World’s oldest existing champagne ?

A sunken boat was discovered in the Baltic Sea, in the Åland archipelago, in July at 45 meters depth by some divers. The boat is estimated to have been built during the first quarter of the 1800’s, and was carrying about 5 cases of champagne.

The champagne perhaps predates the French revolution and to many people’s surprise, it is still potable. According to the Finnish wine-expert that has tried it, “the champagne has not at all deteriorated, but has kept well as a red wine safely stored in a wine cellar”, and that “the aromas were impressive”. The bottles or some of the bottles maybe, are now being analyzed in France, and if their age is confirmed, it would be the World’s oldest existing champagne.

Nothing for us commoners that is, we couldn’t afford it.

Ready at hand

The weekend has been filled with snow relentlessly falling off the sky in all directions, and fortunately we have not had any power cuts that have occurred around the country.

Winter cold and snow storm has not out any restrain on exiting for the offspring, and very surprising news reached me by accident when having dinner yesterday.

I am aware of the drinking habits of the youth, and I do know the offspring also drinks alcohol. I do not like teenagers getting drunk but I see no way of prohibiting it either, I do not buy it, nor do I allow them to store it at home and they’ll do it anyway with or without our consent, just like we used to in our time. All we can do as a parent is to be there when needed and sometimes it takes nerves to listen to what you are told.

I know I am not told everything but it seems I get to know a far bit more than other parents and lately the stories have not all been very nice. This weekend a friend of the offspring, a first time drinker I am told, had had too much alcohol and passed out.

Fortunately the rest of the company was alert enough to call an ambulance, and with it saving the life of the adolescent.

With a blood alcohol content of 0, 40 % it was touch and go, just and barely, saving his life. And knowing that a blood alcohol content rating of 0, 20% means serious intoxication, and that 0, 35-0, 40% means potentially fatal alcohol poisoning; it scares the hell out of me thinking this was a first time out, drinking alcohol.

This incident seems a bit sad, maybe it is the exception of the rule that every rule needs to have to be confirmed, as a recently done research done by the University of Kuopio suggests that Finnish alcohol consumption appears is levelling off.

The research is based on 40 years of statistics and the consumption is compared to other countries, and as alcohol consumption in Finland has doubled in a decade, with the average consumption over ten litres per year and person, the Finns tendency for over consumption has been lowered by the more moderate use of alcohol use among adolescents. Adolescents are considered to either totally abstain from alcohol or to be more be moderate drinkers, much like their European peers in comparison to elder people who more tend to turn to drink as comfort when dealing with the turns of life.

So, there is nothing we can do about our offspring drinking alcohol but to talk about it at home, instead of trying to ignore the whole thing as I have discovered most parents tend to do. Adolescents do drink, and most of the times they are okay, but in case of an emergency, even if you hate thinking about it, we have to give them the confidence and make them feel secure enough, to take the needed action, call for help.

At least one thing is good about mobile phones and teenagers using them all the time, which I always earlier used to find most annoying.

They are always ready at hand in case of an emergency!

Educational bus trip

When visiting my physiotherapist I always go by local bus, which sometimes just is boring as the scenery always is the same but at other times hilariously amusing, like yesterday when two apparently quite recently retired men were talking about things in the seats behind. They were commenting on things the bus passed by, actually in very loud voices as on of them had had some refreshments on the way and the most amusing part was, when they got to one of their favourite pastimes, fishing.

Well, I seem to be going on about fishing quite a lot, even though I am not a keen fisher. I enjoy my odd fishing trips on and off occasionally, but these men were really enthusiastic about it, telling each other how what fish was best cooked and as it happens I got a few valuable tips and hints on how to prepare fish. So, if not as an environmentally good gesture, going by bus I mean, it can sometimes be very entertaining, if not even educational listen to what people are talking about.

Anyway, I was quite disappointed at this year’s two varieties of the Beaujolais Nouveau when tasting them yesterday. They were quite similar to the ones last year, not very easy to differ from each other and not quite up to my taste.

More flat in the spritz and less fruity as they used to be. This sure is one thing that used to be better before, I used to enjoy the arrival of the Beaujolais Nouveau very much, and it used to be a thing to look forward to in joyful expectation that has turned into an anti-climax. As the Finnish Alcohol monopoly Alko only imports two varieties of the wine, I can not determine whether this is an overall trend in the Beaujolais Nouveau, or if it only is the person in charge of the acquisition of these wines in question that prefers this kind of Beaujolais.

Alcohol too expensive

Apparently the price on alcohol is too high here in Finland.

After one week in office, the new director of Stakes, the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, stated his opinion about the price of alcohol in Finland being too high. He also said that he would allow mild wines to be sold in small grocery stores.

And last month the director general of the KTL, the National Public Health Institute, proposed that the alcohol content of medium strength beers should be lowered by about one percentage unit. The two national institutions will merge into one by beginning of next year. I wonder how they will cope, joined together?

I have no idea whether these officials are politically nominated or if they have to apply with credentials for their respective positions but these are once again just opinions. The National Public Health Institute is normally opinionated against the consumption of alcohol from the national health point of view and the opinions of the members of parliament also differ from person to person. Still, the majority of people in this country are in favour of drinking their accustomed alcoholic beverages and most likely would favour lowered prices and better availability, especially now with the beginning summer season with opened bar terraces and sidewalk cafes.

The discussion whether or not to, is endless.

So, is the glass half empty or half full?!?

Drinks around

Beer is apparently now cheaper to buy in the supermarkets than in Alko, even though the prices on alcohol were said to be going up with the New Year.

And that the prices have done, not by much, but anyway.

The supermarkets can sell the same beer for less this apparently being a direct cause of the supermarket chain’s more effective distribution system, even with the prices going up it will still be cheaper than at Alko.

Finland is a country of beer drinkers, as of sausages like the Germans. The Finns enjoy their beer with their saunas on Saturdays, and sausages are commonly joked about being a vegetable comparable to a carrot. So the price of beer seems to be essential to many Finns, at least it might determine where you go shopping.

Well, so much for beer, it is one or two bottles of beer a year that is consumed by me and one of them has become a tradition, a late night snack, a ham sandwich with a thick slice of home made Xmas ham, my grandma’s traditional Xmas bread with some hot mustard made after a recipe that has been in the family for five generations and a beer on the night to Boxing Day.

Anyway, now I must confess to you one of my great fears, to go by train and that I had to do the other day visiting a friend of mine. I have no idea where this insensible fear of mine origins from, as I have problems with taking the commuter train to get into town or go by metro, but somehow long-distance trains are a scare and this was the tenth time I have been on a long distance train. This might also be the reason I never went Inter-railing as so many of me friends did in their younger days, and it might also have had something to do that my mum would probably not have let me do that, but then I do not know the answer to that question as it was never asked back then.

Anyway, the train was right on time, even a bit early at the station; it also stopped so I could get in. It being so late when I was getting back home I had not been able to buy myself a fare in advance, and as I did not know what time I might be getting back, wining and dining with my friend as the nights sometimes can get a bit late or early might be the right word but as I had to be back early the next morning and was not able to spend the night I had no choice but take the train in the evening to get home in time. The train was not even half full with lots of empty seats I sat down by the window and turned my MP3 player on waiting for the guard to arrive to my compartment to sell me a ticket and just in no time I had company by an admiring male person.

What is there about me and men seeking my company, of little demure me who only would like to left alone and just be? Why do these men who have had too much to drink always hit on me when I am not in the mood for being chatted up, and they never take a polite no for an answer?

Unfortunately as I did not have a book with me I could dive into and look preoccupied with I had no other alternative than to politely try to avoid having a conversation with him, trying to evade his questions and only answering elusively.

I still wonder what kind of invisible drunkard magnet am I carrying with me as I am always being hit on in the bus , on an airplane or the train where I have no chance of getting away by someone who has had “a bit too much” to drink?!? I have nothing against being chatted up, or being hit on for that matter when in the right mood. A flirt does not mean anything more than a pastime for me as there is nothing that comes out of it. I have great many male friends with whom I have had good flirtatious conversations over the decades we have known each other, and we do not mean anything more than having fun, spending a good time together making jokes at each other and about each other.

Thank God this already in advance dreaded train trip was not a long one and I could get off at the next station, securing myself against any further attempts the same night of being hit at on the bus by other as thirsty candidates by taking a taxi home from the station.

Brewing stopped

Apparently the brewery in Nokia was not informed about the municipal tap water having been contaminated with waste water since Wednesday so they had kept on brewing their ciders and beer as normal.

Fortunately no contaminated products have hit the market but the Nokia brewery still clean their manufacturing facilities thoroughly, and wait before the water supply is back to normal which can take its’ time. The Nokia brewery is manufacturer of ciders, various kinds of beer and lager, a lingonberry soda and a lemon soda and a bottled Vichy water. Talking about a major economic set back for the brewery having to stop manufacturing now just in time for the peak shopping season of the year! Not to mention the loss in ready brewed drinks having to discard of because of the waste water that accidentally was used.

Anyway, I have wondered about this phenomenon, bottling ordinary tap water, adding fizz to it and calling it Vichy water. But I guess Vichy has over the years become to mean just sparkling bottled water for many people. For me it is of importance how the bottled water tastes as I can detect a difference between them, like Perrier, Evian or any other brand although others claim it is impossible saying “water is only water”.

Well, this time tap water is not water anymore.

Drinks around the clock?

As morning TV has become some what of an obsession for me living here in Finland, I tend to check the different channels zapping around each morning and so this Sunday.

There are several channels with various chat-programs during the nights and some of them continue until late afternoon and here I stumbled upon one thing I have never, ever seen on TV, at least in Finland that is. The show itself is not that different from any of the ones I have seen, but the state of the host was.

Someone hosting a show, despite the hosting of the show consisting merely of being in the TV screen, reading out a loud what the chatters sending ever so expensively textmessges on their mobile phones to the screen and she comments upon them and here this young girl was absolutely pissed!

Well, she might maybe, have been under the influence of some other not as legal substance as alcohol as well, who am I to determine that from this side of the screen but she could hardly sit still, not to mention focusing on anything except on and off sipping from a Sesame-street coffee mug, I think it was the head of the animal and I doubt she was having coffee.

She admitted that she was due for “the brunch” show this morning, as the show is called, but I got the impression she was covering for someone who had gotten ill during the night. I think it is a disgrace, seeing someone being that far out that early in the morning.

Or maybe she just continued straight from the bar in the morning and was having drinks around the clock trying for a world record?

Beaujolais Nouveau 2007

The strangest thing happened today I was actually ten minutes too early for the Alko shop to open but at least I did know to get to the right one!

The same one will be kept open today and the rest of this week for that matter which might be good to know if any unexpected overnight guest surprises us, even if I doubt that.

Anyway, Alko did not open until 12.30 pm differing from the usual 9 am with the strike of the employees beginning this morning to end on Saturday, and so I had to stay in line outside the shop in question with about three dozen people for about ten minutes. In this particular shop the staff consisting of the supervisors of several other shops in the near by area had apparent difficulties in getting the lights on and the cashier’s into working properly and they opened three minutes past their opening hours. During this awaiting the comments in the queue were quite harsh.

There were no happy faces and nobody was smiling or laughing, this was serious matter!

Someone said in honest between his firmly clenched teeth that if he got into the shop he would no go out without having purchased all he could carry and on his credit card. Severe looks and growling sounds were thrown at the passers by as they disturbed the queue that had formed waiting for the shop to open. I was about the tenth to get into the store and was second in line to get out as the Beaujolais Nouveau I was there to get was right in front of me when entering. It took me about 30 seconds to get in and out of there and get in line for the check out.

One strange Finnish custom is to not keep the receipt, and I have been wondering about that as you can never prove that you bought anything, as even the wine or liquor bottles might be deficit.

Anyway, the cashier was quite happy with punching in the two very first bottles of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau. After that it was time for mum to go and buy some new books for the offspring to use in high-school and get home early enough in order to get everything in order for the often not until nocturnally ending tasting of the wine. Fortunately this is the one day in the year the offspring has learned there is no use to talking sense to dear old mum. She is probably too far into tasting the wine with her friends, and you'd better be quiet and safe out of sight or otherwise you'll be asked unwanted questions if not by her then her friends.

One thing, I miss the popping of the corks like on the bottles of last year.

I know, I know, the screw tops are much better to keep the wine in perfect order, but still the popping of the cork was an enjoyable thing to do. Kind of made it more festive.

Disrupted tradition?

One of my traditions for more than two decades will probably be disrupted this year for the first time. I have always been very keen on trying the Beaujolais Nouveau on the third Thursday every year, the date of the premiere, when fresh Beaujolais is allowed to be sold all over the world.

This year the Finnish Alko personnel are most probably beginning a the three day strike the very same Thursday which means there is no chance the wine will be available in Finland on the premiere. And I have kept that date open without any strings attached as every year only to try the wine and have a nice time with some friends and this year it was my turn to host the event. Sadly enough nobody is travelling from abroad to Finland on the right day either so no chance to arrange it that night either. So maybe a trip abroad should be planned in order to obtain traditions.

I would not have been upset about any other date but this annual, and having become very important for me very over the years. So the Beaujolais will probably then be available in the Alko shops on the following Monday, which is the day some appointments were moved to be bale to enjoy the wine tasting Thursday. It is not the same thing to have the lambs chops and celeriac purée on its’ own even though they have also become some sort of a tradition as well.

Anyway, according to the e-mail I just got from Alko, the strike is not yet definitively set to begin, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I won’t have to plan a day trip abroad!

By the way, the Alko shops are today closed as it is All Saint’s Day as is every other shop in this country. The shops will be open tomorrow instead (except for Alko which is not open Sundays in any case) and will continue to be open on Sundays until the Christmas season is over, except for next weekend when it is Father’s Day and they are closed.

Lack of alcohol

There might soon be shortage of alcohol in Finland.

At least that is if the of the employees of the Finnish Government monopoly alcohol shop, Alko, are going ahead with their threats about a strike. As 85% of all employees in Alko are part-timers, they are paid less than full-timers and thus also having fewer benefits.

A strike closing down the Alko shops would probably be more devastating on the Finns than the nurses’ unions’ strike with their mass resignations that are likely to be effective later this month. The nurses having signed the lists have received a letter from their employers about their personal point of view of the resignations and 300 of the 12.800 nurses having changed their minds so far. The union is at present making new lists to replace the old ones for their mass resignations in order to obtain better pay for their performed job.

Considering that about 25% of al casualties in Finland are either direct causes of alcohol consumption or side effects with accidents such as falls, fights and so on, so having the Alko shops closed at the same time as there is going to be a shortage of nurses and health care staff due to their strike with resignations would be well timed. 25% less casualties requires 25% less medical staff, does it not?!?

Anyway, I wonder how to avoid getting the winter blues. Now with last Sunday’s turning back of the clocks into regular winter time the sun sets earlier and darkness all of sudden prevails earlier than we are used to.

Now we are in desperate need of some light and warmth. Cuddling up under a warm blanket on the sofa drinking hot cocoa in the candle light is not always enough to do the trick. At least not in the long run, but soon will be Xmas time and then the days begin to grow longer again.

Depression as it happens is the most frequent reason of disabilities to work and for retiring because of health reasons here in Finland, and the more north up you are the more common it gets. Less sun hours means more darkness and I suspect that a winter night going on for several months can not be very good for you. Neither can a summer day that goes on for as long the winter night, for months and months.

Anyway, tomorrow is the real Halloween according to Celtic tradition, the night when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest, when the ghosts come back to speak to us and also the Celtic New year if I have not got it all wrong.

The trick and treating of Halloween has not yet got as popular here in Finland as in the Anglo-Saxon countries over the world. Even as it is not a tradition originating from the Nordic tradition still many kindergartens and schools have some festivities like costume parties in order to celebrate Halloween.

What is too much?

A quarter of million people in Finland are considered to be risk consumers of alcohol, that is they still today can stop drinking if they want to, they do not think they have a drinking problem and they sustain a job and family etc.

Another quarter of million have problems with their alcohol consumption, they drink too much too often at can not stop. All this according to some new statistics.

Well well, how do you measure this at risk to have problems with alcohol or if you can stop drinking or not?!? And if you deny having a problem yourself, who makes you eligible in the problem group? And what is "a problem with alcohol", if all you want to do is die and you drink as you can not commit suicide and drink in order to some day die sooner than you would otherwise do, where lies the problem? Maybe the 1000 people that died of liver cirrhosis here in Finland last year only wanted to die and did it in their own way of choosing, who is to tell? And what exactly is "too much?"

It is this turning of numbers that sometimes bugs me quite a lot. Twisting the same numbers you can say just the opposite and as not all the facts are taken in concern interpreting the data the turn out can not be true.

Anyway, biggest part of the day today has been spent with choosing between good and bad photos and sometimes when looking at your own photos, I mean photos taken by yourself, there is something in the photo that feels good even though it does not look as good as it feels. They just remind you about something nice that once happened, just ordinary snapshots, and they are the hardest to discard when thinking about what to publish. Now I have the worst backache since forever and have to go get a painkiller. Sitting and playing with your PC most certainly means bad business for your back!

Or maybe I should go get myself a drink or two?

Vodka or Vodka?

Recently the Finnish national television opened its net site with programs and radio to check out. Now if anybody tells you that program that was on Thursday was so good, and if you get interested you just log onto the homepage and watch it on the net, that is if you have paid your TV license fees.

Actually good as you sometimes forget to save some of your accustomed TV shows out of various reasons, now you won’t have to miss it all by just forgetting.

Today the debate is going to be high in the EU parliament as cats, dogs and Vodka is to be discussed. There is a bill in the parliament concerning selling furs of cats and dogs are to be allowed in the EU. Also the future of Vodka is to be settled today. As the taste of Whisky and Cognac depends on what they are made of and is regulated but laws in difference to Vodka, which is basically pure spirits, pure alcohol and anyone can distil some, well with the right permission of course. With the taste of Vodka not depend on what it is made of, there is a suggestion about with a label marking on the bottle saying what has been used in the production of it if it is not grain or potato, which are mainly used

in distilling Vodka. Well I am no real fan of Vodka but why are only the more southern countries of the EU only allowed to have their own specialities delicious they are, their precious hams, wonderful cheeses, Whisky, Cognac, Champagne only to mention some? Why is the originality and heritage of the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe not as magnificent and important to preserve as the ones of France, Germany, Spain and Italy?

With Whisky the distilled spirits is uncoloured and then placed in oak casks for years, preferably sherry with

Caramel added to give some more colour to it and then bottled. And great difference there is between Whisky, whether Scottish Whisky, malt or blended, Irish Whiskey or Canadian, American bourbon, rye or sourmash Whiskey.You can even taste the difference in a Manhattan cocktail and a Rob Roy cocktail where Whisky and Bourbon is mixed with vermouth to even make it more different to taste. Same drink but different Whisky in both. So what is the difference here, really?

As for Cognac the area where it is distilled determines the name Cognac as well as the grapes used to ferment the wine the Cognac itself is distilled from before being matured in oak casks. Vodka is unflavoured but you still can taste the difference one brand from another, they are not the same.

Even usual tap-water and mineral waters of different brands vary in taste. And if you think they are just the same, well then there is something wrong with your palate!

Drinking habits

Less than half of Finns would like to see wines sold in grocery stores, according to a recent survey.

46 % of the people asked in the survey are in favour of wine being sold in supermarkets with men being more liberal and wanting an easier access than women. There was also a difference in education, so not only that according to surveys you have a better chance to make use of your education if you are from an academic background, you also want easier access to stress down with alcohol, make ir easier accessible in the supermarkets.

Parents in Finland are surprisingly tolerant of their teenagers' alcohol use. A fourth of parents even buy alcohol for their kids, according to a survey even though supplying minors with alcohol is a crime in Finland. And mind that even giving it to your own children is the same crime. A great deal of parents interviewed in the survey had no idea of the drinking habits of their children at all.

I would like to see the survey that says whose kids are supplied with the alcohol?

I would bet on it being “the better half” of the population, the educated classes that are more liberal with things anyway. Well getting the painkillers for your hang-over the day after you still have to pay prices about 11 % higher than the average in the EU and they are available at the pharmacists and not yet in the supermarkets, which has been discussed as well.

There was also a difference in education, so not only that according to surveys you have a better chance to make use of your education if you are from an academic background, you also want easier access to stress down with alcohol, easier accessible in supermarkets.

Parents in Finland are surprisingly tolerant of their teenagers' alcohol use. A fourth of parents even buy alcohol for their kids, according to a survey even though supplying minors with alcohol is a crime in Finland. And mind that even giving it to your own children is the same crime. A great deal of parents interviewed in the survey had no idea of the drinking habits of their children at all.

I would like to see the survey that says whose kids are supplied with the alcohol? I would bet on it being “the better half” of the population, the educated classes that are more liberal with things anyway.

Well getting the painkillers for your hang-over the day after you still have to pay prices about 11 % higher than the average in the EU and they are available at the pharmacists and not yet in the supermarkets, which has been discussed as well.

Best thing

More and more people die of liver cirrhosis in Finland due to high alcohol consumption together with an inherited deficit inflammation gene. Almost a thousand people died in the year 2005 of liver cirrhosis with it having about doubled from the year 1999 and we can only presume this is due to hard liquor getting cheaper and more cost effective to get intoxicated by a couple of years ago. Well alcohol consumption has always been high here in the Nordic countries.

Smoking is another a past-time that comes in handy when you are experiencing difficulties in life, it is amazing to see perfectly sane people get completely messed up like the husband of my friend who tried this new medication but had a couple of downward side-effects. Now both she and her husband are smoking again, but at least now they are talking with each other again and as it seems they might not even let the divorce get through.

The smoking part just seems so in vain to first have quit smoking after 30 odd years with medication a couple of years earlier and then have to do it once again later. I am quite happy to not be able to get any of my usual brand cigarettes here in Finland and am only able to smoke when abroad on vacation. And this is one of the best things about living in Finland so far, for me that is.

Salmiakki-chocolate

The pre-shows of the semi-finals with audience of the Eurovision were held yesterday and the real semi-finals will be held between 28 countries competing to get to the finals on to be held on Saturday.

As always you never can tell who will win, it had always been impossible to predict the winner. But I can understand that Lordi won last year, they were the only ones with their clothes on and doing “Kiss”, disguising themselves to keep their privacy. Which I think is brilliant!

Well this year, according to the glimpses I have seen of the contestants, a lot of them are wearing clothes but I guess the most different and standing out number is the Ukrainian one. Maybe they will win?

The Finnish entrant is played too much on the radio and TV commercials so I am getting pretty bored with it, I am sorry to say. And talking about music, first Robbie Williams did his “Bee-Gees” and now Justin Timberlake is also sounding as he has got his b*lls in a vice. Just wonder why?!? Both have got real nice voices, why howl?

And now to something completely different; in the last two years or so various strange concoctions with chocolate apart from fruit and nuts have appeared in the supermarkets here in Finland.

There is one variety of chocolate with the mint-chocolate candies called “Marianne” crushed in it, and you can now also get McFlurry at McDonalds with Marianne crushed in it. Then there came the chocolate with Daim, or Dime as it sometimes is spelled in some countries, crushed in it and you could also get a McFlurry with it crushed in it. I am not sure if this still applies, about the McFlurry I mean.

I guess almost everybody knows what liquorice is but maybe you are not familiar with Salmiakki if you have not visited the Nordic countries and tasted it.

I am not sure how to explain it to you but I guess salty liquorice is the closest I can get describing how it tastes. So now they mixed Salmiakki with chocolate. I have not yet tasted it, have not dared to but my off-spring has, the one who has been experimenting with what goes in porridge in the morning, even though my kitchen has been left in peace from porridge cooking for a while. Anyway, the whole chocolate bars was eaten but not with pleasure and the comments were not favourable for it so I guess it must have been more the off-spring’s sweet-tooth that was aching.

That there are more than one ice-cream with Salmiakki and it is not as bad a combination I think, as long as the ice-cream is not too sweet. I kind of like it, but tasting this Salmiakki chocolate needs to be considered carefully. Hey, I’ve tasted stranger things than that and the Vodka spiced with Salmiakki is not bad at all! Actually it is dangerous stuff as you loose count of how much you drink as it does not taste Vodka at all.

And as it nowadays is completely okay for celebrities to publicly confess certain forms of addictions in the tabloids such as being a chocoholic for instance I am sure there must be Salmiakkiholics too!

Who will be the first celebrity to confess to this addiction?

Or has someone already done that ?

Wishing for a headache

They say that drinking habits are getting more and more unified in all of EU. What does this mean then? The rest of Europe is following in the foot-steps of the Nordic countries, the ancestors of the heavy drinking Vikings, getting pissed every weekend? Or do they try to convince us that the inhabitants of the Nordic countries finally learned how to drink socially?!?

Anyway I have a bad migraine and can not even imagine drinking any alcohol for a hundreds years! That is until this migraine loosens the vice it has got on the veins in my brain and subdues into a normal day after headache. Right now I would welcome an ordinary headache with open arms together with a hang over I had caused drinking some good red wine instead of this instead of this sickening feeling accompanied by thought on how to get my hands on a gun to end my misery. If you have no migraine then you do not know what pain is. And there is no “No pain, no gain” it means nothing as nothing comes out of this.

Hazards of partying

The Finns have earlier been very conscientious about not drinking and driving but now the trend has changed. Last week all over the EU countries the police checked drivers and as it turns out every 100^th driver in Finland is under the influence of alcohol and especially younger drivers are prone to drink and then drive. Well they might have been partying hard the day before and hang-over and still had some alcohol in their bodies.

But I still wonder about is how many drivers were under the influence of other substances, and I do not mean drugs in this case. How many of the drivers use painkillers that are not suitable to take if driving, or medication against anxiety and to calm you down like Valium or had a sleeping pill the night before. The effects do not just disappear when you wake up in the mornings; it lingers on for hours after quite similar to a hang-over.

To my surprise the health authorities have published guidelines for smoking on balconies. So from now on you smoking on your own balcony can be prohibited if it is proven to be hazardous to the health of your neighbours.

Guess this produces even more pressure for people having parties in apartment buildings in as you do not normally smoke indoors in homes in Finland and going out to the balcony might not be allowed anymore.

Another funny thing, I was in Stockholm on a cruise not long ago and almost no one smoked in the streets anymore since smoking no longer is allowed in public places in Sweden.

So having a drink and smoking a cigarette when you are having is party might soon disappear.

Herring and red wine

On rare occasions we have the opportunity to be home alone just the two of us, my husband and me, and today being one of them my husband taking some time off from work to spend some quality time with me. The sun was shining nicely so out for a walk down to the market and get some shopping done for the weekend, and of course being on the water side you come to think of fish so we got some smoked herring.

Imagine, smoked herring on Finnish rye bread and some red wine, yummy! I just love it, it is one of the best inventions in this country. The smoked herring and the rye bread the red wine is my own culinary combination, it might sound odd but it really is worth to try!

I know they say white wine with the fish but I can not help myself, smoked fish is delicious with red wine, especially one with a bouquet to match the heavy smoke-taste.

My husband also bought me a brand new knife, a Laplander one, a very sharp one that I have already had the opportunity to cut myself on. And knives a woman can never have too many of, especially if she is fond of cooking like me.

Anyway, having time without any off-spring to mind I suggested to my husband that we should go to a bar pretending not knowing each other and either him or me hitting on the other one and book a room in a hotel to spend the night in.

Well, the bar thing with hitting on me was interesting, but he was not at all keen on going anywhere else than home. And as the night is still young we will see what comes out of it. So in the end I guess I will have to be pleased with the smoked herring and red wine, and as I have a good book to read I have no need for any other entertainment.

Just like any ordinary day with the kids home.

75th anniversary

In the 1900’s the Finnish government tried to influence on people’s drinking habits by alcohol rationing, with it only resulting in illegally distilled, and too often impure, alcohol and bootlegging of the same. The rationing finally ended and alcohol was let free with it today being 75 years since when the first Finnish Alko shops opened.

Funny, all these attempts by “Big Brother” in different civilizations and countries trying to watch the whereabouts and doings of citizens, and it’s been going on ever since the beginning of mankind.

I guess it will be easier in the modern society with easy accessibility to mobile-phones, the Internet, credit cards, GPS tracking of cars etc. How long will it take before we all get a microchip inserted into us at birth so “Big Brother” knows where we are at all times like in the X-Files?

Maybe this would have been useful to the Finnish ministry of trade and industry when investigating the illegal search and test drilling of uranium here in Finland done by a foreign company last summer in the vicinity of, and in if I have not got it completely wrong, a national park.

There are rumours that this is the biggest source of Uranium in Europe. Lots of money to make maybe, but with what costs as being hazardous to the surroundings, the environment and nature itself by opening the ground by mining it and making it radioactive all over, the material was not rich enough to use just piled in heaps in open air (?), or the final disposal of the waste after being used in a reactor...

Anyway, happy 75th birthday Alko, the only licensed shop to sell booze in Finland!

And I better get going if I want to get any wine with the roast of lamb on Easter Sunday as today is the last day Alko is open until Tuesday after the holidays.

Bubbly water

There are delicious pastries called “bebe” here in Finland that I have grown very fond of. They consist of sweet pie pastry filled with a butter cream and topped with a frosting of sugar. Yummy.

Anyway, these bebes they make, they are normally oval shaped about 3 cms x 7 cms but you can also find them in a tiny round mini variety, about “two bites big” and you buy them by their weight, instead of the bigger bebes that you pay per pastry. Well, getting these tiny bebes for my birthday celebration has become some what of a tradition now and I did enjoy them yesterday, but the Sibelius champagne we bought yesterday is no champagne as they said on TV when advertising for its’ release last year.

So I am sorry, last year, I did not know what I was talking about, telling you that Sibelius is champagne and not only music. My apologies…Sibelius is not champagne, it is just a vin mousseaux or sparkling wine, and it is not even French, it is made in Germany. Thus it is no champagne at all!

It was not something to remember to buy more than once, and listening to Sibelius music can in no way improve having any of this bubbly water together with it. So great the disappointment.

I think I am going back to having Elysée instead on my birthday, and this white currant wine does not even try to pretend to be champagne, just unpretentious Finnish sparkling berry wine. Not quite the ordinary plonk either, you just have to know what to have together with it.