Finally heat! ..to try on llama dresses

After one week’s work in the office we returned to the Island for the weekend. The weather looked promising, sunshine on Friday and Satuday! Our guests were waiting for us there, a couple with one teenager son, and Annie’s family and Inka came soon after. Headcount 10 + little Ollie.

We had planned to cook paella according to Jamie Oliver’s recipe outside on a big Muurikka wok pan. We used gas instead of wood fire, to be able to control the heat and ensure a good meal. We started the meal with honeydew slices covered with Spanish Serrano ham. I was a bit lazy with the dessert, so we just went to have coffee with chocolate on our seaview terrace. Then JD surprised us and opened his precious bottle of Davidoff cognac which really raised the standard and was superb. I don’t normally like cognac but this was yamm... Our Chinese friend doesn’t drink alcohol, so she missed it, but the others enjoyed it – also partly because the evening turned to be very chilly and it warmed so nicely.

The evening ended with three games of Mölkky  with the kids.

Saturday was the hottest day so far (+25C). We picked some 5 liters of blueberries and some wild raspberries in the morning and made big smoothies mixing vanilla ice cream, milk and the plenty of berries – the kids (big and small) love it.

Jumping from a crane in Mathildedal

Then we packed the boat full of people and went to see Mathildedal shops and cafés. It is nowadays very quiet there with little activities in the marina, but this Saturday there was a village event and many boats and visitors, music and water sports activities.

We found a new interesting boutique – Ruukin Kehräämö ja Puoti – specializing in llama wool, women’s clothes and yarn. My friend bought a nice long dress and I plan to go back later in the fall to buy some yarn.

Our friends left home on Saturday evening and we spent the night watching a spectacular thunderstorm and thousands of lightnings.

Sunday was even hotter than Saturday, +27C – great – that’s how it should be in summer!

High season – wet!

What can you do on an island when it’s raining and cool and the house is full of people? We had the high season with 14 persons of different ages, making at least 30 pairs of shoes lying in our porch. 

I went to Turku, which is one hour’s drive away, for shopping. We have just had one upstairs bathroom renovated and it needed some accessories.

I restored a pair of bed tables and painted them white to look old. When there was a heavy rain, Inka destroyed a bees’ nest that had been growing in the garden lamp.

When waiting for the sunshine we went washing carpets – a Finnish tradition done formerly in the sea or lake, but nowadays in special facilities designed for carpet washing and provided by the county in each village. It took one week for the carpets to dry outside…

We visited an art exhibition at the Westankärr estate. There were Kaj Stenvall’s  paintings and graphics about Donald Duck presented in a beautiful old animal shed / sheep farm. I didn’t buy any paintings (6,000-12,000 euros each) but some sheep wool yarn from which I plan to knit socks. 

On Saturday, our big and small girls went to see horse jumping at the biggest riding and jumping competition event in Finland, which took place on the Kemiö Island. There were nearly 200 beautiful horses for three days to look at.

Nellie and Mike went to a candle light concert  in Westanfjärd old church (part of Kimito Music Festival) whereas the ‘boys’ went one night to a rock pub.

And of course there was a lot of cooking. The upside of daily rains is that there will be a lot of mushrooms. I found enough chanterelles in the forest and made on Tuesday the first sauce this summer.

On Wednesday we made Korean bulgogi, barbecued marinated beef strips according to Eero Mäkelä’s (a famous Finnish gourmet chef) recipe, which had to be multiplied by 5. It was delicious with a garlic – roasted sesame seed – oil sauce.

On Thursday we grilled safran-marinated chicken breasts and served them rice and orange sauce. On a half-sunny Friday we had a Greek night and made two large bowls of Greek feta salad (using 1 kg of feta) and stifado meet stew (2.5 kg of meet, took 3 hours to cook, but it was worth it:) and bought authentic Retsina wine to get the real taste of Greece (however, only JD and I love Retsina with Greek food..). And as there were all the kids present on Saturday, we had a home-made hamburger dinner around the grill. Ten youngest ones ate two big hamburgers each. I liked most the cole slaw made of new local cabbage and seasoned with self-grown chili.

It will be hard to return to the city and get used to cooking for two and eating much less!

Old charm and antique

It was a hot (24 degrees) and humid (94%) weekend with thunder in the air. It was raining, and the house was full of life and noice. All JD’s children with their partners, kids and pets, and my daughter Inka – altogether 11 people.  Our pop-up restaurant was quite busy. However, I am happy that our girls and boys are participating in the kitchen, offer help and always clean the table etc. It's teamwork.

JD and I left the Island and headed for the Billnäs Antique Fair, some 60 km from Kemiö towards Tammisaari. It has been our target almost every summer. I like old furniture and watching antigues, the region is very beautiful – both Billnäs and Fiskars villages – and even driving there is as if you were in Tuscany. Beautiful hills and fields, pittoresque old little houses and lush gardens.

In Billnäs Antique Fair we found a table for our city kitchen, although the event was a bit disappointment.  There were not so many sellers as earlier. But there was a similar event going on in Fiskars, some kilometers away, and there were over 70 antique sellers and a lot of beautiful stuff. Also a lot of visitors.

The thunder storm did not reach Kemiö (good, because the electricity goes off quite often then). I made a strawberry cake for dessert. It was so warm in the evening that we sat until 2 am outside (at least some of us). The house never sleeps… Roy, JD’s daughter’s Annie’s partner, woke at 4 am to do some yoga and little Ollie normally wakes up at 6 or 7 am.

Out to sea

When the temperature rose above 24 degrees, it was too hot in the garden. It was time for the first day out boating. Hank, Angie and Sam were with us, all as eager to get a cool breeze on the sea. It was as calm as a mirror (a Finnish saying). But as soon as JD started the engines and we went full speed ahead, it was cool and nice. Sam was excited as the bridge in Strömma  was open and there was a big ship coming. The channel of Strömma is beautiful with the old bridge and a new one aside. It is actually the only place in Finland where there is tide.

We went along the coast line to see nice summer cottages and beautiful bays and stopped to fill in the tank in Förby. Someone could say that motor boating as a hobby is not sustainable, but it is not so often you can do it in Finland. In an average summer there are less than ten hot days. After the boat trip Hank, Angie and Sam returned to Helsinki.

I had to give some water to the flowers and herbs (first time this summer!). The peonies have big gorgeous flowers, both white and purple, in our flower bed. In addition, plantain lily and malva start to blossom.
In the evening, JD’s daughter Nelli and her partner Mike arrived with their cat Tiipii for their two weeks’ holiday.

Herb garden fantasies

There’s a French style herb garden on Kemiö (Kimito) Island, Westers, located some 15 minutes drive from our house towards Angelniemi. If you like to see or buy different types of herbs and flowers, this is the place to visit in summer. I go there frequently to fantasize, get ideas, plan and just enjoy the beautiful flower beds, pots, settings and decorations. In July there are unbelievably many different colors, species and smells in the air.

I went there with Rose on Tuesday. The place is closed on Mondays and opens at noon on other weekdays. There’s also a café and an art gallery – and quite often, the restaurant hosts private events.

I didn’t need anything, but couldn’t resist a lemon thyme in blossom, some salads, a rare golden perennial (have to find the name..) and foxgloves.

Rose left for Helsinki in the afternoon, and two hours later, JD's son Hank, his wife Angie and Sam (5 yrs) arrived for their first visit to Kemiö this summer. As the day was sunny and warm (luckily, it IS July), we had a late dinner outside. We made Lemon Chicken á la Kemiö, which has turned out to be good for adults and kids.

Lemon Chicken (for 5 persons):

- 9-10 flat chicken cutlets

- Marinade: 1 dl of virgin olive oil, grated peel and juice of one large lemon, freshly ground black pepper, one cup of chopped sage (sometimes I add mynth or thyme)

- Let the chicken cutlets marinate one hour in the marinade, then put them on a hot grill for a few minutes on both sides

- Serve with rice or, as we did, stuffed and baked red peppers.

Chilled chardonnay or sauvignon blanc goes well with this light meal. For desert we had again strawberries and vanilla ice cream.

Wild roses and lazy days

There has been more rain this summer than for years, say the local farmers. Our garden looks green and lush without any watering – there are many different roses, the kinds that do not need much attention, and now they are all in blossom. So are the wild roses along the roads. There are also some old mallows, beautiful white flowers, increasing fast in the flower bed.

Finally, one week after Midsummer the sun stayed for a couple of days and the temperature was above 20 degrees. We went to buy strawberries (8 liters – sweet and excellent) from our favorite seller on Turuntie with Henna and Emma.

The girls saw three lambs in a pen and we all went inside to feed them.

When back to the house, the load of firewood JD ordered from the mansion nearby had arrived. We need it to heat the beach sauna, to warm the water in the outdoor hot tub, and in the fireplace. The firewood had to be piled in the shed, so that was my gym and jogging for the next two days. One hour piling wood – 15 minutes swimming – then comes a reward: two hours reading a book (just started Ian McEwan’s Atonement).

On Sunday the kids returned to Helsinki, and suddenly, the house was quiet and empty again. Just Rose, JD and me – enjoyable for a change. The evening was so hot that we decided to make a light dinner, our favorite summer meal, ‘pasta puttanesca’ and ate it outside with a bottle of rosé.

Pasta puttanesca for 3 adults:

 - Cook 6 anjovis filees, 1 teaspoonful of chili flakes and 4 cloves garlic (crushed) in virgin olive oil

- Add 10 chopped tomatoes and some black pepper, cook some 10 minutes
- Add 12 large capers (chopped) and some 15 pitted calamata olives (cut in halves)
- Finally, add two bunches of basil (chopped) just before serving with spaghetti