I have an engineer <3

Sam handed in the final version of his bachelor’s thesis today and to celebrate we bought a couple of ciders & beers and you guessed it, fired up the grill

I’ve been pimping our garden ever since the snow showed the slightest signs of melting. Our latest garden feature is a small pink bucket filled with water with a fake LED-light up waterlily Sam got from his sister. It’s a little trashy-kitch but what can you do, we’re students with a quirky style

I don’t usually drink cider (I’m a beer girl) but it was such a sunny day that I thought I should make an exception and go for a fruity girly cider. Most of the fruity ciders sold in Finland taste overtly sweet and are terribly artificial, but I have to admit that there is one brand that I love and that is Rekorderlig. Even though they have fruity tastes geared towards teenage girls who want to get drunk without tasting alcohol they taste a lot less shite than other brands. I tried the strawberry-raspberry for the first time and it was good. Easy to drink, refreshing and not overtly sweet or fake tasting.

I marinated red peppers and zucchini in oil and a herbs de Provence spice mix before grilling them until soft and a ‘little’ charred (oops ).

One of the reasons I love grilling is because it makes chicken taste phenomenal. Chicken is cheap and unsurprisingly we eat a lot of it and there is nothing wrong with that. But once the chicken hits the grill our humble everyday dinner becomes something truly delicious. I marinated the chicken in soy sauce and some sugar and then grilled it until cooked through. I then brushed it with a thick and sticky soy sauce, sugar and tamarind sauce glaze. Yum

I also grilled some corn and tomatoes. I use ready cooked corn on the cob which is the only corn on the cob readily available in stores here year round. The best way to cook it is to brush the corn with oil and to grill until warm and nicely charred all over. Then I make a sauce of crushed garlic cloves and melted butter which is then brushed on the cobs right before devouring!

We ate on our patio and it was the perfect laid-back way to celebrate. Once Sam officially completes his degree we’ll have to organize a proper party but that’s to come…

-Laura

Ps. Check out my summery nail polish

Tuesday Pub @ Gastropub Tuulensuu

Last night we met up with some friends from school at Gastropub Tuulensuu one of Tampere’s many excellent gastropubs. The reason we choose Tuulensuu this time around was because they have a special Sour Ale & Lambic week going on 18.-26.3.  (You better hurry if you want to go test it yourself! ) They had an incredible list of beers, particularly Belgian beers, lots of which they’ve imported themselves which means if you’re in Finland you’ll only find it here. You can see the list on their website here or browse through it in the bar or just tell the bartender your taste and they’ll point you in the right direction. In addition to their extensive beer list they have wine, cider and a mouthwatering menu which can be found here.

Last night the bar was surprisingly full for a Tuesday evening. There were couples having dinner, friends meeting for drinks and a larger group of people. Tuulensuu’s customer base is perhaps a little older than we are, but that shouldn’t deter anyone. The service has generally been efficient and knowledgeable. The atmosphere is bistro-classic not the type of place you’d bump into ‘trendsters”, with very low lighting and dark wood furniture.

Last night I opted for Tuulensuu’s own brews which were on tap last night. I first took the Tuulensuu Karpalo Lambiek (4€/25cl or 8€/50cl). It turned out to be pleasantly balanced with a bit of a bitter kick at the end from the cranberry. Not sweet at all and definitely sour. Not a bad lambic at all so I do recommend this if you want to try one of their own. Next I tried the Tuulensuu Sorbus Lambiek (4€/25cl or 8€/50cl) for comparison. It had an herb-y somewhat funky Jagermeister whiff to it and a very interesting taste. Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea (or pint of beer for that matter). I’m still not entirely sure if I liked it or not. It was very sour with an interesting aftertaste bordering on licorice/salty licorice. Kind of reminded me of this Finnish candy, noitapilli. I think I liked the aftertaste but the overall taste lacked some depth and flavor and I think that was my main concern with this beer. But I don’t regret trying either of the beers and for 4€/8€ I think they were definitely worth the money.

In addition to their regular menu they had a selection of Belgian cheeses for 3€ and being the cheese nibblers we are we had to get some! Firstly we were pleasantly surprised that 3€ gets you 4-5 nice sized slices of cheese to snack on, good value for money. We tasted the Oud Brugge (a lovely cheese we fell in love with last year during a course in Belgian gastronomy), Orval and Bink. If I remember correctly the Bink was the mildest tasting of them. The Oude Brugge was as good as I remembered, creamy fairly mild yet surprisingly complex with a hint of sharpness. The Orval cheese is produced in the same abbey as Orval beer (Orval Cistercian Trappist Abbey to be precise). They use whole-fat pasteurized cow’s milk which gives the cheese a delicious soft creamy consistency of the Port Salut variety. I highly recommend trying one or more of the cheeses. I don’t know how long they’ll have them I hope for longer than the Sour Ale & Lambic special!

All in all a nice place to have a drink or even dinner. Perhaps not the cheapest but well worth the money.

-Laura

St. Patrick’s Day

As most people know, St Patrick’s day is a national day for the Irish, but it is celebrated all over the world. It’s one of the biggest holidays celebrated in restaurants and pubs: 13 million pints of Guinnes is said to be drank during the day all over the world! And we wanted to be a part of that.

It’s not that the holiday itself has a real meaning for us, and it is actually quite silly to celebrate such day here. But it’s a nice way to remind ourselves, that maybe the pub culture in Finland should change a bit. On St Patrick’s day the pubs feel British and Irish – people go have a pint with their friends after work, eat something and have a laugh. People are friendly and in a good mood, no intentions of getting dead drunk right away.. And also, with the green beers and ciders, hats and scarves, there’s this nice sense of community! There’s some magic to St Patrick’s day, and if you don’t think so, you’ve been in the wrong pub!

We visited O’Connell’s with some of our friends from school. The place was decorated with green colour and pictures of shamrocks. We were all offered a free scarf or a hat, but as we already had the hats from last year, we all took scarves. And as fun as it is, the green food colouring in the drinks makes them quite unappealing.. Magners didn’t taste half as good as it usually does!

Riikka continued with the theme later on, buying a nice chunk of Irish cheddar, Kerrygold’s Dubliner. Riikka has a weird obsession for matured cheddar cheeses, and will post more about that some other time..

Laura on the other hand continued her St. Patrick’s day celebrations at home with Bobby and a nice pork roast her boyfriend made.

I went to see Chicago the musical with friend of mine, and the show was great! Afterwards I went to celebrate more St. Patrick´s Day with some friends from school. First time in Ruby & Fellas, which is a new Irish Pub and Kitchen in Hämeenkatu. Very nice place, must definitely go there again! Maybe we should go to eat something, menu sounded delicious.. the drink list was a bit pricy though, but Guinnes was only 5e yesterday. There was some live music too! -Satu