The Life and Travels of Mrs Suvi

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that the week has truly been a foodie week. I have had to aquajog quite a bit not to pile on the pounds. I hope you have a while, as it’s going to take some time to fill you in.

On Friday I had a nice stroll after work in Helsinki with my friend Laura. Near the Market Square the flower stalls are really at their best this time of year.

We noticed that there was an event going on called Ihana Helsinki! – Lovely Helsinki!. I hadn’t heard about this festival before but it was actually the fifth time it was arranged. The Esplanade was decorated with gorgeous flower arrangements to celebrate Spring arriving to the city.

I liked these flower statues – so creative. One of the big flower shops had made a really boring heart out of flowers, so dissapointing. I think if you are to take part in something like this, you should try to put in a little bit more effort. It’s a great opportunity to use your imagination and create something unique.

It felt more like summer as the weather was gorgeous.

In summer Finnish people are totally different than in winter. I notice this in myself. Once the darkness passes, I feel so much more energized and ready for new challenges. In winter I would rather stay inside in the evenings after work, but now I have the energy for walks around the neighbourhood closer to 10 pm! On Friday this park was full of people watching the Marimekko fashion show – good thing it didn’t rain – I cannot imagine models strutting about drenched to the bone.

Laura and I ventured to the Old Market Hall for a foodie event called Maiskiaiset AfterWork. It’s a tasting event where the vendors make smaller portions, so you can taste many different things on the same go. The next event is on June 3rd if you’d like to go take a look.

If you go to the Market Hall for a visit – even on a regular day – I highly recommend Mari’s Smoothie bar. I had the Violet which is blueberry, strawberry, coconut, bananan, mint and apple juice. I should try to make it at home as it was really delicious. Laura’s Orange smoothie was great too. In my opinion the Saturday foodie event at the Hietalahti Market Hall is better but if you are unable to visit that, then this is a good alternative.

On Saturday hubby and I had to do some cleaning on the boat. It was fun to look at the boats being lowered into the water. The cleaning not so much.

In the evening, I had a date with my friend Jo in Tapiola, Espoo. We had planned to meet up to check out the Street Food Carnival. When I arrived, Jo was just about to dig into her burger. This is from the food truck BBQ on Wheels.

Even though I am a huge fan of these gourmet burgers, I wanted to try something new. So I went for the food truck Fat Tomato. This was their premier event. Unfortunately I got there so late that they had run out of the newbie filling “nyhtökaura/pulled oats“. I won’t go on about it since I haven’t tasted it yet.

Anyway, I had the Rootz – it’s kind of like a pizza but not really, veggies on top and quality cheese plus a really good salad on the side. Scruptious.

Before you think I ate this gorgeous thing below all by myself, I have to say we had the waffle to share! It’s from Bel Gaufres and so yummy. Ice-cream, whipped cream and strawberries on top – you just know it will be good. Throw in a high quality waffle and it’s the perfect dessert.

The next Street Food Carnival is in Helsinki, in Suvilahti on the 29.-30.7.2016. I recommend taking part in these cool events, as they are a great opportunity to try something new. Street food is really trending in Finland and it just happens that Jo’s hubby is one of the main guys deep in the scene. The amount of people attending these food carnivals and the excellent food the food trucks produce, tells you that I am not an enthusiast just because of him!

Afterwards, the weather was so lovely that we decided to go for a drink at the Tapiola Garden terrace.

On Sunday the eating continued with a family buffet at Haikaranpesä restaurant with views over Espoo. I have a separate post on the restaurant coming up.

As I said, all this eating meant a lot of aqua jogging. However, the eating continued as I had breakfast at the Leppävaara swimming pool’s café on Tuesday morning, LOL!

I had a day off work on that day, so hubby and I were able to take care of some bank business. Espoo has some great casual seaside cafés. One of them is Café Mellsten in Haukilahti, right by the beach. They have pizzas, salads and baked potatoes after 3 pm. Before that there’s a lunch buffet which changes daily. We went there for an early dinner after our errands.

The café had just redone their terrace, so it’s even better than before. Some people actually braved the cold waters and were swimming in the sea!

This Spring all the flowering trees have been blooming like never before. To my surprise, I noticed this one in our yard. Two days later the blooms had fallen off. Other than that, I have had a bit of a crisis on turning 40. The actual birthday was in April but now it actually hit me. Thank goodness for encouraging friends, I’m sure I’ll get over this!

How was your week? Drop me a line or link to your own Weekly Coffee Share post. You can join the linkup at Part-Time Monster.

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xx