Outlandish

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...

This challenge has been going around in Facebook for a while already but I’m jumping on board only now. It’s been funny and interesting to read people’s first work experiences, it has given a little window to see how they have ended up where they are now, what sort of path have they traveled. And there have been some very surprising ones also, that I would never have imagined that some of my friends would have done as work. Somehow this has (as far as I know) been concentrated on the Western world and especially young people living in Nordic countries. It is a fact that in Nordic countries people start working and move out of their parents’ place much younger than in other parts of Europe. So quite many of my friends can’t even list as many jobs as seven because their first work experience is from after they graduated University.  But I sure can! #1 Library assistant My first ever job was a one-month-long summer job for the City of Turku. I was 13 so legal...

Autumn is here. Big time. Apple trees all over are stretched to the limit trying to hold the weight of all the delicious apples hanging from their branches and the previously so warm sunshine has grown colder. I mean this, the Sun doesn't feel warm anymore. The trees are not yet yellow but most flowers have died already and the shades of yellow and orange are seeping in to parks and woods. Somehow it seems so wrong... summer was so brief, it didn't properly start at any point. We kept hoping and hoping but it never really started. And now all that weak hope is finally forgotten. But not all is bad about Autumn. Even though it's not warm anymore we have enjoyed a lot of sunshine lately. Also restaurants and shops are changing from their light summer foods to more hearty, full ingredients including vegetables and most importantly, the gold of the forest, mushrooms! A lot of people hate mushrooms because their texture can be a bit slimy and the taste can be strong...

I have never been very interior design oriented. Maybe because most of my adulthood I have lived abroad with the knowledge that I will not stay here for long, so the state of the apartment hasn’t played that big of a part in my life. Which has resulted in me staying in some pretty dodgy apartments. For me they haven’t seemed like such bad places to stay in, it has been enough if the apartment was warm and clean and there were the basic furnishings, which include a window, a nice(ish) bed, table and a chair. My family has only recently admitted how horrified she was of some places where I have stayed along the years. But now (finally?) I have so many kilometres under my belt that I feel like I should be content staying still for a little bit longer than just a couple years, which is why finding an unfurnished apartment was a must this time around. In the end finding such an apartment wasn’t even that difficult in Tallinn, although it might have been without a little help fr...

I came across the headline's statement one day at work Googling for something or the other. And it got me thinking. I'm usually pretty good with money, I rarely buy something just for the sake of buying. I need to really want the item to willingly part with my money for it.  Women usually have a problem with this; buying things without spending much time to think whether they even need them. Especially now that buying online has been made soo easy and returning the items after trying them on is free for the biggest companies. But I have a lot of friends who are just too lazy to go through the return ordeal so in the end they keep the items and plan to maybe sell them or give them away to charity later. I'm not big on shopping online, I like to know at the moment of paying that this shirt fits me and is the colour that it is supposed to be. I also don't have patience when there is something that I want so I don't like waiting for the items to arrive.  ...