Trip to Canterbury (September 2010)

The almost National Geographic worthy shot, but the beak got cut off.



Canterbury Cathedral

Life Here...

It has been a while. These past 2 months have shown that change isn't easy. London isn't easy. Nothing around me seems easy at the moment. So all I can do is take a deep breath, walk to Regents Park (pictures below) and remind myself to try to BE easy going instead :)







I baked some scones. We ate them with raspberry jam and clotted cream (a delicious spread somewhere between whipped cream and butter)

Thomas working furiously at the "command center" ( I can take a picture but shhhhh, no disturbing! Deadline in less than 2 weeks!!)

Medal UPDATE!

So, the 2010 Winter Olympic games are over and Finland ended up with 5 medals! 4 bronze (the women's and men's hockey teams both won bronze) and and 1 silver thanks to P2! but I am hoping for a better showing in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

Holi Festival, India

The 'festival of color' being celebrated at the end of the winter season in India.

JK Rowling on the fringe benefits of failure.

"So why do I talk about failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized and I was still alive. So rock bottom became the the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. You might never fail on the scale I did but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you fail by default. You will never truly know yourself or the strength of your relationships until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift and it has been worth more than any qualification I have ever earned."
-J.K. Rowling

Childhood Memory: The Finnish Birthday Cake

Here is a traditional Finnish sokerikakku or "sugar cake" I made for my brother's birthday. Our Finnish au pairs used to make this cake for our birthdays when we were little, and mine tasted just like back in the day and was a yummy trip down memory lane :) I stacked two small cakes on top of one another and filled the middle with strawberry jam, whipped cream, and pureed bananas. Then, the whole cake is covered with whipped cream and decorated with fresh fruit.

To the Lighthouse

I had to find my way around this huge swamp...luckily I was wearing rubber boots!

YES! One medal for FINLAND!!

My mom read in a Finnish magazine that the country expected to bring home 12 medals from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver...wellll so far the only medal we have is silver thanks to PEETU PIIROINEN who placed second in men's snowboard halfpipe!! Woohoo, way to go P2!! Hyvä Suomi! (I'm proud, one medal is better than no medals!)

Crispy Cold Beach Walk! (or The Day I Saw a Seal!)

That's a seal in the distance!

A Weekend Spent Baking

I made doughnuts for the first time and an Espresso Chocolate Cake. I wasn't really crazy about either but my dad and brother loved it all! Next time I will make a yeast doughnut not a cake doughnut, they were soo rich! Whatever the result, its always fun to bake... though I was exhausted after the doughnut operation!

Ski Trip 2009: Stowe VT (part II)

Action shots of me, my brother and Thomas