Suuri makutesti: Aasia & Turkki

Youtube-videoiden innoittamina päätimme käydä paikallisissa etnisissä ruokakaupoissa. Siam House ja Alanya sijaitsevat kumpikin Satakunnankadulla. Siam House tarjoaa aasialaisten ruokien lisäksi erilaisia kastikkeita, virvoitusjuomia, pakasteita ja pienen valikoiman käyttötavaroita. Alanya oli minulle uusi tuttavuus jossa kävin vasta ensimmäistä kertaa. Valikoimissa oli ruokaa niin tuoreena, säilykkeenä kuin pakasteenakin. Huomion kiinnitti erityisesti edullinen juustovalikoima ja erilaiset makkarat. En tiedä mitään turkkilaisesta ruoasta, joten maistelukohteemme tulevat olemaan täynnä uusia elämyksiä! Ostimme pääasiassa makeita ja suolaisia herkkuja.

Chippy "Chili&Cheese flavored corn chips" Filippiinit

Ei chilin makua lainkaan, etäisesti tulee mieleen nacho tai paprika. Todella mietoja eivätkä suolaisiakaan. Juuston mausta ei tietoakaan.

J 1/10 T 4/10

Cizi "Stick crackers with cheese" Turkki

Nämä olivat pettymys. Maku oli hyvin mieto ja tunkkainen. "Vanhan oksennuksen makuista" (Hyvää, muttei sen makuista mitä luvattiin.) Yhdessä pakkauksessa 4 pakettia.

 J  5/10 T 3/10

Chicharon "Pork Crunch" Englantilaisia?

Vanha tiskirätti maissipuffin muodossa. Yäk! Haiseekin pölylle.
(Hyi saa...)

J 0/10 T 0/10

Dozo original "Rice cracker" Japani

Turhaan pakattu muovipusseihin muovipussin sisään kaksitellen, ei turhan ekologinen pakkaus. Kuin ilmava Tuc- keksi. Aluksi hieman soijaisen makuinen, mutta maku muuttuu hurjasti ja lopuksi melko hämmentävä mutta jännä maku.

J 7/10 T 4/10

Taekaenoi "Crispy seaweed" Tom Yum Goong Flavour Thaimaa

Jälleensuljettava pussi! Hyvää ja terveellistä meriherkkua luvattu.
Pussissa kehotetaan englannin kiellellä lukemaan parasta ennen päiväys... joka lukee kiinaksi...
Tuoksuu levälle (yllättäen), ja mausta tulee heti mieleen kalanruoka. Hieman tulista ja Jennin mukaan "yääh". Syötävää mutta ei suositeltavaa. Ei pistänyt irvistämään mutta hieman hankalaa oli kun piti nielasta.

J 2/10 T 2/10

Corn bits "Chicken flavor" Filippiinit

Positiivinen yllätys! Näitä voisi puputtaa enemmänkin. Yllättävän voimakas maku, mutten kyllä kanaa tunnista enkä muutakaan siivekästä. Jokseenkin palaneen makua seassa, ehkä kärvähtänyt popcorn.

J 7/10 T 6/10

Cokomel pofti, Turkki

Rasittava, mutta jättimäinen pakkaus! Vahva kookoksen tuoksu ja maku. Erittäin makea vaahtokarkin, strösselin ja keksin yhdistelmä. Järjettömän hyvää!

J 9/10 T 9/10

Spaghetti Watermelon Gum, Pakistan
Maistuu juuri sille mille vesimelonipurkan kuuluukin, eli herkkua! Tuoksukin melko voimakas.

J 10/10 T 6/10

Balisto Joghurt- Beeren Mix, Saksa (Marsin valmistama)

Erittäin miellyttävä marjajogurtin, murokeksin ja tietenkin suklaan makuyhdistelmä.
Sopivan maukas eikä liian makea. Ihan perinteinen suklaapatukka, kyllä näitä puputtaisi.

J 8/10 T 5/10

Amira Makam Tamarind Candy. 100 tablets (o-ou?), Thaimaa
Jälleen jokainen karkki omassa pikkuruisessa pussissa, erittäin rasittavaa miehen sormilla avata!
Maku on todella hyvä ja vaikea kuvailla. Makean hedelmäinen. Hyvä tikkarinkorvike. Nam nam!

J 9/10 T 6/10

Hanimeller short bread, Turkki

Yllättävän monta keksiä ja oikein tomusokeripussi erikseen!

"Oi kuinka pehmeitä, oooh!"
Emme edes ehtineet avaamaan sokeripussia. NAM!
Todella makeita, enemmän tomusokerin kun keksin makua.

J 7/10 T 5/10

Sunc & Pump chocolate coated sunflower and pumpkin seeds, Thaimaa

Söpöjä! Auringonkukansiemenissä oli värikäs sokeri-suklaakuorrute ja kurpitsansiemenissä tarpeeksi suklaata peittääkseen siemenen maun melko hyvin. Maku muistuttaa paljon M&M- karkkeja.
Hyviä naposteltavia!

J 10/10 T 5/10

Just a Minute in January

Learning...some swedish words

Watching...crappy movies

Listening...The Foggy Mountain Rockers

Craving for...lipbalm

Loving...my new woolen socks

Making...vegetarian burgers

Playing...Skyrim

Tasting...Rosita

Listen: Ozzy Osbourne - The Ozzman Cometh

Needed something to sing along.

Listen: Marilyn Manson - The Golden age of Grotesque

Oh, I used to LOVE Marilyn Manson as a teenager. I even got the proud feeling when one of his songs played on the radio, like I would have actually known the band. This is going to be a long day full of food, drinking, fun activities and sauna = company summer party. I needed something that would get me in the party mood. This is it. Still know all the words and tend to sing along. Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag does it always, no matter where I am. Can't help it.

Listen: Smack - On you

Smack was a band I found through those mix cds you get free when you buy the magazine. They had made a cover of Paint it Black and I later found out it usually is their version playing in radio in Finland rather than the original. It was a good cover, so I wanted to know more about the band. One of their own songs have been made a cover by Nirvana actually.
This is one of those mornings you need to get energetic and keep that energy, hence this record. It's pure rock'n'roll in young, raw, sweaty form. Waking up just now, making some coffee and cleaning a the house, in couple hours to the work and I will be at my bed again around..05ish. For about 5½ hours, then I need to be going again. Anyway, the lead singer Claude was a wonderful poet too, I have his book, Julmia ovat valvotut unet, full of dark, mysterious poems.

Listen: Nightwish - Wishmaster

As a teenager I didn't listen much music before I found a wonderful penpal from Joensuu. We wrote quite a lot about music since is was his passion. This penpal introduced me to Nightwish and my godparents bought me a collection of their albums as birthday present. This is actually one of records I tend to listen every now and then, perfect music for cleaning since it gives me energy.

Listen: Patti Smith - Twelve

I'm going to listen all records I own. Twelve is a record containing only covers, which is something I normally would avoid. However, the cover art and cheap prize made me buy this about a year ago. This is my to go album, when I want to feel like a strong woman and I'm alone at home. Some of the songs make me dance.

Food for love

Food has always been very important part of my life. My father who passed away a while ago loved cooking passionately. Kitchen was his place to rebel when there was family to feed and take care of. He made his own spice mixes and had secret recipes, something I never inherited from grandparents. He thought us food is to be shared and enjoyed and you must taste everything before you can say you don't want to eat it. So, after ten years of eating sausages and loving them I said I had have enough of them for the rest of my life and everybody in my family were okay about it. When I told my family January 2013 I was going to try pesco vegetarian lifestyle they were quite okay about it. Not worried if I would get enough nutrition and not even interested why I wanted to try it out. Since then I have eaten some meat. My boyfriend is omnivore and I still like to taste new things. When eating small amounts of meat I rarely get my stomach hurting I do get this heavy, stuffy feeling I don't like. Also, my sense of taste has improved quite a lot, which I find interesting. I have found bananas after years of avoiding them (just didn't like the taste) and pickled garlic is from heaven.

Today I'm eating new potatoes, Pirkka vegetarian patties and tomato-salad with pickled garlic, tomatoes, red onion, black pepper and some feta cheese. And every time I will taste something fresh, smell spices or light up the grill I will remember my father and how he loved and relaxed in the kitchen. 

Mitä tapahtuu isättömille isän tytöille?

10 things you didn't know about me

1. My usual breakfast contains coffee with milk and two slices of rye bread with real butter and cucumber. I'm trying to get into a habit of drinking a glass of orange juice too, for vitamin c

2. All my winter shoes are size 35 and summer shoes from size 37 to 38, so I'm thinking either my feet get very swollen in summer or my actual size is 35 + woolen socks

3. I was a nail biter for years and tried everything from wearing lots of gloves to the horrible tasting polish. My savior was colorful nail polish. When bitten it looked so ugly I couldn't live with it so I just bought lots of bright reds and dark purples and black nail polish and stopped biting.

4. In summer I often sweat so much I like to wear black t-shirts just in case. In winter I get so cold even if it's +21 inside the house I sometimes take a hot shower in the middle of the day just to warm up

5. My first cassette was Aerosmith collection I loved to listen when nobody else was at home. I still don't remember who taped it for me

6. My most prized possession if electronics are not counted is 100e  bookshelf. It's from IKEA and has shared five apartments with me. Now it's getting too small for my books.

7. Last two years are first ones since learning to write I haven't had any penpals. I prefer penpals from abroad, my most memorably ones have lived in Germany (Tana) and Poland (Olga). I wish one day I will have the time and interest to have this kind of relationship with somebody again.

8. I still don't understand how skin toned bras are supposed to be invisible under a white t-shirt, they are not!

9. I don't have one best friend but several good friends. Letting somebody close is hard for me and my dream would be to find a man who would be my lover and a best friend.

10. I think long toes are one of the most beautiful part of human body

Vegetarian burgers

Vegetarian burgers with sweet potato "fries"

Best burgers I have ever made! Filled them with salad, tomatoes, onion, cheese, dressings, fried egg and zucchini patties. I sliced the zucchini to nice thick patties, rolled it around egg+spice mixture, then bread crumbs, fried in hot oil. Fries are just baked sweet potato strips baked with oil, salt and herbs. Quick and tasty.

What's in my bag?

receipt from Swamp music store and Groove bar

salmiakki skulls

Rennie pills (for heart burn)

hand cream

tampon

lip balm

four pens (green is the crappy one)

two lighters (Bandidos mc and Hondos Center)

toothbrush

panties

wallet

passport

Still meatless January

21/31 to go! After realizing I have been eating lots of ready made meals I need to start making my own. I normally don't eat much of that "just microwave" -stuff but somehow cooking vegetarian meals hasn't been in my schedule right now. It has been hectic couple weeks anyway. So today I'm going to make vegetarian wok with chanterelle. One of the reasons I stopped eating red meat is because it tends to give me heart burn, I haven't experienced any after skipping it, so that's good. I have also been super stressed but not bloated and zombie tired like I usually am. I'm not sure if it's because food or not, but it's still a positive thing. Once or maybe twice I have had a huge craving for mettwurst. Guys were having it on breakfast table and the smell was SO GOOD, mm... It was quite easy to resist the temptation anyway.

Meatless January

Inspired by this Lihaton tammikuu / Meatless January I ended up thinking what I could do to feel better. I have been feeling tired and a bit down for a long time now and though the idea of skipping red meat and chicken for a month wouldn't be too big change for actually sticking into it. "For a month" doesn't necessary mean a month, it's all about feeling good for me, not so much about saving animals.  My fridge hasn't looked this sad and empty for a long time. :(

This is the fifth day and so far I haven't experienced any cravings. I have eaten only food I'm familiar with but next week I promised myself to try out some new recipes. I'm trying to write about the experiment and my feelings and document what I have been eating. So far...

- chinese take away: shrimps and vegetables with rice
- tuna-leek pie
- McFeast with vegetable patty
- fish sticks with mashed potatoes
- onion rings with mayo
- pasta salad
- creamy veggie curry
- vegetarian nuggets
- caesar salad
-Zarillo's vegan burger

A Very Good Pie

What you need to make a very good pie:

400g minced meat
2dl chanterelles
one big onion
pepper
soy sauce
herbs
flaky pastry
some egg

Second salad

Chickpea salad with cherrytomatoes, leftover cucumber, red onion and pickled cucumber.

Salaattia seitsemänä päivänä

Rakastan salaattia. Syön erilaisia salaatteja ehkä kerran pari kuussa. Tämä korjattakoon, siis seuraavan viikon aikana valmistan ja syön erilaisen salaatin joka päivä. Aion kokeilla uusia reseptejä (vinkkejä ja ehdotuksia saa laittaa kommenttiboksiin) ja opetella tekemään jotain mitä en ole aikaisemmin tehnyt.

Tämän päivän salaatti on oikeastaan jämäkasa kaikenlaista: jääsalaattia, kirsikkatomaatteja, punasipulia, kurkkua, kananmunaa ja vuohenjuustolla täytettyä herkkusientä. Oli hyvää vaikka näyttääkin ehkä vähän epämääräiseltä. Ja unohdin salaatinkastikkeenkin.  Vuohenjuustoherkkusienet olivat pettymys, eivät maistuneet oikein miltään. 

Ps: Se tunne, kun kaivat hyllystä levyn jota exäsi nimitti "intialaiseksi ulinaksi" ja tajuat että voit nyt luukuttaa sitä niin paljon kuin haluat. Terveisiä vaan A:lle jos luet tätä :)

Just a minute on September

Learning...how to be okay without getting everything I want right away

Watching...cats sleeping

Reading...Hyperion. I'm stuck with this book!

Listening...Depeche Mode and Joan Baez

Craving for...Caesar salad

Loving...the season

Writing...and doodling when I should be drawing and painting

Talking...in the phone, hearing how things are on the other side of the world. T is in South Korea right now and I miss him

What I'm watching...from TV

When I was a kid I rarely watched TV. My favorite series were Moomins, Alfred J. Kwak, Barbapapa, Doctor Snuggles, Tao Tao and so on. After moving out from my parents place I have never really had the need for a tv and even now I only have one to use as a screen for GameCube. But then came the wonderful world of internet and tv-watching boyfriends. This is a list of some tv series I have enjoyed in no particular order.



Twin Peaks

Have I known there was something so great I would have watched this years ago. Loved it, couldn't stop watching it, was inspired by it.

"The body of a young girl (Laura Palmer) is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate her strange demise only to uncover a web of mystery that ultimately leads him deep into the heart of the surrounding woodland and his very own soul." (Imdb)

New Girl

I don't usually enjoy comedies but this one really makes me laugh. "Jess - a bubbly offbeat teacher who is known to burst into spontaneous song - catches her boyfriend with another woman, and needs a new place to live. She moves into a loft with three single guys she's never met before. Nick is a jaded law-school dropout, who usually just wants to be left alone. Schmidt is an flashy businessman, who believes he is a gift to women. Winston is a former athlete who doesn't know what to do, but really needs to win whatever it is" (Imdb)



Star Trek

From The Next Generation to Enterprise it's all about adventure and sci-fi a girl can enjoy too.
I didn't really like the very first Star Trek with Kirk as a captain, but after that I have enjoyed every series and movies several times. There is battles, romance, danger, new worlds and weird looking aliens.




Hart of Dixie

This is all about cheesy romance and giggly girly stuff. If not counting pet alligator on the right is a picture of the main reason I keep watching this one. Because, you know, hot men are nice and this one shows up often without a shirt. And is nice and plays guitar. What more there is to want? (Imdb)


Shameless

The USA version that aired 2011. SO good. Makes me laugh to things you know you shouldn't laugh, but it's fun sometimes. This is what Imdb says about the series: "Meet the fabulously dysfunctional Gallagher family. Dad's a drunk, Mom split long ago, eldest daughter Fiona tries to hold the family together. Eldest son Philip (Lip) trades his physics tutoring skills for sexual favors from neighborhood girls. Middle son Ian is gay. Youngest daughter Debbie is stealing money from her UNICEF collection. Ten-year-old Carl is a budding sociopath and an arsonist, and toddler Liam is - well, he might actually be black, but nobody has a clue how" (Imdb)


Sons of Anarchy

One of the best series I have ever seen. Don't watch this if you like happy, funny, fluffy things. It's all about bad relationships, violence, betrayal and so on. "Sons of Anarchy, aka SAMCRO, is a motorcycle club that operates both illegal and legal businesses in the small town of Charming. They combine gun-running and a garage, plus involvement in porn film. Clay, the president, likes it old school and violent; while Jax, his stepson and the club's VP, has thoughts about changing the way things are, based on his dead father's journal. Their conflict has effects on both the club and their personal relationships." (Imdb)

Also worth watching: Walking Dead, True Blood, Jericho, Game of Thrones and Modern Family

Imdb.com says new seasons from Hart of Dixie and Sons of Anarchy are airing 11.9.2012, so I can't wait! 

Jeans into a yoga mat carrier

Right now I'm so proud of myself. I had these old jeans I didn't want to wear even when working at garden. Also, I had a need for proper yoga mat carrier. I found this DIY Project and actually managed to make a decent looking, easy to use carrier. And it was super easy. I recommend this project even though, you know, I don't have any friend that do yoga.