Daniel, you know it!



You know, i was once a huge Dio fan. I Still have the LPs and they ROCK! ,,/
I went to their gig in 1986 i think, Vivian Campbell (the original Dio guitarist) was already out, replaced with that guy from Giuffria pictured above, can't remember his name anymore.
Anyway, that was the first heavy met-all concert i went. I was like 12 years old back then and the parents were somewhat worried cause i went there alone. Fortunately the venue (at the old hockey stadium) was located within couple hundred meters from where we lived so my dad came to pick me up once the concert was over.
At the time Dio had the motorized dragon and the stage set up like a medieval castle, cool to say the least for a 12 year old. Keel was their warm-up band. They rocked then but now, i'm not sure. I listened to their two LPs the other day and i just hated them.

Who remembers the band Y&T for "Yesterday and Today"? Now that is one stupid name for a rock band don't you think? "Yesterday and Today".. sheesh! They did have one song i still like titled "Keep on running" from the LP "In rock we trust" (aw lord what was up with these names/titles back then, hmm then again guess they're not any better these days..)

I taped some heavy metal videos from TV back then. Monster of rock aired from british Sky Channel, it was a heavy metal show hosted by Amanda Redington. Had to watch every one of them. I still have one of them tapes with Twisted Sister '84 live gig and some misc. heavy videos from the TV show. Motörhead, Saxon, Dio etc. Good stuff and even better videos!

Dani, sounds like a great idea with the gathering! I wish i could visit any of the cities/places in the states one day. Lots of stuff to see & people to meet.

In the meanwhile, here's a phresh photo from today, a Smith Decade. Pretty in pink. Kati behind the camera.


-T

Tea time everybody!
Man this is good stuff.



But you have to have a steel cup that matches with the package. Otherwise it's not as perfect.

Sorry Timo, but I have to disagree with you, this tea is the best:

Dude, the only thing where cinnamon is allowed would be this:



Finnish rice porridge. Made of rice cooked in milk served with cinnamon powder and sugar on top and a teaspoon of butter for the taste.
And alternatively, the hidden almond(s) in case you feel adventurous.


Cinnamon powder & sugar works great with oatmeal too.
The 101 food recipes blog. lol!

From porridge to photos.

...of a single trick i don't know the name for.
Meanwhile, i call it the "Tweak-squeak" cause it tweaks the body and most of all the right foot in an unnatural way. And, using my patented invention "The Camera-Cube" again to take the photos.
Right now i am more less fascinated shooting photos directly to the sun as you can see, so don't be surprised if the next couple post will be cluttered with them from all angles.






This little gadget sets the camera constantly in the right angle for these type of selfportrait shots, something that's impossible without a tripod. Behold the mighty cube! ..made of Q-tip box with slight modifiations:


Tripods work too but they are usually quite big to carry around in a backpack. I know there are those miniature ones too, in fact i have one but it only allows you to take landscape oriented photos. Sure there is smaller tripods with adjustable angle but for now, that box works for me just fine for photos where i'm working alone with a timer.

Food product of the day:

-30% less sugar, low lactose, nam nam!
What's "metsämansikka" in english anyway? hmm.. "wild strawberry"? Guess so.

Yum, yum, had cinnamon on my porridge this morning.

Somehow I expected the camera-cube to be a bit more complicated looking than it actually is. Oh well, the illusion is ruined now.

Timo, not sure if you are familiar with the term, "he thinks the sun shines out of his arse". Kind of like saying some-one has an exagerated opinion of themselves in relation to how good they are. Now, definitely not saying that is you, but it would make for a good photo if you could position everything correctly.

sheesh! i miss a few weeks and things get all out of hand with a tea throw down. you boys behave!

hey time - the only pic i can see of yours on this page is the yogurt. what's up with that?

ok now i can see them. weird... mmm love earl grey. the almond is not hiding very well. and jarvi, i had no clue what you were talking about because i could not see the pics but now i get it and that is darn funny! timo, you should work on that with your magic box

Photos.. looks like the pfotobukit link was dead for a while, should work now..

Sunshine from thee arse huh, Jarvi? haha!
Are you implying that i promote myself just a little bit too much? LOL, could be.
But, One's got to keep up the profile as no one else is going to do that for you anyway.
Either way, you're gonna have to wait for a loong time for such a silly collage cause i work hard for them riding photos and take them more less seriously (translation, usually 30-40 trys for a single one that's decent) so that you guys can have your laugh. Definitely not having an exaggerated opinion of my skills, they are what they are, but truth is, i'm 15 years behing the "progression" of what's going on in today's flatland tricks but i have no problem with it. I'm happy though that i can still do the stuff i do at this age. i'm not quite sure what to make of this. Hmm, Maybe i lack the humour but it's all good.

oh timo i do not think he meant that at all. i took it as a reference to the unique placement of the lighting on a couple of those last ones. i enjoy reading your always interesting posts and seeing your great pics.

[ July 11, 2007, 07:29 AM: Message edited by: bmxmom ]

Timo, I didn't mean any other than being humerous and bmxmom understood it correctly. My apologies if you were offended by my remarks. Your posts are great and I definitely wouldn't have the dedication to do something 30 times to get a photo.

Only today I was out hunting for a spot to take photos of my latest build and using your posts to get me motivated to try something different. I even took a couple of tech ones durnig the build like you do.

You won't see too many of me riding because my skills are more than 15 years behind, and besides, modern flatland today is so damn quick it's difficult to tell when one trick finishes and another starts.

Cool, no harm done. Let's blame it on the language barrier, lol.
Anyway, totally agree with what you said with flatland being too quick. Personally sometimes i don't consider it even being the same sport anymore, it's just so different than what i'm used to seeing/doing. I am also hating the fact that these days a single trick (in flatland) lasts about 2 seconds, is that riding? It's just too hectic and technical. And too much stuff done solely on a front wheel, frankly, it's become boring to watch with just few rare exceptions. [/end rant]

.oO(i think timo needs some cocoa)

oh hey timo - my wheels are arriving tuesday

..tip ..tip ..tip se.. hyvin jännä.
(translation = preparing the cocoa)


Dani, i'm happy for you.

When i was ten or eleven i woke up one morning with my head stuck turned left. There i was, sitting eating breakfast at the table with my head turned left staring at the wall trying to eat the cereal. My last memory is i'm drinkin some orange juice when i passed out, guess i tried to look forward. Life is funny.

you probably put too much vodka in the orange juice

Could be.. especially you knowing how heavy drinker i am..

We did some spring/summer clean up at the shack some while ago, nothing dramatic, just cleaning up the property/area a bit cause that's something never ever been done before.
That included cutting/pulling up dead trees & picking up the garbage, twigs, timber & whatnot from over the years that's been scattered around. Sort of "doing something good for the well being of the community" so to speak.
Here's how it looked:

Just look at the amount of dead wood & twigs. Kati finalizing.


The world's strongest man competition. I won the comp, ofcourse, but before we got the stuff past the fence the plastic sheet was ripped to pieces ..as expected. So there we were, picking up the timber again.


"Take this you, you.. damn plywood"


Now this is interesting. Well, i don't know about you guys, but for me that is. I found this while cleaning up the beach, this piece of wonder is atleast 20 years old and it was buried under some dirt for who knows how long. It's the top of a hamburger box they used to make in the 80's. Remember, those cool coloured boxes made of styro-foam of some sort, we're talking about something REALLY environment friendly stuff, not. Anyway, i have fond memories of these cause i used to collect them. That's right, i used to have PILES of them. Hey, don't laugh, some people still collect BEER CANS as we speak and they're ADULTS already! I was like ten years old then when these boxes were around.


Now, some two months later, all there really is, is just chillin' at the swing looking like koo-koo and eating candy. Life's good.

yes timo. exactly.

good for you guys. you know at the point when the plastic tore i would have just stopped and had a bon fire. mmm toasty marshmallows...

timo - i hate to say it but you didn't have proper form on the plywood toss. i believe that would have gotten you a disqualification at an official event...

nice hammock. looks like it was a beautiful day.

good stuff as always timo

Haha, we thought exactly the same, let's light it up! Actually the pile will get burned as soon as the weather allows us to but usually it's too dry & windly.
Despite the wrong form (in the plywood toss) i would've easily beat everyone with the distance i was rockin, ofcourse.

Ok, me and the wife did a long-ish picnic trip on our bikes the other day to a cool wave-breaker (is that a word?) at one of the beaches at west. Total distance (measured as "path" by google earth) was 36.13 kilometers, that's 22.45 miles. I was on my '88 General and wife on her 26" Body Glove -cruiser. For those interested here's the path we took. On our way back took a "detour" lol.


Did some riding yesterday after a short break and took couple new photos again.


Thanks.

Oh' the effort..


Instant replay (..from the series "My Weird Photos Beyond Description") The audience cheers.. he's focusing.. call for silence.. And off it goes!!


Where did it go then? It must've flown atleast over the nearby island but likely beyond the bridge on the horizon, i don't know. But if you look real carefully you may see a dot the size of a pixel. Or you may not

Here's Kati's cruiser. I bought it few years ago from the used sports gear shop around the block for $70 and replaced some of the parts like the sprocket, cranks, pedals, grips, stem, chain etc.


I'm not good at all describing these but i guess the frame design is based on some 50's/60's? design. I have plans for getting it painted at some point, possibly some nice color powdercoat (some pastel or basic/glitter tone with gold/chrome highlights, yet undecided) and getting some of those nice 144 spoke chrome (or gold) wheels and some new tires. That would be a great project for the winter.

Usually when i'm taking photos in daylight whether sunny or cloudy, there's no need for a tripod or stand. But as soon as it gets darker when indoors in artificial lighting its mandatory, or you will have to use flash or the object will have to be very still. It is almost impossible to take pictures or people/animals indoors without good lighting and/or a tripod and flash creates the kind of "cold" light into the photos. Outdoors the flash is very handy especially if shooting toward sunlight etc.

but see timo - the photo shows that you lifted your heel. the rulebook clearly states that the heel must remain in contact with the ground at all times.

.oO(where do i come up with this crap?)

nice bike. i bet she loves it. and you described it just fine.

the problem is not with the object being still, it is with me being still. my bike was being very good and not moving but still i had fuzzy ones.

oh and i told my mom about the hedgehogs. she did know what they were and she thought that was funny too.

Now i don't know what rulebook your looking at Dani but mine says word to word that "the heel can be lifted as long as the feet are touching the ground for the most part". (chapter §2.3 from the Plywood Toss Handbook for unknown Professionals)

That's what i kind of meant with the use of tripod. And If you absolutely want to keep shaking while taking photos, it eliminates the shake in the photos very effectively. Does your camera have preset programs for different lightings? Indoor, outdoor, sunny, cloudy etc? From those you should be able to find the right combination for each occasion in order to take non-fuzzy photos, and make sure the flash is on, sometimes, even at daylight, it's handy.

Guess i will have to enlighten the hedgehogs for those wondering what the heck you're talking about.

Ok, so we were at Möhkö again (where the mind rests) and here's some of the highlights form our week trip.


Thee hedgehogs. Eating donuts and fish. No wonder the village's hedgehog population is increasing.


Crude tech. This is one of those platforms made for small boats and look what they used?! Two sets of old rollerskate trucks & wheels brutally welded on to the steel frame where the boat rests. Blasphemy!


On our way to see if there's any fish in the catch. I have the skateboard with me as my spiritual support cause this is serious stuff. Row row.


And there was some fish, actually. Kati had the guts to empty the thing (what you call that kind of catch anyway?) i was just looking at the side, with mixed emotions.


Ahh the neighbours cat named Mörkö (almost like the place, Möhkö) translated Bogey man. What he truly was. Biggest cat i've ever seen, even bigger than the two we have. If he could speak in this photo he'd say "I'm the boss and you're FIRED!"


More wildlife. These two buddies were living near the old river boat/cafe/museum. Time for bath.


At the museum (again). So we've seen the stuff many times but it's always as interesting. That's the attic with all kinds of stuff from the lumber jack days of the village. There was also a swallow family up there with 5 kids and the parents flying around. Never seen baby-swallows live, very cool but turned out impossible to photograph in those lighting conditions cause i didn't want to use flash not to scare the crap out of them cuties.

[ July 19, 2007, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: 2FRESH ]

The good omen. 333 stamped on one of the museum's doorway, why? I have no idea.


Then it was time to skate the river docks. Skateable spots are rare at those latitudes so you have to make the best out of what there is.


Skating the road. The only road.


Even got the wife on board with a little help.


We renovated the kitchen doors i.e. we were free labour. Atleast there was no shortage of sodas and beverages thanks to the shop's warehouse.


Will the work ever stop?! Practising my skills at the plantation, prepared for a sudden mosquito attack and sweating like crazy.


Did you know you can tie a rope using long nettle peels? I didn't, until we saw a documentary on TV that week about the ancient druids at the stonehenge and how they raised thee stones. Ok, now im laughing out loud cause i immediately associated that last sentence with the movie Spinal Tap. Anyone who's seen it know's exactly what i mean!
Anyway, Kati showing how to tie the "rope". I still have that on my wrist, it's tuff stuff. You wouldn't believe how robust it is.


Soaking the size 11 (pale) feet in the water that looks like Pepsi Cola. Ahh.. the summer at its best.

-Timo

[ July 19, 2007, 12:48 PM: Message edited by: 2FRESH ]

Timo, you are going to be proud of me when your hear this. Do you know what we had for supper this evening? Finnish sausage soup, made by your's truly! It may not be a typical summer dish but it's been kind of rainy and windy here in Sthlm for the last few days and I wanted some "wintery" food.... so I came to think of your soup. Unfortunately I did not find any HK Sininen Lenkki but used some sausage I think resembles it. Served the soup with Fazer's rye bread. Good stuff. My wife and I both liked it a lot and our little guy loved it. Vera, our 4-year old, was more sceptical.

So know you now, this thread effects people all over the globe, in Oregon and in Sweden.

Spinal tap? Is that why your feet go to 11 and not just 10?

Greta pics and text as always Timo,
I better not show Mirka them though as she may get homesick

DINGO

Daniel, i'm very proud of you, good job!! So, that would be 3:4 voting for the soup, and just one left in the opposition and/or yet undecided. Hmm not bad at all, not bad at all. The finnish sausage soup is about to conquer the world it seems. Couldn't have wished for any better. As for the "11".. that's exactly the case.


Cheers Raul!
haha Dingo! ..or you may have to make some for her.

Mom! it's got to be HALF GOOD cause it's almost three hearts "<3<3<3" ..mmkay?


Rock on!!

[ July 20, 2007, 05:39 AM: Message edited by: 2FRESH ]

mmkay

What is there to do on a rainy day? Obviously, millions of things but here's something i did:


I wax polished the gold Q bars on my Ozone with protective car wax. It seems raw gold plating attracts sweaty/greasy finger prints that are ultimately very hard to remove. Almost as if there's a chemical reaction of some sort with the gold. Anyway, i should've done this years ago but now they're shinier than ever and they smell good too, sort of lemon/strawberry-ish (i used Carlake carwax btw). Nam nam!

Remember this apparatus from a while back?


The boom box i found from a dumpster. Well, i was doing an inventory/search in my archives again and came up with an actual Philips audio retail catalogue from 1986 with the same exact model listed! Here it is:


A whopping 2x5 Watts of pure POWER! BOOM! Four speakers, Spatial Stereo and a detachable shoulder strap! YEAH! As a die hard nostalgia freak/80's memorabilia fan that i am now i have to find a matching shoulder strap and i'm all set! woohoo! Watch out!
Before this wonderful find i could only guess the age/release year of the box however i was pretty confident it's from the mid 80's judging by the looks and style. Now it's official. While i was at it i scanned the entire catalog, here's more of that fantastic 80's imagery:

The cover of the catalog. Got to love the casual approach with the guy leaning on the trunk snapping the fingers to the beat and playing it cool.

I also want to address few things from the catalog that brought up questions. First of all it is hard to imagine such naive looking catalog being published these days. Obviously the layout and the whole design is very different than what is "the norm" today. It is interesting how the styles and trends change.
First off there's the high-end CD players (if you can call Philips a high-end brand) and the expensive Hi-Fi equipment. And ofcourse the Compact Disc being invented by Philips and it being THE new invention of the decade it's all about hyping it up.
Now what's up with them damn Dire Straits dudes... why do they have to be in this catalog posing with the top class Philips boom box with a CD player? Like the same pic of the band in two pages wouldn't be enough, there's that distintive "Philips Compact Disc presents Dire Straits Live in '85" logo aswell on quite few pages. Okay okay we get it, the "Compac Disc" was the bomb back then but why did it have to be associated with Dire Straits for heaven's sake? What was their deal anyway with the CD and Philips, i can't remember that anymore.

Next up it's the tape decks. You don't see much of those anymore in any catalogs these days. Remember Azimuth?
After the speakers there's the affordable Hi-Fi sets with double tape decks, can you believe that? A double deck!? YEAH BABY!
And finally the portable equipment aka boom boxes for every use and in every price range. Philips had some interesting stuff but nothing out of this world though, atleast not anymore in their '86 line of products. However, i would not mind owning some/any of the higher end models as they all seem very interesting and would probably be a lot of fun. There's also bunch of low end stereo & mono portables however with pretty cool designs.
Portable DATA tape decks for computer applications. Cool. Who remembers how instead of floppy disc let alone CD ROM you'd be saving your stuff on to a tape ?
It's fun and exciting actually, i've later on become familiar with the tape saving technique with my analog music gear where you can save your musical compositions (aka patterns) from the machine on to a tape and later load them back in.
It's less work than writing each step/composition on a stationery but then again, once it's written atleast you know it exists somewhere. Saving stuff successfully on to a tape depens hugely on the quality of the tape you're using and whether the "Azimuth" is set in optimum angle etc, lol! It's fun though despite the sketchiness and all the hassle.
I suppose the portable section was done more less for the break dancin' youth in mind but everyone must admit this is beyond cheesy:


Ok, so these guys are supposed to be bad *** breakerz somewhere in the dark alleys of New York huh? Come on.

This is interesting:

From their car audio page there's this woman who's dressed to kill while casually assembling a set of speakers into a car. But instead of setting the system up doesn't that look more like she's broken into someone's car and looting the set? Whatever she's up to it can't be no good and who's sitting around with a screw driver dressed up like that anyway? Again, got to love the 80s'!! In the middle pic, the "happy smiley crew" in a backseat of a car, now isn't that the same San Diego shirt the guy in the break dance picture was wearing? Didn't they have money to buy more props for the photo shoot that they had the circulate a single shirt?
Wait a minute, is that still the same guy?! My god. It can't be. Or has he miraculously aged during the photo shoot for this catalog!? He looks disturbingly same, maybe it's his older brother. Now i'm confused. it can't be.. But if it's the kid from the first photo the i guess the breakin' paid off and now he has not only one but two girlfriends and a car. Philips made it happen!


Ahhh the walkmans, sorry the "Walking Sound". Philips had their Sky Way line of walkmans, how's this for cool machines: "Sky Master", "Sky Liner" and SkyRunner". Wicked! "You know, after a good workout there's nothing like listening to your favorite mr. cheesey song on Sky Master Mk IV. I've tried them all and i came back".

Skateboarding is very rough on shoes.
If i'd buy new pair every time either the soles or upper wears out i'd be bankrupt. Same with flatland riding, especially if you do a lot of scuffing. The scuffing shoe wears out before the other does and there you are, walking with a huge hole on one shoe that's completely trashed while the other has still months and months of life in it. This is my set of high top Vans skateboard shoes bought almost three years ago. They've been lightly repaired once before but now it was time for full restoration and wash.


I bought some of that "liquid rubber" in a tube (Bison calls it "Liquid Rubber" and Bostik has "Liquisole" but it's same stuff) and patched the holes on the soles. It's not pretty but it works and most importantly it will last for a very long time. The "goo" takes roughly 24hrs to stiffen up although the instructions say 48.
Also repainted the white stripes (now that's a great band btw. have you guys heard "Pain give me sympathy", "Ashtray heart" and "The party of special things to do"?) with day glo pink and the checker patterns on the sides with a marker cause stock black & white Vans would've been somewhat dull.

I mean, while the rest of the shoe is OK, i just can't justify throwing them away only because the soles been weared out.

[ July 24, 2007, 06:16 PM: Message edited by: 2FRESH ]

The liquid rubber stuff works great, but don't overlook the importance of some strategically placed duct tape. During the years I was skating heavily, I think my shoes ended up being more layers of duct tape than actual shoe, lol.

Mom, thanks for the tip!

Raul i know what youre saying about the duct tape.. lol! You should've seen the soles of those Vans' before.. countless layers of electrical tape to cover the holes.. cause i was too broke to spend $10 on a tube of rubber goo. I am now looking forward to replace the actual sole completely with liquid rubbr in the near future.



[ July 25, 2007, 11:54 AM: Message edited by: 2FRESH ]

you bet timo. that's what i am here for

Looking almost daily at the different topic names over and over again made me wonder...

Who is still from FINLAND? Pages: 1 2 3 4 ... 440
441 442?

..nobody i guess.
(ps. don't bother clicking the "pages" cause they will not lead anywhere, its there just for the aesthetics, sort of like a "cool" semi-interactive introduction to today's ramblings)

But it's all good. Instead thought of sharing couple Helsinki pics with you from today. Translation: "ajattelin jakaa kanssanne muutaman Helsinki aiheisen valokuvan tältä päivältä" ..and teach you all to speak flawless finnish while viewing them.
I was taking the shore line route on my way home from good, solid 1,5h riding session at the ballcourts. There was a baseball match going on too as the courts are located next to one and on the half time they played kooky music that made me fail the rest of day's tricks. Or how else do you explain i started to grin by myself when these guys were on:

And like that wasn't enough, it was played out LOUD too.
Oh my. No offense to Matti & Teppo, the two fine gentleman in the pic with respectable 25 year career in the music business, but usually i prefer just the quiet sound of tires rolling on the surface when i'm practising. The people who had come to see the match were enjoying themselves regardless of the songs playing, eating barbeque sausages and wondering about the big kid on a children's bike.

oh yeah, the photos.

No, that's not me up there. But there's benji jumping every summer at Kaivopuisto (at the southern tip of Helsinki city), this unknown hot head is on his/her second rebound going uuup...


Boats or "the method of transportation for us finns & swedes" ..trying to remember the words of Daniel W and how he put it. Anyway, that's Viking Gabriella leaving the docks and passengers standing on the decks waving as usual. In front of it the smaller boat carrying passengers to Suomenlinna, the fortress, aka "Viapori" finnish synonym for the swedish name Sveaborg just 10 minutes away. On the background a wealthy part of the city called Katajanokka or Skatudden or "skatta" in Helsinki street lingo. Funny though, there used to be one of the most notorius jails commonly known as "skatta" but now that it's closed down they're making it a hotel for the rich. Ahh, the somehow weird karma.


Old lighthouse boat Relandersgrund serving as a café these days. I really like the looks of boats this old.


"Hot town, summer in the city"... Aleksanterinkatu at the very heart of Helsinki.

[ July 28, 2007, 06:13 PM: Message edited by: 2FRESH ]

Indeed it does Dani! Need some of the new tram timetables?

that would be great. thanks. any sale fliers for the market?

Here ya go, these just came in the other day..


What is this world coming to anyway? Kids at the back of the Helsinki public transportation timetable showing devil signs.. oh the nerve. oh the cheeziness. LOL!
Seriously though, after the finnish hard rock/heavy metal band "Lordi" won the Eurovision song contest last year (which in its own right is somewhat questionable honour for such band) the credibility of the "devil" also known as the "heavy metal" sign has been suffering from serious inflation. Now the kids, celebrities, grandmothers and some politicians are into showing the " ,,/ "

I will have to dig some of those fliers up for you.

i think that p unk in the spiderman hat looks kind of sketchy but the chick behind him in pink is probably really the dangerous one. keep an eye on her.

the dudes in blue... they lasted 25 years? really?

i like the looks of that read boat too but i am glad it is a cafe now and not out on the sea. it looks like it might be very tippy...

that benji jumper looks waaaaay the heck up there.

that city shot is cool. man your streets are clean.

the folks are on there way here. they live 1 hour to the south of me. we are going to a japanese obon festival. folk music and dancing, eating, looking at asian art and wares in the park on a lovely summer evening. sounds like fun to me

oh and thanks about the fliers. you're a good bud timo.

That's what i kinda though too about the little chick behind wanna-be heavy metal spiderman dude. You never know these days where these kids lurk.

Yeah, Matti & Teppo should write a book "The secret of our success" cause it's amazing, 25 years and they're still going strong. I guess their music has always hit the finnish melancholic-mentality and that's huge part of their success. Outside finland, nobody knows about them which, is okay by me.

The Obon festival. Shoot some photos if you can, curious to see what's it about.

well the festival was good fun. even my dad, who is a monsterously large wet blanket most of the time, had a good time.

obon matsuri is also call the festival of the dead which doesn't sound very nice. it is the time when japanese folks return home to honor their ancestor's memories. both men and women often wear yukata which is like a summer kimono - lighter weight fabric and more casual. towns hold festivals and the center of this is the very traditional bon odori or folk dancing generally done in a circle. the steps are very simple and the sequences are short so it is very easy for anyone to jump in and follow along. and of course there is food and there are also often children's games and activities.

pics from google but they give you the idea


when we pulled up i was disappointed. there were two food vendors. i was looking forward to not being able to decide what i wanted to eat. my mom was thinking the same thing. oh wait. there was also a ben and jerry's van which of course is a very traditional japanese dessert. huh? and at first i didn't think there were any merchandise vendors but then i saw there were a few over in the shade.

what was funny about the two food vendors was that they offered exactly the same thing - teriyaki chicken and yakisoba. what the? how stupid and very disappointing. i am thinking about doing a food booth next year. i think if someone offered something different they would make a killing. did i hear someone say okonomiyaki???

so we put out the blanket and grabbed a spot in the shade. the first part of the entertainment was the little kid taiko troop. taikos are big drums and all the folks in the troop have to make their own drums. they were very cute. there were 8 drums of various sizes in both the adult and kid troops.

i think this is probably from a festival at a school


after they got finished the dancers came out. i wanted to get up with my mom and dance but i couldn't see how we could combine my moving her hands and feet for her until she got the steps (she is blind), her using her cane and her hanging onto my arm so i could direct her as the circle moved. i just didn't see that happening so she sat between my legs on the blanket i reached my arms around her and held her hands to do the hand motions. she had a really good time. i think we probably looked pretty crazy but it was fun.

then there were the adult taiko folks, more dancing, the hula troop, more dancing and more taiko. the weather was absolutely perfect. it was a lovely evening

oh and...

m/

SOunds like a cool day Dani! I am somewhat familiar with them taikos, that is i have heard of them though never actually even seen one.
What exactly are Teriyaki and Yakisoba? And.. gasp* Okonomiyaki? Ok- food, but what's in them?

argh- m/ -you behave now.

teriyaki is kind of the pizza and taco of japanese food. either that or sushi is what people here think of when you say japanese food and it is everywhere.

teriyaki is really a type of marinade for fish that can be used on anything - chicken, beef, pork or tofu but teriyaki chicken is usually what you find here.

the main ingredient is soy sauce. then there is some sort of sweet aspect to it. mirin is most typically used. additional sugar or honey is also added depending on how sweet you like it. i have even played with various types of jam/jelly for a different twist to it. and sake or wine. and if you are going to be bbqing with it you usually reduce it a bit so it is thicker.

that is kind of the basic but i also add chopped scallions, grated ginger, a little garlic and nanami togarashi-a special japanese pepper mixture of 7 different ingredients. my teriyaki is better than my mom's. shhhh don't tell...

yakisoba is a stir-fried noodle dish. not particularly exciting but is often sold by street vendors or at festivals.

ahhhhh okonomiyaki my dear friend is my most favorite food. i have given this recipe to many people. when i had my track we had a potluck dinner after the races on saturday and it was requested that i always fix this. there is a base pancake type thing and you put what you want on top. if you go to an okonomiyaki restaurant each table has a griddle and you cook it yourself.

mine look better than this but this is pretty typical of how a purchased one would look. this is also a dish that is typically found at festivals. it has a katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) and aonori (seaweed) which i don't normally add because i know most of my friends wouldn't eat it if i did. and they have slathered it with okonomiyaki sauce but you can also use soy sauce.


the pancake base has water, eggs and flour. then shredded cabbage is added. that is the most basic. you make a pancake on the griddle and put on your toppings. simple and tasty.

i do it a little differently though. are you surprised?

to the basic batter i add grated ginger. that is the secret ingredient. shhhh. then instead of putting everything on top, i like to put scallions and shredded spinach in the batter. if you do it this way it makes it easier for the toppings to stick when you flip it. also, i make my batter veggie-heavy so it is mostly veggies held together by just enough batter.

you can really put any thinly sliced items you want on top - meat or veggies. since i already put spinach and onions in the batter, i add bacon and mushrooms to the top. those are the basics. if i am doing it for company i will add very thinly sliced beef.

the bacon and ginger are the magic ingredients but then bacon makes everything better doesn't it? mmmmm bacon.... (in my best homer voice)

I knew i could count on you mom. Thanks so much for the info & sharing the recipies! I'll let you know once we're cooking a japanese dinner.

Low pressure sweeping across finland/scandinavia, should brighten up though by wed/thu and for the weekend. Went to the shack yesterday to take some photos after i had spent just some 40mins at the bball court. ..with them ADHD kids pounding the ball like crazy while sitting, standing, eating.. i just couldn't focus so i thought, heck i'll know ONE place where i can be alone and ride.
And i did just that.
And took some photos of the bike too.
And i am not very pleased on how they turned out.
But everything in life isn't perfect either.



Helsinki, july 30th 2007

Yours truly,


The Mathematical Genius.

[ July 31, 2007, 10:42 AM: Message edited by: 2FRESH ]