I served a bunch of my friends Easter Brunch (I'll be up north at my parents for actual Easter); it's been too long since I hosted people properly. I had such a good time in the kitchen beforehand (I hadn't made apple walnut bread in ages) and the morning was lovely with too many cups of coffee (as always for brunch) and I got the prettiest tulips ever. I love these girls!

Favorites on the soundtrack:

Etta James: A Sunday kind of love
Amos Lee: Sweet pea
Katie Melua: What a wonderful world
Michael Kiwanuka: Bones
Stevie Wonder: As
Edward Sharpe&The Magnetic Zeros: Home
Aretha Franklin: I'm sitting on top of the world
Rosie Thomas: Say hello
The Little Willies: Love me
Ingrid Michaelson: Over the rainbow

Bacon pasta and J.Karjalainen for Monday. Life is challenging, inspiring and good.

Good morning darlings. Our backyard is clearing of snow; there are patches of green grass! I can't wait for the day they put the table and the chairs out in the garden, oh. (Come dine with me then!) I've been listening to lots of Aretha Franklin. And yesterday I cried (wept) when Taru Ratilainen sang in The voice of Finland. I just love her voice, there's so much soul. Singing like that wakes something up in me, a deep longing, a deep joy.

But I'm off to work, have a good day!

This is Ahola, the house my dad lived his childhood in. It's been empty since grandma and grandpa moved into the city in 1980. And it looks like it. It needs a floor to ceiling renovation inside and outside; the only thing fixed so far is the roof (this picture was taken before that). I dream about this house alot these days. How beautiful it will be. Our summer house. A place where we (me, my sisters and brothers) will spend lovely summers together with our families, where life will be slow and good, where we'll eat breakfast outside in the sun, where we'll farm, where I'll spend most of my time in the kitchen. This coming summer we’ll start the renovations, it'll be lots of hard work but I can't wait to get my hands into it!

On Sunday me and Kata had brunch at Pacifico (Helsinginkatu 15). Hadn't been anywhere for brunch in ages! Pacifico's Sunday morning gets points for the cozy, relaxed atmosphere, a live DJ, good coffee, a toaster and fresh pineapples.

(Where are your brunch favorites in Helsinki?)

Hello. And welcome! This shall be a place for me sharing things that inspire and thrill me, my dreams, my heart, how I see the world, how I love.

(Clean laundry gives me great pleasure, among many things.)

I'm very happy you found your way here and I hope you'll be back often. And say hello!