Who knew that cooking together (even if separated by miles) could be so fun !

What is Friendship cooking ?

Make one recipe from your cookbook !  Make a same dish from same cookbook on a same day with your friend, sister, mom, grandma, daughter, or neighbor.  Something new that you never tried before and upload your creations and stories.

If you are interested in friendship cooking. Join us in our Flickr group – Friendship Cooking. See you there.

Am very exited about a first ever cook-along am attending. It’s a private one between my friend Hyein from Ohio and I.  Some time ago we selected a lovely colorful cook book ‘Apples for Jam’ (Tessa Kiros my favorite kitchen maven). This sunday we’ll be both making red ‘Veal involtini’ which was my first choice for our fun experiment !

lovely cookbook

I adore meditenrannean food. Spanish tapas, Italian pastas. Greek delicasies, and all the lovely baklavas and couscous from southside of the sea. And am also week about cute stories, and Tess and her books really have amazing stories which carry me from Northern Europe to sunny, warm seaside of the sea. Not to forget the amazing photos…

Where’s your favorite food from ?

Edit: Sunday (4th of October) after dinner .. Unfortunately no pictures. We were all eager to start tasting the new dish. We had invited the family next door (made a perfect excuse for me to take out the better china and really make an effort). Unlike usually this time adults ate first and kids after (not because we would like to dine without the kids but since they were still playing so nicely… and like the recipie said I had to serve meat ‘pronto’

Veal involtini will definitely stay on our list.  Tough I did cut the corners by using owen insteads of frying the veal in pan ;D – (bit healthier and easier may I say). When I was buying the veal from a pretty good shop it dawned to me that the guy preparing the veal for me had no clue of Veal involtini nor saltimbocca… strange.. anyways the veal was of good thickness but the pieces were absolutely two big and he recommend much more meat for everyone – but luckily I kept true to our recipie since it was just good amount for each.

So how was the meal all across the ocean ?

A Jazz-classic performed by Japanese jazz-musician Kimiko Itoh
{Original song from Sound Of Music of course }

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.
these are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
silver white winters that melt into springs,
these are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings,
when I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
and then I don’t feel so bad.

{Music by Richard Rodgers Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II}

Found one cool shop at Etsy today : PilliPilli Design from Italy -
do check out for example her lovely articfox keychains !

fox and other critters

Find out more of her creations at:
www.abitofpillipilli.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pillipillihandmade

Have you ever fell asleep in the middle of exercise ?

This happened to me the other day.

During my semi-regular morning pilates session I have somehow really really relaxed during transition phase and woke up when the DVD-program ended. This made me think how to enhance my poor energy levels…Instead of blaming the autumn and poor weather (since we’ve had really amazing September) I need to turn my eyes towards my daily routine. To help me find out the energy stealers, a compilation of a list was due. I adore lists. Listing regular weekday and it’s action points, made it quite easy to find the energy stealers. I then selected 3 (hopefully quick-win) items to change

-         Little E wakes up around 4.30-5.00 AM –  sleep is somewhat haphazard from this point on.. => Move little-E to boys room … This should help with prolonged- morning sleep after adjusting period.

-         Organize home ( bulldozing, de-cluttering  and cleaning-spree is definitely needed chez our casa at the moment) => Ask help from girl next door and hire a professional cleaner. And oh.. really consider what to keep and what to throw out. This change is supposed to ease the household tasks and lessen the frustration of things being lost.

-         Distribute exercise routines along the day in smaller time slots. F.e. maybe during lunch break go outside for a quick walk… this should help with getting more FRESH air and hopefully more energy.

Do you have your own ideas/routines on how to get out of the energy-thieves…. Please do let me know !

27.9.2009 Kaapelitehtaalla on hurmaava tapahtuma – Helsinki Vintage – pitäisiköhän laittaa hiustyyli uudeksi tai koittaa taitojaan pajatson ääressä ?

Helsinki Vintage on ohjelmallinen myyntitapahtuma, vintagekulttuurin helmi, joka kokoaa yhteen maan laadukkaimmat vintage ja second hand -myyjät. Tapahtuma on viihtyisä ja leppoisa sunnuntain viettopaikka, joka tarjoaa mahdollisuuden menneiden vuosikymmenten aarteiden ostosteluun, viihdyttävän ohjelman seuraamiseen ja wanhan ajan kahvilaelämykseen.

Myyntivalikoima painottuu vintagemuotiin, mutta myynnissä on myös sisustus-, harrastus- ja keräilytuotteita sekä kauneuden & komeuden hoitoon liittyviä palveluja. Tapahtuman ohjelma koostuu viihdyttävistä ohjelmanumeroista, näyttelystä sekä miljööltään teemanmukaisesta kahvilasta.

Tervetuloa matkalle menneille vuosikymmenille!

Helsinki VIntage

Helsinki Vintage – The Event For Vintage Loving Vigilantes!

Twice a year organised Helsinki Vintage gathers the best vintage and second hand dealers of Finland and offers a fascinating and vast variety of goodies from past decades. The event has it all from decor to original vintage fashion items. The one-day vintage hulabaloo is topped with entertaining program with a hint of nostalgia and a cool cafeteria with flavors and sweets accordingly.

Next Helsinki Vintage 27th of September @ Kaapelitehdas.

Welcome to a nostalgic journey in to the past decades!

Coco (avant Chanel) + Audery Tautou + French language = a movie I can hardly wait !

official webiste of the movie at www.cocoavanchanel.fr

Remember that exciting feeling when a  school year started ? Something new is just around the corner and it also offers a natural opportunity to learn something new, to re-create yourself.  I don’t know about you, but for me this is my natural time of the year to make changes.

This autumn our family is taking tiny steps for natural living. Am hoping that these changes will reduce the external and environmental stress and guides us towards bit more mindful living. At the end I hope we are finding ways to get and stay connected to family, home, food, life, nature..

My own little lifestyle change is ongoing.  It’s been eight days since my last cup of coffee (or any other drink with caffeine). Days one, two and three I had horrible headache and I really * really * wanted my cup (or two). Now I’m missing coffee mostly early in the morning, in social situations (while visiting) or with some foods associated to coffee (sweets).  Tough being without the enticing  latte, cappuccino, espresso  (mmmmm) has been quite easy with the help of savory dark chocolate – just to be on the safe side I’ll stay clear from my favorite Cafés just for a little longer….

because writing snail mail makes you happy !

The postboygirl made a trip from our postbox to the front door today. She had few letters and then a big envelope from all across the ocean. From Ohio, USA arrived the perfect linen tote with cute accompanying linen pouch (the perfect size might I add). With this linen reversible zakka-tote I can still feel the sea and catch the last days of summer. Thank you H !

- The bag and I will go tomorrow to a summer’s last big flea markets – hoping to find some drifted materials for crafting.

with a key and everything