Best Yoga Class Ever. Full stop.

 OMG I'm in love!!!!!

I just went to the world's best yoga class! I don't even care what anyone says it was the toughest, chillest yoga class in the history of yoga classes! The funny thing is that I understood about 1/3 to ½ of what the instructor was saying because it was in Sweden and in Swedish. Holy LITERAL fuck.

It started out as any yoga class might, calm and collected but quickly escalated into something entirely different. It was a WORKOUT. It was MEDITATION. It was LIFE. It's what I need.

I just thought I should share this with the world.


Peace.

Love Rosie <3

Finnish pancake

My husband rarely bakes but he did today and - oh boy - was it good! He made pancake à la Finland - one single baking tray full of yummy pancake goodness! I'm not sure if the pancake would've been as good if I'd made it, but I don't care, it was so yummy I immediately asked for the recipe. Here it is, translated:

Ingredients

2 eggs

8 dl milk

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbs sugar

½ tsp vanilla sugar

 tsp cardamom (optional)

50 g melted (unsalted) butter

pinch of salt

Heat oven to 225 degrees Celsius.

Whisk eggs in a bowl and add the wet ingredients.

Mix together dry ingredients and whisk in with the egg mixture. 

Pour whisked mixture on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Bake for 20-25 mins.

Serve with whipped cream, ice cream, jam, fruit, whatever you like!

Recipe originally (in Finnish) from here: http://www.kotikokki.net/reseptit/nayta/235289/Pannukakku%20HELPPO!%20(pellillinen)/

On a different note I went out the other day at sunset and took some pictures of my city and I wanted to share a few with you guys.

Love Rosie <3

World's Tiniest Camera!

Ok not really... I DID make a little old-fashioned camera like this:



We went to the neighboring town with a friend to check out the Night of the Arts because I saw that there was a chance to make your own little camera! I jumped at the chance to do that and I'm so happy I did! It was one of the awesomest (yes, that's a word now) things I've made in a long while!

Here's the process in photos. It was really simple, to be honest. You don't need much:
a matchbox
a roll of some sort (2 cm "long")
black marker
a piece of metal slate
Plus all the stuff to develop the picture, including the paper.

As a plus, this whole thing takes under an hour to make and anyone can make one!

Cut out a circle exactly the size of your tube
(which is about 2 cm long)

Blacken the inside of the matchbox and cover the outside of the
box on the inside with black (electrical) tape.

Tape it up all the sides, add a cardboard

"back" to make it light tight and you're

set!

Draw and cut a circle on the metal slate and
in the middle make a small hole, barely
enough to let light through. Tape the metal
on top of the tube.  Make sure it's all the way taped
us so no light gets through!

To take the pictures you need a dark room where you "load" the camera with picture paper (cut it snugly) and cover the hole with some more (electrical) tape. Depending on the light keep the paper exposed for 30 seconds to a minute. I think testing this is the best, since in sunlight 30 seconds should be enough but the darker/cloudier it gets, the longer it will need to "imprint" the paper. Remember, it's surprisingly dark outside (at least it is here!) and keep it on too long rather than not long enough. 

Then you gotta develop the picture. What you actually get is a negative of the picture you just took and after developing it you need to take a picture and convert the picture into a positive (e.g. phone app). I honestly don't know too much about that, so here's a video I found, which explains the developing bit. Or you could just use red wine! 

I think I'll order up some paper and the solutions and have a go again because it was a lot of fun! Or maybe use up some of our red wine :D The picture I took is below along with a picture I took with my phone, which actually turned out blurry for some reason... Oh well. But the picture came out pretty cool in my opinion! What you you think?

Love Rosie <3

P.S. Check out my new(ish) Etsy shop! It's not too stocked yet but it will be! ;)

Dance for Money!

You know that feeling of complete and utter fulfillment? That feeling of everything being right? You can feel your blood rushing through your veins and your breath is out of control. You can feel the beads of sweat on your forehead after you've given it your all. That feeling that you've succeeded.

For me, that feeling comes after a dance performance. I honestly forgot what it felt like, until before a big performance in front of over 100 people a year and a half ago and I suddenly remembered why I LOVED dancing! I think it was one of the most nerve wracking things I've done in years only to be out-nerved by my wedding day. 

I've danced every kind of dance style imaginable in my life from hip hop to ballet, but nothing stuck like oriental dance. Altogether I've danced oriental for about 7 years since I started. I had about a three-four year break when I moved to Lapland, but I started again when I found a class in the neighboring city 2 years ago after I came back from Kenya (that's another blog entirely: http://minunafrikka.blogspot.fi/).

My friend started oriental dance a few months ago and fell in love with it! Then they had to cancel the classes. The teacher couldn't make it for whatever reason, so my friend suggested I start teaching the class. I called up the Adult Education Centre in town and the lady asked me to come in for a chat. In short, I basically sold myself to her and got the job! I start in under 2 weeks! 

I might be freaking out more if I'd never held a class in my life, but since I've been a fitness instructor for four years already I'm not too worried about standing in front of 20 people and being the teacher. I AM a little worried about the dance part and whether or not I remember to teach everything I want to and whether or not I teach it correctly. I'm sure I'll be fine but, but nerves are good, right? They keep you on your toes.

I'll update you later on after a few classes to let you know if anyone's dropped out because of me ;)

Here are a few videos that inspire me:

Fleur Estelle Dance Company

Gold Star Dance Company

YANA and her Oriental Dance Ensemble

Kiss Kiss

What makes your heart pound and flutter? Comment below!

Love Rosie <3

Pumpkin Soup in a Pumpkin!

When I was say 10, a friend of my mother's made pumpkins soup in a pumpkin for us one autumn. I don't remember what it tastes like or whether I liked it or not, but I  do remember the soup being in a pumpkin. It was exciting to have something different when I was that age! I've had this idea to make soup in a pumpkin for years but never got around to it for some reason... But I finally did it and I'm glad! It turned out yummy.


Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

- 1 pumpkin

- 2 medium sized potatoes

- 1 onion

- 1-1,5 l water

- 1-2 bullion cubes

- nutmeg, salt and pepper

- 200 ml cooking cream/coconut cream (optional)

- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C

- Scoop out most of the pumpkin's flesh, make sure not to puncture the pumpkin shell!

- Save the seeds for later

- In a skillet on medium heat add oil (I had garlic flavoured oil, instructions on that later!), heat up and add the diced onion

- Add the pumpkin flesh, diced potatoes and water

- Season and let simmer until the potatoes are cooked

- While the soup is cooking, wash and dry the seeds, add some oil, salt and pepper and place in the oven until the soup is ready

- Bend the soup up into a creamy puree 

- I also added cooking cream to make it creamier. If the soup is too liquid-y, use your favourite thickener

- Take out the seeds and let cool

- Pour the soup in the pumpkin (optional)

- Serve with the pumpkin seeds and a slice of baguette or dinner rolls

  

Love Rosie <3

P.S. If I'd been clever, I'd have made a Jack-O'-Lantern out of the remains ;)

Crisp Autumn Hike in Lapland

The western capercaillie we encountered

This weekend we went up north. I mean further up north. As a surprise for my husband I arranged a weekend in the Pyhä-Luosto National Park with a friend and her fiance. We went on a hike around one of the "mountains". It took us quite a few hours because we stopped to take pictures and took it easy. The 18 km we hiked was surprisingly easy, taking into account my lack of hike experience.

I loved the hike, even though I'm not an outdoorsy person. The crisp autumn air and the beautiful colours; the sound of silence and babble of the rivers in the forest; the smell of the musky ground... I could go on! 

Raindrops in a puddle

"Beard lichen"

The others grilling sausages

On the hike we encountered a wood grouse, or a western capercaillie. I've never seen one up close and this one chased me! I got a little bit of it on video:

We also visited the Amethyst Mine and had a go at digging up our own amethysts. My husband found three and got to keep them all (the guide was in a generous mood)!

My husband and his amethysts
Looking smug ;)

The amethysts close up