Outlandish

I love having friends over. Whether for a weekend or just for one night, I love hosting and everything that comes with it. A big part of hosting are the preparations; cleaning, cooking, arranging. As a project manager this is a very natural state for me to be in, organizing. This weekend my best friend is coming over to relax and for a girly weekend. The only plan we have is a table booked for Saturday evening in Kaks Kokka and that there will be shopping. I always want people to feel as much at home as they can and it all starts with preparations. I always start from cleaning. Vacuum, wipe the dusts, do the dishes, change the sheets and clean the bathroom. Once upon a time I wondered what was the point of cleaning before a party because you will have to clean up the day after properly anyway. But the truth is that nobody would feel at home coming to a place where every surface is covered in dust and there are clothes hanging everywhere and dishes in the most imaginativ...

Brunch is a concept that found its way to Finland at the turn of the first decade of 21st century. And within no time there were queues to some of the nicest bars and restaurants in the Turku and Helsinki center on Sunday mornings, a phenomenon which I thought I would never see in a country that relishes hangover on Sundays! I love brunches. No need to cook yourself, just drag yourself to a restaurant and pay and then fill up your plate as many times as you like! Usually brunches in Finland are like a classier version of a hotel breakfast; a buffet. But depending on the style of the restaurant, of course.  In the Eastern European countries the brunch culture hasn't been noted that much... yet. But little by little the habit is sneaking itself from the shores of Helsinki into Tallinn. And finally about a month ago I noticed that one of my ultimate favourite restaurants here, the aforementioned NOP, has started to serve brunch! Obviously I took the first opportunity...

You know how all blogs these days seem to be full of healthy breakfasts with smoothies that include cow piss and coffee made of squirrel poo and suggestions how your life is not full without a doze of something that tastes just as disgusting as it looks. While I'm very happy that people take care of their bodies' needs, I'm also extremely happy that I don't need to eat that crap. I stay healthy and, if not fit, at least relatively skinny with a normal breakfast that my very Finnish family has always enjoyed. On a normal morning at home before work I need to have my cup of coffee and I usually make a quick bread with cheese and cucumber. Nothing special but enough for me. Sometimes if I wake up a bit earlier I make porridge topped with sugar and cinnamon. That's usually for slow weekend mornings, though. But at home I get to enjoy a proper breakkie that I don't even have to cook myself. Sometimes it's scrambled eggs and bacon British ...

In Nordic countries organic food has been in hype for about 10 years now. But to find a quality and not over-priced organic restaurant there is not so easily done. Tallinn, the small capital of Estonia, has one of the very few really good organic restaurants: Nop. It is not just a restaurant but a café and a store as well. There you can find all sorts of treats (unhealthy as well as healthy) made from local ingredients by local producers. It isn’t located in the proximity of the Old Town, which means that most tourists never end up there. But it is not difficult to find, since it is in the very popular park area called Kadriorg, where the president also lives. It is a small, blue wooden house just off the main road Narva Maantee, which crosses right through the whole city, about 10 minute walk from the Old Town. The menu consists of loads of options: they have wonderful breakfast menu with fresh juices and smoothies and bigger portions for lunch that have ...