About Friendship and Cookbooks tammikuu 28, 2007

Helsinki -9 degrees Celsius, sunny.
Sunrise 8:45 am, sunset 4:22 pm.

Beautiful, beautiful winter. I’m so happy that we are having such a nice weather, especially now that one of my dearest friends, Linda is coming back to Finland. Linda has been in India, Mysore last three months. She has been keeping a blog, so we have been able to follow her trip. Even though her journey has been amazing, I can’t help feeling very happy of getting her back! Selfish human being that I am.

I do believe that the friends are one of the most important things we can ever have. And I mean now those true friends that follow you through your whole life. Those are the people you can tell your sorrows and share your happy moments with. When having a true friend, distance doesn’t really play a part in your friendship, although it’s wonderful to have your friends close.

Tuomo has happily returned from his trip to Cannes. And of course I was exited to see what he brought me for a present! I don’t know if it’s a normal practise elsewhere, but in Finland it’s usual to bring some presents from abroad to your closest friends or family. This time Tuomo brought me a wonderful cookbook called The French Kitchen, A Cookbook. Book has very interesting French recipes. I especially liked how they had sorted the different courses. They had for example: Salads, Soups and Savouries, Fish, Desserts and CHOCOLATE! Who else than a French could have their own category for chocolate?!?

Other funny thing about this cookbook was that many dishes were described as followed:
“This dish is the ultimate fast food.”
Then when you continue reading, it’s said:
“Preparation: 15 minutes, plus 2 hours’ standing time for the batter. Cooking: 1 hour.”
I find this kind of description very funny, and once again very French!

I’m quite enthusiastic cook and I really like cookbooks. The best cookbooks has great usable recipes and beautiful visual appearence. Cookbooks are something nice to read even if you are not going to cook anything. I get many ideas from these recipes just by reading them. And the other good thing about reading cookbooks beforehand is that when you really want to make something special, you can easily find a suitable recipe.

Unveiling the Christmas present mystery tammikuu 22, 2007

Helsinki -6 degrees Celsius, partly cloudy.
Sunrise 8:58 am, sunset 4:07 pm.

I was pointed out that I never unveiled what I gave for Christmas present to Tuomo. So I thought I should tell you what it was. It wasn’t anything really exciting or huge, but it was something that he really needed.

As you know Tuomo moved to the new apartment in the beginning of the last month. In there is a so called loft bed, and the problem is that the bed is 120 cm wide. This is the problem because he doesn’t have any sheets that would be wide enough for the bed. Another problem is that the bed is still so low that you can see to it from the living room, and as those who ever have had a loft bed knows, it’s not the easiest bed to make. So counterpane with this bed wouldn’t work.

So now we have a problem with the bed and a boy who suddenly has developed a serious interest for furnishing his home. Even thought Tuomo is interested of furnishing he isn’t the most enthusiastic shopper, at least when it comes to linens and such a things. All this brainwork together gave me only one option (even if it sounded a little bit dull), give him some linens for a Christmas present!

I wanted to buy him something which would be nice looking and suit to the other furnishings. I ended up choosing Marimekko’s Pippuri- linens and some matching sheet (in colour purple).

The surprise party tammikuu 21, 2007

Helsinki -5 degrees Celsius, light snow.
Sunrise 9:00 am, sunset 4:04 pm.

Last Friday I organized a surprise party for Tuomo. Last Monday Tuomo established a company called Black Belt Arts. It’s a company offering consultation in Music, Culture, and Media Business. Of course his doing lots of other things as well, but this was description of the main line of business. I think it’s very admirable to establish a business in the age of 24, so I decided it’s something worth of celebrating for.

I agreed with Markus and Ilkka (couple of Tuomo’s closest friends) that we are going to go out for a dinner and then maybe for few beers. I also lured one of our good friends, Hannu to come with us to Helsinki. Everything went really well. Tuomo didn’t have a clue that I was planning something and it was fun to watch expression on his face when he came to meet me at the centre of the city and I was there with Hannu and Markus (Ilkka waited already at the restaurant).

At this point we told Tuomo that we had planned this and we were heading to the restaurant, but we didn’t tell to which one. We decided to go to place called Sea Horse, because we had heard such a good praises about it. Sea Horse is a place that offers you quite basic Finnish food, great atmosphere and the best service I’ve ever come across with. While we were on our way to the restaurant Ilkka called and told that there was a problem because the place was so full. We asked for him to wait until we were there so we could figure out some kind of plan B. After a few minutes he called again and told that he managed to get us a table! The hero of the day!

The place was definitely worth of the reputation. First of all, when we got in there was this old charming doorman welcoming us and taking our coats. Then we were shown the direction to our table where Ilkka was already waiting for us. Little gestures, like tipping that we should make our orders before the big company on the other room makes theirs, made us feel respected and raised the atmosphere even more. When the food was splendid (stuffed cabbage rolls, meatballs, and stuffed small herring) there was nothing between having fun. Everybody enjoyed and after eating and drinking quite a bit we decided to get on the road. The whole evening was a success and Tuomo truly surprised.

Yesterday I accompanied Tuomo to the airport. He flied to the Cannes, France. He went there to work for Musex at one of the biggest music industry fair, Midem. I have to say that I envy him just a little bit! I definitely wouldn’t mind for a trip to Riviera of France, but I just have to settle for snow and frost.

Back to the “normal” Rhythm tammikuu 13, 2007

Helsinki -1 degrees Celsius, rain / snow.
Sunrise 9:10 am, sunset 3:46.

The Christmas holiday is now over and I have tried to get back to the normal rhythm. School started on this week which felt surprisingly nice. On this period I have school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. This suits me better than perfect, because now I can travel to Jyväskylä on Monday evenings and come back to Helsinki after school on Thursdays. The trip between these two cities travelled by the train takes about three and a half hours. It’s a lot of travelling, but then again I feel that my home is here in Helsinki and on the other hand school is very important for me. It’s kind of a perfect solution to spend half of my time in each city.

At the moment one of the greatest things is that we are actually seeing the first sings of winter around here! In last few days the temperature has been little bit below zero and today it’s even snowing here in Helsinki! I’m really happy about this. It has felt so unnatural to have this weird autumn weather in the middle of the winter time, but maybe now the real winter is going to start.

I don’t know what to do with my flu. It’s still the same sickness that I had in September. Nothing works to it. Now I have decided to start to build my physical ability more efficient. Maybe that’s going to work. Because of this flu, I have been very tired and without any energy. That’s why I have used the buss to get to school and so on. Last week I walked to school and back home every day. And yesterday I was even able to lure Tuomo for a walk with me! Walking isn’t exactly his favourite things to do… But it was really nice. It was a good opportunity to talk with him and get to know my new neighbourhood. Too often, when we are at home, Tuomo has some work he has to do at the computer and that of course is reducing time from having some real quality time.

Now Tuomo has travelled once again to Lahti to have a band practice. If he is able to get a ride back to Helsinki on this evening, he’s coming back already tonight. But probably he’s going to stay in Lahti over night.

Our little Juha went to army on last Monday! Of course I’m talking about my 19-years old, 195 cm tall, little brother. In Finland all the men are forced to join the army after they turn 18. They are serving the country at least six months before they have done their duty. If the individual doesn’t want to go to the service he has to serve 11 months in civil service. If he refuse to go to any of these services he is forced to go to prison for a year! Sounds quite extreme for a civilized country, don’t you think!?! But that’s the way things are handled over here.

Happy New Year! tammikuu 3, 2007

Helsinki +2 degrees Celsius, mostly cloudy.
Sunrise 9:23 am, sunset 3:27 pm.

The year 2007! There’s something new to learn! Let’s see how long it’s going to take this year to draw a new number instead of old one. It’s a strange feeling to know that we are heading towards longer days an shorter nights once again. And still we haven’t even had a peak of the real winter yet. They actually told in the news that December were warmer that ever recorded before!

I have been enjoying my holiday mainly in Helsinki. We spent a lovely Christmas Eve with Tuomo at my parents place. We ate a lot and got a really nice presents. For example I got Edgar Allan Poe’s book and lovely wool shawl. Tuomo got new bed linens for his new bed and of course some chocolate. Mom got really tired and took a nap while we played Star of Africa -game with Tuomo and Dad. At 1:00 am my parents gave us a lift back to Helsinki. It was really nice to show them Tuomo’s new apartment all though the moving process wasn’t really over and there were lots of boxes everywhere.

During the middle days (like we call the days between Christmas and New Year) Tuomo had some time of from work and we went out for a dinner few times (thanks to some Christmas present money) and put the apartment in better shape. Now the apartment is really lovely and nice!

On 30th of December boys had a gig in the Icepark and of course I went there to see them. The gig was very funny, because all the boys were freezing their ass of and still they had to perform. Markus was wearing old 90’s skiing overall and was looking hysterically funny! I was laughing so much! After the gig we went to ours place (with Markus and Ilkka), where we had a small party. After all we ended up going out and I have to confess that I drank way too much!!! I hardly ever drink the amount that I get hung over, but this time I certainly got one…

I spent most of that night and next day on the halls floor, because it was the only place near enough the bath room! So you can probably guess how hard I partied next night! Yes, that’s true, I didn’t. But we actually had really nice New Years Eve anyway. Markus spent the Saturday night at our place as well. And on Sunday evening we all three went to have dinner to place called Soul Kitchen. The interior of the restaurant was wonderful and also the menu, but some how there was something wrong with the waiters and the food. For example waiters forgot our orders several times and I got my food cold… We really wanted to like the place, but it was almost impossible desire. We actually decided to give the place a second chance and go there again when it’s not such a busy day. They better not mess it up!

Now I probably better get my butt up from the sofa and head to the grocery store. Juuso (our old flat mate from UK) is visiting us and I promised to make some meatballs and mashed potatoes for dinner! Yum!

I hope you all have had a good start for your year.