Have a Wonderful 2010!!!

(the moon tonight - December 30th, 2009)

I wish You and Everyone an amazing 2010!

X's, A =)

New Year New Adventures.

I have yet to summarize my Old Year, create new promises, try and keep them and worry about the fact that the noughties are over. The New Year is already here and it is knocking on the door so hard that I can't turn away and pretend I did not hear it. So I welcome it with open arms, offer some wine and make myself comfortable hoping that this meeting shall be a good one. You and me New Year. You and me. Let's make it happen! Let us make this one a combination of learning, understanding, loving, giving, hoping, traveling, forgiving, letting go and finding new. What do you say, are you with me?

Love, E

When she is gone the bed feels cold and empty.

Now she is gone. My baby sister who is no longer a baby but who to me will always be one. The one who stayed with me through this Christmas smoldering me with love and laughter. The house now feels empty and the bed is cold. No more of her laughter echoing in this house that is more like a room. No more her.
I comfort myself with strawberry milk and Anna Gavalda hoping that she would soon return.

"Girls just Want to Have Fun"

*My apologies, the original size did not fit, I had to mess with the Width and Height.

Merry Christmas to all you lovers!

We just chillin' with some hot wine, meatballs and other
traditional Finnish Christmas delicacies.
We are watching Victoria's Secret show from
earlier this year.
Ha!
And lovin' it too.

We wish you a lovely Christmas and a more than
wonderful New Year!

Love, E

Morning before Xmas Eve

I can't let my cold/flu take over my Holiday.

This morning, despite feeling lethargic...

My agenda is to finish wrapping presents.

This time around, I decided to go minimalist:

- inexpensive Butcher Brown Paper

- hemp twines in various colours

- & mini xmas ornaments

(ps: those xmas decorated papers are not mine)

Moroccan Kefta Tagine

I've been wanting to make this in ages...

And here it is... my Moroccan Kefta Tagine =)

Not bad for my first try.

Perfect with Baguette =)

If I were to be nice enough...

..then please Santa could you give me these beautiful things
for Christmas?
It would truly make me so glad dear Santa.
Oh what are they you ask?
Well...

..
Philosophy Shower Cream in Pumpkin Pie and Cinnamon Roll.
The most delicious little fragrances that I have ever smelled!
And completely free in America, crazy priced in Australia.
(Hate.)
This present would make me squeaky clean and smelling of
baking goods I don't even know how to make.

A book by the Sartorialist who happens to be one of my all time
favourite bloggers. I wish I had some style. Some real style.
I truly think this book could help. (Or is it too late already?)

I have always wanted to look like an old professor. A true academic
intellectual who smokes a pipe in their office full of books that no one
has ever even heard off. Oh and taxidermy! That is an important one.
Anyway getting a pair of Moscot's might be like taking a step closer.
A PhD would be the second one.

A bike. A bike that would use to swish my way to the local deli to
buy the weekend newspaper. A bike that I would then try and
balance between my two hands carrying a hot java and that
darned paper.

Oh and Santa would you mind making me Parisian chic while you are at it?
Thanks I would appreciate that very much indeed!

Love,
E
P.S I promise to be better next year too.

Amazing.

This is why I always wanted to get into science.
It just gives us so much insight about the life of us and others.
In this case it shows us something new about the lives of octopi.

Check it out!
Ah-ma-zing.
And imagine how cool it would be to just hang out in a coconut?

Love,
E

Empowered

Finally...

the bloody paper is done =)))

57 + pages----

nightmares

writing

editing

yelling

venting

crying

frustrations

anxiety

desperation

reading

analyzing

etc...

ALL worth it.

It feels great.

No words will (ever) suffice to describe how appreciative and thankful I am of my Love, Mikey-Ike. And of course the Parentals.

always w/ Love, A

Oh and sometimes rummaging pays off.

From the local shop found with my mum.
She sure has some good eye that lady!
And I only paid 1.50 AUD (1 EURO, 1.40 USD)
True vintage too it is!

Love,
E

Through the bubbly haze.

Last night we went to lover's work function and oh boy
they sure wined and dined us good.
Sushi for starters, Japanese hot dishes like tofu, beef and
chicken for mains followed by ice cream.
It was such joy and I had a blast just chatting with his
workmates!
But today is another day and as the wine goggles are losing
their strength I find myself dee in the melancholy chambers
of my inner self.
So I go and sell some stuff at a garage sale with my best girls
and together we make me smile and feel light.
It all seems better and now we are making tacos with my
mano at our little house on the beach that hasn't got much
but which we have filled with love.
It is quiet and I feel a bit more at peace.

Listening to this while heating up the soul food:



Love,
E

Good Bye...

my Mighty Lap Top =///

You've served me well for good long 6 years.

Thank you.

--- yups, my laptop crashed =/.

I was hoping it'll at least last until the end of this Semester, which is next week!

But sadly, she had to go...

Devastating really.

Christmas came knocking on my door.

So I have never been all that for Christmas and everything
that goes with it. But after moving to my new habitat of
hotness in tropical Western Australia I have started craving
the kind of celebrations that are very typical to my Northern
European roots. And yesterday I did it to a T.
Porkkanalaatikko I screamed and jumped in the car to drive
all the way to IKEA and buy half of their Christmas sortiment.

And look:

GB's.

Christmas candy canes and the Christmas Star (as in Finnish).

My humble abode all pimped up.


My house is now filled with all sorts of goodies like
hot Swedish red wine called glogg, gingerbreads,
decorations and even a singing me baking bread and
listening to my Christmas playlist.

Here's a favourite:



Now how excited are you about the celebrations?
I'm thinking I am about a 100. Non?

Love,
E
P.S I am wearing my vintage apron too. Lalalalala.

My perfect Xmas tree

I found my Perfect xmas tree!
- perfect shape
- already decorated (w/ canary/golden yellow ginkgo biloba leaves)

The only problem is I can't cut it b/c it's in a public park =///

ps: pardon my attire.

What do you do when there isn't enough ice cream...

Why... you half the darn thing.
My smart Mikey-Ike literally halved this individual size strawberry Haagen Dazs.

Lesson: always purchase an ice cream - Always! Or else you'll be halving what is supposed to be yours.

I think I am going to see this...

just for the heck of it. Lol.
It'll be good for me - I hope.

Now I am going to buy books.

This what I looked like yesterday.
Today?
Don't even worry about it!
I've been too busy doing things with
my lovely guests from Finland.
My day went something like:
go to yoga 5.30
come home 7.30
eat quick breakfast
pick people up
go to the beach
surf for one and a half hours
lie on the beach for two (totally forced!)
get a bit raw
take shower
take guests back
hug
buy new yoga gear
come home
die of exhaustion

OK so I didn't die but i sure
picked up some colour on my skin!

Love,
E

This is from BoingBoing.net

Funny conversation between book dealer and customers.
By Mark Frauenfelder on December 2, 2009 11:12 AM

The BookMine, an old and rare book dealer, has been collecting funny conversations with customers and would-be customers. Here are a few:

(phone call)
Hello. I have some old books for sale.
What kind of books?
Old ones.
OK. What subject areas?
Where does it say that?

(grown-up, looks around)
Do you have any real books?
Yes.
Well, not like the ones you have here. You know, real books!

I'm not sure what you mean.
You know, books that are real.
Sorry, none of our books are real!

(phone call)
I have some old books.
Really, so do I.
How much will you pay me for them?
Good question. What do you have?
I'm not sure.
Why don't you bring them by.
Drive all the way downtown?
That's usually the way it works.
You're kidding!
Not really.
How much do you pay for books?
Depends on what you have.
Are there any other bookstores in town?
Yes.
What are their phone numbers?
Hang on, let me look them up for you.
(After being left on hold for 10 minutes, he finally hung up)

Take me back si si si oui oui oui.

I am cultivating my evidence for my Australian
visa. They want to know whether we have truly
loved. I want to slap them across their puffy faces
and tell them it's private. But none if it would help
so I keep hunting and gathering.
At the mean time I wish someone would spin back
the ye old time and get me back to that one hot
month and a half spent in the Basque Country with
the boy I love.

Love,
E

Things that make me happy post food poisoning.

1. Bright green silk skirts that look like a balloon was dropped
on your waist and then tied down with a tiny black bow.
2. New books that tell silent stories of love in its most subtle forms.



Oh and the food poisoning?
Just a little something something that I picked
up on the way. No biggie.
It's just that I seemed to trade in my parents and
get that instead. Bad trade that one.
But I live and learn my friends.
Live and learn.

Love,
E

About family.

We are the same.
All four of us.
I have your heart,
you have hers,
she has his and
he has mine.

We are of same blood and
when I leave you I leave myself.

Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving here today.
I don't believe in it... however, I like the spirit of it.

With that, I'd like to Thank my Family. Friends [like You, who still has the energy and patience to be around me]. And last but not least, my lovely Mikey-Ike.

Early Birds

Woke up early and quickly dashed off to the Market.
We missed out on these amazing eggs these past 3 Saturdays. I swore to myself that today I'd wake up extra early and wouldn't miss it again --- it paid off.

I love going to the Market before everyone does. Peaceful and the tourists are not awake yet (not that I have anything against them...). And I like looking at the produce nicely laid out - fresh and untouched.

Anyway, after the Market we headed back and had our delicious meaty-hearty brekkie.

For ages, I have been looking for really good Spicy Italian Sausage.
I tried different specialty stores, but to no avail

Until today, I think I finally found it @ Bocallone. *Yippie!

Above: Bocallone Spicy Italian Sausage w/ toasted baguettes.
Meaty and fresh (nothing like the store brand).

The "Soft boiled egg" - they're the kinda eggs that Nigella would have. Wasa. Half of the Spicy Italian Sausage. and Jamon Serrano.

And a cup of GenMai.

*smiling*

Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meeeeeeeeeep Meep-Meep

Taste Test: natto, gooey fermented soy beans

*This article is from BoingBoing.net. I thought you maybe interested in this...

By Lisa Katayama

In Japan, we eat soy all the time. For breakfast we have rice with natto and miso soup with tofu; for dinner we pop edamame into our mouths in between chopsticks-full of vegetables sauteed in soy sauce. I always assumed it was good for you, until I came to California and my health-conscious American friend told me that soy was actually really bad for you. So which is it?

Here's what we know about soy: unprocessed, it's a great source of digestible protein and has tons of vitamin B, calcium, and folate — all things that are good for you. It also contains isoflavones, and here's where things get tricky. Some studies prove that isoflavones are beneficial, while others have shown that it promotes breast and prostate cancer. Soy has also been called out as an agent of brain cell aging and thyroid dysfunction, too.

In her recent book The Jungle Effect, San Francisco-based physician Daphne Miller — who studied low cancer rates in Okinawa extensively — writes:

While Okinawans take in over 80 percent of their soy in a relatively unprocessed form as tofu, edamame, soy flour, soy milk, or miso, people in the United States eat a similiar percentage of their soy in a processed form. Our soy foods are heated, mashed, and denatured to create a vast array of substances ranging from Tofurky to fillers for tuna fish to ice-cream sandwiches... while whole foods offer valuable protection, concentrated or denatured derivatives of these foods are having the opposite effect.

The bottom line, at least for now, seems to be that good soy prevent cancer and bad soy might promote cancer. Good soy = tofu, soy sauce, miso, natto, edamame. Bad soy = soy protein powder, energy bars made with soy, fake hot dogs, tofurky.

A lot of Western people think natto — fermented soy bean — is gross because of it's gooey texture and stinky smell, but it's one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. It's filled with protein and great for a post-workout snack, too. If you're still iffy about it, why not combine the foreign with the familiar and cook some natto spaghetti? The slippery texture of the pasta cuts the gooeyness a little, and in my opinion this is a gentle way to ease natto into your culinary life.

Every installment of Taste Test will explore recipes, the science, and some history behind a specific food item.

Images via Jasja Dekker's Flickr and Gaku's Flickr

A

My hair is getting longer every minute. And I can hardly wait until it reaches my shoulders.

I've come to conclusion that unless I really have to (like grow my hair to give away), I won't grow my hair "below my shoulders" (mid length).

I was looking at my photos a few weeks ago and I thought I looked horrid when my hair was below my shoulders - ugh.

So either, "really long" or "really short."

What do you think of this band?

Weekend

Mikey-Ike made this for me. He's like my personal chef or rather I'm his taster - lol.
Olive roll. Mortadella. Salami. and a little bit of Mayo.

Just what I needed... on a Cold Fall Night.
Hot Cocoa with Vanilla Marshmallow on top.

Avec mon noveau chapeau dans la photocabine.

Today my parents left me to visit the city and I embraced my study materials yet again. But before that I managed to squeeze a teeny tiny visit at the local op-shop and what did I find if not an old vintage hat!
It is divine in a soft peachy colour and frills frills frills. The old lady gave it away for 1 AUD (0.65 EURO, 0.93 USD) and told me to have fun with it. I promised her I would and left straight for La PhotoCabine!

What a success!

Love,
E

I feel like the universe is at ease.

I feel great!
My parents are arriving tomorrow
and it must the most exhilarating
moment of my year in Australia so far.

So we celebrate by listening to some
Finnish classics. Some you might recognize
as covers and some might be brand new.
But they are fabulous all together!








And some funny trivia:
as I was writing the header for this
post I wanted to call it EXASPERATION
thinking that would describe my happiness
for my parents arrival.
Fail noticed when J actually Googled the
word for me.
Guess I don't know everything then!

Love,
E

"The Thin Red Line" by Terrence Malick

I'm not a big fan of war movies - I can't handle gory scenes and inhumanity of it, too much for me. Whenever I'm watching this sort of films my eyes are covered most of the time.

However, there is this movie that Mikey-Ike highly recommended I see, called The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick.

I've come to conclusion that Terrence Malick is one of all time favorite movie director. He also directed The New World, my other favorite film.

The movie The Thin Red Line is a must see.
It's a war movie and there are bloodshed scenes. But this movie is none other like war movies out there.

***a 1998 war film which tells a fictional story of United States forces during the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II with the focus on the men in C Company, most notably Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) and his conflicted feelings about fighting in the war, Colonel Tall (Nick Nolte) and his desire to win the battle at any cost in order to get a promotion, and Private Bell (Ben Chaplin) and the dissolution of his marriage back home while he fights in the war. - Wiki

(Characters)

Poetic. Poignant. Heart wrenching.

Takagi Masakatsu - Girls

Here's one...

This may make you a little bit sad but I think that at the end, it'll make you smile <3

***When 6-year-old Elena Desserich was diagnosed with brain cancer, she began hiding hundreds of little love notes around the house for her parents to find after she was gone. Here’s the story:

Just before her sixth birthday, Elena Desserich (right) was diagnosed with brain cancer and given 135 days to live. She lived 255 days, passing away in 2007. After her death, Elena’s parents, Brooke and Keith, found hundreds of notes from Elena hidden around the house — in between CD cases, between bookshelves, in dresser drawers, in backpacks….

"It just felt like a little hug from her, like she was telling us she was looking over us"

Elena left hundreds of notes like these:

(photo below is my favorite)

Homesickness.

A highly homesick Friday I might say.
Am like a little rattled piece of a person today.
Could you cheers me up?
Tell me of love, life and luster.

Love,
E

Holiday is just around the bend...

Went to Peet's. And they are now serving their Holiday drinks =)))))) Oh made me SmiLe... I had to try their Eggnog Latte, which was great, could have be even wayyyy better if it wasn't too sweet. Nevertheless, it was yum-O!

This is I think one of my ONLY reason why I like the Holidays. Oh except for the aroma of the Christmas tree - pine tree.

Still on the food path.

So as you might know breakfast is my
all time favourite meal. Most days when
I do my yoga practice in the morning I
enjoy not one but TWO breakfasts.
Normally I have oatmeal with honey,
fruit and almonds right after the training
followed by say a toast with beans during
lunch time.
All this because
1) I get super hungry waking up at 5.30
2) Come 7.30 I have already cranked the
downward dog for two hours
3) I despise lunch as a meal

So yeah anyway what I was coming to was
that sometimes it just happens that I get sick of
my oatmeal and just make this easy muesli instead.
It is by the lovely Donna Hay.

Peach and Coconut Granola

3 cups oats
1 cup flaked almonds
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups shredded coconut
2 cups chopped dried peaches

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Mix oats and almonds and set aside.
Cook honey, oil and vanilla over high heat
until the honey has melted.
Pour over oats and mix well.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 min or until muesli
is golden. Stir through the coconut and peaches
and allow to cool. Serve with vanilla yoghurt.

You must try it. It is divine!



Love,
E