Date Balls

I think it was yesterday or maybe it was the day before when “Pirkka” the K Group customer magazine came. There always are nice recipes. I like to read them. Quite often I think I’ll make this or that. After a while I forget. In this issue of the magazine there is a recipe for “Taateliraakamakeiset” / Date Balls. The balls look good in the picture. I immediately wrote the list of ingredients and put it in my purse to remind me about to buy them.

So simple, fast and easy. Pit the dates then put all the ingredients into the food processor. Form small balls. Then roll them in e.g. coconut flakes, almond flour or dark cocoa powder.

200 g fresh dates
1,5 dl (abt. 70 g) Pecan nuts
1 dl (abt. 50 g) cashew nuts
about 1/2 tsp cinnamon
about 1/2 tsp cardamom (which I don’t like so I didn’t use

Strong Wind

At about noon I was out walking Canelo. It really was blowing a hard wind down by the lake. It happens but, not very often. Back home I checked the weather for today from the Finnish Meteorogical Insitute.

They warn for both sea and land areas in the south of Finland. Wave hight exceeds 2,5 meters in the Baltic Sea. Land areas, strong gusts of 20 ms.

I’m so happy I’m not on a ferry to Tallinn or Stockholm. I just don’t like being on a vessel when storm.

In December 2012 we were on a mini cruise to Tallinn. The pensioner club is arranging one also this year. I have to very soon decide whether I’m going or not. I think I will do as I did last time. I payed for the trip but would have stayed at home in case the weather had been bad. Thumbs up for no storms in the beginning of December.

Hämeenlinna

Yesterday I was in Hämeenlinna with friends. Last year when we were Tampere we decided to next time visit Hämeenlinna. We went by the 9:19 am train from Helsinki and arrived Hämeenlinna at 10:36 am.

We walked to the center to have coffee at Cafe Laurell. The café/the bakery took part in the competition Finland’s Best Bakery. They were in the finals and became second. I had in mind to have coffee and a rye bread sandwich. But, as soon as I saw all slices of cakes, pies and cupcakes I changed my mind. Rye bread I can have at home. After the coffees and goodies it was time to continue to The Häme Castle.

The main attraction for our trip. The castle was built in the end of the 1200s and the beginning of the 1300s. At 1 pm there was a guided tour for about 45 minutes. It was very interesting. Today there are many events. E.g. In December the St. Thomas Christmas Market. In April Easter Market in August Häme Medieval Fair. You can rent facilities for dinners, weddings etc. After the guide left we still stayed there for a short while.

We had booked a table at restaurant Piparkakkutalo “The Gingerbread House” to 3 pm. There was still plenty of time, so we were walking, walking, walking, talking, talking, talking and didn’t notice we had walked too far. Oops, now we had to hurry and find the way back . The restaurant is very popular and there were so many people, I think there was not one empty seat/table left. I had Karitsa Wallenberg. Steak made of ground lamb, served with red wine sauce, roasted root vegetables, mashed potato with goat cheese. It was yummy. We shared a bottle of wine. For dessert I had coffee and strawberry ice cream with strawberry sauce.

A look at the clock. Almost 6 pm. Time to walk to the railway station and the 6:23 pm train. Back in Helsinki at 7:41 pm. As always my hubby and Canelo were there to pick me up.

Such a nice day despite the bit chilly wind and gray skies. Good thing, it was not raining.

Brrr, winter !

It’s minus 4 degrees Celsius and snowing. It feels like a bit more than only 4. Maybe because of the snow. On the way to my language course on Tuesday I saw the first snowflakes for the season here in the south of Finland. There was not enough to take pictures. Neither is there now much. Barely enough to make the roads white and for me to shoot a couple of pictures. I hope the snow is not here to stay yet. Others hope for it to stay. No wonder it’s a bit chilly. On Sunday we are turning the clocks from daylight saving time back to, as we say, winter time.

Pheasant

Yesterday I saw five pheasants in the middle of the road to get to the other side. They saw a car coming, which caused them to run in all directions, like headless chickens. One of them dared not and ran back.  I stopped to see whether he would manage or not. Fortunately, he waited until no more cars before he crossed the road. Many years ago there were a lot of pheasants around here. One could hear the males crow early in the morning. I have no idea why they disappeared but now they’re back.

Quam

The last few days have been cloudy, gray, drizzling. There’s not been much to inspire me to take any pictures. I’ve been browsing through my albums today. Not exactly to find anything to post but more to recall the summer. Then I saw these three pictures of Quam which I took in the end of September. Why not post them. To me he is so cute, so irresistible. I didn’t want to disturb him but couldn’t resist shooting a couple of pictures of him sitting there on the terrace enjoying the last sun rays of the day. He is so relaxed. There is nothing that distracts him. To me it looks like he is meditating. I think he didn’t even notice me photographing 🙂

New Roof

After, I can’t remember, for how long, for how many years our roof leaked when bad weather with strong winds and rain pouring down. I wrote about it my posting in September 2012. It certainly was not the first time it leaked but this time we had to put a bucket in the living room. We temporary fixed it using strong tape. The tape didn’t last for long. Every fall and spring we needed more and stronger tape. We knew we’d have to have it repaired sooner or later. Sooner would have been fine but as we knew it is expensive we always felt we needed to postpone it, awaiting for better times to come. We still might be waiting but about a month ago a man came by and introduced himself. A salesman from a roofer company. He inspected the condition of the roof and gave us an offer.

As we wanted to have something to compare to.  We contacted an other roofer and asked them for an offer. The offers were similar, almost identical. But, the new offer was clearly cheaper. I was still hesitating a little to sign the contract but was soon convinced. Now or never. The best thing is to, as soon as possible, before the next time it would rain cats and dogs have it done and over.

The contract said the repair would take 1-2 days. We were a bit skeptical and thought a week probably would be closer to the truth. On Tuesday morning, September 30 at 7:30 am they arrived. In the afternoon at 4:00 pm they left. The contract said the repair would take 1-2 days. We went outdoors to see how much they had done. Gosh that was super fast ! We were, as our neighbors too, blown away by how quickly the work was done. Only a few last details to finish the next day. On Wednesday, in four hours everything was ready and the yard cleaned up.  Wow ! A new roof in practically one day. Well, one and a half. Less than two days 😀 Like in Extreme Makeover: Home edition, a new home in one week 🙂

After 25 years our old roof looked terrible, so worn out, you could hardly tell what color it once was. The new roof looks so good. I hope it will last at least for as long 😉 And I’m sure there will be no more leaks. We are pleased and satisfied. Thank you team Antti at Hämeen Laaturemontti, well done 🙂

Lake Pitkäjärvi, Espoo

Look how calm the lake was yesterday. You can even see the shadows of the trees on this side of the lake where I stood. Especially in picture 3.