Llama inc. - New Songs!

Here comes an important message for friends of music!


Now that I have your attention, you may remember that my brother plays and writes songs in a band called Llama inc. They have released a few new songs which are available on Llama inc's Myspace page. If you like indie punk/rock, check them out!

How long to make a sweater, I wonder

Mr Morrgan was complaining about having an insufficient amount of warm sweaters the other day. This jogged my memory and I remembered that he'd received a big pile of yarn as a Christmas present, together with the promise that I'd make a sweater out of it. That was 2 years ago. Oops.

It's about time he got his sweater, then! It'd be funny to wrap up the finished sweater as a gift this year. "Remember this?"

I'm about to finish the back, but I still need to remake the front and knit both sleeves. And there's, oh, 8 days until Christmas eve? This'll be interesting race against time. Wish me luck!

Roses are red... and pink!

During the two brief vacations I've taken this summer, we went to visit my parents up north. As usual, I spent as much time as possible in their garden together with my mother - digging, planting, weeding and just enjoying the pretty views. I thought I'd share!

This little beauty is called 'Sommerwind'. I love those kinda scalloped petals, they give the rose such a lovely, romantic look.

The reds on this rose and dahlia are so vibrant!

There's plenty of red raspberries too, as well as strawberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and gooseberries. Yum!

Another pink beauty.

These lilies were planted a couple years ago and some of them we got as "surprises" - we had no idea what colours they would be. Due to a lily-eating meanie, this is the first year we actually saw them. They turned out to be rather fantastic surprises. =)

Smoothies, perfect for summer time

It's my birthday! And Mr Morrgan the sweetie woke me up with coffee in bed and made French toast with lemon curd for breakfast. Yay and yum! =)

In other news, it's warm and lovely here again, after a week or so of colder weather, and we have been trying out old and new summery drinks. My current favourites for lunch are smoothies, especially nice when made with berries from my parents' garden and enjoyed on the sunny balcony. I thought I'd share a couple of recipes.


I use frozen berries to get a nice cool drink, but fresh ones could be used too. Making them is very easy, just mix everything together with a blender. Simple, fast and yummy! For some fun and equally easy experimenting with flavours, try using different berries and juices.

Blackcurrant-Banana Smoothie (pictured)
2 bananas
1-2 dl (~1/2-4/5 cup) blackcurrants
1 tbsp honey
2,5 dl (1 cup) water

Berry Mix Smoothie
1 banana
1 dl (~1/2 cup) raspberries
1/2 dl (~1/4 cup) blackcurrants
2 dl fruit juice of your choice

Happy 5th!

Barely have we recovered from Christmas and the New Year, when the wedding anniversary sneaks up on us! Eek! It's really been 5 years since our wedding. Where did the time go?


Well, in any case this calls for celebration! And celebrate we shall, by making a delicious dinner together (including the white chocolate panna cottas with layers of coffee pictured above, and fried goat cheese with pear slices and roasted pine nuts) plus having nice drinks and fun co-op gaming with our anniversary present to ourselves, Borderlands. Perfect!

Some obligatory Christmas-time whine. But also good times, sharks and chompy hearts!

It's Advent Sunday, but the Christmas frenzy in the shops seems to have been in full force for two weeks or more. It really seems like shops start with the holiday decorations and music earlier and earlier every year, so that by this time of the year I get an allergic reaction whenever I see a plastic Christmas tree full of shiny stuff or hear another "cheerful" song about Santa's reindeers. *shudder*

There are a few Christmas traditions I enjoy though. One of them is the Advent Concert by the Florakören and Brahe Djäknar choirs and the Academy Orchestra. We went to hear them yesterday and it was just beautiful - this year was even more enjoyable than usual. Also, my brother joined the Brahe Djäknar choir this year, so that made it extra special.

Today I've been trying to keep the faint holiday enjoyment going by making what I think are suitable decorations for the season: hearts gone wild! The sharks may be in the forefront of the photo, but it's mostly the hearts I've been working on today. Those red and white pieces in the background have become four wild, chompy hearts (and the orange ones are now a couple of foxes). Not a bad way to spend a Sunday, all in all.

Another fun Christmas-related event I've taken part in this year is the European Street Team's Secret Santa game - I'll post more about that next!

A Happy Birthday Cake

My brother turned one year older and it was only right and just that he have a cake. As we now live in the same city, I decided that the job of making him a cake was mine.

A cake was indeed created and happily, dear brother approved of it:


Want to know how you too can make a brother-approved cake? Read on!


First, a basic cake was made:

1. About 75 g (about 2 1/2 oz) butter was melted and left to cool.

2. Then 3 eggs and 3 dl (1 1/4 cup) sugar were beaten together until white and fluffy-ish.

3. The dry ingredients (4 1/2 (a little under 2 cups) dl flour, 3 tsp baking powder and 2 tsp vanilla sugar) were mixed together, then added to the beaten eggs & sugar.

4. Finally, about 1 dl (a little under 1/2 cup) water and the melted & cooled butter were mixed into the batter.

5. The batter was poured into a greased and floured cake tin (24 cm or 9 1/2 inches in diameter) and baked in 175°C (347°F) for about 45 mins.

Once the cake had cooled down, the fun part started! I cut it in half and moistened the bottom layer by spreading a bit of fruit juice (including orange, pineapple, apple and passionfruit) evenly over it with a tablespoon. Then I spread on a layer of apricot marmelade and finally covered it with vanilla custard. The top layer went on and was moistened in the same way.

The cake went into the fridge for about 8 hours to set and let the juice spread evenly throughout the layers. It probably would have been better to have it in there overnight, but oh well. Will do that another time.

Just before serving, it was time for the final touches. Vanilla-flavoured whipped cream was liberally applied to the whole cake and decorated with mandarin orange slices. Voilà!

Rescue 911: Hedgehog Edition

One sunny day, Mamma and I had been out picking strawberries in my parents' field. We were already on our way indoors with a bowl full, when Mamma decided to show me some new trees they'd recently planted. A good thing she did, because next to these trees, on the other side of the fence, is the neighbours' strawberry field. In it we saw this:

A poor little baby hedgehog, stuck in the strawberry net!

We immediately called for Pappa and my brother and organized a rescue. The neighbours were away, so Pappa decided to go check things out closer and cleared the fence with haste (and style).

The strawberry net was attached tightly to the hoglet's spines, so Pappa cut him out...

...and handed the little one to me to get the rest of the net off.

The net turned out to be wound tightly around the poor guy's neck and had to be carefully cut off, with the help of my brother.

The baby hog was so tiny! And completely exhausted after fighting the net in the hot sun for who knows how long, he seemed to fall asleep in my hands as I was checking that we got all the net off. (The red sticky stuff on his fur is strawberry, by the way, nothing serious.)

The baby hedgehog is one of three that live in our yard with their mommy. We brought him (and a plate of water) near the nest and let him go. He was so shaky on his feet and had to take several breaks on the meter-long walk, but he made it home to the others.

The next day we could breathe out with relief, for we spotted all four hedgehogs alive and well, one of them bravely exploring the lawn. The rescue mission was a success!

(Thanks to Mamma for all the photos! She never forgets the camera.)

A Place to Call Home

The living room, with a silly door to the balcony.

The apartment hunting is over! Last wednesday we got the keys to our very own place. (I wonder, does this mean we now have to start acting like sensible adults? Oh dear.)

We're ridiculously happy about this place. It's got a Real Kitchen! It's got light fixtures that work! It's got a stove that also actually works! It won't turn into a big oven in summer! (Well, we're pretty sure it won't. We shall see!) It's got a balcony! It's got a whole small room for clothes! It's got, well, space. We're used to a tiny place with barely any room at all; this new place has a bedroom, living room, that little room for clothes, a nice wide hallway and a bathroom. I mean, we're going to get lost in there!

Mr Morrgan, checking out his favourite part of the new place:
the Real Kitchen.

Oh, plus the balcony! Wonderful, wonderful balcony, how I've longed for thee. I can't wait to fill it up with pretty flowers surrounding a couple of chairs, perfect for ice tea after work. (Well, once we figure out how the door works. We've opened it twice and both times had to spend 15 minutes trying to get it shut again. Not even having instructions thoughtfully left beside it by the previous owner helped.)

But do you know what I really enjoy about this apartment (in addition to the balcony and having no crappy linoleum floors)? It's in the middle of town, yet you can see trees from every window and barely hear any traffic noise at all. Such a huge change to what we've lived in so far.

Now, the only problem is which colours to choose for the bedroom and living room walls. Mr Morrgan has some silly notion about orange being a good idea. He can call it "ochre" all he wants, but it's still orange and a ridiculous colour for a wall, says I. Will we ever be able to decide? Only time will tell!

SURPRISE! MUAHAHAA

A mysterious envelope arrived yesterday and in it was this mysterious note! The small text says "Here you have a cd." And there was indeed a cd inside.

This must be one of the coolest envelopes I have ever received. The note alone has had me giggling like a silly person for a day and a half.

This mysterious package was sent by my brother, Man of Mystery and Muahahaa. He went to the release party of the CD in the envelope, How's the Heart by Sofie Björkgren-Näse - check out the artist's MySpace page for a few songs!

Bro, you're all kinds of awesome. <3

Oh yeah, Father's Day!

I went out today, in the cold and the dark and the damp, braving the misty rain in order to get bread and milk. Once outside, I realized this is the really annoying kind of rain that's gets in your face regardless of how you hold your umbrella and will leave you feeling cold, moist and icky no matter what. It's barely enough to be called "rain", yet every piece of clothing you're wearing will be in need of drying once you get back. It's truly some sort of devious miracle of nature.

Once I got to the shop I found it was closed. They are all closed, because it's Father's Day here in Finland. No choice but to trundle back in the same cold and dark and damp that I had to endure on the way out, with no milk and no bread. Pity me.

But as they say, every (irritating rain) cloud has a silver lining. I now know that it's Father's Day and can wish my Dad a happy one on the day, instead of the usual one week later. (I'm pretty good with birthdays, honest. It's these random holidays that seem to try their hardest to sneak past me unnoticed and then turn around and laugh at me from the safe distance of a week ago. Unless they can lure me out to get soaked, of course. Grr.)

So, happy Father's Day, pappa! I probably neglect to tell you this in person, but I'm always telling people about how much fun my brother and I had when we were kids, playing with the treehouses, slingshots and other nifty things you made for us when we were little, and about the homemade bread and other yummy things you made and still make in the kitchen. Thanks! \o/ I'll make one of these below for you the next time we're in the same city.

The World's Most Useless Invention

It's the season of golden and bloodred leaves. A truly beautiful season, were it not for one thing. The leaf blowers.

I've been wondering how this thing ever made it to mass production. As I was trying in vain to get some sleep this morning with leaf blowers terrorizing the neighbourhood, I amused myself by imagining the inventor selling the idea to some big shots with lots of money.

Inventor: "I've got this great new idea. A leaf blower!"
Big Shots With Lots Of Money: "..."
Inventor: "You can blow leaves into a pile!"
BSWLOM: "And then...?"
Inventor: "Then you can blow them into another pile!"
BSWLOM: "..."
Inventor: "It's... It's a cool machine! And it makes lots of noise!"
BSWLOM: "Oh wow we'll make millions!"

And thus my mornings in autumn-time came to be ruined by air and sound polluting leaf blowers, voted as the most useless invention in the world some years back here in Finland.

Plus to make matters worse, we had run out of coffee this morning. On its own this is enough to start up homicidal tendencies, then double that up with the leaf blowers... Fortunately Mr Morrgan saw the danger and rushed off to buy coffee as soon as he knew the situation. Mr Morrgan saves the day!

(The photo shows the huge maple tree in my parents' back yard. A fantastic-looking tree which unfortunately produces an equally huge amount of fallen leaves every year. But who cares! It's so pretty! And completely unpolluted sound-wise!)

Officially Travelled Out. But there's photos!

Phew. It's been pretty much a whole month of Not Being At Home, with just a few days in between of frantically shipping orders and repacking for a new trip. Three trips in a month is pushing it, but then again only one of these was planned in advance.

On the plus side, I have some photos! Very belated ones, if you look at my previous post. These are from the week-long, totally unplanned emergency trip to Boston. Despite the unplanned emergency part, it was good.

I'm officially Travelled Out for now. Now I just have to try to figure out what a normal life is supposed to look like again.

The obligatory American bagel.

It looked fun. I should have joined them.

A pretty part of a park in downtown Boston.

Yum yum yum! Moments later I managed to knock Mr Morrgan's drink to the ground. Oops. I got him a new one though.

Enjoying the Harvard campus.

Ähtäri Zoo, part 2

As promised, here are the rest of the Ähtäri Zoo trip photos, taken by my brother. For more photos and some info about the zoo, check out my previous blog post. Thanks again for the photos, bro!

Cranes are rather stylish birds, aren't they?

The wolves were moving almost constantly, making it very tricky to get good photos of them.

And look, they had pups! Little furry things with paws that seemed just a little too big for them to use properly. Adorable!

My parents have several pheasants living in their garden, along with squirrels, (strawberry-stealing) hedgehogs, a (rose-eating meanie) rabbit and more species of little birds than I've been able to count. They've just showed up from who knows where and decided to stay. Who needs a zoo, really.

Say hello to Mr and Mrs Bear again.

The sun came out towards the evening, giving this kind of lovely light.

All four eagle owls we could see were sitting together in the middle of their area in pairs, with each pair surveying their own half with their backs to the other pair. I suspect very little goes unnoticed under their close scrutiny.

Wikipedia gives the English name ermine or stoat for these little guys. They'd been orphaned early and had to be raised by an employee of the park, feeding the large litter every 1-2 hours for the first few weeks (when did this employee sleep??). These were still young and playful and didn't stay still for more than a few seconds at a time.

Awww, it's Bambi! Or, uh, Bambi's mom? These white-tailed deer actually had a few little bambis, but the mothers kept them so far away from the public we could only see their ears and tails in the long grass. These aren't a native species, although they have nowadays been introduced to parts of Finland.

The zoo also has a section for domestic animals, like alpacas. I guess this guy is hinting that it's late and he's had enough of visitors for the day.

These little piggies were my brother's favourite. He thought they were very polite, as they replied to him every time he oinked, even while they were eating. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with a pet pig one of these days.

Ähtäri Zoo, part 1

Well, we're home again. Our vacation ended up a few days longer than we had planned, but that's alright. It was the most relaxing vacation I've had in years, despite rather crappy weather.

(If you're here for Tuesday Finds, sorry, but I haven't had much chance to settle in yet after the trip. They'll be back next week!)

Us entering Ähtäri Zoo, which is spread out in 60 hectares of forest. We're further away from the camera, I have no idea who the guy in the foreground is.

Halfway through the holiday we went on a one-day trip to the Ähtäri Zoo with my parents and my brother. I'd been there a couple of times before as a kid, but it was a first for Mr Morrgan and my brother. They seemed to enjoy it, especially my brother who since this trip has suddenly started to notice animals. Nowadays he mentions animals he's seen on the way to and at work, like squirrels and swans. Awesome. :D

Swans, pretty as can be. These were occupying the beavers' pond while the beavers were asleep.

He also took lots and lots of photos and I want to show off a few of them, because it turns out he has hidden talents as a nature photographer!

A couple of lazy-looking wild boars. It's a shame we didn't see any piglets, they're just too adorable. But these guys aren't too bad either. ;)

The park was established in 1973 and now houses over 60 animal species and many many plant species, most of them native to Finland. It's open to the public every day of the year.

Aren't they sweet? A couple of fallow deer having a snack.

Before going on this trip I read a book called 'Eläintarinoita Ähtäristä' by Jukka Lahtinen, who was the zoo's manager for decades. In the book he describes how the park got started and evolved to what it is now, a bit about how things work behind the scenes and of course tells many stories about the zoo's inhabitants over the years. It was interesting to go into the park with all that in mind and at the same time see how things look from a visitor's point of view.

The zoo's first animal was Köpi the moose. I wonder if this little one is a descendant?

It was a fun day for all and we spent about three hours wandering around. Well, I think it's time to let the photos speak for themselves, so enjoy! There's so many I want to show that I'll divide them for two blog posts, so come back towards the end of the week for photos of wolves, some of the domestic animals they also have at the zoo and more bears and birds. Thanks for the photos, bro!

The bears were really cool. There's just something about them I can relate to.

There were two bears together, this is the smaller one. The lady teddy, I presume?

The snow leopards were one of the non-native animal species. There's not many left of them in the wild, sadly.

The wisent, or European bison. Quite an impressive sight, even when lying down peacefully like this. These almost went extinct in the early 1900s, with only a few dozen individuals left in zoos, but are making a comeback now and have been reintroduced to parts of their original habitat.