Confusing clips on TV

I can only assume that people's behaviour has been deteriorating here in Finland lately, that people are no longer as considerate, as they once used to.

This I can only assume as the TV intermissions for the moment, or commercial breaks, currently on one of the Finnish TV stations begin with a clip of an anonymous red figure doing something wrong or rather not nice to grey figures, and then the show continues after the intermission with the correct behaviour.

What has been quite puzzling is, that normally the figure behaving badly is the red one causing distress to the grey figure, or figures, but in some of these clips it is the other way around. Maybe the colours should be consistent to clarify what is really going on, as this is not a hard thing to correct using the computer technology the clips apparently have been made with.

Good economy TV

Having been down with a bad flu and not having any strength do to much but doze off to the TV, I have really had time to discover is going on in TV land here in Finland.

And my conclusion is that at least there is one place that uses recycling well, that is, so many programs are re-run so many times within i very short period of time, that they turn washed out as some series are broadcasted three or four times within the next year or two.

Guess this is good economy and makes the TV shows less expensive to purchase if yo0u show them as many times as you possibly can in the given contract time, but it kills the interest of the viewers even though the program itself was good the first time around.

The second thing that is recycled but the program or show itself, is the idea for reality TV shows, and this goes for the whole world and not just for Finland. One reality TV show format is sold around the world and all the programs are made in the same mold, with a little difference for some cultural variations. And is this reality TV, are there really no written scripts?

Guess there has to be some water tight legal work behind, so no one can reveal the truth of reality shows and reveal any scripts. But they seem cheap enough to produce and there also apparently must be a market for them as they are produced en masse.

Just not in time

We have now had digital television in Finland for more than a year with the broadcasting having begun in August last year.
There has been complaints about the subtitling that still at times has difficulties in loading in time and sometimes it is completely missing, and this seems to have no coherence what so ever with the channel you are currently looking at. As many as 10.000 households have given up their TV licences since then, a great deal more than was expected.

One thing I still keep wondering about, is the announced beginning time of programs in the TV guides of the digital-box. The channel announces the program to begin at say 9 PM, well, first there are the usual advertisements then, when the program due is announced with either my just a voice or by an actual person on the screen, followed by some more ads and the program itself doesn't begin until 3-4 minutes after the time it was supposed or rather announced to.
Does this mean they lie on TV? One thing it for sure tells people is, that it does not matter if you are not in time.

Anyway, the actual or real beginning time is in no way to be seen anywhere, not in the TV guide of the digi-box, text TV or elsewhere. Even the beginning times varie a bit from channel to channel, and here I mean the duration of the advertisements.

Another problem is when some program drags overtime resulting in either the following program to be either postponed or beginning later than it should, whihc alters all the following programs of that day.

How hard can it in these times of high-tech culture with computers as aids, to synchronize the guide in the TV, both on the text TV pages and on the digi-box, so you can actually seen when the program begins and the interludes done by the ads, or if the program gets postponed because of a so called "force majeure" . Then you would not have to waste time programming your digi-box to save the program on its' harddrive, making you disappointed as the program never was sent anyway and instead you see something else utterly boring.

Bearings right

Finally, we have got some snow here in southern Finland as well, and the falling snow of course once again surprised all drivers as is the custom.

Strange thinking that Finland usually has cold winters with snow during the winter and every year it takes the motorists by surprise, and 70 fender benders were reported by the police yesterday. The snow has continued falling on and off but according to the last weather report I was listening to the temperature is expected to rise again by the end of the week. This might mean we just had a quick visit by the winter snow.

Things are always relative, when they say it will be colder and one expects for it to become real cold, subzero temperatures but they are just talking about a few degrees. It all depends on who you are, what you are used to and where you are. When it is to cool down a bit the temperature drop can be anything between an average 15 and a couple of degrees at least according to the weather report.

Another thing I now know where it is is mid-Finland.

it was not until quite recently that I found out where it really is and it was puzzling and sometimes even annoying when the meteorologist on TV referred to what I considered as mid-Finland around the height of Vaasa-Kuopio-Lieksa being referred to as northern Finland. Now bearing in mind that Lapland begins just around Oulu, and that is also divided into southern and northern parts it suddenly came clear to me.

Finland is divided into two halves, Finland and Lapland and both have southern and northern parts of course!

It is like comparing it to the United Kingdom, if you are talking about England then you are not actually referring to neither Scotland, Wales nor Northern Ireland, just the one small portion of Britain. Like when people are talking about going to England when they visit Scotland or Wales as well.

So at least I now have got my bearing right!

It’s a secret

I was having lunch with one of my girl friends the other day and all of a sudden her mobile phone rang, which is not that unusual in itself but her answering it while we were having a nice lunch and an even better discussion of our respective spouses not to mention all about our offspring’s’ latest explorations into real life and relationships.

As the sounds on her mobile had been turned up loud enough for me to hear the caller’s voice and as I thought I recognized the voice on the phone I made a joke about it being Brad Pitt as she put her phone down on the table. And my funny remark fell limply on the table to continue straight for the floor as my friend me that it really was him and I was totally flabbergasted. I could not believe my ears; she had been on the phone with one of the most recognized men in the whole world!

My friend told me that she had known Brad Pitt since their early childhood and as such had forgotten to mention about it to me, as he is just Brad for her and always has been. Well, I am no big fan of Brad Pitt anyway, I would much have preferred it to have been Sean Connery for whom I have had a soft spot since my early teenage, and anyway, to tell you the truth it was not really Brad Pitt, but it was someone just as famous as Brad Pitt, and he is not a film star but a world famous rock star instead and as I am not at liberty to tell you who it really was it will have to stay a secret.

At least until the day I run into him which was the reason for the call in the first place, that this childhood friend of my friend’s is coming here to Finland, and of course incognito to everyone’s great disappointment so no one will know except the few chosen ones to meet him in real life.

Anyway, Cow & chicken, my favourite cartoon is back for me to enjoy and I am very lucky to be the only one in the household to like the show so I am always left alone at 2 PM to watch it which is a nice change now with the Xmas vacations on and full house with offspring to my daily nuisance. I have for a long time been wondering about the minds of these people who come up with these ideas for various cartoons such as Cow & chicken or even South Park which I am not that great a fan for. Making the cartoons for years and years and always coming up with fresh, new ideas for the shows, the crazier the merrier.

And talking about TV, I always thought MTV was a music channel but to my big surprise there was a movie on one of the Xmas holidays, My Sweet sixteen. I have never understood why there are the reality shows on MTV either, but then I do not understand reality TV anyway. At least in my youth there was music, even though they tended to be the same songs over and over again, the times played determined by how much the artist in question apparently had paid to get on air, it all resulting in the same unequal distribution of good music and great artists or bad performers and hideous songs.

Even the personal choice lists of songs on MTV made by viewers themselves must have been chosen in the same manner, keeping in mind that is paying the big bucks, the record companies of course. And to let you in on a big secret, you have certainly been seeing this rock star; that I am about to meet some day in the near future, many, many times lately, both on MTV and the Finnish channels as his band has just released a new album.

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.

Swedish Finnish?

Since the digital TV was introduced as all over standard in television broadcasts here in Finland,

50.000 households have cancelled their paid licenses. The main reason for viewers to cancel their license fees has been the subtitling of programs that has not worked out to their satisfaction.

Loosing the license fees means about 10 million euros less for YLE, the Finnish government TV and bropadcast company, in their budget and closing down radio stations and TV channels have been discussed as means to maintain the same quality of programs. The administrative council of YLE has been discussing more collaboration between the Swedish and Finnish YLE news which might mean having to let hand some people their notice. So the Swedish news staff of YLE in protest against the it by a walk out today, so no there were no news in Swedish neither on the radio nor the TV tonight.

I have for long been wondering about if you are Swedish Finnish or are you Finnish Swedish if you are Finnish and your native language is happens to be Swedish. As Sweden Finns should be the Finns living in Sweden and Finland Swedes should be the Swedish citizens living in Finland.

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?

Coleslaw?

My “favourite” morning TV programme, Ruokala, “The Diner” is now back from its’ summer break and yesterday morning they began their cooking with bold new twists and turns in international cooking. I guess their ambition to make people here in Finland experiment with their cooking trying out new things.

It is a nice try but it just remains that, a nice try, as the outcome is not what they advertise using the names of their dishes or is this just a poor attempt to "Finnocise" food?!? (That would mean to make food more Finnish)

Well, coleslaw may not be a trademark and I have seen recipes with thinly shredded fennel in it, as I have seen apples julienne in it but the basics have always remained the same; finely shredded cabbage with thinly sliced onion and carrots Julienne with a mayonnaise sauce seasoned with salt and perhaps coarsely ground black pepper. And the choice between red or white cabbage is not a major one as they taste about the same, just differ in colour.

On morning TV they made a coleslaw with shredded cabbage, carrot, thinly sliced apple, thinly sliced red sweet peppers, parsley, leaving out the thinly sliced onions, seasoning it with salt and left it to season for a while, preferably for a couple of hours with some fresh lemon juice. Then after a while a sauce is to be made to go it out of mayonnaise and soured cream to make the sauce a bit lighter with a dash of Tabasco for added flavour.

It is like making a sauce beetroot soup but leaving out the beets and using peas instead, you get something completely else. Why call it coleslaw as they did not make coleslaw, they made something that remotely reminds of coleslaw.

Or making a Béarnaise sauce adding some Stilton cheese to it. Which might not be a bad idea, the taste might be magnificent or extraordinary but it would not be sauce Béarnaise anymore.

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!

Blood sucking moth

A blood sucking moth originating from south East-Asia has been found in Finland. This new immigrant vampire moth has been here since year 2000 and long it was believed that the climate would be too cold for it to survive. Well, now the moth can be found from the east where it first arrived from to the western coast. To this day it is still unknown if the moth is repelled by the traditional mosquito sprays, or if it spreads any disease.

The soap operas of today shown on TV are so cruel. The characters are very nasty to each other, selfish and only think of how to best obtain their selfish goals, how to get richer and sadly enough the children of today have them for example of behaviour. No wonder the kids today are less considerate, they turn up as selfish and nasty,

I think the original “soap” was much nicer to watch even though they were not very nice to each other at all times either at least it was a comedy. Even worse are all the reality-TV shows were people “really” are behaving badly, at least in “Men behaving badly” you know they don’t do it for real. So now our kids are turning into conniving types more or less only thinking of how to best take advantage of every situation, as who are there to show an example, we parents are so very much entangled in our careers and never there. Just thinking of ways of how to earn more money to have a posher car than the neighbour or go on our vacation farther away than the neighbour on the other side.

I have this friend who makes these beautiful handmade candles and soaps. Most delicious, chocolate scented soaps you could almost eat, candles spreading their delicious, chocolaty scent all over your home. Luxurious French vanilla soap to use in bath, soothing lavender soap for when you have a headache and lavender candles that do the same trick.

I just love lavender candles!

School's out!

School finished on Saturday, about 2.500 of these fail to pass to the next grade if they do not decide to compensate their studies during the summer or decide to not take the exams in the fall and attend to the same class the following semesters once again. Every year about 30.000 pupils in Finland finish their nine years of the compulsory comprehensive school and about 300 of these fail to graduate and leave school without their basic education diplomas.

Anyway, finishing school was celebrated thoroughly all over the country and in some places it was compatible to the celebrations at Vappu and the pilot of a new TV-show making fun if the Finnish gipsies or Romanis as they are called was shown on TV.

According to the director of the show in question “even Africans are taken more seriously than Romanis”. Fact is that the Romanis have a culture of their own that differs quite a lot from the Finnish and they tend to keep just among themselves and according to the prevailing prejudices and caricatures they are lazy, do not cope in school so quite a lot of them should be among the 3oo that finish school without their diplomas. They avoid working and live off social welfare; they are thieves and originally conniving horse salesmen that nowadays are cheating people in car sales.

The director and writer of the script was interviewed on morning TV and told the show is made by Romanis in order to diminish racial prejudice. Well, we will see what happens, but I thought the show was no good and lacked good taste, but maybe that is what is needed.

A new bird species was last week spotted in Salo here in Finland and about 500 bird watchers gathered together on the spot during the weekend for the biggest bird watch event ever to try and spot a new and rare bird. The night bird that originally is from North America was sadly not seen more after the first sighting earlier in the week.

Well now I am off to see the parliamentary house as steps leading up to it have been covered in a sea of blooming flowers, gerberas. Guess there will be no sightings of any night birds during full daylight and not in the middle of the capital anyway just flowers in pots on stairs, might even get a few photos of it.

On break

The south-eastern parts of Finland have not been able to see digital-TV during the weekend and some areas are still without it. This is said to be due to a mechanical failure and it should have been fixed shortly but nobody has protested against not being able to see TV.

In Venezuela there are rallies against the most popular TV-station being closed down after having had discontinued its’ broadcasting license on May 27th 2007 for not agreeing with the current government policies.

Without knowing it here in Finland the most discussed subject on daytime TV-chats is the “Mi Gorda Bella” Show going on summer break and s said to come back after the summer break on August the 27th.

“Mi Gorda Bella” is a Venezuelan Telenovela and as it happens, produced by the same company that was just taken off air over by the Venezuelan government.

Even though TV series are fiction there always are some hints of the truth, or are there?!?

Life in a nut shell

The Finnish Supreme court asked the Finnish customs authorities to adjust the taxes they impose on imported used cars The taxes have so far been valued too high according the ruling form the Supreme court and new guidelines will be needed. This will be good for anyone purchasing their car from abroad from now on, as cars are quite expensive here in Finland, but also for them who have already done so as they get an opportunity to appeal to the customs authorities about the taxes they have had to pay.

The weekend was busy at the Senate’s square in Helsinki with big audiences of tens of thousands watching the Eurovision song contest on Saturday and the ice-hockey world championships final between Canada and Finland on Sunday from giant TV-screens. Must be one reason why Mother’s day was so subdued for many.

I did get some flowers in the end yesterday but we all the missed eating out at a restaurant as off-spring did not arrive at home at time agreed but 2 ½ hours later instead.

Well that is life for the moment in a nut shell. People talk about how difficult babies are as, well wait until they are adolescents and want to keep their own mind no matter what the consequences may be. And having a couple of teenagers at the same time really is a strain as you have to keep up with whom has done what and when. I mean, it is not fair to accuse the wrong one of what the other is to be blamed about. So disobedience and disagreements are the daily routine for the moment. The parents who have survived and stayed sane after their adolescents grew up to be proper people say they are quite nice now, especially the ones who have had children.

Being a grandparent must be grand, just lending the baby for some time and when it begins screaming handing it over to the parent at hand. Well, I have to survive teenage hell first. So I have something to look forward to, one day, eventually and it might be just what is needed to keep me sane and going.

Mother’s Day again

Serbia won the European songcontest yesterday. Once again there was no way to foresay the future but Serbia was one of the favourites to win.

Quite funny actually, I happened to watch TV when the Serbian contestant Marija was interviewed one morning and she told that she had been told to bring the Eurovision there next year. Must be quite an experience to do it whenyou were told to win. Guess the song will not be a good song to sing along to as some other previous winners but it sounds like a typical Eurovision song as they used to be years ago.

There were more estern European countries than ever participating this year with most of them seemed to be in the finals yesterday. The Eurovision final was broadcasted all over Europe and Finland's biggest media event ever so far and this probably is good advertising for Finland.

And today is Mother’s day. Husband went off fishing early in the morning and no off-spring in sight. No breakfast in bed, no flowers to mummy so it must be just an ordinary day. I was thinking of going to a restaurant to eat dinner today, but as no one in sight or has shown any signs of life yet…maybe I’ll just treat myself to a nice sandwich.

Desperation of Fame

As you might know Finland won last year’s Eurovision song contest with “Hard, rock, hallelujah” performed by the hard rock band “Lordi” which means that the next song contest will be held in Finland.

Just after they won the contest the Lordi fever was quite high here but now it has calmed down, one thing that is getting worse is the Eurovision contest advertisements shown on TV. The ads shown are really bad as they are not even done by professional advertising agencies, they are just as amateurish as they can get as there was a competition so anyone could send in their own ad, and everyone seems to have done so. The desperation to get on TV has become ridiculous recently, all the celebrity wannabees, you just want to get in TV and become famous, and no matter for what ever reason. I can not really understand this desperation of people to get famous.

I think it is pathetic, really sad with all these reality-TV shows they come up with, surviving on a desert island, living in a house for a month, become the newest top model, date two at the same time and dump the other one in public only to mention a few of the ones broadcasted and with the same concept used around the world in different countries.

They create a craving to become famous, as anyone can be the lucky one. But how funny is being famous really, as anyone ever thought of why so many celebrities have problems with alcohol or their relationships break up even faster than ordinary people’s?

How fun can it be to be in the tabloids all the time, having paparazzi following you around at all times when having a bad hair day, reading in the papers you spouse had “just a fling” with your best friend?

I most certainly do not want to have my life made public to the whole world and do not want to get on TV, ever. I do not even think it is appropriate for a “proper lady” to get her name in the newspapers more than to advertise births, engagements, marriages and deaths. But maybe this just means that I am getting old?

New acquaintances

According to research done by one of the major TV-stations here in Finland the Finns are not prepared to make any changes in lifestyle to avoid climate change, which means bad news for our fishing friend, shorter winters to go ice fishing. Well, our mad fisherman has now persuaded my husband into trying fishing during the summer, so guess our cats will be kept happy all summer long.

One thing really comes in mind here, even with all the jokes about the Finnish men considering sausages and hot dogs being vegetables, many of them actually like fish!

Not just fishing, the hunting and catching part of it, but they really enjoy eating it too. Well, fish is more considered to be women’s food where I come from, so this was a surprising revelation for me. I really just hope that it is not contagious, this ice fishing all winter long.

It is always nice to meet some Finnish friends, like our friend that came for dinner yesterday; you get to learn new things about this country and the people living in it. People coming from different counties actually do behave kind of like their stereotypes, and this guest was the silent type. The silence in-between was not an awkward one, but it still bothered me as I was not used to it as it was the first time I met this colleague of my husbands.

One funny story though, our guest just having read a book about the late war hero and famous general of Finland, told us a story about when the late general was visiting the eastern neighbour, again, this time invited, after the war. He was invited to see a ballet and was asked by some journalist what he thought of ballet, he answered by: “It is so nice to see our former enemies on their toes once again.”

Anyway, the yesterday served meal consisting of simple steaks, pommes gratin and rhubarb pie were a success, the off-spring behaving impeccably during the meal, being polite to our guest with the result of the guest promising to be back, and this was no “just being polite” compulsory saying, he really meant it.

Here the Finns rather not say anything instead of just say something to be polite.

And he will be back again given the chance, maybe not a single anymore next time.

And I will have a new acquaintance to make one day to look forward to.

TV Sunday

Interior design has grown popularity here in Finland lately, and a couple of programs on TV are worth the while in my opinion. Unfortunately they are broadcasted at the same time on Sunday mornings when I like to watch the re-runs on TV so I have to choose between which one of the two to watch.

I am quite fond of Finnish design as it is in itself quite distinct in being plain and straight forward without too many frills or extravagnzas but I do not agree with the whiteness they have adopted into everything in interior design. First it is hard to keep clean, with kids and cats, and I like some colour as you might discover from my e-cards for instance.

Another thing I enjoy watching on Sundays are all the cooking programs that are re-run their second time. Most of the program I watch also post their featured recipes on the net, which is good as I do not always get them while watching the program itself.

At least today there is not going to be any try-outs on any recipes even if the ingredients would happen to be in stock et the moment in my cupboards, not with the kitchen in the mess it was left in yesterday after the service guy!

Anyway, soon all the shops are allowed to be open on Sundays again, sometime in May if they have not changed anything about it this year so I can even enjoy trying the dishes I have not got the ingredients to at home.

One sure thing in Finland is that you will never stay secure with anything here, the Finns surprisingly change their minds. Not maybe the average citizens, they have their opinions which rarely seem to change, but the politicians and with them the authorities suffer from a great obsession to change everything from how the last government, or city council for that matter, decided upon it to be once and want a change, to alter it the complete opposite if only possible, just to make a difference, no matter if good or bad.

And now with a new government soon to begin their rule, with it consisting more of right-wing politicians than for decades we might be in for quite a few surprises these coming years. So with any good luck there might be a better consistency in when the shops are kept open as the opening hours of the shops here in Finland do not seize to amaze me in one way or another.

Why are the shops only allowed to be open from early morning until 6 pm on Saturdays and on Sundays they do not open before 12 am but can stay open until 9 pm? Has this something to do with the traditional Saturday sauna or what? And I am not even going to get into the opening hours on days preceding or following a public holiday like at Xmas or at Midsummer’s Eve!

Serious cooking

My normal morning routine consist of checking out the latest the news in the morning and also to watch morning TV and check out what they have come up with for an idea of what to cook for dinner today in the Ruokala section, which would be about translated to “Diner” in English.

They send this program every weekday morning and I have been following their cookery on and off for some years now, and I am quite surprised some mornings of what goes on.
By the way, it was in this program that the different party leaders were cooking in, that I mentioned about earlier when talking about campaigning for the elections.

Anyway, I think it is good there is a show like this, giving people new ideas on what to cook for dinner, how to make dishes in new styles and easier ways though their standards in the show has come down greatly since last summer when two of the chefs quit. Anyway, some mornings my tea is at danger coming up the wrong way that is coming out through my nose!

My idea of ideas of food and cooking is inherited from my parents, my father a great chef and restaurateur in his time, and my mother also from the same trade. Nothing beats hygiene, washing your hands, keeping your hair tied up, sharp knives and proper clothing to not injure yourself. Well, imagine my surprise one morning when one of the female chefs was cooking in morning TV, in a very low-cut pink t-shirt risking showing “it all”, not to mention the hazards of burning her boobs!

I can’t even remember what she was cooking, but I would have taken more care of my “goodies” and avoided getting any splashes of hot anything on them!

No this is not the way it is to be done, if you are showing example of how it is to be done, then do show how you are supposed to dress for avoiding greater mishaps.

They do not seem to take their cooking seriously.

Campaigning for Parliament

The new ad for the union is not as controversial as the other ones, this one is just a man crying with a woman consoling him with saying: ”It is okay, you can vote, you can vote on anyone you like. No need to cry. Just vote”

Well, guess this is not a better ad to raise the partaking in the elections, maybe if the political parties and the candidates just kept their promises instead of talking “it” like mentioned in the book I mentioned about last week.

About 29%, of the Finnish citizens who are eligible to vote, that is about 1 million people, voted in advance. The voting in advance ended yesterday and so no one can now vote except on the polling stations on Election Day on Sunday. Yesterday was also the last full gathering at the Parliament before the elections and the campaigning is now becoming even more frantic. Now we see ads for the candidates in every break on TV as well as seeing them in various programs expressing their opinions, that is if you are big and known enough to be taken seriously and the so called “election peace” no more exist, that means that the campaigning by the different candidates and parties can continue until the very end of the voting.

There are quite a few immigrant candidates eligible for the parliament to choose from as well and it will be interesting to see if Finland is ready for having non-Finnish born members of parliament yet, in these elections.

The husband of current justice minister was just found out to have paid for some ad done by an advertising agency without a receipt in the last elections. That is paying no taxes and of course without her consent.

You see, the finances for running for election has to be recorded and verified officially and be on display for everybody to see and somebody did some digging as it hit the news.

Another candidate was last week involved in road accident that killed one person, claiming he has no recollection whatsoever of what happened. No matter what happened, it must be hard to continue like “the show must go on” after such a thing happening to you.