Love how food evokes so many memories from growing up. Sweet and sour spare ribs were one of my childhood favourites. There never seemed to be enough sauce to put over rice so definitely need to increase the ingredients. Thankful to find the cookbook that contained the recipe and the page reflects how often we made this. Definitely a family fave for mine.
Irish 🍀 eyes are smiling. In this case my peas are smiling at me. These dried peas are the beginning step of Finnish pea soup which was a childhood staple made by my great-Mummi is prefect on a cold winter day followed by my absolutely favourite Finnish pancakes.
When serving Finnish pea soup always remember mustard. I am especially fond of the Finnish one made by Turun Sinappi. Luckily I am able to find it without a trip to Finland and love all three strengths – Mieto (Mild) – Green Cap, Väkevä (Strong) – Red Cap and Tulinen (Fiery) – Black Cap. For pea soup, the sweet mild one is the perfect compliment.
Since I do not have our family recipe, my first homemade attempt was with a recipe from a small and beautifully photographed Finnish cookbook called A Tasty Trip to Finland given to me by family in Helsinki when I visited a few years ago. For anyone who would like to attempt this Finnish food tradition, there are many recipes to be found online and likely on WordPress too.
A fun Finnish pea soup fact: it’s traditionally eaten on Thursdays, with Finnish pancakes for dessert and you will find it on the menu in many restaurants in Finland.
My own creation of my Best Nine of 2017 is one that I feel truly reflects this past year. While nothing particularly monumental or noteworthy happened this year, there were many memorable moments along the way. I love all my visits with my little nephew. He has such a happy, energetic and fun little personality and challenges me with all his WHY questions. I loved that I had many opportunities to learn something new. A definite highlight was the opportunity to celebrate Finland 100 through my Finnish Architecture and Design Course at U of T including a behind the scenes tour of Toronto City Hall. I learned a bit about Emergency Preparedness as a volunteer at Toronto Pearson’s annual exercise. My volunteer role allowed me the amazing opportunity to attend a Train the Trainer session for two Cleveland Clinic program. I also contributed to many different initiatives in my volunteer role which hopefully will help many patients and their families in the future. I loved that I got to meet Bobbi Brown as I love her beauty philosophy – Be Who You Are. I enjoyed exploring and photographing University of Toronto and other areas of our city I don’t often get to. A definite highlight for me was the experiencing the incredibly inspiring Invictus Games. I was totally in awe of the competitors and loved seeing our city come out to cheer on every single one of them. It was an amazing experience I will never forget. I was also pretty excited that I saw Prince Harry on two occasions after seeing Princess Diana on her first trip to Canada in 1983 and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in London in 2013. A full circle moment for me as they all are an inspiration to me on the importance of kindness, giving back and helping others. I am thankful for all these simple joys and many others I had throughout the year and grateful to everyone who follows along as I simply go about my everyday. Wishing you all a 2018 filled with many simple joys of your own. 💗
My love of charm bracelets started at a young age as I adored one my mother had from when she was a little girl. No surprise it was love at first sight when I discovered the Links of London sweetie bracelet. My sweetie includes a heart charm to represent love and kindness, the globe for travel and the reminder that the world is my oyster plus two Little Miss charms from my favourite children’s books for a wee bit of fun. Little Miss Sunshine represents my positive attitude and Little Miss Princess for my love of everything girly and pink.
FinnSpirit 