Not much but, one small jar of apple jam. It’s very sweet. The recipe said apple, sugar and lemon juice. I just don’t know what happened. But, for some reason, when I was to pour the juice into the jam I dropped the cup. Of course, the juice all over on the floor. Luckily my husband has a sweet tooth. He said it’s so yummy. Good, he can have all of it. I will make another batch with lemon.
After the art exhibition on Friday I wanted to go up to the viewpoint. My husband shook his head and said, no, no you go. I said it’s nice from up there. Why not come. We’ll make it step by step and if you find it too hard, turn back. We both made it all the way up 😀 After all that climbing 😉 we needed something to eat. We took a coffee break. After that I said let’s go up the hill to the church. This time I wasn’t able to talk him over. He went on his own and I climbed the hill. I was happy he didn’t go with me because it was pretty hard to walk the cobble hill and all the narrow alleyways and streets. It was a gorgeous day. Sunshine, blue skies, still about 25-26 degrees Celsius. As always I took way too many photos. But, after all, it’s my childhood home town which I love ❤
Today we visited an summer art exhibition in Borgå. It’s been open all the summer and will close on Sunday 26th. I only read about the exhibition last week. I immediately said to my husband. We HAVE to go there. I adore Ilse Löök’s paintings. The ‘two ladies’ are so adorable, happy, always laughing, enjoying all kind of funny things to do together. I always think they have been best friends from early childhood. I have a couple of postcards of them that I have bought for myself. I also have, during many years, bought postcards to send to friends. I don’t know if all of my friends appreciate them but I know some friends like them as much as I do. There was about 10-12 paintings by her. All so very nice. There also was paintings by many other painters. All absolutely beautiful.
After the art exhibition we climbed the stone steps up to the stone lookout point which is right next to the Näse Manor. More about that and some sightseeing in the old town tomorrow.
This green pea and avocado smash recipe is from a blog I follow (eatliveescape.com). I made it yesterday. ‘eatliveescape.com’ photos are so much nicer than mine. But, I think my smash probably was as tasty, delisious and healthy. I used ray toasts. And, of course, my husband wanted some meat on his. He got fried bacon.
Here is the recipe from ‘eatliveescape.com’ posting. Thank you for sharing.
“Ingredients
1/2 a ripe avocado (I used one avocado)
1 cup of blanched green peas
1 tablespoon of sour cream
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Sea salt and cracked pepper
Add all ingredients in to a food processor and blend until smooth. Serve topped on toasted sour dough spread with ricotta and drizzle with extra olive oil and whole green peas. Enjoy!”
Sunday afternoon we went to Helsinki to have a look at the two Japanese navy training ships that visited Helsinki during the weekend. My husband wanted to go there already on Saturday but I needed a rest after the Friday tour to Iittala and on Saturday to both Kerava and Oittaa. I promised him, next time there will be a navy visit, we will go there and perhaps also be able to visit onboard. In my opinion all navy ships look the same. My husband says, no, no, they all are different. Hmmm, come to think of, he always says all my sunset photos look the same and I say no, no they all are different 😀
The first time the garlic festival in Kerava was held was in 1989. We love garlic and I remember we then decided to go there. Well, for some reason we never went. Not until now. It didn’t differ from other markets like farmers market or herring market, other than there was plenty garlic. We bought a jar of black garlic mayonnaise, garlic ice cream, buckthorn/ginger gel, the Devil’s sauce and some garlic bread. All very delicious and tasty.
In the afternoon we went to an other happening nearby us. The Chinese Kites at Oittaa(Oittans) on the shore of Lake Bodom. There is a nice beach, a camping area, you can play beach volley plus other outdoor activity possibilities and of course also swim. We didn’t see all the kites as we only stayed for a short time. But, I was happy with what I saw as I have not seen that huge kites so high up before.
Today we were in Iittala at the Naïve art exhibition together with good friends. It’s celebrating it’s 30th year this year. Last year we were there for the first time. It is so nice. All the paintings make you feel so good. Lots of cute animals and flowers which I love. One walks around smiling broadly. There are so many small details in the paintings to find out, to discover. After some thinking, I have to say my favorite artist this year is Riitta Kolari. Our friends live not far away from Iittala and asked us to come to them for afternoon coffee. Thank you so much for the nice company at the exhibition and for the good coffee.
For two years there was a field of sunflowers nearby us. I have missed them. So, when I saw this only, lonely one just down the road it made me smile. A super happy big smile. I love sunflowers 🙂
I cooked the scooped zucchini halves for a few minutes in salted water and let them drain off. Then fried the minced meat, the chopped bacon, onion and the chopped zucchini flesh adding salt, pepper and herbs. I used dried thyme and basil. I filled the “boats” and topped with cheese. Baked them in 200 C for about 30 min. A little less time in the oven would have been fine. But, as my husband said, not bad 😉
For desert apple/rhubarb pie.
On Wednesday when my childhood friend visited us she also brought us many more things than the spinach and carrots from her own garden. She gave us two huge zucchini, tomatoes and a deep frozen piece of venison meat. Again, thank you so much. Yesterday I browsed for zucchini recipes, other than soups, on the internet. There are many. I chose one by ‘Valio koekeittiö.’ A zucchini/bacon casserole with risotto rice, tomatoes, onion, cream cheese, cream, dry basil and salt. It was so good. I may cook it again as there is growing many zucchini in my garden too 😉 or I will look for more recipes on the net 🙂
What happened ! ? I forgot to take the before eating photo 😦 Not much left.
My Little Place In The Universe Of Spaces. 