Bella Roma, Squirrels and LOLing

I think I just LOLed in the bus. I was listening to this podcast (KCRW Good Food) and this guy was going on about cocktails and it was funny. I mean I was sitting there having my Chai Latte really getting into the show forgetting where I was and I think I LOLed... very loud, because this lady across from me was giving me this 'are-you-psycho'-esque look.

Anyhow, on Saturday we decided to have lunner or dinch (lunch/dinner) at Bella Roma (we had a 2for1 coupon, what a surprise). Bella Roma have two restaurants one in Siperia in the center and one in Hervanta. The one in Hervanta is kind of like one of those cheap pizza kebab places, but the one in Siperia is more of a sit down place. The coupon was valid in the one in the center, so that's naturally where we headed. I was pretty lazy and I hadn't called to reserved a table so we decided to pick a time when we assumed that there wouldn't be that many people.

We arrived at 16:55 on Saturday and the place was pretty packed, although it was difficult to figure out just how much space they had since they have a small flight of stairs going up to a half floor at the back. When the lady came to seat us she pointed to two of the worst possible tables. One was right next to where people waited before being seated and the other one was in front of the kitchen like many meters away from any other table (plus there was only one seat). As a third option she said we could go sit 'outside' since they do have some tables outside the restaurant (but inside Siperia). I opted for the table next to the people queuing up since I had looked at the tables outside and they seemed kind of full. Now I wouldn't have had a problem with the tables if these were the only ones available, I mean it was my fault for not reserving in advance, however after us there came many parties of twos who did NOT have a reservation who were seated up in the back and no one after us during the time we were there was offered the crummy seat next to the kitchen.

Notice how close the kitchen 'window' is (where the woman is) and the phone was where that bar starts (curvy brick thing).

Needless to say the atmosphere was not very nice. First of all we were right where the people waiting to be seated were standing. Soon we realized that we were right next to the phone too, with the woman taking reservations and yelling to the waiters to see if there was still seating. Oh yeah and the waiters going to and from the kitchen walked right past us too. So, basically it was noisy and hectic and I was pissed off that they had seated us there and given all the people who came after us better seats.

Steak and Potatoes

We decided to forget the starters and just use the coupon, eat and go. We had the BISTECCA PER AFFAMATO 23,70e an entrecôte steak with potatoes, bacon beans and red wine sauce. The food came really quickly considering how full they were and the food was OK. I ordered my steak medium and it was almost cooked through so that was another disappointment and also the red wine sauce tasted like the one we had the week before from a package.

All in all the seating really ticked me off and it contributed not only to the atmosphere but also to the overall mood. The service after the seating however was quick and pleasant. The food, had it not been an offer would not have been worth 23.70e. My verdict is that call ahead and request a GOOD table and either stick to the pizza (which is apparently good value) or just stick to Speakeasy's orgasmic wings which is right across from Bella Roma.

Therapy (and no, not all those cups are ours, honest).

After that some what disappointing dinch I needed some therapy so we headed to have a Chai Latte at Wayne's Coffee (we have no Starbucks in Finland) which soothed my disappointed nerves.

Then on Sunday I finally got round to planting the flower bulbs I had ordered. I dug and planted out in the cold, windy rain for what seemed like hours, till they were all nicely in the ground. I even planned the beds according to color, size and time of flowering. So when I woke up this morning and peered out the window and was greeted with HOLES! Yes HOLES in my beautifully crafted flower beds I pretty much flipped. It's that same damn squirrel that I saw digging up these bulbs I planted earlier. OMG!!! Speaking of the little devil I just turned around and IT WAS RIGHT THERE EATING FROM THE BIRD FEEDER. Damn, it didn't even scare when I opened the porch door, I could have whacked it on the head. Oh well. At least it is eating the bird feed not my bulbs. I have to think of something ARGH it's back!! Ugh... ran away. Yes, so must think of something less painful that whacking it on the head. Still it did eat ALL my Puschkinias and some of my big tulips...

Why do so many annoying things happen at the same time? Well, at least I did LOL on the bus.

PS. Must remember to write the next post about crazy cult meeting we were conned into going to last night.

Speakeasy Friday

My favorite restaurant in Tampere is this bar and hot wings place called Speakeasy. Recently they expanded and are now on two floors and there have been coupons in the local papers for 12 wings for 5e which is an awesome deal if you ask me. So, of course I've been hoarding coupons and we've gone there 3 times now for the past 3 weeks (once a week). I swear the wings there are friggin wonderful, although Samuli isn't much of a fan but hey, what does he know! *hehe* Another bonus is that you can get a big beer there 0,6l for a fairly decent price considering that it is a restaurant and that it is Finland (the land of expensive state alcohol and alcoholics).

Other than eating I've been avoiding work and instead played Warcraft 3 for disgusting amounts of time and taken photographs, but that's nothing new really, although I seem to be in a nice spot of inspiration at the moment (surprise surprise with Period 1 ending and promises of essay writing ahead of me). I finally realized how great a tripod is, no more super blurry photos, and have been experimenting with taking pictures in the dark. It's been a lot of fun for me and not so much fun for my model Samuli, so if anyone else is willing to pose and is around Tampre then feel free to contact me. I've also found a new idol, Bryan Niven who takes incredible pictures, or should I say makes incredible pictures. He is a virtuous with Photoshop absolutely fantabulous!



I forgot to mention in my last post that I had an interesting cultural weekend in Pori with my dear friend Leslie. And I learnt so many wonderful things such as people in Pori are strange, Leslie's cat Kissa is kind of gross, small guys can be surprisingly strong, Vesa and Antti can ride many horses (at the same time), that Vesa has weird ass grabbing friends (OK one friend), that people in Pori are really strange and most importantly that ice hockey rocks! Yeah, we went to watch the Ässät-HIFK game (Ässät lost 2-3) and although it was a bit of a bummer for Pori it was still a fun experience! I have a team to support now, Ilves and would love to go watch a match but they're either during the week when I have things to do or on the weekend when I have things to do... so no luck yet. On top of this Samuli is not interested at all in going to watch a game so he's always making up excuses not to go... pfff.

Back by Popular Demand (aka. harrassement from 1 person)

This post is dedicated to my loyal fan Sandra Shakespear.

So, it's been a while again. School started so I've been busy with a lot of things but none which have been worth mentioning. I still can't believe it's already my 4th year! I guess I should be about finished by now but I figured what's the point in stressing.

Other than school I'm taking two photography courses. One in portrait photography and the other one seems to be mainly theory. The former course is a lot of fun and I've been one it 2 years ago and the guy who does it is really awesome. The second course I'm taking is really really sucky. The woman who does it is so annoying. You have no idea how much I would like to just...grrrr... ARGH, well you get the point. So, anyway not only has the course been just talking about photos, but it seems the only photo opportunity I'm going to get will be a... scary/embarassing/disturbing (?) one. You see 99% of those attending the course have been doing so for the past 2-3 years or so i.e. they're good buddies. They also decided last year that they would like to have a specific theme for this year, and the theme is... NUDE photography! OK, if you know me at all you'll know that nudity for me isn't really an issue, I'm a pervert. But just the idea of being in a room with a bunch of 50+ year old guys (and some ladies) and 1-2 naked people and attempting to get a good (NON-PORNO) picture is scary. I mean that lady doing the course has spent about 10 hours lecturing us about how nude photography is an art and she will kill anyone who takes a pornoish photo. Man, I'm SO DEAD.

Other than being scared shittless in case my pervertedness should come out we haven't really done much around Tampere City. Although we did end up at a cat show one weekend for a laugh. There were some really freaking hideous cats:


And some cute ones too:


On Saturday it was Oona's 1 year birthday party, you know Oona, Samuli's cousins baby girl. I still can't believe that it's already been a year! I swear it feels like Elina just told me she's pregnant... well, maybe because I just did hear that she's pregnant. She's pregnant again!

Oona and her mummy opening presents.

Anyway Oona's birthday was fun. It was a pity that her daddy had a show and couldn't be there (he plays the trumpet... or some other blow instrument...)

Oona and Elina blowing the candle out on the ice cream cake.

Oona playing with the push cart that her godmother (Samuli's sister) got her.

We got her a hat (above), a skirt and a skull t-shirt her grandmother did not approve of *hehe*

All in all it was a fun party and I'm not so scared of her anymore. She liked my camera, I can't be scared of someone who likes my camera now can I? However babies in general still scare the hell out of me.

Oona and her Mum

I have a new addition to the weird roadside attractions of Finland. On the Tampere-Lahti road there is a church with no roof.

See I did kid you not, no roof.

It's one of the 14 or so stone churches built around Pirkanmaa between 1480 and 1550's.

I'm not usually the type to stop at churches but this one was pretty neat. I mean seeing as it's so old... oh and the fact that there is no roof (also notice that it does have seats).

Samuli pretending to give a sermon.

Other than those things nothing else is going on in drab, cold, rainy Finland.

Recap pt.3: Name Day Dinner, Born Again First-Year and Walks in the Park

After we came back from my grandparent's Samuli had one more day of freedom before becoming a student. It was his name day so I took him out for dinner. We ended up going to Coyote Bar & Grill mainly because I found a 2 for 1 coupon offer in the paper. For once we decided to go all out and have a three course dinner instead of being cheap.

As a starter I had their Tuna Salad 7,90e which was really good apart from the tuna which was a little bit over cooked (but still fairly yummy). I got to pick Samuli's starter and made him have the Prosciutto with Melon & Strawberries 7,90e which was really tasty. I'd never had prosciutto and strawberries before and the combination was surprisingly good. Then for our main course (which had to be the same due to that coupon) Samuli chose the Ostrich Tournedos 22,70e, I would have chosen the Rib Eye Steak 24,90e purely because the menu promised 300g of pure beef. Still, I can't exactly complain about his choice because it the ostrich turned out to be really good. Finally to finish this off (and a bunch of drinks we had) wonderful dessert! Samuli had the Chocolate Trilogy 8,40e and trust me it is every bit as good as it sounds. I mean I kid you not, for a chocolate lover like my boyfriend it was a peace of heaven on a plate. I on the other hand opted for the Butterscotch Brülée 6,40e AND an alcoholic milkshake (I'm a little pig, I know). Both were wonderful.

So, all in all it was a really nice dinner at a fairly reasonable price considering how good it was and the fact that it was a special occasion.

The next day Samuli started school and I began my plan to re-live my first year tagging alongside him. I was much too lost and way too much of a loner the first year to go to any major parties so I'm making up for it now. And so, last Thursday I got all dolled up and had a couple of drinks at home whilst Samuli was already in town making new friends. This was bad idea number one, because I was really nervous about how his friends would like me so I had quite a lot of encouragement drinks before heading into town (turned out to be about 70cl of 21% and a 1 1/2 dl vodka shot). So, you can imagine that I was in a happy mood when I got to Onnela (the club), still I wasn't as out of it as Samuli's classmate from Mänttiharju seemed to be. From random receipts I seem to have had about 4 ciders in the club. I have a bruise on my leg the size of a baby's fist (I think I fell when I was dancing on the table) and a cut on my other leg (someone must have kicked my when I was dancing). All in all a fun night, only the ride home was hell, I seriously thought I was going to be sick in my bag.

Needless to say our early plan to get up early on Friday morning and drive to Mänttiharju got a little delayed. I wasn't feeling too good and since my boyfriend is kind and considerate he promised his grandparents we'd go visit them. So, there I was (after a 2 hour drive) sitting in their kitchen trying not to pass out at the table. Woohoo! And to top it off I got to face my parents, although I did proudly display my party wounds to them.

The next day as a way of repenting I went for a short hike with my parents to this nature reserve close by.

...Repovesi National Park...

...Neat Looking Bridge...

Deciding which path to take.

Long stairs (notice my parents are waiting for my lazy ass to clamber up).

Funny tree growing to avoid hitting the jutting rock.

Awesome views.

Grilling sausages and corn on the cob.

On Sunday morning Samuli's grandfather brought us a nice little pile of logs that we had to chuck into our woodshed.

Yeah, and by we I meant everyone else but me (hey I had to take pictures).

Recap pt.2: Grandparents

They day after the End of Work party we set off on a road trip to visit my grandparents way up north. This meant a 6 hour drive in a car with my mum, dad and Samuli.

Only 400 km to go...

....Only 300 km to go...

Gladly we stopped at a random roadside attraction. Juustoportti, the roadside cheese factory!

And later on we stopped at Kalajoki, Finland's second nicest beach (according to some poll)

Sunset on the Beach

Samuli Dancing Around on the Beach

Then some more driving...

Finally we got to my grandparent's at around ten in the evening. We were of course fed and fussed over for hours before going to bed.

The next morning we had a plan to go into Raahe-city and do the usual tour of the few shops there. We bought my grandmother some scrapbooking style stickers from Tiimari and my mum bought us this outrageously expensive designer tablecloth from Marimekko.

My mum's car has been having the same kind of problem that our car's trunk has, meaning that rain water leaks in. Unlike with our car she had no idea what the problem is (the problem with our car is that it's SHITTY). Even after taking it to at least two garages and being billed a disgusting amount so that a guy poked the bottom of her car with a screwdriver she still had pools of water on the floor near the pedals. So, my grandfather, dad and Samuli decided they would have a go:

Doing tests to see where the water is coming from...

...aimlessly staring...

...more tests...

...my grandparents cat making its own tests...

...the cat being lazy...

...the cat giving love.

Later that day we decided to go for a little outing to the various beaches around Raahe.

Windmills.

It was really windy and cold and there were these insane guys kiteboarding!

After freezing our butts off for a while on the beach we decided to change spots. Our next stop was supposed to be this long stretch of sandy beach that I have random childhood memories from, but unfortunately we hit an obstacle:

We got past the first 'puddle' without any major problems (I can't believe we dragged my grandma through those bushes!)...

...but when the 'road' became more of a river snaking to the sea we had to give up.

And so we changed spots again, this time to this awesome rock pile by the sea.

My dad being his usual childish-self pt. 1

My dad being his usual childish-self pt. 2

One more beach before going back to being fed and fussed over.

The next day we set off back to Tampere early in the morning.

Another boring as heck drive...

...And it was hot in the car...

...And when we finally stopped for lunch it was too much for some...

...way too much...

...in fact it took me almost 15 minutes to coax him off that thing and back into the car.