London's Finest Eateries

On my recent trip to England I bought a Lord Peter Wimsey novel and now I'm amusing (or tormenting, it's a fine line sometimes...) everyone around me by blurting out expressions like “right-oh, old friend”, “- and all that” and “Makes one uneasy when a fellow departs from the straight and narrow.” My affection for Lord Wimsey is not the issue here though, but to present some of the most enjoyable food-related experiences of the journey. I would add to this list Bocca di Lupo, where the food was divine, but was so busy wolfing (sorry, couldn't resist...) it down, that I didn't take any photos.

For breakfast we headed for St. John Bread and Wine. Lovely and relaxed, good, straight forward food, and across the road is the Spitalfields Market. One of my favorite food places in London.

The Best bacon sarnie ever.

Poached rhubarb and yogurt. I must try this at home when the rhubarb grows plenty.


Lunch at Ottolenghi. They have few places around London, we went to the one in Notting Hill. You can choose 2-3 salads plus a main course. Everything was lovely, but that broccoli was the best I've ever had.



Now, I'm still not the biggest fan of sweets, but if the good people of Ottolenghi recommend someone else's cupcakes, I thought they might be worth a try. And that they were at the Hummingbird Bakery. Perhaps the most fashionable thing to bake at the moment, with recipes in every magazine, in every shape or form, it surely has reached its peak soon? First there was the macaroon (lovely as they are, quite hard to make yourself), now IT is the cupcake, what next? asks the trend forecasting -person. As a friend of Miss Marple and something less sweet, I'm (hoping of) seeing the good-old-fashioned cake bubbling under. What was on the menu at St. John Bread and Wine? Seed cake and sherry!




And last but not least, fresh oysters at the Borough Market!

The Bestest of Stockholm

... or should I say my personal favorites? Anyway, here's my pick of the nicest places I found on my recent trip to Stockholm, Sweden, and I would recommend them worth the visit when you're in town.

The rug above is from a shop called Herr Judit who sell vintage fashion, accessory and furniture. We went to their shop situated in an old fire station. They also had lovely, old ladders, but I thought that would have been too much to be carrying back to Finland. Anyway, the rug will be perfect next to my book shelf.


Went to a bookstore, and bought socks. Right. Konst-ig, an art bookstore happened to have an exhibition by Yurio Seki, a Japanese Graphic Designer. She has a brand called "Salvia" and had few items and books on sale. Fell in love with the socks straight away, plus they're super comfy.

Had a lovely lunch in Urban Deli, but had to buy salt & vinegar chips too to take home, something that is quite hard to find in Helsinki. Also got some lavender, I've started to try and learn the art of baking, and so far the results have been quite promising. My favorite book at the moment is the Ottolenghi, and they had a recipe for lavender and honey muffins, which turned out really good!

Day in Tallinn

We seem to be surprisingly busy before leaving for the well-earned Christmas Holidays. Last week I went to Tallinn for work, to visit few textile factories. Luckily, Estonia is close, only two hours on the boat. After the work was done, I had couple of hours before the next boat back, so I was able to visit one of my favorite places in Tallinn, a restaurant/ café/ deli called Bonaparte. It's situated only about 5 minutes walk from the Townhall Square and well worth the visit. They do French style food, all products made at the premises. The food is lovely, as are the pastries, but to me still the best thing is the Earl Grey with jasmine -tea. It is served at the cafe and you can buy it also at the deli next door. Such a lovely scent in my bag all the way home...

Loviisa

These cute, pastel coloured houses are from Loviisa, about an hours to drive to east from Helsinki. They recently had their annual "Wanhassa Wara Parempi" exhibition, where you can tour the whole town and peek into old, renovated homes. This year they had also included an exhibition of modern art, and it was fascinating to see how the old houses and mostly vintage interiors accommodated the modern sculptures and paintings most of us are used to seeing in galleries. They didn't seem out of place, maybe because the homes were real homes of real people, who had built their interiors along the years anyway, they were not museums from hundred years back. A beautiful town, by the sea and well worth a visit.

And lovely vintage linen from Dora Jung at the local thrift store.

Wish You were here

After all the hard work with the new collection, I decided I had earned a change of scenery, I treated myself for a weekend get-away. It was a last-minute deal, but I was lucky to find a real luxury resort on a bargain price. Here's few photos from the trip.


"The journey was comfortable and interesting, although a bit bumpy. Thankfully also the luggage arrived safely."




"Our room for the night was cosy and with good air conditioning. The best thing about it was the view from the balcony though."

"The dinner was prepared by the chef de cuisine himself, and I have to say that it was one of the best meals I've had for some time."


"Even the tea we had the next morning was carefully and skillfully prepared and presented."

"Would be happy to recommend this place."

Summer in the fall

This summer we did a holiday-trip to Åland, which is the autonomus island off the south-west coast of Finland. The area is mainly swedish-speaking, extremely beautiful and very particular on it's nature.

We spent the first night in Kustavi at a place called Itätalo (the East House in english). The place is a wonderful example of a 19th century farmer's manor. The most important buildings of the area have been built in the 18th and 19th centuries. Based on what is known of the history, buildings have existed in the area as early as 17th century and the area has already been inhabited in the early middle ages.

As the night turned darker, the decision was to be made who was to sleep where. Accomodation was slightly primitive: there were sleeping quarters in the barn, the old granary and the old Seamstress's hut. Our party decided on the old farm house workers' quarters, Väentupa (from where the pictures are from), which dated back to 1700's. The building is almost in it's old glory thanks to well done renovation. The great fire-heated baking oven and humongous rafters dominated the room and the walls were lined with long dining-tables.

Unfortunately the tables were not heavy with delicacies from the old times, but the lady of the house prepared an evening meal suited to the atmosphere. Freshly picked mint-leaves from the garden spiced up the tea and warm rolls from organically grown wheat tasted delicious in the darkening night of Kustavi.

With great summer memories, Miia.

Designed to move

Photos courtesy of Pelago Bicycles

My favorite shop at the moment has to be the Pelago Bicycle, and their website. If I did not have two bikes already, I'd make myself the happiest girl ever by getting one of these beauties. These bikes saw daylight for the first time this summer, they are made in Europe, sold in a shop in Helsinki and created by two designers with years of experience of biking and building and fixing bikes. "Durable, useful, beautiful" is what they are aiming for, and after seeing these bikes, I couldn't agree more.

Midsummer memories

Sorry, bit late with these, but I only just managed to empty my camera. Photos are from the Finnish west coast, where half of Pattern Bakery spent their Midsummer holidays on the 19th-21st of June. Midsummer in Finland is the biggest summer party and a public holiday, the cities are deserted and the Finns head for their summer cottages and saunas. It's a celebration of summer solstice, a celebration of the sun that doesn't set. We had our sauna by the sea, a party of 20 people or so with extra accommodation in the tents, sparkling wine and menu of new potatoes, salad of cultivated and wild edible leaves and fish. Already looking forward to next year, thanks everyone!

Holiday with a capital H

Greetings from Merry Old England! From a Holiday! Which it truly was, as these typefaces on an old tree bark in Blenheim Palace were the closest thing to illustrations and patterns I got for few days. We got closely acquaintanced to some lovely food though, for example Chocolate Cakes at Ottolenghi and agnolottis at Bocca di Lupo, which has a great system of also selling half portions from their divine Italian menu. That means of course that you can sample more dishes. Greatly recommended next time you're in London.