Tallinna ♥

Lempiostospaikkoja Tallinnassa ovat

• paperikauppa Zelluloos Narva maanteellä
• langoille Karnaluks ja kankaille Abakhan
• tori (kuin putoaisit Neuvostoliittoon)
• Kusmi-teekauppa
• japaniruokakauppa Momo
• Viru keskusen apteekki
• lankakauppa Käsitöökamber Müürivahella vanhassakaupungissa
• RahvaRaamat

Lempisyömis- ja juomispaikkoja ovat

• Gourmet Coffee Kadriorun puiston kupeessa
• Must Puudel Käsitöökamberia vastapäätä
• epämääräinen korealaispaikka Ariran Telliskivellä
• F-hoone, jossa on ihan oikea kasvisruokalista

Viikon retken ostokset näyttävät suunnilleen tältä (tattarihunaja ja paperit puuttuvat kuvasta, japanilaiset pikatattarinuudelit on syöty).

Pellava-puuvillasekoitteita, vihreähkö lanka
on kierrätettyä silkki-pellava-puuvillaa.

Sitä se viimeinen tsaarikin joi.
Rasmuksen uusi rakkaus on prinssi Vladimir.
Mä sen sijaan en ole varma suhteestani Imperial Labeliin.

Löysin muun muassa männynkerkkiä,
tyrniöljyä, ginseng-uutetta ja koivudödöä.

Epätodellista sunnuntaita!

Lempikuukausiani on hennon vaaleanpunaisen valon maaliskuu, mutta myös huhtikuun taivaan salaperäinen hohde on hieno. Aamulla kävelin ystävän kanssa Weizenbergi-kadulla, johon tuprutti jostakin kadun savupiipusta niin paljon savua, että siitä ja aamun kylmyydestä tuli epätodellinen olo. Mereltä tuuli, Piritan luostarin hongat olivat painuneet vinoon ja metsäpolut olivat jäässä. Illansuussa alkoi tuiskuttaa.

My favourite month is March, because I love the feeble pink light, although the secretive shimmer of April sky is nice too. I was walking on Weizenbergi street with a friend in the morning, when some chimney was billowing out so much smoke that the smoke and the coldness made everything unreal. The wind blew from the sea, the pine trees of the Pirita cloister were askew and forest paths were all frozen. Closer to the evening it started to snow.

Rantaviiva. Estonian shore.

Tallinna Piritan suunnasta. Tallinn seen from Pirita.

 

Piritan honkia. Pirita pine trees.

Luostarin seiniä. Cloister walls.

Ystävä tekee voltin. A friend doing a flip.

Ystävä tekee voltin toisinpäin. En osaa päättää, kumpi näyttää älyttömämmältä.
Friend doing a flip the other way round. I can't decide which one looks more absurd.

Huhtikuinen lumisade. April snowfall.

Huhtikuun valo. April light.

Kulitsa, pasha, some herons and too many restaurants

I think of food far too much. The healthier I try to eat, the more I think of food, and the more I end up searching for interesting recipes and trying them. I will have to do something about this.

That is, after Easter. Tomorrow is Easter Saturday and I'll make quark pastries and maybe some kulitsa, and on Sunday we'll have them with pasha, after the main course of asparagus and creamy basil sauce. And if I am to choose Easter music, it'll be Paul Desmond, which sounds perfectly like spring.

Spring. I like the light of spring and the bubbling feeling of forgotten dreams and adventures it brings to mind. The faint pink color of days and brightness of evenings. The smell of lilies in the bathroom reminds me of what God's touch in your life must feel like if you believe in God  ̶  and I do think that I know how the touch of God's feels, this feeling of purposefulness, sense, love, light and softness at the same time, although I don't name it so.

Spring! I want to make a heronspotting trip to south of Estonia with my new car. It'll have to be early May: university exams are just over and herons are busy incubating their eggs and looking noble. Pärnumaa should be good for spotting herons; I've been thinking of Luitemaa park south of Pärnu, in spite of having promised myself never to drive the Pärnu ̶ Riga road again. All Pärnumaa birdwatching areas can be found on this map. I wish we'll also have time to visit the islands: they have lots of awesome birds there like eagles and black storks, and I've always wanted to drive all the way down to the southest point of the island and see the lighthouse.

And while in Estonia, I want to visit at least one these Tallinn restaurants: Ariran, an odd non-restaurant looking place which is said to be an east mafia money-laundering spot and where the mrs makes delicious home-style meals; Pirosmani, a Georgian café that somehow manages to make its scuffiness look purposeful; and Moses, which simply looks delicious. And, as usual, I'll have porridge for breakfast in either Reval Café or Gourmet Coffee on Koidula.

In Helsinki, in addition to my all time favourite Dong Bei Hu, I am going to try Lebanese Fattoush in Kontula of all places, and Ethiopian Queen Sheba. And then I promise to start thinking of something else than food.