What about now

Why my head is always empty when I start to write a post? I just remember I had great topics to write about, but when I open my blog and prepared to write I forgot what I supposed to write. I usually get great ideas on my way to work or in the morning when I really don’t have time to write anything down. (I really should write those down) I just have vague remembrance of the things but I don’t remember the specific things  I would have write. So I just write something I thought right now. This post will be just some jitter jatter or just about Bon Jovi. I’m not sure what I’ll come up with.

I’m on a train to go to Tampere. Tampere is a one of the biggest cities in Finland and about 150 km from Turku where I live. I have very good reason to go to Tampere. BON JOVI is going to have a gig in there tomorrow. And I’m so excited about it. I’m big fan of Bon Jovi. I wrote about that I’m not a big fan of the Guns N’ Roses, because I was so young when they had big singles and so on, but actually Bon Jovi was founded in 1983 and I was just two years old back then. So my logic isn’t quite so simple. Or I’m just weird.

 

So the band Bon Jovi is almost as old as me. And I really like they music. First I heard them, I mean I remember hearing them and liked it, I was about 14 years old. It was the time when they released the single “This ain’t a love song” and the album “These Days“. I just had got my first cd player for my birthday and the These Days was the really first album I bought with my own money. Next year (1996) I saw Bon Jovi in Helsinki with my beloved sister.

I own Bon Jovi’s almost every album (I don’t have Fahrenheit 7800) and I’ve been in every concert their have had in Finland outdoors since year 1996. I’ve had missed one of their concert here in Finland. It was indoor gig in Turku. Yeah, in my home town. Weird, I know, but I’ve never said I’m normal. They usually have played in Helsinki Olympia Stadion, but on Sunday they going to play in Tampere Ratina Stadion. I’ve never been there (in Ratina Stadion), but example Red Hot Chilli Peppers have played there, so it can’t be a bad place to have a rock concert. 

 

So since 1996 I’ve been Bon Jovi’s concerts with my sister, who I love so much. It’s kind of our thing together. Luckily my sisters best friend lives in Tampere so we can stay there night or two instead of the hotel. 

So Bon Jovi tomorrow. I think I won’t write Weekly Wrap Up tomorrow because of that. Shortly I have had a pretty good week, though I haven’t been eating so regularly. Keep drinking water, especially now, because it’s really a summer time and it’s been warm.

Have a great weekend and the beginning of the week. 

Ps. I have took the pictures last time Bon Jovi was in Finland.

Tasty Thursday – Chicken Pasta Salad

I like to cook and bake. Making and baking meals is just wise thing to do. At least I think so. That’s how I know exactly the ingredients of the meal and I can choose which kind of products I use. Tasty Thursdays idea is just to share a recipe of the whole meal or just one tasty thing that I’ve made during the week. Recipes could been shared any other day too, but Thursdays is one day that is certain.

 

I’ve totally forgot my blog. Now I remembered this and decided to do a quick post. It’s just after midnight and I’m still up. I was at evening shift today and tomorrow (or today) I have to go to work by quarter past seven. OMG, I’m gonna be so tired. But I’m always tired after evening shift and if I have morning shift next day. 

But, the point in this post is food, again. I really have to write something else next time. Maybe tomorrow I have time to write about something else. Maybe about my weight lose or Bon Jovi. 

So food. 

Couple of friends or actually my sister and her friend visit me last Tuesday. My sister came straight from work and I knew she would be hungry. She wished some salad, maybe chicken, so I had promised her I would make something close to that. I made CHICKEN PASTA SALAD.

If you want to do this too you need to have (or at least I had these):

• Chicken breast or something like that, without marinate.
• Seasoning, I had black pepper,  Santa Maria’s Mango Curry, salt and little bit of vegetable oil
• Pasta
• Lettuce
• Cucumber
• Bell pepper
• Peach
• Avocado
• Rucola
• Spring onion
• Vegetable oil (0,75dl), honey (1 tbsp), black pepper, salt (for the dressing)

FIRST I cut the chicken breasts to the smaller pieces (so they fit you mouth) and seasoned them and let them to marinate. SECOND I boiled some water to cook the pasta in it (remember to put some salt in the pasta water). AS the pasta is boiling, I started to chop everything else in the bowl. AFTER pasta was done, I cooled down in I cold water and put it back in the kettle. I mixed up the dressing in a small bowl and BLENDED it together with the pasta and left it to marinate. THEN I pre heated a pan to fry the chickens. WHILE chickens was cooking I finished the chopping other ingredients. BEFORE I added the chickens to the salad I let them to cool down over the plate covered with paper towel (it would absorb some of the oil). FINALLY I added the pasta and the chicken to the salad and mixed it together. 

I served salad with home made carrot buns and some butter or creme cheese. To drink I had acquired mineral water. 

Weekly Wrap Up – Week 3

Sundays I’ll tell something about my week. Every Sunday I’ll set up some goals for me to do for the upcoming week and next Sunday I’ll tell how well I reached them.

MY LAST WEEKS GOALS

• Eat regularly (at work this is a real challenge sometimes)
• Keep drinking water
• EXERCISE! EXERCISE! EXERCISE!
• Go to the scale (I’m really afraid to do that)

It’s been a good week for me. Yay! I’ve been exercising. Not everyday, but almost. At my friends summer house I did some yard works and at home I’ve been going to walks. I’ve been drinking water and especially because it’s been warm. At work we been having troubles with air condition and it’s been hot in there. So I’ve been consuming lot of water. 

I think I’ve been eating quite regularly. Now I’ve been thinking do I eat enough. I haven’t been hungry but I really been paying attention to how much others eat. And I think I don’t eat as much and when you trying to lose weight you have to eat enough.

And I finally I went to the scale. And I’m so terrified about that. But I did it. 

So I’ve had a good week and I’m proud of myself. 

Now I have to go to work so I don’t have time to tell anything else.

GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK

• Keep exercising
• Keep eating regularly 
• Keep going to scale

Tasty Thursday – Evening Snack

It’s been sunny and warm and I just love it. Summer is here! I’ve been with my friend in her summer house for two days. It’s just by the sea but water was way too cold to swim, so I just enjoyed sauna and listening to waves against the rocks. I think the sauna was the best thing. I love to go to sauna and especially the wood stove sauna. It’s so relaxing just to sit there and watch beautiful Finnish landscape. 

Sauna

So I haven’t had time to write any posts. But today I have couple of minutes before bedtime so I just give you a hint for a evening snack (or breakfast or just a snack): Rye bread with avocado and basil.

I just had two slices organic rye bread, slice of low fat ham, one avocado (one half for each bread slice) and to the top fresh basil. Simple and delicious.

Workout or dinner…

One of my goals to reach this week is to do more exercise. Does it count if I’ve been running, well not literally running, but walked different places in the city? After work, where was quite busy day, I needed to go to the about 5 stores today and I was home just before six. I was so hungry and so tired that I just couldn’t go to walk. Well tomorrow I’ll go to my friends cottage for two nights and there’s lot to do after winter.

But back to today. So I decided to make dinner to myself. I was just bought some chicken breasts and vegetables. I seasoned chicken breasts with Santa Maria’s Mango Curry, pepper and vegetable oil. I pre-heated the oven to 200°C (392°F) and roasted them about 30 minutes.

I also made huge salad me to eat right today and for tomorrows lunch to work. I put there two different kind of lettuce, some cucumber (surprise, surprise!), some bell pepper, two spring onions, some green grapes and three peaches.

I just joined a month ago to Tehy. It’s union of Health and Social Care Professionals and I got gift card in a bookstore for joining. That was just perfect because I’ve been planning to by a cookbook about healthy foods. Today I bought two, or one was kind of free because of the gift card. 

Terveellistä ruokaa vartissa by Pirjo Saarnia is oblivious in Finnish and its translates: Healthy food in 15 minutes. There’s two parts in the book. The first part is about food: which food is healthy, why it’s healthy, why food is important at all. The second part is about recipes and suggestions what people should have in they pantry, refrigeration or freezer. I’ve read one of her books last fall concerning about nutrition. I liked her writing style and she had good everyday examples in there.

The other book is Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy Appetite which contain recipes from breakfast to dessert. Some of the recipes looks quite simple and some of them aren’t but I attempt to try most of them.

Have to go to bed now because I have to get up in six hours. Good night, don’t let the bed bugs bite.

 

Weekly Wrap Up – Week 2

Sundays I’ll tell something about my week. Every Sunday I’ll set up some goals for me to do for the upcoming week and next Sunday I’ll tell how well I reached them.

MY LAST WEEKS GOALS

• Drink water 2,5 l per day
• Go to walk everyday at least for 30 minutes, longer if day off from work.
• Eat breakfast everyday
• Really lose some weight

I’ve been sick since last Thursday night and I haven’t been eating well since then but I really have been drinking water and some other liquids too. Today I’m feeling better and have been eating proper food: new potatoes, broccoli and some meat. I didn’t eat breakfast everyday. But I ate breakfast at the beginning of the week and I felt really good. And then I got sick 😦 

 Beginning  of the week I also drink quite good. I have one half liter bottle at home and one at work and I can fill them up. It’s easier to me to remember to drink, if I really have the bottle right beside me. So yes, I’ve been drinking water 2,5 l per day.

My next goal to achieve was to go do some exercise, to walk at least 30 minutes per day. I really didn’t reach this goal, not by far. Monday and Tuesday I was so tired that I wasn’t up to it. It’s just a stupid excuse and the one thing I want to change in my life. 

I really don’t know if I’ve been loosing weight, because I forgot to go to the scale at work beginning of the week and now I’ve been on a sick leave, so I haven’t had a change to use the scale. I don’t own a scale. But I think I haven’t lost any kilos or pounds. 

Well. this doesn’t look good. I achieved 1 out of 4 goals. That isn’t good at all. I’m so disappointed in me. 😦 I was sick, so that’s a one reason to fail, but still. I just have to think positively and there’s only one way to go now!

 

GOALS FOR THE NEXT WEEK

• Eat regularly (at work this is a real challenge sometimes)
• Keep drinking water
• EXERCISE! EXERCISE! EXERCISE! 
• Go to the scale (I’m really afraid to do that) 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Pattern

Today I really didn’t have any idea what to write, so I decided to take a part to the weekly photo challenge.

These photos have been taken about two years ago in Gdansk, Poland. And there are PATTERN in the pictures.

Just because it’s Friday

I’m sick. I have a runny nose, sore throat and fever. I’ve been sleeping and watching tv and some youtube videos. And I’ve been thinking what to write here today. And I have nothing. Well I have one thought, but it’s kind of silly one and it could be a thing that it’s just funny to me.

I don’t speak English as my native language. If you didn’t know that by now, now you do. Because of that some words doesn’t always open to me like they should. I have to examples: bellybutton and the band called Guns N’ Roses.

I’ve never been any big fan of the Guns N’ Roses. I’ve been born in 1981 so when they had their hit singles I was just in elementary school. Of course I’ve heard those big hit singles like Paradise City, Sweet Child O’ Mine, November Rain and so on. I really like those three songs and if I were born five years earlier I probably would have been big fan of the band. 

It took me really long time to truly understand to meaning of the Guns N’ Roses -name. I was over my twenties when I realized that its guns and roses. Really, there’s guns and then there’s roses. And yes, I’ve been learning English since I was 9 years old. When I understand the real meaning of the bands name I got it and it real suits them. 

 

What comes to the word bellybutton, I just always have thought it’s a hilarious word. I have always known the meaning of the word, but the word itself is just funny. I just been wondering who would came with that kind of word. Word has just been looking like a mess to me who doesn’t speak English like a native. 

Just the other day I remembered the word. It came to my mind when I saw a ladybug and stared to think my blog. When I think my blog I usually think in English. Probably because I write this in English. So I saw leppäkerttu and just thought it’s a ladybug in English and then I just went on and on and finally got to the word bellybutton which is a naval. And then, just then I realized  where the word comes from. It’s so obvious now. So simple that belly, stomach and the naval looks like a button. So  simple. 

 

I just love English as a language. There’s so many different words to the same things and there’s a lot more phrases and adjectives as in Finnish. I just hope I could increase my knowledge in English and also develop my vocabulary in the future. Maybe this blog will help me with that too. 

Do you have words in your native language or in English (if it’s not you native language) what you think is funny or make you just think some funny moments in your life?

Have great weekend, enjoy your life and loved ones. 

Tasty Thursday – Filled Bell Peppers

I like to cook and bake. Making and baking meals is just wise thing to do. At least I think so. That’s how I know exactly the  ingredients of the meal and I can choose which kind of products I use. Tasty Thursdays idea is just to share a recipe of the whole meal or just one tasty thing that I’ve made during the week. Recipes could been shared any other day too, but Thursdays  is one day that is certain.

Today I made bell peppers filled with minced beef and rice and also a salad. I also used texture soy protein to make the minced beef to last longer or in another word make another dish out of it. This is a great food; only your imagination is the limit. I made quite unimaginative ones, but still tasty ones.

I used these things:

• about 250 g (8,8 ounces) minced beef
  
• about 1,5 dl (0,6 cups) texture soy protein
• about 1,5 dl (0,6 cups) uncooked rice
• 2 small onions or one big one
• vegetable oil
• seasonings on your choice
• bell peppers, I only had 3 and I had left over filling
• grated cheese

Do this with those things above:

1. Put the texture soy protein in to a bowl and fill with water just little bit over the product. Let it swell.
2. Cook rice as it’s been said on the box or the bag
3. Chop onions. Put a little pit of vegetable oil on a pan and heat it up. Sweat the onions on there and put them on a side.
4. Fry the minced beef. At the end of the cooking add texture soy protein.
5. Season and add the onions.
6. Take a big bowl and add the minced beef soy protein thing and rice and mix them together.
7. Take your bell peppers and one big kettle.
8. Fill the kettle with a water (just little over half way on the kettle) and boil it. Add salt about 0,5-1 tsp
9. Split the bell peppers half and take the seeds and the white parts off.
10. Boil the bell peppers about 5 minutes and put them on paper towel for a couple minutes to dry.
11. Take a baking tray or any other dish you can put in the oven and you can fit the bell peppers.
12. Put the bell peppers on baking tray and fill them up. Put the grated cheese on top of them.
13. Pre-heat the oven 225°C (437°F) and roast bell peppers about 15 to 20 minutes.

You can also take the hats of from bell peppers (task 9) if you want to have more fancier looking. I prefer splitting them half because it’s easier to eat. There’s also less to eat if you just want example a light lunch. It’s easier also to kids to eat and they usually don’t have stomach for the whole bell pepper. Of course you can choose small bell peppers if you really want to take the hats of rather than split them up.

I also made a salad with the bell peppers. I just used things I could find at home, like: apple, lettuce, spring onions, zucchini, radish, cucumber and feta.

Today’s dish is very versatile. You can do this almost anything you can found at your house. The key ingredients are the bell peppers and the rice, after that you can do what ever you want.

Workout Wednesday – Nature is waking

Workout Wednesdays I tell something about my exercises.

Spring is here, finally! Summer is almost here!

Today I woke up at 8 am after 12 hours of sleep. Yes 12 hours. I was really, really tired and today was my day off. I woke up with sore throat and heavy head. And it was raining. 😦 So I watched some tv and checked up Facebook and some other pages over the internet. Couple of hours and sun was up. Yay! I was so glad about it. Although I didn’t feel so good i decided I’ll go for  a walk. Actually I had decided go to walk today last Sunday.

Weather was so nice. Weather was perfect. Sun was shining and there was hardly any wind. Temperature was 22°C (72°F) so I only needed sweatpants and a t-shirt on me. And my new sneakers 🙂 It was like a summer. I walked quite slowly because I didn’t feel so great and I walked only about 2 km (1.2 miles). And I really took my time, because I took some beautiful pictures of the nature.

It was so nice to walk at the sunshine. I could smell the spring and the top of all was to see the different kind of birds and hear them singing. Birds was too fast for my camera and I didn’t have any audio recorders with me (I don’t even own any audio recorders) to tape some of the beautiful voices in the woods. I aimed my camera to the different kind of flowers which are rising up from the ground.

I’m watching ice hockey at the same time I’m writing this so there could be even more grammar mistakes than usually. So sorry about that. Finland is playing against USA and it’s a tie right now. I have know idea whose going to win. Here’s some pictures I took today.

Branch of the birch tree

It could be branch of the willow tree. I’m not sure.

The track I usually walk

Sinivuokko in Finnish, in English something else, which I don’t know

Coltsfoot

Just some woods

Wood anemone

Wood anemone

More coltsfoots or is it coltsfeet?

Just me =)