Kevät tulee!

Kevät on tulossa Helsinkiin - Spring is on it's way in Helsinki

Usually Easter marks the start for the spring in my mind. I remember the feeling approaching Helsinki after Easter when coming back seeing my gran in middle Finland (Savo) when I was a kid - not much snow on the ground and much warmer than 5-6h before...

This year we are spending Easter in Helsinki - the snow is going fast and the weather is varied - from sunny spells to foggy wet mornings (similar than at the beginning of the film Silence of the Lambs when Clarise is running in the misty wintry forest - when her breath is clearly visible from mile away and the bare tree branches set against an oppressive grey sky, meeting somewhere between impressionism and expressionism...)... Yes we have started our morning nordic stick walks in 'Mustavuori' (=Black Mountain... a hilly forest area really)...

Lumi sulaa ja linnut muuttaa takaisin... Snow is melting and the birds are returning...

Yes, the morning alarm sound is not like bird song to our ears, but we'll get up and face the nature - less snow and more twiit-twiit-twiit every morning (+weirdly dressed bird watchers in noisy multi-colour shell suits). I guess soon we should lower the boats into the water and so on...

Kunnes jäät sulavat... - Until all the ice melts...
['tämä on vene' (=this is a boat)]

Mämmiä - kiitos!

nam nam...

'Mämmi' is a traditional Finnish Easter time dessert made from rye flour and malt. It has a brown and sticky appearance (yes, it does look like...) and as far as mämmi is concerned there are two types of people: those who love it; and those who hate it. There's no middle ground.

'Mämmi' can be bought ready-made from a shop during Easter in a variety of boxes and sizes. Making mämmi isn't hard either; it just takes quite a lot of time... As you might not get this delicacy elsewhere than in Finland - you might wish to prepare it yourself (we strongly advise against this!): 5 bowls made out of birch bark (?), 3.5 litres of water, 1kg of rye flour, 1/4kg of malt (preferably rye malts), 2 tablespoons of syrup, 2 teaspoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of orange peel. 'Mämmi' is usually eaten with cream or milk & sugar. And apparently it will take you approx. 30mins of nordic stick walking to burn a small bowl of this stuff - so perhaps you don't eat it at all...

Hauskaa Pääsiäistä!

Tipuja rairuohossa

'Rairuoho' (= Easter grass) is growing fast and is ready for the Easter and some local chicks have already found it as their home... Hmmm... How is your rairuoho doing - esp. peops I sent the seeds to? Is it as green and dense as the one above? Let us know! Any wildlife there yet (yes - the chock eggs are counted as wildlife in this case). Happy Easter time to everyone!