7th most expensive

Helsinki has once again been estimated to be one of the most expensive cities in the world.

This in a global comparison survey of purchasing power called "Prices and Earnings" performed by financial firm UBS and updated every three years. What I wonder about here is that the previous study was published in early 2006 and this ha already been published so are their numbers as flexible as their three years?

Anyway, the most expensive prices in the world in terms of prices and earnings you will find Oslo, Copenhagen and London with Helsinki to follow suite on seventh place.

The study considers prices of numerous products and services, but does not take into account renting expenses for flats in its rankings which probably would have skyrocketed Helsinki into first place as the most expensive city!
Apparently there also has been a considerable shake-up in the ranking order on the list much due to the drop of the US dollar since the previous survey.

Another thing the Finns are not best at, only 7th best in the world.

At last things will get back to normal, tomorrow finally Easter will be over and done with for this year as well. It is nice to have the family at home, but some holidays tend to be a bit too long for my taste as they interrupt so much of my daily routines, such as blogging to mention just one. Staying in bed reading a good book for a second to mention as there always is someone who desperately is seeking something and needs the assistance of dear mother.

Nouveau traditions

Since moving to Finland our family has acquired some new traditions, some are quite nice and others come out of the necessity to stay sane.

One more annoying one is the ringing early in the morning on Palmsunday, at lest according to the offspring. Some of our neighbourhood's kids are quite early risers and that annoys the most our offspring who would like to stay in bed late. Currently the new tradition is to remember to remove the doorbells cover in order to avoid it from making the ringing noise it produces with the cover on before entering bed early in the morning, or late in the night, depending on how you look at it.

I guess this would normally mean no harm, we would just have less kids ringing on the door, but it does not erase the knocks on the door which I find more annoying. Palmsunday, which is the Sunday before Easter and was last Sunday, is the day for kids to go out and collect sweets going from door to door the neighbourhood all day long and doing a few re-rounds if only possible to the good places they got the best treats.

This particular Sunday it causes us a bit of discomfort with the doorbell out of function as we had some friends coming over for dinner, and them having left home without a mobile phone in order to stay out of touch in order to be off duty we did not know they were behind the door ringing the dysfunctional doorbell. Took a while for them to come to think of the old fashioned but for so many centuries functional way of knocking on the door instead of the ringing wonders of the modern world. Or maybe they were just hungry?

Anyway, today is long Friday, actually not the longest day of the year, that is midsummer’s night this year, right on the dot in the almanac where it should be. Today is the other day of the year when the day and night are equally long. So up from this day there should be a difference to the days really getting longer and longer.

And that not just in the biblical sense.

A cake is always a cake

Finland is no more covered entirely in snow as the thin layer disappeared a couple of weeks ago, down here in the south the snow has now melted and we only have sweet memories of the cold winter to cling to.

Luckily I did get some photos of the snow, rare as it seems to be this year, just to remember how it should be at this time, the darkest and coldest time of the winter. It all looks like autumn to me. Must be the longest autumn I have so far seen living in Finland.

Today is the 100^th anniversary of my grandfather, deceased already over twenty years ago, but I still in good memory as my grandmother died only a couple of years ago. I used to take good care that I was able to either visit my grandmother on her husband’s birthday, or have her come and visit us at this time of the year knowing it to be the hardest day for her to be alone. Even their wedding anniversary was nothing compared to this it, neither was her own birthday.

My grandparents shared more than fifty years together and believe me, the times were not only sweet back then, even though as the years went by even my grandmother’s memory only remembered the sunnier side of their life.
In half a century there is lots of room for better and worse but strangely enough only the better sticks to your memory in the end.

In today’s modern society it is sometimes hard to imagine that people used to get married and stay married for the rest of their lives like my grandparents did. Splitting up and getting a divorce was out of the question back then, not like today when pressing the toothpaste wrong or leaving the toilet-seat up might end up in divorce.

Decades of sharing a life together, having children, watch them growing up, go to school, begin their professional lives and careers, leaving the nest moving away from home and seeing them getting married and having children. And if you’re lucky enough see your own grandchildren have children.

So I better get going with the cake baking, no need to disrupt any annual traditions that have upheld and approved of for so many years now.

A cake is always a cake, no matter the original reason it’s baked for.

Wrapping it up

It is always sad having to attend to the birthday any child just the days before, or right after Christmas for that matter.

I am not here suggesting you should make more efforts in family planning as that is impossible, or at least so it has been for me, children are born right when they think they are ready and not when you want them or have tried to have them born. My parents tired to make my younger sister so she would have had the same birthday as I had. Such a stupid idea anyway and I am glad my sister was stubborn enough to be born a fortnight later than our parents had planned. I guess this means my parents know the exact date I was made…

Anyway, there never seems to be the right time for a beginning family, your just either get pregnant or you don’t. Sometimes it takes time and sometimes it catches you by surprise not quite at the planned time in your professional life, but that is life to you. Takes you by surprise it does, life.

AO back to this birthday issue, I am thinking of the amount of present to the birthday child as there are all the present for Xmas to get to every one, and the present you tend to get on your birthday are all wrapped up in Xmas paper anyway as it is much easier to do it so having the seasons wrapping papers ready at hand. Well, having been aware of this I have always been strict about having the presents wrapped into something else and it causes problems when wanting your presents to be ready wrapped in the store.

One of the bigger department store chains went last year through great trouble in finding any paper that was either not a Xmas one by colour or design and in the end the dolly I had got was nicely wrapped up in pink roses with pink ribbon tied around it. Just the right thing for the little girl it was destined to.

It was trickier to get the CD that was wished for as present this year wrapped up in the store, as they would have charged a whole Euro for the procedure, which I think is outrageous as they do it for free all year around except now at Xmas. The offspring that is not as accustomed customer as mum when it comes to shopping Xmas presents or any other presents for that matter that had taken charge of the mission impossible to acquire the present then continued to the next department store to get it wrapped up and was baffled by them wanting to see the receipt for the CD ringing me on the mobile complaining about it.

It seems that the thought about how and when presents are wrapped up it had never earlier occurred to the offspring, and in this particular department store the wrapping of the present would have been free of charge, if it had been bought on the premises. As it happens it was the same one where I got the dolly the previous year. So offspring rushing off home, the desperate rushing through cupboards in search wrapping paper, cellar tape and ribbon even though they are just in their designed spot as they have always been, but certainly not were found by me the raid in my kitchen cupboards.

The present was wrapped up and ready just in time for us to leave for the birthday girls’ party with the best looking home made birthday cake I have seen in decades with handmade snowmen, snowballs and fir trees on top of it made out of marzipan.

Even though the cake was gorgeous I did not have any cake this time either, as I never do no matter how rude it may seem, even though this time I am not sure whether I regret it.

Turkey feast

I was always a bit envious of the Americans who have their turkey at Thanksgiving as I come from a traditional Christmas ham eating family, and I was desperately looking for a date to have our turkey dinner for years but not until arriving in Finland I got the perfect date, the Finnish Independence day on December 6^th.

And so it was yesterday time for out annual turkey feast once again. This year I had decided to document the cooking and the dinner preparations normally going on from the day before the Independence Day, but once again found out I had forgotten about it. It was not until the turkey was carved and most of it eaten I came to think about getting my precious dear camera into the shrine of cooking, which was too late of course. Now there is only the left overs to photograph, but they can sometimes be more thrilling to work with as you have to be creative in more than just the one single way.

Anyway, by the time the turkey was ready to be taken out of the oven and to be carved it was all too dark to take any photos in nature’s own light anyway so I will seriously have to consider acquiring additional lights in order to be able to shoot the photos I want of food, at least this time of the year, until it once again turns into lighter on December 21^st. Being very disappointed about forgetting to take my photos I was very pleased with the outcome of the bird though, it was delicious. But so it has been every year, and this time I had a different stuffing with the gravy turning out absolutely superb. I could have spooned just gravy all day so nothing would have been left until dinner time!

Cranberry sauce is one thing we only serve with the annual Independence Day turkey, and with the recipe I have it turns a really dark fuchsia colour. The cranberry sauce served with orange carrots, roasted potatoes, orange sweet potato gratin, brown gravy, white turkey meat and either green peas or haricots verts is a colour clash screaming at you on your plate when eating it, but tastes delicious.

Anyway, I feel bad for the citizens of the town of Nokia with no potable water in their taps, must have been quite a sad way to celebrate the 90^th Independence Day with the army been called to help distribute fresh drinking water for the town inhabitants to collect. Now there has even been found Salmonella together with other as virulent bacteria in the water.

Even more sad for the person who opened a valve thus poisoning the whole town doing so by mistake, what feelings of guilt and regret. The Finnish Criminal Police are investigating the incident and it seems that the possibility of polluted waste water getting into fresh cleaned tap water is supposed to be impossible as a safety precaution and a faulty construction is suspected. Now all municipalities are encouraged to see over their water facilities in order to avoid other such incidents.

Average Finnish citizen

The average Finnish man is 39 years old, he marries when he is 32 years old, earns 2300 Euros per month and he has beer about once a week whilst the average Finnish woman is 42 years old , she marries at 32, has 1,8 children. She earns an average of 2000 Euros a month and has beer less often the average Finnish man and both are overweight.

Anyway, now most of my time goes for getting our turkey in order for tomorrow’s celebrations of the Finnish Independence Day.

Wonder what weather it will celebrated in, I have heard from someone old enough that was there the first time that the weather was ever so cold. And tomorrow there will be the traditional reception at the President’s residence, more commonly referred to as “the Castle”, where Finnish citizens that have made their name know in one way or other are invited to. Women usually spend a fortune in having a new gown sewn, professional make-up done and hair done by a professional as the whole event is televised from the first entry of the guest until the last ones arrives in a before hand determined order. The show is broadcasted on one channel in Swedish and a second one in Finnish. Some guests are interviewed after having greeted the President Halonen and her husband. Some of the after parties are also seen so we all will know how the rich and famous look on this day.

When I first arrived in Finland there was only coffee, tea and soft drinks served but it seems now that wine has been introduced to celebrations to the festivities as well.

And if you did not receive an invitation, maybe you are lucky next year to receive one as they are posted well in advance during the fall.

Flag Day

Today the 450^th anniversary of the death of Mikael Agricola is the celebrated with a national flag day.

Agricola was the boy of a farmer, as you can detect from this name and became the inventor of literary Finnish. Before Agricola thought about putting Finnish, and how to put it, on paper there was nothing written in it, thus becoming the inventor or creator of the Finnish written language. He translated the holy bible into Finnish and also created the first

“Aapinen” , the very first spelling-book where you could learn to read Finnish and still today 60% of the words Agricola invented are used in their original form in Finnish of today and he is the man we are to thank for Finnish being such a complex language for all us foreigners to learn.

Agricola was also a great reformer of Christian faith as he was there to reform the Roman Catholic Church and beliefs into the protestant Lutheran church. Wonder what he would have thought about what is going on in the church of today?

So today we are flagging off Easter as well and going back to normal routines tomorrow. Enjoy last day of the holidays! To tell you the truth, I am glad it has come to an end; too much is too much and being without my own, home-alone-quiet time is making me crazy! So I am celebrating going back to normal tomorrow.

Thread Saturday

Yes, today is Easter Saturday, here called “Thread Saturday”. Why?!? I have not got the slightest idea.

Today is just an ordinary Saturday and the shops are open as normal and we had planned to go for a walk and window shopping in the city centre… but with the cold northern wind that has been blowing now for almost a week has not yet shown any signs of stopping, we decided to stay at home and just be. And guess most of the day, at least mine, will be spent cooking our Easter meal today.

Hmm…a thread, does this have anything to do with loosing the thread in the conversation, or your own thoughts?

So if Jesus was crucified and died on Good Friday after having been betrayed after his last supper on Thursday and as he is to rise after three days, showing himself to his apostles, when was he buried, on the Friday or the day after?

If he dies on Friday and is buried the same day, well then the second Easter day is when he rose from the dead. So why do we then celebrate the first Easter day?!?

I mean today, as it really seems to have no more importance than having a long weekend with four days off work.
Enough of this, I better get on with the cooking!

Looong Friday

Well, today is Good Friday, here in Finland called “Long Friday” or should it be “Looong Friday”?

According to the old tradition you were not allowed to enjoy yourself and certainly not to smile with your teeth showing today. And all this to join Jesus in his pains when he some 2000 years ago, well guess he dies in his thirties, so sometime 1970 years ago really, carried the cross on Via Dolorosa and got crucified.

Anyway, still today this is one of the days the whole country really shuts down and is quiet. You are not supposed to be visiting or have parties, and the neighbours that are either not Christian or too young to care consider or respect anything had a party that went on to the early hours. So it really was a long Friday, it felt like it would never come to an end.

The music went on for hours until the early morning, and so did the shouting on the balcony.

Even having a party on Easter Thursday, which here is called “Busy Thursday” would have been easier to accept, anyway, the noise way not bothering really until their balcony door was opened for going smoking outdoors smoking, and having had a couple of drinks you tend to talk a bit louder than really needed.

One more summit, and this time a major summit took place today about what to do about global warming, and according to the information I have it was a long one, so maybe the name “Long Friday” would be appropriate.

So we had just fish to celebrate the end of lent and fasting, which we did not really do, but to even more enjoy the Easter food tomorrow. Prawn-cocktail as starters, poached salmon with asparagus and sauce Hollandaise and a mousse au chocolat noir as dessert. And this really is according to all the rules of Lent, even the most puritan Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox could have eaten this on Good Friday.

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.

Telling lies or getting candy?

Today is on very sad combination of traditions occurring on the same day here in Finland.

Firstly we have April fool’s day and then it is also Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. April fool’s day most people know what it is, the general idea is to tell a lie making people believe what you said is true but the Palm Sunday tradition here in Finland is probably more unknown.

What they do is kind of similar to like the trick or treat on Halloween’s, except the trick part missing totally. The kids dress them selves up as “Easter witches” and spend the day going from door to door, reciting a little poem wishing happiness and good health for the coming year in the house, giving away Palm branches, which here in Finland has been replaced by decorated branches of birch, or willow with catkins on, receiving candy and treats in return from the ones who “are home” or open their doors. I can somehow understand the fun of it, at least for the kids getting more sweets than usual, but with all the bad ideas in minds of people of today, well something might go terribly wrong.

Anyway, yesterday must have been one of the busiest days of the year in all the candy stores and supermarkets, and a good excuse for anyone with a sweet tooth to buy some extra candy to them selves.

So which tradition is the one most probable to hit you first?

One of the off-spring telling you a big lie, and all of them being teenagers there are bigger chances they might actually tell you something that is true, getting away with it with you not getting angry as you believe it is a lie, or the neighbour's kids ringing on your door bell 6 am a Sunday morning?

Home alone at New Year

No off-spring home on New Year's Eve no party to attend to, just he two of us home alone, my husband and I. Well, after a nice meal we got as far as to bed watching TV when the eldest came home to get something forgotten and was quite surprised to see the two of us in bed so early in the evening.

Mum, dad, what on earth are you doing?!?

So on to the Champagne, or wine mousseaux as it was Australian sparkling wine this time. Nice quiet night home alone. Fireworks at midnight, then to bed to first be awaken in the middle of the night a couple of hours later by an sms from a forgetful friend of mine who was not quite aware of what the time is in Finland when midnight over there, and the second time by the alarm of my husband who had forgotten to set it off automatic.

Guess we both did look like we had done everything but sleep!

We always have our traditional new year’s family dinner, and this year for the first time with companions, at noon which is earlier than used to before, as I want to check out the condition after yesterdays celebrations of off-spring and their companions. They have been very good so far, no one forgot about coming home to dinner, one running a bit late, and forgot to ring and mention about it to me.

Thank God for roasted potatoes they can take about half-an-hour extra in the oven!

No off-spring unsober or hang-over, nice! And I managed to get us through dinner without any mishaps, which means good for the new year to come as I am a bit superstitious about the first day of the year, it giving the general idea of how the rest of the year goes.

The second most common New Year’s promise must be to quit smoking, as my spouse also promised to do last year. He did not smoke for two days and was as grumpy as never before, and on the third day we, that is the off-spring and I, could not take it anymore so we told him to get some cigarettes ASAP! And he did buy his accustomed cigarettes, and we lived happily ever after for another year.

And we are not going to let him quit smoking this year again! "Darling, could you please nip down to the store and get daddy a packet of his cigarettes so he can’t quit smoking!

Same procedure as last year!