maanantai 29. helmikuuta 2016

Higher and higher

I wanted to have a cabinet for glasses but there just wasn't room for one. I started to search for a smaller glass cabinet that could be put on the top of the already existing one. On Friday I happened to find (=searched and searched for weeks) a good candidate in tori.fi. My husband took out the legs and voilá, we have a perfect high cabinet and lots of room for our glasses.



There is still a slight problem with the stuff that was on top of the old cabinet. Some I'll put on the top of the new one but as the top area is smaller than before, I am bound to have some leftovers. Let's see what I'll come up with (maybe I'll have to store some stuff in the cupboard for the time being).

sunnuntai 28. helmikuuta 2016

Spicy things

We already had Stelton's Emma coffee thermos and when I saw these salt and pepper shakers in 60 % discount I just had to buy them. I still lust for Emma water cooker but hadn't found one in Finland.

The rosemary is from Lidl. I think the terracotta vase and the turquoise ribbon I added just for fun look great with the pastel coloured Emma shakers.


lauantai 27. helmikuuta 2016

Among other things

We drove to Kerava today to fetch a glass cabinet we bought through tori.fi. As we seldom (read never) visit Kerava, we of course had to check out the local antique dealers and flea markets. Luckily there weren't too many...At Oliver's antique (link) we found this (new) bear statue that wanted to come with us to decorate our hall in Vårkulla.


perjantai 26. helmikuuta 2016

Butternut squash lasagna



















Hint: Click the picture and text gets bigger!

The text in the picture is in Finnish, here is the English version:

700 g butternut squash, peeled and cubed
4 tbs oil
1 chili minced
1 garlic glove minced
1 red onion sliced
5 dl mascarpone
2 dl milk
pinch of muscot
100 g baby spinach
60 g walnuts lightly crushed
60 g parmesan grated
Lasagna plates (precook in boiling water for 2 minutes)

Put the squash and 2 tbs oil to a oven pan and bake for 20 minutes in 200 celcius (or until done).
Saute chili, garlic and onion in the rest of the oil til they are slightly coloured. Add walnuts and fry a couple of minutes. Add spinach and stri until spinach is soft. Mix mascarpone with milk. 

Assemble the lasagna:  put some squash into the oven pan, add some onion mix and some cheese mix and cover with lasagna sheets. Repeat. Pour the rest of the cheese mix on top of the lasagna sheets and sprinkle parmesan on the top. Bake 30 minutes in 200 celcius or until the top is nicely coloured.

keskiviikko 24. helmikuuta 2016

Start counting

I love old glass (no news here). The four old limonade bottles look great in front of the kitchen window. The numbers are decorations I bought a couple of Christmases ago. After Christmas I thought they don't look Christmassy at all and the bottles looked so much nicer with the numbers so they got to stay (I get this a lot...almost always after Christmas/Easter some things just stay put even after the season).



tiistai 23. helmikuuta 2016

Short fuse

I am no good at collecting. I need to have everything right away. Case in point: Klaus Haapaniemi designed Tanssi wall decorations for Arabia and I kind of wanted to buy all four at once. They were a bit too expensive and I decided to wait for awhile. Then, just after Christmas, Sokos in Helsinki sold these with 40 % off the price. I bought one (my husband thought they were still too expensive). Then, a week later, Sokos made an offer of 30 % off from the reduced price. This I just couldn't resist and bought the three I didn't yet have. So...it took me all of an week to create the collection. It is a good thing I don't collect diamonds..




maanantai 22. helmikuuta 2016

At least it is not too late

I decorated for Easter in the weekend. I know, it is not time yet but the tables seemed so empty after I put away the Christmas decorations and I wanted to have colour (there is none outside, only white and grey). My Easter decoration means eggs and more eggs, I don't have any yellow birds and things like that so the concept of early Easter decoration in our house is not as scary as it sounds...




sunnuntai 21. helmikuuta 2016

Chicken chili

Picture by Minna Järvinen (please don't copy without permission). Hint: Click the picture and text gets bigger!

The text in the picture is in Finnish, here is the English version:

2 pieces of chicken file in shreds
5 cm piece of ginger (peeled and minced)
1 tbs oil
2 tsp white vinegar
2 tsp honey
Mix and refrigirate for a day.

1 onion shredded
1 garlic clove minced
1 chili minced
2 carrots peeled and in julienne slices
2 tbs oil
1 red pepper in julienne slices
15 sugar peas in slices
1,5 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs peanut butter
2 tbs tahini
1 tsp strong chilisauce
1/2 dl water (or more if need be)
2 handfuls of spinach 

Bread or rice to serve

Saute onion, garlic,chili and carrot in oil. Up the heat and fry some colour to the vegetables. Add the chicken and keep on frying until done and slightly coloured. Add pepper and peas and fry till coloured. Add other ingredients but spinach and keep on frying till the sauce is mixed with other ingredients. Add spinach and stirr until the spinach is soft. Serve with bread or rice.

Yellow fever

If yellow is not the new white, at least it is the new turquoise. I've seen a lot of yellow in blogs and magazines and this kind of created a need to get me some, too. I found two yellow pillow cases from H&M home and got them for our sofa. Spring is here!


lauantai 20. helmikuuta 2016

Scary thought

I have a curtain pole in place, tassels to tie the curtains and a fabric bought from London years ago. Now I should start sewing - my least favourite task ever! My sewing projects usually start to go wrong at the moment I touch the scissors. Help, please...




perjantai 19. helmikuuta 2016

Morning coffee

It should be easy to buy a new coffee maker, but isn't. Our requirements: hot coffee (we put cold milk into the cup and the coffee must still burn your tongue), only one button (don't want to get confused in the morning), no separate parts (of which one you can't find and others fall from your stiff hands), simple design (no curves, no stripes, no "perky" colours)  and big enough to make 10 cups of coffee but small enough to fit on your kitchen work top and in addition we don't want to pay hundreds of euros for the thing. I almost cried when our Braun coffee maker broke at Vårkulla (after about ten years of service). We went to several stores and found nothing to replace it. Then we went to Prisma and found a new version of our beloved Braun KF 47/1. Now we are happy again!



Photo by Braun

tiistai 16. helmikuuta 2016

Give me strength

These two weights are no good if you try to strength train - the one is much lighter than the other. Well, they look rather good though and the price was right, 2 euros for the two.


maanantai 15. helmikuuta 2016

Have a sip of Apsi

The last weekend was a good one for finds at flea markets. This one we bought from tori.fi and had to drive to Kotka in a terrible icy snowfall. Sinebrychoff made the non carbonated lemonade in 60's. The metal advert cost a little more than we are usually prepared to pay, but I think it was still worth the price (and ride) as I have never seen one like it.



sunnuntai 14. helmikuuta 2016

Happy Valentine's day!

We have been looking for (old) small stemmed glasses for schnapps for some time now. Yesterday we finally found a set of six in an antique store in Artjärvi (link) - you have to buy six or five because at least one is going to break sometime soon and then you'll be an unhappy owner of only three glasses (and guests very often come in twos).

The small glasses, organic berry marmalades and the small Pip studio (link) bowl I found today at flea market make a perfect vignette for Valentine's day.


lauantai 13. helmikuuta 2016

It's a crime

Did the Lone Ranger really advertise bread? Well, in the 50's he did. Luckily for us as this enamel board from 1952 is truly neat. We found it today at Villähteen kylähullu (link), a vintage store in Nastola.


lauantai 6. helmikuuta 2016

It isn't, is it?

I put the ribbon around the hare's neck when decorating for Christmas. And left it there...the ribbon is not really a Christmas decoration so it might stay for a while. By the way, I am already thinking of putting up all the Easter decorations, can't wait till March/April.