the reward - palkinto

After faithfully picking off all the dried out flowers of my soft pink Marguerite daisy, I'm finally rewarded! A basket full of new flowers, dancing, swirling in the wind. A happy day!

We've packed ourselves and too much stuff into our tiny car, and will be travelling for the next two weeks. Happy, dancing and swirling summer days with old friends await us! See you in August, all you dears!

Uskollisuuteni on viimein palkittu! Ahkerasti jaksoin nyppiä jok'ikisen kuivan kukkasen marketastani, ja nyt koko hehkeän vaaleanpunainen korillinen kukkii uudelleen. Tanssii, kieppuu tuulesta riehakkaana. Onnen päivä!

Pikkuruinen automme on pakattu ääriään myöten täyteen kaikkea tarpeellista sekä tarpeetonta, sillä huristamme ympäriinsä seuraavat kaksi viikkoa. Onnelliset, tanssivat ja ehkäpä kieppuvatkin kesäpäivät vanhojen ystävien kanssa odottavat! Nähdään sitten elokuussa jälleen, rakkaat ihmiset!

home cooking - kotiruokaa

Home sweet home! After travelling around for a couple of weeks and eating this and that here and there it feels good to calm down for some home cooking. My favourite companion by the stove is Kotiruoka (Home cooking), a book that has guided Finnish women in the art of cooking for decades. It's been updated every now and then of course - my copy is the latest edition. The recipes I've tried are very basic but results have been well received in our family. And even though I'm not an enthusiastic cook and like to make things the easy way, I appreaciate the instructions for handling fish, meat and poultry. It makes me think I could gut a fish if I'd like to, and also use meat that hasn't been precut and vacuum packed. I could if I wasn't too, too lazy.

Again today I thought how beautiful food is, I mean the ingredients. Potatoes peeled and yellowish, carrots and sweet potatoes glowing in shades of orange, onions in translucent white, and olive oil in greenish gold. They became a pot of goulasch, tasted marvellous and fed the family. Beauty for the eyes, strength for the body and comfort for the soul.

a saturday by the river - lauantai joen rannalla