Shades of blue

This time of the year is very favorable for Finns because we have several seasonal sweet pastries that are supposed to be consumed in February. Well, at least two, and then there´s Valentines Day when sweet treats are easily justified. In the beginning of the month Finns also eat Runeberg´s tarts in the honour of our national poet J.L. Runeberg. It´s also time for split cinnamon buns with cream and jam inside... What would go better with a cuppa steaming coffee after enjoying fresh mid-winter air..!

On the campus

Feels good when you know spring is approaching even though I don´t want to let winter go just yet. I have some more skiing and skating to do which I have done unfortunately quite little. Lack of time is my enemy as I´m super busy with studies.

This weekend, though, I took a weekend-off and spent it in Seinäjoki with my siblings. It´s quite drastic what some alcohol, crisps and sugar do to you in a couple of days when you normally don´t consume them at all. Headache and fatigue that is. Luckily I recovered quite quickly, too, after going to the gym and having an empowering smoothie. Tomorrow it´s back to work and back to the line in terms of eating!!

The Russian church at dusk

This week I also tried out some raw cakes but I seem to need some practice. It´s hard to get the taste right because "unbaking" a raw cake is just something else... I did make quite nice chocolate cake that was pretty simple: oats and cashews in the crust and raw chocolate on top. I seem to have a sweet tooth especially in winter because it´s cold and dark and it´s nice to seek comfort from food. Baking something healthy is not actually very hard since everything can be replaced. Lately I also discovered chia seeds which can apparently replace eggs if needed. Even replacing white sugar with a natural sweetener and white flour with spelt is a huge improvement.

Some more pics form this winter wonderland and then I´m off to bed.

the City hall