Tramps like us

Oh has the world been a busy place recently. The kitchen has been jumping with activity and some of it has been very good. Haven't been able to get a table? Sorry, you'll have to bribe the nice lady who knits down by the entrance. Get on her good side and you can have the best table in the house.


We've been cooking some very good dishes:

Thai red curry with chili tofu & sticky rice
Penne all' amatriciana
Chicken piri piri with tortilla and salsa
Risotto with borlotti beans served with cranberry and cumin mushrooms
Vegetable and tofu stir fry

All have been done simply with the minimal ingredients and leftovers. I'm pleased because a lot of the ingredients I managed to buy in the market without resorting to English (although amusing the stall holders with my rubbish grasp of their language) and nothing has been wasted. I don't like to bring politics into this blog but the recent "advice" of the British prime minister to the rich west to not waste food before sitting down to a multi course G8 super meal has left me a little angry that politicians think we are that stupid.

I have been working very hard recently in my real life job so am very happy that the kitchen has been so productive. I'm equally happy that the weather forecast for the Springsteen concert on Friday night is now very positive. I've never seen him live and am not by any stretch a huge fan but it's live music and the vibes coming from the reviews I've read are good. The band seems to have ditched promoting the new album and under the influence of our beautiful Nordic sun seem to be playing for the pleasure of playing.

We're busy plotting all sorts of things as well. We're off to the UK at the end of the month and have been sorting train tickets which has proved a nightmare. Why is it that UK rail companies cannot post a ticket within the EU? I could get on my soap box and complain about how the UK rips off its citizens and tourists but I won't (oops!). We're also off to France in August and have been buying tickets on the TGV. 1st class darling - well for £3 difference wouldn't you? Finally we're also planning a week in Barcelona in October for my dear lady wife's birthday. Oh did I mention we're going to Tallinn with friends in September. Blimey it's all getting too much.

My bike rides back and forth to work have been adventures as I try and find new ways and lose myself amongst the twisting turning lanes of Puistola. Today I had to follow a light aircraft from Malmi airstrip to get back on track.

The songwriting is also going well, if slowly. I have 6 workable (if still, but only just, incomplete) tracks and one song title (Killer psycho hero). My myspace page is still sitting there gathering dust waiting for tracks to be put up there. They will come I just don't know when. Maybe that could be a project for the long Finnish winter.

Only one more day until my day off. This stretch has been too hectic by far. I was thinking today that we are working at an insane pace, more hectic than when I was working for Carl Taylor in Bristol and he knows how to crack the whip. Then I realised the problem. Me. I'm the boss now and I'm the one dictating the pace. Think it might be time to pause and take stock.