DR. SKETCHYS GOES SWINGING SIXTIES

Groov-ey! Dr.Sketchy's Finland in Helsinki (me and Tinx, that is) is hosting the next event on September 10 at our studio.  Jackie will model and there will - as usual - be good music and red wine.

If you want to get in the mood earlier already and are in for some serious shake-a-delic action join in on our GoGo-dance mini-course where we'll recreate a choreo from a 1966 music video. September 3 & 10!

VEGAN SANDWICH BLISS

From the list of small things (or maybe not even that small in the end) that make me happy:
Going to the big super market after work at 10pm because
1) nowadays it is open that late because of free opening hours.
(It's so god damn great I tell you, for anyone that does not do the normal 9-5. Smaller stores have had longer hours for years but now any store can choose their hours themselves and all Prisma's are open until 11 pm for example. And if you live out in the middle of a god damn field like I 99% of the time do nowadays, you are thankful)
2) and in that store, although not in the centre of Helsinki, you can easily pick and choose out of several vegan options available next to any non vegan-or vegatarian one. You don't even need to find that one sad hippie-shelf in the back corner for your almond milk anymore, it's all centrally located and full with lots of different options! 2010's, yey!
3) I can thus have a classic sandwich with cheese and even maddafakin baloney on it, with chocolate milk on the side and it's vegan all the way.

I am not a self-declared vegan, but do I most of the days follow a vegan diet. Sometimes by planning my meals, sometimes more "by accident" as I am so accustomed to it by now. I was on a full-time-vegan diet for a couple of years over a decade ago, and the selection was so much different back then! There is so much more to choose from than Tartex nowadays!

I've never been too fond of vegan cheeses, often found them a bit yucky, but the VioLife one is as good as it's reputation - no funky side taste here. They even have parmesan which I want to try! And the pizza cheese. (And for anyone over here eager to try it: do so from the S-labeled stores, as the K-ones sell these to about double the price as the S-ones!!). The latest sandwhich filling I tried out was vegan baloney with green pepper (soy based). Something I haven't had on my bread for years and years! Also, on a side note: the vegetable breads by Fazer are great! This time I tried out the newest version which is Finnish dark rye bread with zucchini and parsnip. The veggie percent is over 30.

Here are my own favourite vegan bread-spreads, that also work as side dishes to any bbq or salad/meze buffet. And definitely worth trying and serving even if you or your guests aren't vegans or vegatarians -

Green Lentil Tapenade

A delicious picante mash of cooked green lentils, garlic and vinegar and some more stuff. A little (just a little) more detailed how-to with ingredients can be found if you click the link behind the name.

Vegan Liver Patée

I just love this one, and many sworn carnivores dig happily in to this without thinking of it's veeeeegan label. It makes a great ingredient in the best pasta sauce/lasagna filling evvah! Click the name for the recipe.

Ok, now I am hungry again.

(As usual, none of these were sponsored mentions, it's just me digging stuff. But it'd be awesome if they would be though, awesome for me at least. But alas, they are not.)

THAT ARTSY COAT

The good thing about going trough and organising your closet in deep-mode (OK; I can actually think of many, but let's start with this one) is that you may re-discover objects and pieces you had totally forgotten about. I am going trough stuff in the city apartment and found this old coat of mine, which is rather cute with an artsy vibe and just right for the weather we are having right now.

Last time I wore it was when I was pregnant, actually. And I found some beauty store vouchers expiring in 2010 in the pockets! (Damn, 2010, that was so long ago already!)

The coats is from ModCloth from years back, velvet leggings some randoms and shoes old (do anone even care about these things anymore?) I do get a lot of questions about my turban, which nowadays is as high up on my can't-live-without-it list as my black beret, especially for those days when I have curls waiting underneath like now: mine is made of in terrycloth and from Kuokkasen Peruukkiliike; you can find these from a lot of wig shops. It is also rather easy to make your own!

Well, time for me to coat along now, ta-ta!

ROCKABILLY DELUXE

Hello there! I am back again from my - I think- longest blogging hiatus so far. Not that it really was an actual, planned one; I just don't find myself, the computer and time in the same sentence anymore. Internet, I miss you! It is also not always easy or the first thing that come to mind to blog about mundane things in a world that is on fire and a heart full of Weltschmerz. I am also clearly getting old(-er) for real now, even wiser perhaps, as I have stopped pushing myself at 1 am and instead go to sleep. Who would have thought.

But. Aaaanyway, I am featured in the latest edition of Rockabilly Deluxe magazine! It is with a piece I was asked to write about me and the Finnish burlesque scene.

Order your printed copy online, woop woop!

FLOW

I'm back home again and now straight off to enjoy Flow for one day and then to perform at Huuhkajavuori Blues tomorrow!

I am actually rather excited to be able to catch a day of Flow Festival - the other years I have been busy or not even thought of attending (and sometimes also slightly annoyed over the hype for the coming festival that begins as soon as the past one is over, although, there is a reason for that- Flow is an extraordinary happening) -I was at Flow back in 2008 but not since. This year however with Iggy Pop and Massive Attack and a clear spot in the calendar I gave it a go and got Eddi and me Friday tickets for his birthday.
Flow is a lot more than just the music acts though, with arts, installations and talks and food experiences (Yazzz!) all sustainably organised - the carbon footprint of the festival is neutral.

Then comes of course the question of what to wear! For now in a vintage dress and Hasbeens, but there's still some time to go, and a risk of rain, so this might still change a few times...

RED AND STICKY

Phew!
I've juiced and jammed and refridgerated berries like whoah the past day - black currants, red currants, cherries! And the kitchen looks like a murder took place; it's red and sticky everywhere.

All the juice-and jam making is a bit funny though as I don't consume that much of neither and also try not to let the younger ones get too much of those...

But  -sometimes homemade cherry juice is just the best thing there is.

And now I'm off to Reperbahn to dance for a few days! Ta-ta!

AN HOUR BY THE NORTH SEA

When we were in Denmark, in the middle of Jutland (for our Legoland visit)  a couple of weeks ago we took a drive west to the coast and it's endless beaches.

It was the only moment of our trip (apart from a sudden rain in Copenhagen) that it wasn't super hot and sunny. But sometimes weather doesn't matter.

I remember we've been somewhere around the same beaches with my family as well when I was a kid, in the late eighties. Not sure where we were then exactly, but the sand was white, the wind was hard and there were jellyfish everywhere.

This time we only found one and it seemed pretty much not-that-alive-anymore.

And mini starfish!

You may stumble upon jellyfish at home but along our coasts in the Baltic Sea there aren't really any starfish.

Waiting for the waves.

I collected some rocks and sea shells. You have to do that when you go to the beach.

 Dag then got a little carried away.


All soaked but happy.

 But you can dry yourself in the wind!

Although later having to go home in mommy's clothes he was not that happy anymore.