Countdown to Christmas

Facebook is my point of reference these days. As it happens, I found the perrrfect Christmas calendar on my friend's wall.

Täydellinen joulukalenteri

Jokaisena päivänä otetaan käsittelyyn yksi ennakkoon määritelty kaappi/hylly/tietokoneen räjähtäneeksi päässyt tiedostokansio /nurkka/"se laatikko, johon kerätään kaikki se, mikä ei kuulu minnekään". Sopivan pieninä annoksina. Kohde siivotaan, hankkiudutaan eroon ylimääräisistä asioista tai siirretään kyseiselle objektille sopivampaan paikkaan. Samalla merkitään ylös kaikki se, joka puuttuu tai vaatii toimenpiteitä (kuten liesituulettimen palanut lamppu, kengän puuttuva korkolappu tai kavereilta lainassa olevien esineiden palauttaminen). Nämä puolestaan hoidetaan kuntoon erikseen määriteltynä joulukalenteripäivänä. Ja sen jälkeen nautitaan pala hyvää tummaa suklaata/ kuppi kaakaota/ lasi viiniä/ kävelylenkki ja hymyillään leveästi. Ja tadaa, uuden vuoden alkaessa on edessä tilavampi kämppä, toimivampi arki ja kehittyneet hymylihakset.

In short the idea is to handle a mess / folder / shelf / corner each day and reward yourself afterwards for a job well done. I so need to do this anyway, so here's the perfect way to make it as fun as possible.

Tomorrow it'll begin...

In a Land Far Far Away...

I had something of a breakdown yesterday. My grandmother passed away in October and she surprised us grandchildren by leaving us 2500€ each. Since this was really unexpected I thought it would be acceptable to spend the money just as I pleased. I could easily think of a ten things to do(ncluding renovating our upstairs toilet, saving it, etc.) butsince everyone around is travelling to Thailand during the six months to come, I couldn't help myself and let the travel fever get to me. So I booked flights to Phuket (a VERY good deal) fot the whole family for two weeks in March. The best part was that my little sister did the same so we'd be travelling together. The kids would've loved it! But then, reality check: My husband couldn't go. I still don't understand the whole reason (being the CEO he has to be present just then as they are doing something REALLY important). I consideredgoing anyway, and to replace my hubby with my big sister (who stopped by on their way to Thailand yesterday and said she'd go) but finally I had to admit to myself that I didn't want to go without him.

What this all lead to was tears from a) the disappointment of not going to Thailand, b) lack of sleep and c) a sudden realisation that my grandmother is dead and the amount of my missing her.

Fame (but where's my fortune?)

If anything TupaJumi managed to raise unprecedented attention from the local press, not to mention the police...

Already before the actual Restaurant Day a journalist from the local paper called and asked to do a story about TupaJumi and us. Since we were afraid of a huge crown turning up we agreed on a small cover with specifics about booking a table beforehand and our limit of 20 customers. The story didn't even mention my contact details. So you can imagine my surprise (and panic) when my phone rang in the evening of the day the paper was published and an old man booked a table for him and his wife! He had seen the story and found my number in the Internet. Not too hard I imagine but I was caught with age racism as I found this surprising since the man was well over his 70s.

Well on the way of the restaurant opening hours another journalist called from a the main paper in Päijät-Häme region and asked to come over with a photographer. They were going to visit the other pop up cafés close by as well but since they got the scoop of the day at my place, we were the center of attention in the Sunday paper. You see, while the journalist and the photographer were here, the police showed up!! I was more or less panicked (for no apparent reason) while the press were ecstatic. The poor police officers were visibly embarrased that they were ordered there to check if a) we were serving alcohol beverages (strictly forbidden in Finland in commercial purposes unless you have a permit) and b) if we were causing (or experiencing) any disturbing behaviour. Since we were not guilty of either offence, they left to check the other pop ups.


Fortunately Rontti-the-Cat was in the leading role in the teaser for the following day's story =) Afterwards, I blushed when reading a blog about the visit to TupaJumi; the praise was a bit too much...

All in all I'd say that the best thing about the whole process was the time I spent with my childhood friend Sanna under the guise of hosting a restaurant. Definitely worth participating in the event again!

Would you eat with the Furniture Beetle?

My husband says that I have something called "activity cell" which makes me volunteer and sign up to do all kinds of labouring activities even as I'm stressed out and busy as it is. This time I ended up participating in the Restaurant Day and opened a pop up lunch café for one day.

TupaJumi (= furniture beetle but also "Cottage Stuck" meaning you can pause at our home from your busy life for a moment) opened its doors at noon and served the hungry crowd (?!) for three hours.

Menu
Bubbling Currant Drink
Velvety Beetroot Soup with a Touch of Blue Cheese Turnip Chips with Herbs Carrot Scones
Blueberry pie with Home Made Vanilla Ice Cream

The idea with the whole menu was that all the ingredients were organic and grown as close as possible. I think we managed this goal pretty well; to the point that the herbs and currants were from our own back yards. I even managed to get some unprocessed milk from an organic food store in Lahti.

The food was praised and an old gentleman of our clientel even gave us five Michelin stars (because he had just changed into winter Michelin tires). But more about the event itself in the next post! Nighty night, don't let the furniture beetle bite.

Here goes

So I decided that my life wasn't hectic enough and started a blog. Not the wisest thing to do at 0.06 the night between Sunday and Monday. Being a stay-at-home-mom it doesn't matter as much since I don't have to wake up early in the morning to go to work. My work wakes me up for the first time in about an hour or so and stays glued to me till the morning when I'm the first one to get up to make breakfast for my other employers. But hey, I'm not complaining, just trying to be funny ;-)

I had a hard time deciding on the language of this blog and as the wittiest of you might have noticed ended up choosing English. The reason is that this might be a good way to keep my non-Finnish-speaking friends up to date on my life plus to keep up with my fast disappearing language skills (baby talk doesn't count here).

Enjoy. I'm off to bed.