre's Lavaklubi in the basement. That's such a pretty and cool place! You can feel the theatre spirit in the old furniture, wall papers that introduce former leading ladies, and the old programs and playbills that cover the arches and pilars, I love it! They provide small theatre shows, music and readings, it's a really intimate place for small quality events, I've heard one gig there once, and am really glad that this kind of venue exists here. We made a toast for the birthday hero and sat for a while, what a nice day it was!

Now my eyes are on the new week ahead! It's going to be filled with one of the world's most beautiful music: Sergei Prokofjev's Romeo and Juliet. Oh so beautiful!!
But first a good night's sleep, sleep tight everyone!

A Sunny Saturday!

Oh, how a free day makes me happy!! And sunshine! It's beautiful and very bright outside, and I'm so glad to have taken care of some errands and see the blue sky!
Had my favourite sushi for lunch and am full of energy which is good because we're about to go skating with a bunch of friends! My dear friend has her birthday today and this is such a fun way to celebrate! Enjoy my dears the pretty weekend!

Having a break!

It's been a long day at work! I've been out for a walk, had my favourite Thai food for an early dinner, and drowned myself in luxury magazines over a cup of tea in the prettiest cafè! It's all good, I feel calm and glad!
I was also so glad to notice that there's one of our most successful mannequins of the moment, Suvi Koponen, on the cover of the French Vogue! That's great! Or more than that actually, it's fantastic!
Ah well, time to start preparing for the evening concert, it's been so beautiful outside today, and so bright! Usually at this hour it's all dark already but now the sun is still shining! You know what that means? Spring!!!!!

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!!

Mille Mozzarelle: The Perfect Sunday Brunch!

Today myself, husband, and three dear friends of ours headed down South to Punavuori for brunch! My friend knew this beautiful little place, and also that the word of their fabulous brunch had spread, so she made a reservation and off we went!
Oh my dears, this was the ultimate experience for a while!!
It's an Italian place, famous for its lunches and brunches, and they really put an emphasis on the ingredients being local and fresh, and that you could definitely tell!
We got delicious starters with cheese for vegeterians and Parma ham and salami for the rest, and different kinds of pastes, rucola, tomatoes, and some youghurt. The main course came on a plate with their own focaccia, more excellent cheeses, jams, fruit, a small salad..so good!! The coffees, delicious teas, juice and some Prosecco made us all lyrical, and as a dessert a heavenly tiramisu served in a glass was the cherry on top of the cake!!
And the service was excellent, such a wonderful start for a Sunday, mille grazie Mille Mozzarelle!!

If you haven't experienced it yet, hurry! But remember to make a reservation, it's a small place and we watched several parties who had to go elswhere because it was completely full. You can find it in Viiskulma, Pursimiehenkatu 7!

Portraits!

I promised to write about the photo exhibition we went the other day! I went with a dear, dear person close to my heart, who is an excellent photographer herself! The pictures were taken by one of the most promising young Finnish photographers today, Nelli Palomäki, and they're on display in Valokuvataiteen Museo in Kaapelitehdas, the Cable Factory.
The pictures are portraits of friends and unknown, really intensive and captivating moments in the lives of complete strangers to us. It's so fascinating. To create a story behind the eyes, try to guess wheter there's a tragedy or utmost happiness or anything in between. Eyes certainly are the mirror of our soul, no matter how big a cliché it may sound. Even the youngest children in these photos showed really strong emotions through their eyes. Some were defiant, some were really open and innocent, very pure somehow. I always thought portraits of older people are the most intreresting ones. You can see the life, the experience, wisdom, happiness, tiredness, everything we struggle with, the good and the bad, and truly it's the photographer itself who can reveal secrets to us, and in this case it worked with the youngest ones as well. And black&white pictures just add to the whole experience, they're so timeless. We enjoyed what we saw, I could've just staired at them forever!

Now it's Friday and I have a concert in the evening. My husband will come and listen which is so lovely! It's quite rare that we can attend each other's work since they're always in the evenings for the both of us, but this time it suits perfectly!
On my way back home I stopped by the cute new local Café here in Museokatu and enjoyed a lovely Marrakesh Mint Thé, mmm, heavenly!
Have a good start of the weekend my friends!!