"Sen kuvan kun muistaisin kädessäni kantaa joka päivä, valitakseni paremmin, kiinnittyäkseni ihoihin, hiljentääkseni ilman, niin että sanat löytäisivät kotiin. Jotta kämmeneni kupertuisi poskelle, silittäisi hiukset, nostaisi lusikat hitaissa kaarissa, painaisi pianosta sävelet, jotka pudottaisivat surut lattialle, pyyhkisi yhden tahran pois ja antaisi toisen olla."

(Mirjam Lohi: Nuttu)

(Picture by Helena Mackey)

Maija is one of my all time favorite models and this is one of my favorite portraits of her (shot on film, naturally). The picture is not posed at all: she was either moving in or out (I lived in the same house) and there we were sitting and talking in her empty apartment and I realized how beautiful the image was and said wait, I'll go get my camera.

I miss Maija and I would really like to see her growing tummy!

A long day, a breakfast date with Helena at Brooklyn Cafe, a coffee break from work in Good Life Coffee (it is a tremendous blessing to have the best coffee in town just a couple of blocks away from the theatre!) and a reminder on the way home that our premiere is just two days away!

PS. I realized this morning that I wouldn't mind living in Punavuori at all!

I had these lovely two over on Sunday.

(I had a day-off, glorious. I went downtown and came home with this.)

It's a year since I started How she loves. I've had rewarding moments of creativity and many of wanting to just quit the whole thing. I'm happy you've found my blog and I'm very happy to know many like it here. I'll keep encouraging you to say hello as you come for I really like knowing who's around and what moves you. I want to give something and hearing from you makes it all worthwhile. Every little hello is a delight! (I might have some regular features in the future, we'll see. Contents will however not change; it'll be people, the kitchen, dreams, the beautiful in life.)

Baking is one of my favorite ways to relax. I love the magic of it: how by putting simple ingredients together you can create something that smells and tastes delicious, comforts and makes one happy. I'm working tonight but it feels like a day-off: the sun is shining from a clear blue sky and I have a banana bread in the oven. The week's been long and exhausting but good and fun too. Good Life Coffee's latte has never tasted as good as this week in between rehearsals.

I haven't been taking any pictures (no wonder): this one's from a children's book, I love the illustration! Love and forgive folks and have a good weekend!

Tell people how lovely they are!

Rehearsals at work have swept me away, hence the silence here (and the unmade bed and the piles of clothes all over). But it is Saturday, I am not working and the sun is shining. I'll go see my littlest darling Iiris today and mom and dad are in town too. Have a good weekend sweethearts!

I came home from work, put good music on and started cooking for the coming week. We'll join rehearsals tomorrow and the days at work will be full and long for quite some weeks and I'll be happy to have meals in the freezer.

QUICHE LORRAINE

100g butter (hard)
250ml flour (I used 100ml almond and 150ml spelt today, I sometimes mix wheat and spelt or just use wheat flour)
2tbsp cold water


Mix butter and flour with your fingers and add water. Line a round tin (26cm or smaller) with baking paper and spread the dough over the bottom and a little on the sides. Refrigerate while you prepare the fillings.

My favorite filling is bacon (about 300g, cut and fried), onion (one, cut and glazed) and chantarelles. I also make spinach feta quiche often, using 200g of goat milk feta and 500g fresh spinach (blanched for about a minute in boiling water). Today I had a go on what I had in the fridge which was 250g spinach, 170g bacon, some sundried tomatoes and an onion. I cut and fried the bacon and the onion, added the fresh spinach to the pan and last the tomatoes. (Could've added some parmesan.)


200ml cream
100ml whole milk
3 eggs
salt
pepper


Pour your fillings on the dough and pour the cream-milk-egg mixture over the fillings. Bake in 200 celsius for 35-40 minutes.

I can't get enough of this little one!

I love homes. They tell a lot about their owners. I love being invited and hosted. Henni's home is very cozy and she serves something scrumptious everytime. And ah, look at the handsome man in the house (in the armchair)!

I had Helena over for breakfast and thought it was about time to make banana bread again. I appreciate and cherish time with Helena all the more now for she's moving abroad in May. She's a gem and she makes me very happy.

BANANA BREAD

100g almond flour
90g wheat flour (300ml flour altogether)
40g (230ml) shredded coconut
50g (75ml) cane sugar
a pinch of salt
1tsp baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda
1tsp cinnamon

3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
100ml oil


Combine the dry and wet ingredients separately, beat the wet mixture a little and then mix all together. Bake in a greased bread tin in 180 celsius for 50-60 minutes. Serve toasted with Philadelphia (or as it is).

The original recipe has 230g wheat flour; I've tried different combinations and I have to say this was my favorite. You can make the bread gluten free by using a combination of almond and rice flour for example but I like using some wheat flour because it helps the bread stay together better and not crumble so easily. I've also reduced sugar to a third and replaced butter with oil (which makes the bread moistier and a little lighter). The bread stays good for about 3 days.

Have a happy Tuesday!

I discovered Tanja's cozy kitchen.

It was Jessika's last day at work before she goes travelling. We had breakfast at Sis.deli (still loving it, all the more) before work and actually started a breakfast review series. We really had nothing bad to say about Sis.deli's breakfast. And Jessika had made a super scrumptious raw cake for work!

I was feeling down after some more phonecalls offering me expensive flats. Coming home I found a package from mom with this beautiful linen tablecloth (we talked about tablecloths the other day on the phone and I mentioned I'd like a linen one). Mom really knows how to do these things. Thank you!!

Whatever difficulty or challenge or waiting you're in, remember, it's only temporary. This is not it; there's a whole bunch of good things ahead in life!

Last night I finished Piiat (The Help) by Kathryn Stockett. A gripping and thought-provoking book, written well and obviously from the heart. I'm having a day off, the sky is blue and the sun is shining. I'm off to my sister's to bake some more of last Sunday's bread.

A calm Sunday after a packed week was welcome. I made spinach pancakes for lunch, a good old favorite. Here's the recipe:

SPINACH PANCAKES

(makes about 9 big pancakes)

400ml whole milk
1tsp salt
2 eggs
about 200ml spelt flour
1tbs oil or melted butter
150g frozen spinach (melted)

butter for cooking (make the pancakes as thin as possible to get crispy edges)


I love these with gooseberry jam. (My mom makes amazing gooseberry jam and I'm terribly sorry she didn't last summer).

Oh the light of day!

My friend moved on Sunday and I made bread that's a little like ciabatta (I've named it Greek Country Bread because I originally put olives in it) to serve the movers. (I also made one for home and had some for lunch yesterday. And blood grapefruit, a new acquaintance!) The bread came out delicious with a lovely hard crust. I love to put lots of time and effort into baking bread; this recipe is a somewhat fast solution for scrumptious bread. I'm still after big, wonderful air bubbles and I'm hoping to make and maintain a good sourdough that could serve me for a long time! But here's Sunday's recipe:

 

COUNTRY BREAD

500ml water (37 decrees)
25g fresh yeast
2tsp salt
300ml spelt flour
about 700ml wheat flour


Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add salt and spelt flour and mix. Last add wheat flour in parts and gently fold it in with your hands (I kneaded the dough a little). The ready dough should be very soft and a little elastic but not sticky. Leave to rise for 2 hours under a kitchen towel in a warm place. (If you want to make one very large bread leave it rising in one bowl but if you want to make two smaller ones separate the dough into two bowls and then let rise.) Very gently lift the dough onto a baking paper (and fold it a few times over itself maybe, very gently) and form into a loaf. Leave to rise for about a half an hour under a kitchen towel. Turn the oven on to 250 celsius and put a baking tray in the oven (the hot tray will ensure you a crispier crust). Sprinkle flour on top of the loaf and with a sharp knife make a few cuts (5mm deep) on the surface. Take out the hot tray, pull the loaf on it and place it on the bottom level of the oven. Pour 100ml of water in the bottom of the oven. (This also helps to create the crispy crust.) After 10 minutes lower the temperature to 200 celsius and pull out the baking paper. Bake for another 25 to 35 minutes; the bread is ready when tapping the bottom of the bread you hear a hollow sound.



It's our sister-in-law's birthday today. Me and my sisters went and surprised Sanni with a cake. Our littlest one (their daughter) is growing so fast; she's 3 months in a bit!

There's something about Africa that steals your heart. There's a deep-rooted joy you don't find anywhere else. And living so close to the earth. There are the smells, the sunrises.

I miss it all. And the thought of yet living in Africa for some time never really leaves me.

(The picture above was taken somewhere in South Africa in 2007 and the one below in Douenza, Mali in 2003, both on film.)

For two weeks or so now I've mainly just been lying on the couch, reading (Vanhan rouvan lokikirja by Kyllikki Villa), watching Jamie's 30 minute meals and cleaning closets. I'm happy I actually managed to spend the holiday with almost no planning ahead (and not entirely in the kitchen either!) Tomorrow it's goodbye holiday, hello work!

I'm going through closets (and making a terrible mess) and I found this on a piece of paper:



People important to you, people unimportant to you, cross your life, touch it with love and carelessness, and move on. There are people that leave you, and you breathe a sigh of relief, and you wonder why you ever came in contact with them. There are people who leave, and you breathe a sigh of remorse, and wonder why they had to go and leave such a gaping hole.

Children leave parents, friends leave friends, acquaintances move on. You think on the many who have moved into your life with hazy memory. You look on those present and wonder.

I believe in God’s master plan for our lives.

People move in and out of each other’s lives, and each leaves his mark on the other. You find you are made up of bits and pieces of all who have touched your life, and you are more because of it, and you would be less if they had not touched you.

Pray to God that you can accept the bits and pieces in humility and wonder, and never question, and never regret.



(Lois A. Cheney)

I turned 31 last week and celebrated a little in good company. One of the birthday cards had this lovely poem:


I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

(Maya Angelou)

Hello, new year!

I woke up at twelve, had breakfast and stayed in bed until three finishing Kirjallinen piiri perunankuoripaistoksen ystäville (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann shaffer and Annie Barrows) that I got from Henna for my birthday. Such a lovely book! (And such a lovely way to start a day, haven't done it in ages. I'm on holiday and have absolutely no schedule for the coming I haven't counted how many days, ah. And I need it, the autumn was packed.)

I've often written a TOP 10 of the things I want to see happen in the coming year. (I love writing lists.) Now I don't know where to start and it feels a little weird — but I also think it's a good sign: I guess I'm more satisfied with where I'm at. And that's where I really want to be: present, here, today. I want to love and give all I can today. I want to expect less of myself and have more grace and let the Father's love sink deeper. I want to read more, lie on the couch more and keep dreaming big things.

I wish you all a happy, fulfilling year with loving people and adventures around you. I'll keep telling you about the things I love, the people, the moments, the places, the beauty. I hope you keep coming around and I hope you leave with something.

I have two sisters and two brothers and all of us spent Christmas together at our parents this year. 15 people and a dog. (We might be too many for one house in some years.) I am very happy about this bunch.

I had Eva over a week ago and we had such good times, much of them over breakfasts. On Sunday we went to Goodpie Bakery's Galleria Keidas (Fleminginkatu 7), it was my first time, and I have to say I was very impressed. A beautiful place, gorgeous details, yummy side dishes you get to choose from for your breakfast buffet and perfect old-time Christmas carols. And our deep conversations. Happy days.

On Thursday my holiday started off perfectly. After work I stopped to listen to a string quartet in a metro tunnel; they played Bach so beautifully (and I was so happy and emotional over the holiday just starting) that I stood there tears streaming down my face. The day was topped off by Home alone at a friend's place. Happy days!





On Friday we had pizza at Krisse's new place where she just started renovations.



Now have a blessed, peaceful, beautiful Christmas everyone. Eat well, play your
favorite songs and cherish the good times with your nearest and your dearest.