Summer and Archipelago Food Photography

The summers before last one my holiday started with a drive and a boat trip to my dear and talented friend Marina's family island. We loaded the car and then the boat with a lot of photography gear and lots of food and wine.

The island is amazing and the guest house is even more amazing. It feels like you are in the French countryside even thought you are at the Finnish archipelago.

We dedicated three days for cooking, styling, photography, sipping wine, eating and going to sauna. We were so obsessed with the food photography that one day we had two lunches. I think I gained weight at least one kilogram.

More pictures on Instagram under #archipelagofoodphotography. Also read Marina's blog post here.

Beautiful Apartment in Amsterdam

Last February Hertta & I travelled to Amsterdam to visit my old and dear friend Maikki. Maikki studied Fashion Merchandise Management in London and is currently working in Amsterdam. It was quite difficult to find an apartment to rent in Amsterdam so Maikki decided to buy one at the Oud-West area.

At the moment I am again in Amsterdam and staying with Maikki for three weeks.

I just fell in love with Maikki's apartment and I see why she ended up buying this one. The building is really narrow as they are in Holland. The house was built in 1906. There are four apartments in this building.

Art on the wall by Pilvi Takala.

There are 57 m² that covers two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room and a living room. Top it all off there are two balconies and big windows.

I remember Maikki had a great sense for style and interior decorations when we were younger. Her first apartment in Töölö was unique and characteristic. Then she moved to London, there I never went to visit her but when she moved to Zürich for work I stayed with her. Her apartment was beautiful and she had the same Marimekko curtains Carrie Bradshaw had in her apartment in Sex and the City. But this apartment in Amsterdam is way more nicer than the ones before. She also lived in Hong Kong but there I never visited (though we went to Kuala Lumpur together at that time).

I still have 1,5 weeks to enjoy this beautiful apartment and the lovely company of Maikki. Oh, and I also just love Amsterdam, I could see myself living in here.

More Amsterdam pictures on Instagram #tlhamsterdam.

Barcelona - Any tips?

Barcelona, vinkkejä? - Suomenkielinen käännös löytyy alta.

I have already traveled to Barcelona five times. It's the city where I will always return. On my first trip to Barcelona in spring 2004 - when I was an exchange student in San Sebastián - I met this Catalan girl Ariadna. She has been my soul sister in Barcelona ever since. I always travel back there to stay with her. Last time I saw her in August 2013 in Helsinki And my latest trip to Barcelona took place in February 2011.

Ariadna & Violeta used to be flatmates when I traveled there last time.

Shiva is a rescue dog Ariadna & Violeta used to take care of. Shiva's owner was in Dubai.

Breakfast at Ariadna's balcony.

Ariadna is a godmother for Sandra's daughter Uma.

My next trip is going to happen next week so there has been a four years gap between my travelings over there. I am flying to Barcelona on 7 January 2015 with my sister and her daughter (who will soon turn two years old).

Mireia's Italian greyhound Lucca and galgo Palmete.

Mireia with Klea's Irish wolfhound Grace.

All my galgos (Nuba, Lula RIP & Blanca RIP) have been adopted via SOS Galgos. I try to visit their veterinary center every time when in Barcelona and to help them as much as I can.

I will spend two weeks in Barcelona so I have time to visit quite many restaurants. My sister (who is an aerialist / a clown) is at a circus residency and practicing every day so I will be taking care of her daughter, my niece. Lunch will be cooked at home, at least I think it is easier with my niece. The evenings are my own time when I am going to eat out with my local friends.

La Bascula - A vegetarian restaurant where I always eat when in Barcelona.

La Bascula - My friend Kristiina took me here to buy cupcakes when I was in Barcelona for the first time.

La Bascula

El Lobo

La Vinya del Senyor

Please do give me recommendations where to eat and to have a coffee or drinks. I think I have seen most of the sightseeing but if you know something new going on, please let me know.

You may follow my Instagram pics of the trip under the hashtag #tlhbarcelona.

All the photos are from my last trip to Barcelona in February 2011.

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Barcelona - Vinkkejä?

Barcelona on kaupunki, mihin tulen aina palaamaan. Ensimmäisellä reissullani vuonna 2004 ystävystyin katalaanityttö Ariadnaan ja olen asunut hänen luonaan jo useamman kerran. Ensi viikolla olen lähdössä kuudennelle Barcelonan reissulleni. Edellisestä onkin jo vierähtänyt aikaa neljä vuotta, joten kaipaan tuoreita vinkkejä ravintoloista, kahviloista ja viinibaareista. Muutkin vinkit toki kiinnostaa.

Me at Klea's house with her greyhound Fabiola. Photo © Mireia Costa Escobar

Voit seurata matkakuviani livenä Instagramissa hashtagin #tlhbarcelona takana.

Kaikki kuvat ovat edelliseltä Barcelonan reissultani helmikuulta 2011.

Hazy Days - Second Hand Fashion Boutique

Hazy Days -putiikki, Kierrätettyä muotia - Suomenkielinen tiivistelmä löytyy lopusta.

Hazy Days is a second hand fashion boutique and online store based in Helsinki.

Hazy Days is run by Carolina Kavanterä, who was born in 1982 and has been a second hand clothing enthusiast ever since her childhood. "There was more magic in my big sister's old worn out Levi's jeans than the brand new ones" she says.

Carolina has been collecting vintage and second hand clothing for years and when her collection was getting too big for her wardrobe, she decided to start an online shop in 2011. A year later Carolina opened her first boutique, “Arizona Vintage” in Kruununhaka, Helsinki, which was soon followed by Hazy Days that first started at Jääkärinkatu and now operates at Korkeavuorenkatu (untill the end of February 2015).

Two weeks ago Marina & I went to visit Carolina's boutique and she styled me with three beautiful outfits. I ended up buying one of the dresses as I fell in love with it.

The vision of Hazy Days is to tackle the culture of quickly disposable, poor quality clothes and to offer people good quality second hand clothing and a more ecological way to dress.

Carolina's way of styling is bold. I would never have had the courage to choose these boots to match with this dress.

I fell in love with this Japanese dress. I am waiting for the summer to wear it.

This necklace is made by Carolina Kavanterä.

Hazy Days’ range consists of clothes acquired from flea markets and second hand and vintage stores in Helsinki, Los Angeles, Paris, New York, Tokyo and around the world. Some items are from Hazy Days' customers who have brought their used designer and brand goods for sale.

Hazy Days has been my favourite second hand shop in Helsinki as I like to wear second hand clothing more than the new ones.

Me and Carolina Instagramming at the Hazy Days boutique.

Hazy Days
Korkeavuorenkatu 2 b, inner courtyard (until the end of February 2015)
Ullanlinna, Helsinki
hazydays.bigcartel.com
Hazy Days Facebook Page

Hanna Sarén's atelier operates at the same location.

Photo © Marina Ekroos

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Hazy Days -putiikki - Kierrätettyä muotia

Hazy Days on second hand ja vintage-vaatteita myyvä putiikki ja verkkokauppa Helsingissä. Hazy Daysiä pyörittää kolmekymppinen Carolina Kavanterä. Carolinan ideologia on tarjota laadukkaita kierrätettyjä vaatteita, joita hän tuunaa ajankohtaisten trendien inspiroimana. Kävimme pari viikkoa sitten Marinan kanssa Carolinan putiikissa ja hän stailasi minulle kolme asukokonaisuutta. Rakastuin japanilaistyyppiseen mekkoon niin paljon, että ostin sen varastoon ensi kesää ajatellen.

Hazy Days
Korkeavuorenkatu 2 b, sisäpiha (helmikuun 2015 loppuun saakka)
Ullanllinna, Helsinki
hazydays.bigcartel.com

Hanna Sarénin ateljee löytyy samasta osoitteesta.

Kuvat © Marina Ekroos

Food Culture Lunch Break with Timo Santala

Ruokakulttuurilounas Timo Santalan kanssa - Suomenkielinen tiivistelmä löytyy lopusta.

Everybody knows Timo Santala, right? He is one of the Restaurant Day organizers. At the moment he works as the Head of the Food Culture Strategy for the City of Helsinki.

Few weeks ago Timo invented this Food Culture Lunch Break. He enjoys a lunch with someone and makes a short interview to be published on his Instagram account and on the Facebook wall. So I had an honor to lunch with him last Thursday and he made a short interview with me. I wanted to interview him as well so here it is.

Who: Timo Santala
Where: Peninsula 1899
Dish of the day: A full Szechuan menu with dim sum, dumblings, tofu and spicy eggplant.

Talk of the day: DSLR cameras. Smart phone vs. oldschool mobile phone. Work. Asian food. Traveling. News headlines. The way of discussion in social media. The food scene in Helsinki. Hidden restaurant treasures. Restaurant Day. City of Helsinki. Blogs and bloggers.

Restaurant recommendation: If you want to get value for your money I recommend you to enjoy a lunch at Restaurant Kokki that is a teaching restaurant at the Helsinki Vocational College in Roihuvuori. They serve a salad buffet, main course and coffee or tea for 8,70 euros.

Food related tip: If you love to cook Vietnamese pho soup but do not have the time to make the broth go to Vii Voan or another Asian shop and buy these pho or pho ga stock cubes. Remember to use a lot of fresh herbs for better experience. You can also add the pho stock cubes into the boiling water when cooking rice. It makes the taste richer.

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This photo is from @timosantala's Instagram. Photo © Timo Santala

This is what Timo wrote:

Food Culture Lunch Break 12

Who: Anna Keski-Kohtamäki
Where: Peninsula 1899
Dish of the day: A full Szechuan menu with dim sum, dumplings, tofu and spicy eggplant.

Talk of the day: How to justify yourself buying a better camera and if you really need it or not. The special taste and numbing effect of the Szechuan peppers. The importance and power of a correct or untrue headline in a news article in the modern feed and social based news reading. The world, work and daily routines of bloggers. Vietnamese food in Helsinki. Sharing secret restaurant tips.

Restaurant recommendation: Casa Italia on Bulevardi is like travelling to Roma – Often full of foreigners, italian dudes and loud talking. I specially like the atmosphere and the cheese selection.

Food related tip: Instead of preparing traditional Christmas dishes I recommend doing a dinner with dishes you love. The only traditional one on my Christmas Eve is the rice porridge, but otherwise we’ll enjoy a french dinner with crème ninon green pea soup and a turkey breast with port wine sauce instead of ham.

- Timo Santala

From Instagram you can search for all the Food Culture Lunch Break interviews with the hashtag #foodculturelunchbreak.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LUNCH WITH TIMO? Don't be shy, just go ahead and contact him via Facebook.

PS I studied some cookery at the Helsinki Vocational College in Roihuvuori in the late 90's. So I used to work at the Restaurant Kokki where Timo likes to lunch.

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Ruokakulttuurilounas Timo Santalan kanssa

Helsingin kaupungin ruokakulttuuristrategi Timo Santala haastatteli minua Ruokakulttuurilounaan merkeissä viime torstaina. Minä puolestani haastattelin häntä. Jos haluat Timon kanssa lounaalle ja keskustelemaan päivän polttavista aiheista tai ruokakulttuurista ota häneen yhteyttä Facebookin kautta. Muut Ruokakulttuurilounaan osat löydät Instagramista hashtagillä #ruokakulttuurilounas.

Wellness Evening and Garden Party

Every year we have the Cheese & Wine Party at Hanna's garden after she has made her annual trip to Grasse in France where her aunt and cousins live. This year at the cheese party we had a great idea to have a wellness evening at Hanna's garden where she has a wood-heated sauna.

Hanna invited us girls over on the Night of the Arts. She had cooked some delicious food and made a rhubarb sangria. Some of the girls brought some food and wine as well. I got some sponsored natural cosmetics from the lovely Outi at Sugar Helsinki. Also Emma got a lot of cosmetics from her work as her profession is a beauty editor. So we had quite many products to test.

We went to the sauna and had like tens of different scrubs and masks. Some of them even self-made. Liisa made a lovely scrub and I also brought a scrub that I had made at a workshop in Jolie.

Some of the products Emma brought.

Kristiina gave a yoga massage for three Anna's and one Susanna.

Products from Sugar Helsinki.

After the sauna we were testing all the different shampoos, conditioners, hair oils and masks. My favorite product was a bodywash from Less is More. It smells like grapefruit and cardamom.

After the relaxing spa moment we ate some salads and pies. Someone asked that is it proper to bring a bottle of wine to a wellness evening. I said: "We are in Finland, you have to bring booze to a wellness evening." So we drank.

We had so many different serums to test that I think I tried like three different ones on my face. There is no such thing as a serum overdose. I loved all the Mia Höytö products Emma brought, they really work well for my skin.

When the evening started to get a little colder we took a foot bath with this really interesting product Magnesium Flakes Foot and Body Soak. I would highly recommend this product if you suffer from cramps. Before I have used this Magnesium Oil Joint spray, it really works instantly. Just spray it to a sore muscle or on your legs if you suffer from cramps.

These silkie chicken of Hanna & Samuli are so cool!

I am really looking forward to the next Wellness Evening!

Cosmetics products in the pictures were given to me from Sugar Helsinki.