Sophie La Girafe!

It is absolutely necessary to make a post in honour for this cute little creature: Sophie the Giraffe! I fell for this 50-year-old French toy completely once I'd seen it in the hands of a small boy in a café a few weeks ago! This boy let his father read the paper and have breakfast just like that, while he was playing and chewing and squeaking the giraffe! It was the cutest thing!
I found out that Sophie is a quite a newcomer here in Finland and is highly appreciated all over the world because of its 100% natural rubber. This is important nowadays when you obviously don't always get what you thought you were getting, at least food-wise. But Sophie, being a chewy toy, is safe, very cute and very suitable for small children who are teething! It looks so friendly and is easy to hold, and it makes a squeaking sound which amuses the child tremendously!
We made an experiment with my dear, dear friend when I went to visit her and the baby girl, and it was a jackpot! She liked Sophie a lot and so did we! Oh, it surely was the cutest thing for a while! Thank you dear ones for the loveliest evening!!

And here, with no further ado, Sophie La Girafe:

Leena Luostarinen: The Tiger Drawer

So Yesterday myself and my Mother went to see the exhibition in Taidehalli! Again big paintings filled with colours, thick lines, amazing atmospheres! Leena Luostarinen is a Finnish painter, born in 1949, who's famous for her beautiful and strong paintings of tigers, sphinxes and flowers. She's been painting for 4 decades and this exhibition shows her works throughout her career. They are truly amazing, we saw colours and shades we'd never seen before, and the animals were just so breathtaking! The space, Taidehalli itself, is also so beautiful, we both really enjoyed what we saw.
It's fascinating to think one's creative past and present, where the power comes from, how we human beings really are just something in between the creative force and the actual deed which makes everything come out. I've never understood people who make such a big number of themselves. After all we're just servants in front of something greater and I think one should face that with this certain kind of humbleness and honour.
I loved the paintings, I think maybe I have to see them once more! It's open until 3.3., go feed your souls, my friends!

Afterwards we were feeling so good we thought the situation required a glass of champagne! We walked over to One Tiny Champagne Bar in the corner of Stockmann, oh how lovely..! Thank you my darling Mother, love you!

My sweet Melissa shoes!

For crying out loud I was so wrong about the weather! It was not snow, it was sleet! Sidewalks are full of nasty, wet snow and more keeps coming down! I'm afraid I completely ruined my beautiful leather boots, have to give them some cpr once they dry out.
But no worries! My shoe collection holds inside just the perfect pair for rainy circumstances: The Melissa's! Oh these are just heavenly! And practical! Now there's a match you don't come across so often!
These shoes are so much fun, they're made of eco-friendly plastic, and this you won't believe, they smell too! A fruity flavour which takes me back to elementary school! They have a range of top designers who have designed pairs for them, Vivienne Westwood and Jean-Paul Gaultier just to name a few, and they come in all possible models: flats, heals, with cherries, hearts, and in such delicious colours too! I love mine, and am glad to get to wear them in the middle of the winter! Plus they're purple, wohoo!
Now I'll just hop in them and go to see my dear friend and her sweet baby! Bye!!

Recipes!

A happy Sunday is happening over here right as we speak! It's snowing, again, but just slowly and silently, which is ok and pretty to watch!
I'm going to meet my sweet Mother in a bit, we'll go and see an exhibition in Taidehalli, Leena Luostarinen! I know this will be a wonderful experience, I'll tell you about it later.

But now I want to share two recipes I found going through my cook books! They were super easy to make and tasted really good too! This is something I appreciate during a week full of work, recipes that don't require any tricks or rare ingredients. Good basic food that'll keep your stomach happy and healthy!

First the fish:

Even though my favourite fish is salmon, I like to explore. There's plenty of excellent fish here, and if something special is going on we put some emphasis on the issue. Now I took the real easy way out and took some pakaste seiti out of our freezer. It's not all bad, it's low-fat and works beautifully with this recipe!

2 dl coconut cream
2 tbl spoons red curry paste

Mix these together and put to a dish with the melted fish fillets. You might want to dry the fillets a little after they've melted, they contain a lot of water. Put some leek and fresh red chili pepper on top and to the oven of 200 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Then comes the zucchini and goat's cheese, delicious!

approximately 700g zucchini
200g goat's cheese
2 tbl spoons green pesto
grated parmesan
black pepper from the pepper mill

Slice the zucchini and goat's cheese and spread the pesto over the zucchini slices. Put to a dish and add the grated parmesan and black pepper. Oven 200 degrees, 20-25 minutes!

Premiere in Ryhmäteatteri!

Hellohello!

Thursday evening we all gathered together for our dear friend who had the premiere of her new show in Ryhmäteatteri. Oh the amount of laughing and utmost talent!! My friend Anna laughed beside me so much she had tears in her eyes, non-stop!
We are talking about comedy, in this case with dark shades, which is the most difficult genre in the field of theatre. And dear Ulla holds the whole audience in her fingers, alone, for 1h 45min so that the audience is crying and laughing at the same time. Just one person, no sidekicks, no music, no videoshots, no nothing. Just her, a rocking chair, lamp and a cuckoo clock. I think this is truly amazing. Not so many people can do this, believe me!
They make an excellent team, Ulla and her director, Raila Allu Leppäkoski. Together they write these stories, small observations about us human beings and make us laugh at our own behaviour, which is rather odd most of the time! It's brilliant, it's verbal fireworks, and she's a diamond. She recieved a standing ovation at the end, it was amazing!

Go and see the show, what a perfect timing too here in the midst of winter darkness! This will make you laugh good!
Ryhmäteatteri's Pengerkatu stage. Hooray!!

Café Villipuutarha!

Oh my dear friends, I'm about to introduce you to a true pearl in our sweet city of Helsinki! We finished early at work today so I thought to have a good cup of tea before continuing my Wednesday! This little café is beyond all dreams, such a beautiful, fairy tale garden with excellent selection of teas, coffees, sweet treats and lunch too! I'm thinking if I ever was to put together a café, this would be close to my imagination! It's also a shop with Odd Molly clothes and such but everything goes so well with the interior, it doesn't seem like a shop. Only when you start focusing your eyes you spot things that are for sale. I love it, love, love, love it! Soothing old jazz adds to the feeling of a perfect getaway in the middle of the week and the snowy, rainy weather!

It's located in the corner of Kaarlenkatu and Helsinginkatu in Kallio, pay a visit and you'll leave with a big smile on your face!

Running errands

I made it back home from the snow! It was quite ok for a while but now it's gotten all stormy again. I took care of many things: returned books to library, chased and found a spare part to our guitar which I accidentally knocked over Yesterday while hoovering, got something pretty to my sweet friend's baby, and met with my little friend over some heavenly cups of tea! Such a nice and warm moment we had, thank you sweetie!

In the middle of my tasks before my tea date I popped in Tiedekulma in Aleksi to have a quick bite to eat. This is Helsinki University's corner with a lovely Ihana Kahvila and little bookshop too. Nice place, I like the feeling of universities, the laid back spirit and people. I bought a few post cards, cool Helsinki pictures, I think I need to post them here! Not any average tourist cards, definitely!

Here's a few pics, also of the statue of our national poet J. L. Runeberg, who's birthday is today! We celebrate it with our flags and eating his signature cake, yummy! He wrote the poem which later became the words of our national anthem.
Have a cozy evening, everyone!