I recall as a child thinking that mushrooms smelled horrible and tasted even worse plus looked ugly to boot. Then I moved on and embraced the tinned champignon as a teenager. Things thankfully have progressed even further and I buy, eat and cook all types of mushies and we all love them. They still are an ugly vegetable to my mind but can be dressed up in so many ways. Tonight we are having them adorned with herbs and breadcrumbs - so delicious.
Rug washing !!! This is apparently an old tradition and takes place in Helsinki. People carry their rugs down to wash them in the sea and scrubbing tables, drying racks and wringers are there for their use. I could not believe I actually saw it happening. The powers that be are trying to phase out this tradition due to pollution. Sad but understandable and steam cleaners could soon be very busy.
On planning my trip to rural Finland I was not quite sure what to expect . I suppose what comes immediately to mind is wintry things like an awful lot of ice and snow and reindeers and the Moomintroll books I read as a child. Those things are all still prevalent but their short summer is hot and bright and boating and fishing are huge part of the Finnish summer.
Waterways and tiny harbours full of all types of boats dot the archipelago and took me by surprise. Lots of people were sitting on their boats sipping coffee in the sun as cafes are found right on the piers with lots of food and big, expansive and expensive coffee machines.
I did not see an awful lot of swimmers - icy waters may well be the reason !! The country side is beautiful with dense spruce forests interspersed with winding rivers, big lakes and tiny seaports. Constantly crossing ferries and fish farms are everywhere. And quaint wooded buildings, mostly those characteristic red ones simply add to the charm. I have come home with such happy memories from this cycling trip.
Here we are returning our bikes after a sometimes quite rugged week of cycling. The last big day was pretty monumental for me. I had not slept well and it was one of those days when just as you thought the end was nigh another sign saying 5 kms appeared or another hill rose up from nowhere. Even when we got to the town where we were to sleep the night, the hotel was , of course, on the far reaches of the other side of town. But we all made it in good health and spirits.
Here is what I totally indugled in when my cycle trip ended !! I adore ice cream and never keep it in the house. This was a Finnish version of an ice cream sundae, sprinkled with what I can only call cornflakes, adorning a selection of Movenpick ice cream. I shared two of these that day, meaning I ate a whole one in its entirety, cornflakes included !!! And I loved every crunchy mouthful and I felt no guilt or dietary angst - now that's a true reward !!
Whilst the photos below are not neceassily good they do show the vastness of the streets and buildings in St Petersburg. During my hike in Austria and cycle through the Finnish archipelago, I encountered very tiny hamlets, small villages and a sparcity of traffic, populace and built up areas. Suddenly I was plunged into a city of 5 million and it was quite an assault on my brain. I had spent 3 weeks in rural serenity and was suddenly dropped into a simmering city cauldron.
Two things to note here - firstly this is not a river, just a "small" canal and these canals criss sross St. Petesburg Secondly this photo was taken at 10 pm and the sky is still so so blue. Also note the lack of any greenery.
I took this photo for the girls of ZARA, again housed in an enormous old building on the main street, Nevsky Prospekt. The bright pink flowers were a rare splash of colour. In lots of European cities window boxes overflow with masses of flowers in every colour and on every house and building but it seemed not so in Russia.
Above we have it all - beautiful church in the distance, monstous intersection, old red rusting Lada , canal leading up to church , pastel coloured building with a nearly matching late evening sky. St Petersburg is an amazing place you all must visit.
I made this marvellous batch of lentil and vegie soup today. What I loved most about it was that most of the vegetables it called for were in my freezer, home grown and picked during the summer. The recipe called for basil, tomatoes and swiss chard among other things. I have these layed on in little freezer bags, only my swiss chard is silver beet. I was thrilled to use up some of my home produce in this rustic style soup and it is so much easier to go to the freezer than launch a trip to the supermarket.
The United Buddy Bears are an international exhibition currently on show in St Petersburg. They are paiinted lifesize fibre glass sculptures and represent 140 countries under the banner of the United Nations.
They each stand 2 meters tall and each have been designed by an individual artist from the country they represent.
Their message is one of peace and to promote living in harmony. They stand together virtually hand in hand to bring this message to us all.
These Buddy Bears are on tour globally, originally on show in Berlin in 2002. Next stop, Paris where they will ring the Eiffel Tower.
It was in the Church of Spilled Blood that I decided my type of photography could never and would never do justice to what I was seeing - the most incredible mosiacs. And to think this Church was nearly pulled down. World War 2 broke out and the descision to pull it down was deferred. THANKFULLY !!
Every single image is made from tiny mosaic tiles - quite incredible !! Interestingly enough when you visit places like this Church and the Hermitage in St Petersburg you have to purchase the right to take photos along with your entrance ticket.
How quickly things can change !! I have gone from the warmth and glorious blue skies of Europe to Mebourne's winter !! I want to sleep all day and seem to lie wide eyed most of the night.
No more cocktails like this summer berry mojito, the holiday is over !! It's back to work, nose to the grind stone, back to saving up and dreaming of the next trip.
Reality hits hard with wintry conditions, soup for dinner and comforting apple cinnamon sponge pudding.
As everyone knows I am a cake eater and maker but I also love to see cake displays. Russia has lots of cake and pastry shops and I did see some wonderful windows full of delicious confectionery. It was so hot that most chocolate was in refrigerated cabinets. My eye was caught by theis blue cake with cute polar bears. The price translated from roubles to AUD was $20.00. It would be impossible to find such a heavily decorated cake here at that price. It would be double or closer to triple the price. That says something about Russian labour costs. I was actually not shocked by prices anywhere along my trip except for petrol in Finland , it was $2.00 a litre.
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