Saturday, June 30, 2012

Waffle time!

Today was an extremely busy day! We've been heavily working to get things sold and organised for tomorrows fleamarket and because of this huge stress I desided to reward us with some really delicious waffles :) So here's my recipe for really easy and quick snack.


Simple vegan waffles
makes 6-8
  • 3.5 dl spelt flour (other flours are also ok)
  • 0.5 dl coconut sugar (or other desired sweetener)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3 dl veggie milk (I used soy)
  • 2 tbsp canola oil
Combine all the dry ingredients and add in the wet. Stir well and let stand about 30 min.
Fry in a hot waffle iron or use a frying pan to make crepes.
Enjoy for example with whipped oat cream and smashed strawberries and bananas.


This is a perfect movie 'dinner'! We just enjoyed these while watching Sandra Bullock film 'Lake House' :) Interesting idea in the film... Reminded me instantly about the Daphne du Mauriers novel 'The House on the Strand'. I highly recommend to read it, one of my all time favourites! :)

~ Ilta


Sunday, June 24, 2012

Morning kickoff

I've been eating raw food now for over a year and I feel much better then ever before! I started my experiments with delicious desserts and was instantly hooked! They are just so much lighter, richer in taste and easier to digest than any baked desserts. After these great experiences I started to do some raw breakfasts and lunches and now I just can't think life without any raw food anymore :) Slowly I've got Wolfi to like these things also and now we have almost every morning raw smoothies and porridge. On my own I eat almost 80% raw food and it really fits me. I feel much more energetic and somehow happier/positive. No more downs from refined ingredients like white sugar and flour and other nonsense.
Here is the breakfast we had on friday before our Midsummer trip. Really delicious and full of energy, vitamins and other important stuff! I recommend to test :)


Nectarine smoothie
for two
  • 3 nectarines
  • 1 banana
  • 2 handfuls of spinach
  • 1 handful of Jiaogulan leafs or other desired greens
  • 2 stevia leafs or other sweetener
  • 1 tbsp tocotrienols (rice bran) powder
  • 2 tsp non-GMO soy lecithin powder
  • 2 tsp maca powder
  • 1 tsp MSM
  • veggie milk (I used oat)
Put all ingredients to a mixer and mix high until very smooth. Add milk so much that the smoothie is nicely drinkable.
This smoothie will be very delicious also without these special powders, but they bring more vitamins etc. and make it very creamy.


Rhubarb oatmeal
for two
  • 10 sundried dates
  • 2 dl raw oatmeal
  • 3-4 dl water
  • 0.5 dl sesame seeds
  • 1 dl water
  • 100g rhubarb
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • (1 tbsp lucuma powder)
Put dates, oatmeal and water to a mixer and let soak overnight. Soak sesame seeds in a separate dish overnight. In the morning rinse sesame seeds well and put them with the rest of the ingredient to the mixer and mix high until very smooth. Add sweetener if desired and enjoy like this or for example with strawberries.

Because of the oxalic acid in rhubarb, one should eat calsium rich food at the same time, that's why I put so much sesame seeds into this oatmeal. You can also omit the seeds, but then I recommend to have for example some calsium enriched soy or oat milk.

~ Ilta


Saturday, June 23, 2012

Midsummer trip / Juhannusreissu


Yesterday was the Midsummer's Eve here in Finland and we did a nice trip with bikes to our favourite place in Fagervik, Inkoo. We've spent many beautiful summer days there already since 2006! This was now also the first proper trip for girls alone in the sidecar. Early in the summer we did a small test drive so that I was sitting in the sidecar with them. That went perfectly fine and girls were happily watching the changing sceneries. Now they were almost instantly feeling homey in the sidecar and on our way back home Lyra was making her bed there, which always means that everything is perfectly fine! :)

It's really good to have these rides now before our RTW-trip, because we need to learn what works and what doesn't! Like now we noticed that three dogs can make a really great knot if they have their leashes on in the sidecar! So we will rather let them be free there and just put plenty of paddings in case of heavy brakings etc.

~ Ilta

Everything's fine here / Kaikki hyvin täällä :)
Beautiful Finnish landscape / Kaunis suomalainen maisema
Our favourite place in Fagervik / Lempipaikkamme Fagervikissä
Waiting for the treats / Herkkupaloja odottamassa
Ulpu the watchdog / Ulpu-vahtikoira
Hertta having some fun again / Hertta sai taas riehukohtauksen :)
Suzi got finally some more girls to ride with her / Suzi sai vihdoinkin lisää naisia kyytiinsä ;)
One has to have some attitude and humor! / Asennetta ja huumoria pitää löytyä!
Suom.
Eilen Juhannusaattona teimme mukavan pyöräreissun lempipaikkaamme Inkoon Fagervikiin. Siellä on tullutkin vietettyä kauniita kesäpäiviä jo vuodesta 2006! Tämä oli myös tyttöjen ensimmäinen kunnollinen matka yksin sivuvaunussa. Aikaisin kesällä teimme pienen koeajon niin, että istuin sivuvaunussa heidän kanssaan. Se sujui oikein hienosti  ja tytöt katselivat mielenkiinnolla vaihtuvia maisemia. Nyt tytöt olivat lähes välittömästi kuin kotonaan sivuvaunussa ja kotimatkalla Lyra teki jopa petiä sinne, mikä tarkoittaa aina kaiken olevan erittäin hyvin! :)

On todella hyvä tehdä nyt näitä reissuja ennen maailmanympärysmatkaamme, koska täytyy oppia, mikä toimii ja mikä ei! Kuten nyt huomasimme, että kolme koiraa voi saada aikaan todella suuren solmun, jos ovat talutushihnat päällä sivuvaunussa! Joten tulevaisuudessa annamme heidän olla vapaasti siellä ja kovien jarrutusten yms. varalta pehmustamme vaunun erittäin hyvin.


~ Ilta

Friday, June 15, 2012

What will I miss...

I've been thinking about this lately rather lot 'cos somehow right now it feels very easy for me to leave this country and almost all my belongings. I've been wondering how normal feeling this even is 'cos usually people have difficulties to leave their families for years or give away stuff with memories... but then again I'm not that normal! ;)

Few family members I will miss, but their reaction to our news was disappointingly lame or even nonexisting! There was no enthusiasm or even words like 'we will miss you'... Some years ago when I moved away from my hometown people got mostly worried about the thing, that they won't see my dog so much anymore... Interesting relatives I have! So all this makes me just think, that they don't really care and if that's so, then why should I even miss them. This makes my leaving even more easier!

I also once said if Niinistö will become a President it's time to have a change of scenery... well that was mostly a joke, but at least now I can keep my words :)

There is actually two things I will miss a lot! People must think I'm really crazy now... but the number one thing is my beautiful orchids! The bigger one I got from Wolfis 'aunt' (thank you Usch!!!) when we lived in Germany for a moment. Somehow it was very special gift for me and anyway Usch has always been so kind to me and a kind of aunt I would've wanted to have. I've been taking good care of it and now it's even making a 'baby'! The smaller one I got from Wolfi and it's sweetly groving all crookedly. Hopefully I'll find a loving new home for them, who knows how to speek softly kind things to them... Yes, I'm a nutcase, but a happy one! :)


The other thing is of course my two great karate clubs in Kirkkonummi and Lohja! I've been practising karate for over 20 years and it's not just a hobby, it's a lifestyle! In Sokuto-club I've been about six years and it has become almost like a second family to me. The atmosphere and people there are really great and we always have great fun, especially on our camps! The guys are really great dancers too ;) In Lohja-club I've been for about 6 month. I started there 'cos it's closer and I need now all the exercise possible, because I'm training to get a black belt... There is also plenty of really great persons and soon that will be my third family :) Sorry to leave them so soon...
Kirkkonummipäivät 2011 (photo by someone in Sokuto:))

Hopefully I will find some kind of substitutes to these two things on our journey. At least beautiful flowers will be all over, just can't start looking after them... I also hope to be able to visit some karate clubs around the world and get some new experiences and share viewpoints... So I will be very happy to get invitations from other karatekas (or even other martial artists) to train with them or get hints of nice club whereabouts!


~ Ilta


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Selling all our stuff / Omaisuuden poistomyynti!


What an action - it reminds me on the "labor camp" we experienced when we decided to go for some months to my parents house in order to empty that one - I feel a STRONG deja-vu.

At least now we have more time to sell and we can be both active in putting adds and handling phone calls.
Many adds are in tori.fi - search for omaisuus lohja and you will get a good list of things.

My LGB railroad stuff is in huuto.net, however I think here is no market for my old railroad, so I will most likely put it to ebay.

~ Wolfi

Friday, June 8, 2012

Our first contributor

We would like to thank Touratech (www.touratech.de) for supporting us in our plans. We did not make it to a full sponsorship though ... anyway the people were open-minded and still could help us. (maybe you get a picture without the panniers).

THANK YOU!

~ Ilta & Wolfi

Willy - the Bee


First thing what you learn in team work, project management, etc. is the need to find a good name for the thing you wanna do/build.
My search went all around and of course it had to be aligned with what we want to represent i.e. vegan bikers. So talking about leather, pearls and so is maybe not the best fit. Aaaand of course - our little twisted mind had to be satisfied ;)
Maybe it was the start of summer and all the humming around, we finally came up with a name for the sidecar and my bike: 

Willy - the Bee

This also meant that the colors were clear: black/yellow. After this big decision was done, I was ready to visit the Sidecar building company.

I asked several companies for quotes, and some had good comments and suggestions, others did not like the fact that I want to ride a beamer, several told straight that they do not do such kind of sidecar projects, one was totally booked for this year and another had response times of days and could not be reached by phone for days (I think after I called ten times and only got the answering machine, I had enough). Dear owners of the companies, maybe business is going so well that you do not need to care – maybe in future you do – in any case, I see a huge potential for you to improve your customer relationship. Ok, enough of my old work style talking and back to the visit.

This visit to Germany was absolutely necessary and money well spent. Many details were clarified and of course its easier when one can see samples and details at other sidecars and bikes. I also understood the schedule worries of the builder, what is the critical path in the schedule and I think together we found good solutions so that the given time frame is enough. Lets hope so.

The boat – now I saw a picture of a naked and unmounted one – revealed also a surprise which was not really visible when the boat is mounted. Also it seems that the boat and the boxes together get too long and the boat's backwall shape is not optimum. All this means the boat backwall needs to be cut, the boat shortened and the backwall made straight.

Also quite some time went on how to build the cover, the size, position of the openings in there, so that one can easily get the dogs out without opening all those fancy buttons. Also the entrance door into the sidecar needs to be such that all of our dogs are fine with climbing in and out. The windscreen is pretty round, and this limits the area where Hertta could sit straight. One discussed solution was to have a flatter center and rear bar, which allows Hertta to sit in a bigger area and thus leaving more room for the Lyra and Ulpu to move around. So far the theory, lets see how practice will look like.

Bike will also need to get rid of its silver fur and match the bee colors. I noticed that my pannier will be silver ... well not for long :) 

Now I need to install some add-ons I got from Touratech :) (see next post)


~ Wolfi










Sunday, June 3, 2012

Discussions & decisions

This weekend we've been heavily thinking and discussing certain things again and made some changes in our plans. What else can one do when it's just raining and storming outside..? Well we did of course also have plenty of delicious and somewhat unhealthy food and enjoyd good films... ;)

Very filling and fruity sunday brunch :) We haven't had this unhealthy start for the day since our New Zealand trip...

This cottage thing has occupied our minds and especially it has given plenty of worried thoughts... Here in Finland it's unfortunately very common that cottages, which are not often enough visited get easily robbed! We don't have anyone who could go and watch over our belongings and we don't even want to bother anyone with such things. Lately here has also started to be plenty of bad storms due to the climate change... and it's very likely that one day some big tree will fall on the cottage and things will be ruined, or at least rain and snow will come in and do their damage. The area is also very dry in the summer time so forest fires might happen... and then there is the issue with rodents! If one day we would come back there just might not be anything left and all the efforts and investments have gone for nothing...
So we came to the desicion (which I have actually secretly been hoping, but haven't wanted to push my materialistic man in to...) that we don't get any cottage or anything else like that and we will basically sell all our belongings! Just few important things we'll store to a rental storage.
So if you reader or someone you know needs something just ask if we have that for sale, 'cos we have all sorts of things here from garden furnitures to dishes... Our house will also come to sale on fall...


Lyhyesti suomeksi:
Suurien riskien vuoksi emme aiokaan ostaa sitä mökkiä vaan tulemme myymään lähes koko omaisuutemme! Jos sinulla tai tutullasi on siis tarvetta saada jotain, niin meiltä voi rohkeasti kysyä! Myynnissä on kaikkea puutarhakalusteista astiastioihin ja talomme tulee myyntiin syksyllä... Sanaa saa laittaa mielellään eteenpäin! :)

~ Ilta