Aoxotoxoa @ Far-Out

We have to move out. Big bummer. In few months. Major bummer.

But, before that: PARTY!
- And party we did, last weekend. Grateful Dead - cover-band "Aoxotoxoa" from Luzern was playing a concert in our basement bar "Far-Out". Far out.

Here's some atmosphere from that nice evening.

Happy Pluto-slippers waiting for the first guests. Note also Spidey.

Ducks supervising the sound quality.

Sound check =)

Ceské Fun Zona

As said, I went to Prague to attend to this expo and meet friends. But there was soooo much more going on at the same time. On the week I was there, they had also kind of City Festival with lots of activities going on and this United Islands Open Air concert festival. So there definitely was something for everybody.

Me and my friends went to see whats cooking on that Open Air Festival. It was great, they had set up various stages on these little islands on the river and everything was free entry. From the line-up I didn't recognize one single band, but the ones I saw actually delivered pretty entertaining show.

United Islands World Stage

I was really surprised about the atmosphere on this festival. There was loads of people, but everything and everybody seemed to be really laid-back and realxed. No rushing or elbowing anywhere while lining up for your beer, food or toilet. I guess that more or less Ilosaari in Joensuu is the only Finnish festival that has bit of this hippie / family mood going on. Elsewhere in Finland, according to my experience, the audience just tends to get too drunk and agitated. But I might have this all wrong, since it's been ages since I went to an open air in Finland. Correct me, if the code of conduct has changed since nineties.

Can U Feeeestival?!

I especially liked this Catalonian / Spanish band called La Troba Kung-fu. They were very lively and funny and got the audience really dancing. I wanted to attach a video of the band, that would show the energy they had on stage, but I didn't quite find a good one. From the following example, you can hopefully get some droplets of it.

Midsummer's dream

The traditional Finnish midsummer "Juhannus" is always on Saturday that lands between 20.-26. of June. It is a very special and well liked public holiday. Everybody who has a chance heads out from the city somewhere on the countryside, to spend this weekend on a summer cottage by the water.

The tradition also claims Juhannus to be a magically romantic time, since all the singles are supposed to dream about their future spouses on the midsummer nigh. To achieve that, one needs to collect seven different flowers and put them under one's pillow. Or go dancing naked on a field at exact hour of midnight.

Midsummer night - flowers on a windowsill of Ujezd bar.

"Kokko" -a bonfire, is also an essential part of the festivities on midsummer's eve. In Finland you see these fires everywhere along the lakes when the twilight starts to sneak in. In the pagan days these fires were burned to honor a god called "Ukko" who was the deity responsible of bringing good harvest later in the autumn.

So it was only natural that the Finns in Prague would gather together and make party on this special time. We had this nice barbecue and lots of booze, and we all had the best of time. Absolutely everybody showed up and I got to exchange latest news with so many people I hadn't seen in ages. Just brilliant!

This time events rolled out less eventfully than four years ago, we just stuck on conversating and hanging out in a garden of one house. No flower picking or dancing around butt-naked. Very sophisticated... Last time we were on a picnic in Letna Park and as a closure to a perfect evening we decided to make a bonfire. Because what is Juhannus without one? The local police was not quite as enthusiastic about this as we were. Hey c'mon, it was only a very small one and in a safe place? And anyhow, no nakedness was involved that time either.

The evening ended in this very nice bar called "Ujezd" at Mala Strana.

The artistic afterlife of pine cones

After the visit of my friends Eija and Jari I got a peculiar request. Could I send couple of swiss pine cones to Eija in Scotland?

Yeah, sure? "-But why?" would one easily ask. The explanation followed. She wanted to use them as material for her Robert Walser related art work. And then, for sure, not just any cone would do =).

No worries, can do. So I shuffled to the nearest park and collected a plastic bag full of cones. Big ands small, fat and slim, all the varieties.

Later I finally saw what they turned out to be. Eija had an exhibition in a local gallery in Oulu which I had chance to visit. Here are the results:

Some of them turned into prints.

And one managed the throne =)

Somehow cute =)

Some belated flavors of October @ Tampere

I know it's been ages since I managed to scribble anything here. Sorry about that... Somehow I just felt that I need bit of distance from some stuff that happened in October.

I had my breather and I finally feel ready to share some cool things that happened within the duration of my stay.

The cider

I went to a bar called Konttori with a friend of mine and did some sampling of British ciders. Each one that followed was stronger than the previous one, and also more expensive as it occurred. After a not so long a while I was happily tipsy =)

The two below were my favorites of the lot I sampled. Both of them are somewhat oaky and round in taste and don't have excessive amount of bubbles. One ice cube does the trick, they both loose all flavor if too cold.

Thatcher's Katy

Weston's Vintage 2008 Special Reserve Cider

Beautiful scenery

I got invited to a house warming party in Tahmela, on the slopes of Pispala. This is one of the most prestigious areas of the city with architecturally the most interesting (and also most expensive) real estate. Friends of friends had landed themselves a half of a double house over there with some impressive 180 m2 and open view over the Pyhäjärvi lake. We went there by the time sun was just setting and had a chance to admire one very nationally romantic view from their back yard. A view with blue sky, pine trees and sunshine glittering on the waves.

First I was bit dubious about going there, since I wasn't invited personally in the first place, but then I decided to go. This proved to be a good idea, because, as it turned out to be, I knew pretty much everybody at the party. They are all old friends with whom I used to hang out in the student parties in mid-nineties. And the house, OMG, it's beautiful!!!

House itself was quite special also, as just said. It has been built on 60's in a very functional and minimalistic style and looks still very airy and modern, but not in the 60's style modernism. I could easily imagine myself living in a house like this one, but unfortunately it's not likely that I can ever afford one =) But a girl is allowed to admire and dream, right? Anyhow, I'm very happy fro these friends, that they found and got what they were looking for.

Only thing missing is the blue-white flag on the pole.

The day Tampere disappeared

There was a day that Tampere simply wasn't there. The fog was so thick that I could barely see the next building. Somehow ghostly feeling since all sounds seemed also muffled.

Not really there. Nope.

Over the Rainbow

My dear friend Jyri invited me to go with him to listen to a band called "Over the Rainbow" at Pakkahuone. This is a band of Joe Lynn Turner,  Bobby Rondinelli, Greg Smith and Paul Morris who all used to play in Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and Jurgen "J.R." Blackmore who is the son of Ritchie Blackmore.

I had no clear idea what I would be, but I was very curious. I know the old Rainbow pretty well and have always considered Blackmore being the only true guitarist for Deep Purple. Well, whatsoever.

That national warm up act was not much to say about, but OTR opened their set up strong. The guys sound pretty amazing still over all the years and the prodigal son plays guitarist with as steady hands as daddy. Pleasant experience.

The only unresolved questions concerning this band and this evening are the following:
1) Is Lynn Turner wearing a wig???
2) Why and how the heck Jurgen manages to look as old as the rest of the gang?
Go figure, cool concert anyway.

Halloween masquerade

On Halloween my friend Ulla celebrated her birthday and invited us all to a costume party. The theme was movies an television series. Pretty broad concept, which still managed to produce three nuns in a crowd of twenty people =)

I dressed up as Lara Croft, because I didn't want to invest in something "pink with fringes" or something, that eventually end up collecting dust in the back of the closet. Combat boots, t-shirt, boobs and the hair I already had, so I just needed to get some skimpy shorts and some gun straps with street credibility. It turned out pretty ok, but unfortunately I can't prove it to you guys just yet. I have to wait the photos from the birthday girl's camera... But I promise to post some as soon as I get some, seriously!

As a teaser for the mean time, I post the bartender's shot list. The bloody Sambuca was my favorite. For the Finnish reader's there is a dilemma to solve: What d'ya suppose it is supposed to read on the middle row bottom? Karannut? Kärynnyt? Both interesting choices, I'd say.

Everybody surely finds their cup of tea?

For the last but not least I want to post something I found pretty peculiar. I guess it's just one result of this dumb smoking legislation in Finland nowadays. The proprietor must designate the poor smokers to go somewhere, right? Preferably somewhere out of sight, out of mind... This is the result:

Storage for liquid gas and an ashtray, yep.

(Hyper)Active weekend

It all started already on Thursday, when I went to see a play at Theater Academy. "Maallisten ilojen puutarha", directed by my friend Anne Rautiainen, turned out to be very refreshing experience which I enjoyed thoroughly. It was nice to see some real illusions on stage since a long time. Somehow illusions have been banned for a while now and nobody really uses them anymore. Sad. Even if bit kitschy, this post-modern handling managed to deal out strong emotions and beautiful, very visual pictures.

On Friday I popped into a party at Sun Effects to meet some colleagues and hear about some new innovations. It was cool that this party happened to happen just as I was in Helsinki. Managed to meet many people I hadn't seen in the longest time =)

On Saturday afternoon I went to see one of the last rehearsals of a new comedy "Eila, Rampe ja palvattu onni" by Helsinki City Theatre. This was also a positive surprise. Usually I don't think that much of comedies, unless they are really, really precise. The actors were brilliant, those real old warhorses, but the text was the thing that blew me away. The dialect Sinikka Nopola uses and the elasticity the text twists and turns makes it priceless.

After the play we went to have couple of drinks at the cafe next door and little later we got the idea of glow-bowling. I haven't done any kind of bowling since high school, so I was bit dubious about it. All I could remember from that one and only time I tried the sport in the past was, that the ball was too heavy and it refused go anywhere but the gutter. This time it was different. I actually had a blast and didn't suck at it half that much I feared. Cool sport, cool friends, nice cider. Blast!

After the bowling the Helsinki tour continued to a bar called Populus to do some karaoke. I doubt that I'll ever go there again. Far too aggressive and jam-packed for my taste. There is in the same region many others, that are ways friendlier. Not recommended. I did sing couple of songs nonetheless.

Ugly lantern and karaoke screen.

After some 11 hours of cider-sipping and various activities I went home only to continue the following day.

My Sunday started with brunch at cafe Tintin Tango with a friend. At 11.00!!! The night  wasn't so sure I'd manage it. I'm a superwoman, yay! Anyhow, I spent couple of very nice hours with Favela catching up on everything that had passed since the last time we saw each other.

From brunch I continued my journey to "Habitare '10" fair to check out what's new in interior design, light and appliances. In three hours I figured out that this season design's are to my taste bit too boring and old news. The most interesting part of the whole fair was the the section of eco-designs.

Habitare '10

Stripes are popular this season, some of many

Quite pretty eco, made out of PET-bottles

Another sample of ecological design

The organizers had thrown also Art Helsinki expo to the same fair bundle. Compared to Art Basel the collection felt quite humble and pale =)

Art (?) Helsinki '10

For the evening I had got myself invited to Pikku-Markku and Kalle to cook some dinner to them. I sold my idea quite easily by promising to cook my notorious green thai curry =). There was altogether five people dining and the six liters of curry was fast consumed. My worry about loads of leftovers was premature. For the dessert we had again some apple tiramisu, it never fails.

So, it was some weekend, I'll say. On Monday I felt more tired than before the weekend. So much for relaxing time off.

Culinary overdose in Tampere

It's been quite some time since I had a chance to write anything because my laptop went to maintenance. But now there is finally an update. More blabbering about my stay in Finland will appear shortly...

I spent the last weekend of August in Tampere with some dear old friends. The main plan was to eat well, sip some drinks and do Singstar. Our Friday night's special was something called "Apple menu".

Apple menu

The thing with this three course dinner was that all the dishes contain apple in some form. The range of possibilities turned out to be amazingly large. So many different kind of flavors, yummy...

Our first course was very creamy soup with some strong Koskenlaskija-cheese (sort of Philadelphia with Emmental flavor) and sauteed apple chunks. The contrast was very interesting between the salty cheese and the sweet apple bits and pieces. That white lump is whipped milk and egg =)

Friday first: apple cheese soup

Our main course on Friday was spare ribs, first marinated in apple cider and then cooked in the oven for couple of hours on low heat. To add the final touch, they were barbecued to get some nice grill-flavor to them. Unfortunately our master of the grill didn't want her photo published online, but I can tell you, it looked pretty far-out in the late evening; it was all dark outside already and she was wearing one of these real strong orienteering head-lights. "Let there be light..."

Well, anyway the end result of all these preparations was that the meat was literally melting away from the bones. With the ribs we had some vegetables roasted with fresh rosemary and thyme in olive oil and some real bad-ass spicy mango chutney. Fresh salad as a side dish. Sooooooo delicious!

Friday main: apple cider marinated spare ribs, roasted veggies + mango chutney

After the main course a little time-out was absolutely needed, but we got back to the eating business later in the evening. Our dessert was old and reliable apple tiramisu. It has actually nothing really to do with the original Italian tiramisu, but it's killer delicious nonetheless. This dessert is constructed in layers of:
1) apple (sour type) chunks sauteed in cinnamon, honey and this time a dash of brandy
2) crumbs of Petit Beurre biscuits
3) natural flavor fresh cheese and whipped cream mixed together.

Friday dessert: apple tiramisu

Saturday; moooooore foooooood!

The program for the following evening contained more eating.

For starter girls cooked up some cheddar cheese soup based on a recipe on Ulla's collection. It was creamy and nice. - And looked pretty much the same as the starter the day before =O Taste was very different, though.

I prepared my traditional filled chicken fillets as the main course. I rub some spices and garlic to the meat and then fill the pocket with good amount of Roquefort cheese rolled into Parma ham. This time I tried Schwarzwald ham, which worked just as fine. It just needs to be of strong flavor. These fillets were served with creamy pepper sauce and smashed potatoes with herbs. On the side little bit of sour black currant jam.

These two courses were quite unbeatable but perhaps together bit too heavy. Food coma was inevitable and no one capable of having any dessert =)

Saturday entree: cheddar cheese soup

And yes, flashlight makes everything look disgusting, sorry about that. You'll just have to take my word for the food having been delicious....

Saturday main: chicken fillets filled with Roquefort+Schwarzwald ham

Better day in Hamburg

After a disastrous performance, I had half a day to recover and explore Hamburg before heading back to the airport again.

It was just a perfect summer day and I went walking around the city.The sky was cloudless and blindingly blue. Temperature was hovering somewhere just shy 30*C and light breeze was fluttering my hem. My plan was to make a short round-trip in downtown area and then go to the harbor.

Sievekingplatz

I guess it's since I'm from Finland, but I just looooove being near the water. No matter what kind. Strangely enough, I don't usually realize that I'm missing the element until I'm back to the proximity. I never tire of watching the glittering of sunshine on the waves. This was one of the reasons why I truly enjoyed my stroll in Hamburg. I could just take my time observing the movement of the water and all the little boats scurrying around in the harbor. All this while sipping my ice-latte, courtesy of Starbucks.

Kleine Wall Anlagen

Starbucks, my savior
A propo Starbucks. This is another thing that I absoluuuutely adore. Me being one of those lactose-intolerance handicapped, Starbucks just miraculously always pulls through for me. No matter where, I get my latte, just as I like it. Normally I try to avoid multinational corporations and chains, but my coffee is something I don't wanna live without. So I'm willing to bend my rules here. In Finland it is so easy, because all the restaurants and cafes usually have a low-lactose option available. In Europe, as civilized it may seem, you can just forget this chance or just go for it with regular version and fart forevermore. But Starbucks, thanks to their policy, have everywhere an option for me -with real milk that is, not some hideous soy-goo. Yay, yay, yippiayjee!

Near Gänsemarkt

So my first gameplan was to spot a Starbucks and get my daily dose of caffeine. I found actually three possibilities and darted into the closest one. Taking my latte with my I strolled donw to Junfernstieg and spend very comfortable half an hour by the water there in remarkably Mediterrannean atmosphere. It was hard to imagine that the Baltic sea is actually not so far away while observing the palm trees swaying in the summer breeze.

Jungfernstieg, -yes, still in Hamburg

Harbor and docks
I continued my walk passing the Rathaus in old town and heading towards the docks in the harbor. Downtown area didn't thrill me so much, since it just seemed to be packed with expensive designer labels and shopping malls. I did see the famous Hansa Viertel, but wasn't intriqued to go in. Rather stay outside on pretty days like this.

Below some snapshots from the harbor area.

Binnenhafen

Binnenhafen

Binnenhafen

Station  of the harbor police, next to the Niederbaumbrücke

City sporthafen

Funny round building near Landungsbrücken

St. Pauli - Landungsbrücken

Reeperbahn
As it was just along my way back to Schulterblatt, where I wanted grab some luch before heading out to the airport, I decided to have a peek to the word-famous Reeperbahn. At daytime there was really nothing to see, as I knew it would be. Just quite normal people going about their business on the street that promoted some titty-bars, cheap hotels and porn-kinos. But now I can at least say I've seen it. Just another curiosity, more hookers can be seen on any time of a day on Sihlquai or Langstrasse in Zürich. And the actual window-shopping doesn't even exist on Reeperbahn. If that's what one is interested in and is male, then the destination is a short stretch of Herbstrasse, which is closed with gates on both ends stating that no minors or women are admitted.

Treasures of the sea
When ever I'm by the water, I try to grab some fish or seafood to eat. This is probably also due to the fact of me being Finnish. Since fish was always so widely avalable, I still seem to go for it when ever there is a chance. In Switzerland the possibilities are unfortunately usually very slim; fish is painstakingly expensive and far far far from home -meaning not fresh enough to my liking. And being in Thailand for duration, didn't cure my yearning for fresh fish, somehow =)

On Schulterblatt I found this Spanish-portuguese restaurant La Sepia, which promised fish specialities. The lunch hour specials were very reasonably priced and selection very large. I chose some mixed fish from the grill and enjoyed my lunch wholeheartedly. I can recommend this restaurant highly, but make sure you'll go there during the luch hours (11-17) and you can fill you belly with less than 10€. I got salad, main course and beverage for 7,70;-. In the evenings it's lots more expensive albeit just as tasty.

Funny observations
I was laughing out aloud when I saw some of the city trash bins. The stickers glued on them are just so hilarious!

"I devour also hamburgers"

"I have dirty dreams"

One last thing to laugh about before leaving Hamburg. The check-in automat on the airport decided to give me a nickname:

Minnapiri+ ? =)