QUICK RED CARROT PASTA

You know I like to eat a lot of pasta! Here's one dish I remember I used to make quite a lot when I was studying as it is fast and affordable; red carrot pasta:
Cook up pasta (tagliatelle works best I think but here I just had plain whole grain spaghetti) and add thinly sliced -  use a peeler or cheese slicer- strips of carrot a minute or two before the pasta is due.  Serve with red pesto, store bought, or make your own by mixing sun dried tomatoes in basil oil with nuts and seeds of your choice, some oil, a little bit of vinegar and salt.

If you want some added protein along add crumbled tofu. Or, for a non-vegan version an egg or cottage cheese. Or ricotta.

Normally I go of for 50-50 with the carrot and the pasta and sometimes a little more of the later.
You can make this all-vegetal too (or raw) by leaving the pasta out and just go for the carrots (raw or steamed or cooked depending what you're in to. In that case it works best to grab some zucchini along as well.)

Dag likes it. As long as it has much ketchup on it.
(Seriously, what is it with kids and ketchup?)

SHOE RAINBOW

I had one of those la-la-la moments when I should have been doing lots of other more useful tings than be arranging some of my shoes by color.

Well, this was not totally useless however as it looked nice there on the floor - I learned I have no less than three pair of shoes in the same bright red shade. (One pair is a tad too big and will thus have to go *wink wink*.) And, furthermore, I noticed I have no bright green shoes!  In fact, I have very few green anything, just the green dress I made myself last year. Grönt är skönt. I need more green! Oh, what a perfect reason...


No but really. Even if  may be feeling the greens now, I am actually trying to get rid of things. Clean some out, tuck some away for later, make some space. I am back to that usual when-will-I-ever-get-to-wear-anything- limbo of mine with little free space and lots of clothes that are waiting to be worn (vintage skirts and silk dresses don't hang out int he park with toddlers, and whenever I go somewhere without Dag it's mostly to work which I do in totally different garments...) but with nothing actual to wear.

But my shoe rainbow was cute anyway.
(Hmm hmm green...)

MILK PAINTED

Last summer I painted a shelf with milk paint (old and traditional powder paint one blends out with water and that dries super quickly) and then went a little crazy with it after that; painted lots of random objects that came in my way -  some boxes, a flower stand and ceramic pots. The two later have now been paired together and sit rather well together, sort of blend in - same shade, different material.

WARM AND SUNNY

 We had a couple of warm days and stayed a bit longer out on the farm. Like a sneak peek of summer!

 The leaves are budding.

Dag was out even before he got his pants on!

 I did my yearly replanting and -potting of plants and cuttings.

 The neighbour's cows are out now. Dag is very excited!

 And a little frightened too.

 The cats follow our trails.

 Piggy-back ride away from the frightening cows.

 Then we say hello to the lambs too, who are still waiting for more grass to grow before moving outdoors.

 In the barn.

 Dag offering some straws to the babies.

Itchy teeth!

And then onto new adventures!

(...which would be the cousins' trampoline!)

LONG OR SHORT, BANGS OR NO, SUMMING IT UP

I always considered myself to be a one-hairstyle kind of person; thought of myself to have had just long hair and that’s it. But once I thought about it I realised that’s not really true, well  you saw that from my little hair-anthology a while back and before that (way before) I went trough the usual teenage-henna-red phase, had my hair (almost) black then spiral permed for some years. Photo proof might come at some point here. (Or, in some cases already has...)
And then, as you know, at the mature age of almost-thirty I cut it short for the first time in my life.

Since I just recently cut my bangs back I and now have long(er) hair again I have most styles rather fresh in my mind (all yeys and neys came to me in an instant after cutting!) I thought I'd list some pros and cons,  for how each hair style has worked. For me, that is. It might not work the same way for everyone else, but can perhaps offer some think-upons for those pondering a new move?

Short.

When I cut my hair short it felt all "I'm free!" But au contraire to what I thought, my life did not get any easier.

My hair was cut in a Sassoon halo-cut, which is similar to the classic cut of yesteryears, the middy. Such a cut allows for great sets of curls, but for many and my hair at least -which seems rather straight until cut and sudden waves in different directions appeared - it did look quite awful unstyled. No 'brush and go'- there, although it was rather easy to just curl the edges a bit to be able to leave the house.

To pin-curl and set it took forever and was so tiring and my arms started to ache half way trough! I have a lot of hair.  Shorter hair requires less hair per curl, and a smaller such, in order to be able to form the curl. (The same goes when heat styling, if you want it curly-curly you have to take very thin strides of hair). At it’s shortest some hairs were too short to be able to roll properly. Muchos annoying.

Jackets and scarves will mess your short curls as the collar often hits you in the neck just where your locks would like to hang. Obviously more of a problem during the colder seasons, but then again we have a lot of cold.

When my hair was very short I could not fasten it properly and that was annoying, plus, if you like to make hair do's like I the options were more limited. With hair long enough to be fastened, options returned. Plus you can clip on extras for fancy do's then too.

On the bright side I had to have it cut quite often and that did my hair good and it grew well and quick. This ,ay mound like I did not really like having short hair at all; which is not true. But for now, I will leave it long.

Long.

Long hair… well, suddenly I almost have it again, things are "back to normal".

Well, um, the options to make pretty any up-do you can mange.

The longer the hair the better it looks with less curls, so at this length I have now I can fix it pretty quickly by just curling edges with heat .

In my case it is easier to pin curl my hair when longer, as the curls can be bigger with more hair which makes the rolling faster. Just a few ones will already give a nice wave to my hair.

Long hair takes forever to dry, especially when rolled into a not-even-wet-just-damp -set. I will need 24hours or so to get it dry.

If kept open you need to remember to carry a bush along because it gets messed up easily.
(I always carry pins too, to be able to change into an undo if the curls go flat or so, or just if I want to fasten it for pratical reasons..)


Bangs or no

I had bangs during most of my childhood, a thick straight fringe in the early- and mid eighties, then some some hideous thin version combined with scrunchies and hair bands in the very early nineties. (Around the same time those big wooden parrot earrings were very pop over here. Just before the plastic pacifiers and dolphins came. Hhhhuh.) The kitchen scissors went back and forth for a few years when I was in my twenties.

I started growing them away "for good" about five years ago,and the growing-out part is pretty awful at certain lengths. I remember the main reason (which may also have been the only one, but that I can't remember) : Although I liked my bangs I realised my face in general just looked better without.

I also though a clip on fringe was the solution to everything.
But, of course, turns out faux never really feels 100% like the right thing (oh, really?) and so clip on bangs and the faux rolled bangs still couldn't hold down the urge to cut when I'd got it into my head.

Well, as you now I went for it. The cut. I had decided to wait until cap-season was over and until a couple of shows and my hair workshop were done and then I set in on letting an actual hair dresser do it this time. But ended up cutting it one late night i front ot the mirror snip snap instead!

It turned out a a little too wide and a little too short. Uh. Short, no problem, I remember it grows out quite quickly -and I feel they have settled a bit better buy now- but wide, gnah. That’s a problem for many years. After a few first days in agony I realised it’s just a few streaks of hair that should have been spared the scissors so I can learn to live with that.

As I said I know I actually look better, as in prettier, without bangs. But the look with bangs is sort of edgier and more styled and now I’m feeling that. Plus on me, it makes me look a bit younger. A doorman actually asked me for id to a nightclub last week (both things are big news, me seeming under 24 -Eddi teased me by saying the age limit probably was 30 that night, hah!- and the fact that I was at a nightclub).

But, on me, I feel I look worse without make up and with bangs, and in general need to wear a bit more eye makeup than I do without bangs.

Some more bang-related memories that came back to me the same instant I had lots of hair in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other:
Like said, the cold season; cap season, is a definite minus. Will mess up the bangs. (Apparently it wasn't over quite here yet. Damn you, cold winds! Which leads us to:)

Wind. Well wind fucks everything up, no matter what style. But bangs especially.
Which leads us to:

You always need to carry a comb or brush along.

Working and sweating when your bangs are too short to pin away from your face, that's nasty.
(If you manage to pin them away  you got a lot of work to do to get them back down and look somewhat normal again.) Which leads us to:

Trimming them too short. Too short bangs and I look like a Benedictine monk.
Well, been there done that this time already.

A lot of bending and curling in the mornings, most mornings.

However, once I have my bangs done I get away a lot easier with the rest -my hair in the front when not cut in bangs always required styling in order not to be blah, and it was more work than just rolling a pair of bangs. (One word: beret) After all that time of growing them out it wasn't that awesome in the end, to have everything in the same long length. Oh damn.

I have these annoying small sections of eager hair growing around the hairline that often want to lead a young rebellious life of their own. (One word, which will not be hair spray: beret) With the bangs fixed -and they are rather quick to do in the end - the rest is quite alright on it's own, random gathered buns don’t seem as floppy, my straight hair less boring. Ponytails look nice in an instant. That is the biggest bonus for now!

When the bangs are long enough they can join rolls and be tucked away or rolled to the side or so for some change in looks. I had to check back in my own blog to see what I used to do and it was quite a lot I see. And apparently not all stages of growing out bangs were that nasty either.

EACH OTHER

Each other from kokooma on Vimeo.

 You know I love animations, but I haven't really browsed or scouted such in a quite long time! This one was a little odd (like many artsy animations tend to be). But very fine nonetheless.  I like how it was drawn.

THE TEA DRESS

Spring, and Easter especially is the perfect time for all tings pastel or pink. Or floral. So I went trough some of my floral pink dresses during the holidays.

This is the Tea Dress from Vivien of Holloway. The pattern is very retro and bold, sort of crazy if you look close upon it - I don't think I would ever come up with the idea to get a fabric like this for myself if I was about to sew something, but I think it works very nice on this dress (and serves as a good reminder of how different a fabric works when seen separately before cut and sewn into a garment. The same goes for wallpaper too btw).

Eddi commented that the dress was rather nice without me asking him first which does not happen that often.  So it's a winner.

There's a new set of Tea Dresses out in denim fabric which I a coveting for the moment but hey, you can't have everything ;)

LEMON AND LIQUORICE

I got some fabric and some ideas and thought I'd sew myself some stretchy dresses now for the warmer season - I have come to notice very few of my actual dresses get any "screen time" due to the fact that I am the mother of a toddler. But you know my thesis, comfy and practical can be just as nice as something fancier if worn the right way.

I have a piece of yellow faric and a black lace appliqué I am going to turn into a simple pull-on dress. Before I reach for the scissors I have to make up my mind though, weather should I go for

A) a straight dress
B) an A-line, perhaps a bit shorter dress or
C) a dress with a flared hem.

Hmm hmm hmm. What do you think?

EASTER-Y THINGS

 Easter and time off! We're spending ours mainly out at the farm (although I will be doing a quick stop back in town on Saturday evening for a show.)

 Right now it's warm enough for no tights and small shoes! Well, for a while at least, on the sunny porch. A few more layers are required still if actually going somewhere...

One of Dag's older brothers bought home Easter decorations he made in school. I put them all on a tray along with his Easter grass and some flowers he picked me himself, as I don't like to spread small stuff out here and there in the house.

Otherwise I don't have any Easter decorations, but I like to buy home lots of colourful flowers for the holidays instead.

(Btw. Most Finnish houses will have an Aalto vase I think. I find it hard to fit anything and look good, but tulips. Tulips will always fall nicely in it.)

And my old test-tubes got some for them as well, and some tiny ones from the garden. Give it a week or two and there will be lots more to tube!

Mämmi in a Moomin bowl, could it get any more Finnish than this?

Mämmi (memma) is an old traditional Finnish dish eaten around Easter that with very little chance will ever be found somewhere else in the world. It is made of rhye and malt and sweetened. I prefer to get the organic version that is sweetened by itself (by letting it sit, sort of), but this year the supermarket was out of it (damn you, likeminded people!) so I got the regular one with molasses. Mämmi used to be such a big disappointment for me when I was little as you kind of expect it to taste like chocolate fudge or so, judging by the look of it. Well the taste is nothing like it; it is rather strong and perhaps a bit bitter too. But I like it! Traditionally it is eaten with milk or cream and sugar, but some spice it up with vanilla sauce or whipped cream, and I heard that a few drops of whiskey on top would be great.

I make my own version and eat my memma with fresh fruits, often apples and bananas, this time with pear and pineapple. And here's a little tip for my fellow Finns, especially those of you who don't consider yourselves to like it; do that, with fruit, and have it with some lemon quark (sitruunarahka)! Woohoo! I mean really WO-HOO!


I bought some big paper eggs to stash candy and eggs in for the kids. My grandparents had old paper eggs like this when I was a kid, and I was happy to stumble upon these.


I had to choose those with the most horrific motifs though. Seriously, does not this bunny freak  you out a little?

(Old easter bunnies -in some ways old anything costume related- do tend to be damn creepy, I mean, have you been around the internet lately?)

BUTTERFLIES FOR THE WALL

I got a roll of a classic Finnish wallpaper I've always liked and wanted to put up somewhere: Perhonen (Butterfly)! It will come up on one wall in Dag's room, which is still in the making (quite a long in-the-making, I know. It's not as if he's in a hurry to move out of our bedroom any time soon you know, and I just haven't gotten around to empty and change the messy study yet...)


The butterfly wallpaper was designed by Ritva Kronlund for Pihlgren & Ritola. The cherry blossom wallpaper that's one of my favourites and the snowflake- one I  had a few flats ago are also designed by Kronlund. I scout wallpapers all across the internet but always end up getting all of them (well, almost) from Tapettitalo (that carry all the old P&R wallpapers) in the end!


Perhonen has been in production for decades. It is labelled as a 50's wallpaper but I am not sure weather it was designed so far back or in the 70's, as most of her famous ones are from then. There is also a rather intensive black version available of the butterflies.

THE BEST BITES

If you never got around making your own raw goodies or if you have not tasted a lot of them, you may find the ingredient list somewhat monotonous: dates and nuts, nuts and dates. You might think there can only be so many combos of said main ingredients. But the thing is you can create an endless amount of different tastes, depending on what you choose to add along. If you think about it, a regular cake also (mainly) has the same base; eggs and flour and sugar and it's the rest that then defines it.

These yummy snack-cubes turned into my favourite for the moment! Inspired by a bar at the health store with vanilla and berries, mine also has cocoa and hemp seeds in them. The berries give a nice sour taste  and hemp seeds of course contains lots of nice fatty acids and proteins and what nots, you name it.

You will need:
Sunflower seeds, cashews and hazelnuts. About the same amount of each.
Real vanilla
Coconut oil (can be left out, or changed to a small amount of cocoa butter)
Raw cocoa powder, regular works just as well (this is also optional if you make a non-choco version)
Dried soft dates
Dried berries of your choice
Hemp seeds

As usual the amounts are a little so-so. Some people like their bars sweeter and stickier, some more dry and some more oily. I like mine perfect. Hehe. This is mostly for an idea of what to blend in that you can then use to make your own version of. As my usual way of doing thins, I just pour in and measure with the eye. I will however try and mention how much I used of everything for those of you less adventurous out there.

I mixed about 100grams of sunflower seeds and hazelnuts and a little more cashews in a mixer to a semi smooth texture. Add ground vanilla according to your own taste preferences along, same goes for  the cocoa powder. I put in some 3 tbs.

I scoop in about a tablespoon of room temperatured (=soft) coconut oil. Someone will always complain about the use of coconut oil in everything, and you can leave it out if you want to, although this is a good way to incorporate this healthy oil in your diet, plus it gives a nice add to the consistence of the mix. You may change it to a little but of melted cocoa butter or melted raw chocolate instead.

Then add the dates one by one until the texture feels nice and firm. I used about half of those cardboard boxes of dates. (Btw If you make a big batch like I did of 300grams of nuts you might have to divide the batch in two at this point so that your mixer won't overheat).

Finally add some dried berries and a handful or two of hemp seeds to the mix - you can work the in by hand. I had a mix of dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries and goji berries  (put in about 100g), but pretty much anything will do. Put the dough on a working surface, flatten it out and cut into cubes (or bars).



Yum yum, enjoy!
Store them refrigerated and well sealed.

A DAY IN TALLINN

I went down south for a day trip to Tallinn the other day. (For those of you who have forgotten your geography Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, a few hours south of Helsinki by ship.) I used to go there rather often before when working in the harbour, but now I think it has been at least a few years since the last time.

It was however not totally a day off but something of a work related trip, planning and brainstorming for showbiz and stocking up on supplies for costumes. It's quite common for companies to go on congress/recreation/meeting etc trips on or across the Finnish Bay for a day so we decided to do the same and have our meeting on board. With the company paying - well yes - which makes it even nicer! Of course, when your company consists of two persons and you do all the work yourself it's still you and only you who's paying, but flooing oneself a bit can be comforting.


Lots of coffee and lots of planning.


I had kind of hoped for a warm and sunny spring day and being able to wear my cape but it was cold and warm-jacket weather instead.


Red shoes on old streets.


Mandatory huge pancakes at Kompressor.

We had a destination in town too; a fabric and haberdashery outlet with a much better selection than the stores at home. We kind of went on a little (or, add " around "little"...)  detour on our way there.

So I took walk-by pics of old houses with details matching my boots, mint green bikes (of course) and random doves.


Shopping at Karnalux.
Seriously, anyone who has ever been into costuming in one way or another will know the mixesd emotions and agony of being in a place like this - the pain of knowing you will not be able to go trough everything, and the thrill of having so much to scout for, and then almost giving up and not tang anything because there is just too much. Seriously, it's like this for aisle after aisle, meter after meter in a few hundred square meters.


Lots of ribbons and such making their way back home with us.
(We later realised we should have stocked up on so much more when at it. Damn!)


So we had to calm our nerves at African Kichen afterwards. Vegan dinner and yummy cocktails.

And very tired after lots of walking and brainstorming on our way back home.
(As you can see I have 'done' something to my hair, smartly enough around midnight one moment while brushing my teeth at the same time, so we'll get back to that at some other point.)