Woah it's sunny today!!
Look a the spring colours
And this looks nice, smells nice and it's soft :)
Who dropped this? It's a little too dry..
Nooooooo!
I give up...
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Sunday, 5 May 2013
Strawberry fields forever
All of them ARE beautiful...
...but some stand out...
...you need to pick it carefully...
...very carefully...
...examine it...
...and celebrate you have found it...
...the one, the special one, the best one.
THE END
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Catalunya: where are we heading? (some numbers)
While writing this I have in front of me the B-Ulkomaat section of Helsinki Sanomat from September 27th, 2012. There is a full page article, including a picture of the demonstration in Barcelona for Catalan independence that fills roughly one third of the page (meaning, very big). My point? Catalunya has made it to the international news, big time.
I won't go into detail, but the insults and threats coming from Spain are reaching scary proportions. Including the use of force and the army if the Catalan government decides to ask the people whether they want the independence. It doesn't sound very democratic, does it? If you ask the people what they want, we'll bring the cavalry!
Now I'd like to run some numbers for you, to get an idea of how much are people supporting the idea of an independent Catalunya, a Catalunya as a new european state. Let me state here the first number in this writing: Catalunya has 7500000 inhabitants, that's 7 and a half million.
In the last Catalan national day, September 11th, there was a demonstration in Barcelona in favor of Catalan independence. Let's take a look at some numbers:
Number of participants:
There was another demonstration in Barcelona against Catalunya's independence in October 12th, which is the Spanish national day. Spain celebrates the discovery of America, and therefore the start of massive slaughter; many south-american countries are still bitter at this celebration.
Number of participants:
I won't go into detail, but the insults and threats coming from Spain are reaching scary proportions. Including the use of force and the army if the Catalan government decides to ask the people whether they want the independence. It doesn't sound very democratic, does it? If you ask the people what they want, we'll bring the cavalry!
Now I'd like to run some numbers for you, to get an idea of how much are people supporting the idea of an independent Catalunya, a Catalunya as a new european state. Let me state here the first number in this writing: Catalunya has 7500000 inhabitants, that's 7 and a half million.
In the last Catalan national day, September 11th, there was a demonstration in Barcelona in favor of Catalan independence. Let's take a look at some numbers:
 |
| From comunicacio21.cat |
Number of participants:
- According to the organizers: 2 million
- According to the Barcelona police: 1.5 million
- According to the Spanish Government: 600000 (600 thousand)
There was another demonstration in Barcelona against Catalunya's independence in October 12th, which is the Spanish national day. Spain celebrates the discovery of America, and therefore the start of massive slaughter; many south-american countries are still bitter at this celebration.
Number of participants:
- According to the organizers: I couldn't find that information
- According to the Barcelona police: 6000 (6 thousand)
- According to the Spanish Government: 65000 (65 thousand)
What I've read from the Spanish side of the conflict is that the October 12th demonstration is so big that shows that Catalunya definitely should not be independent. The same people say that even if the participants in the September 11th were 1.5 million, that is so small number compared to the total population that doesn't give any base for say that Catalunya wants to be independent. Really.
If you've tried to put together 1.5 million people, that's quite a lot. Actually that is a huge lot of people. And that included kids, grandmas and grandpas and it was a totally pacific demonstration. I'll say it again, 1.5 million of the Catalan people got together to claim what we want, pacifically and what we get is threats of violence. Really.
Now, if they are so sure that a massive number of the Catalan people doesn't want the independence, they should encourage us to have the referendum to decide and they would laugh at as afterwards. But no, the reason why they don't want to ask the people is because they are afraid of the answer. "The law is above the democracy" is one of the least democratic statements I've heard in a while and it is the strongest argument they are using to prevent, and it sounds funny, asking people what they want.
Would an independent Catalunya be free of problems, debts, economical crisis and turn into a paradise? No it wouldn't. But it would be our own fault, and it would be our business to solve it. People are asking for the right to decide.
At the same time of this discussion, Scotland and UK have agreed on the independence referendum rights: link to bbc news .
Let's go back to the numbers. In the last election to the Catalan parlament 5.3 million people from the 7.5 millon population could vote. From those, 3.1 million did actually vote. Voting in your hometown it is way easier than going to Barcelona for a demonstration. And so, half the amount of people that voted in the last elections went to the streets to ask for the right to decide, pacifically.
What we want is democracy. What we want is the right to decide. We ask it politely, pacifically and with a sheer amount of people that causes cold shivers. We are reasonable.
Why are we threatened? We can hope that the international community will condemn the threats, and will support us in the right to decide.
When we have that right, we will decide. And when we know the decision it will be time to take the next step. The numbers are there.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Eating well in Helsinki: Chef and Sommelier
The episode about Finland of 'Antoni Bourdain: no reservations' was aired in TV few days ago and gave an unfair gastronomic view of Finland's offering.
Eating 'well' is an understatement today. I guess I should say eating VERY-OH-SWEET-MOTHER-OF-ALL-THAT'S-HOLY well.
The restaurant is called Chef and Sommelier and it is a small (20 people tops) and cosy place. The service is outstanding: very fast without being overwhelming and what's best, they really love what they do.
The menu is seasonal and you can have several combinations of 3, 4 ... or 9 dishes tasting menu. Suffice to say we went for the full option, I'd be regretting so much right now not having done that.
It all started with a glass of cava. The sommelier did put an especial emphasis on the fact that it was from Massís Garraf, the mountains and not the plains, which makes a difference. The cava happened to be Vall Dolina (our selection for our wedding incidentally). Excellent.
You can find the ongoing menu in their website. I'll try to do a quick run through, but I'm afraid that not being a native English speaking person I can't give justice to what we ate. Plus, I do not remember all the detailed explanations that came with the dishes (which were so engaging!).
I won't go into the wines because I don't remember their names and I'm not an expert. We asked the sommelier to recommend us what suits the food best. There were a glass for each pair of dishes: one for appetizers, one for first courses, one for main courses and one for desserts. Two whites, two reds; totally different from each other and absolutely brilliant.
Not-on-the-menu appetizer:
Onion puré, chip of home grown artichoke, sitake mushroom and infused sitake mushroom broth. So much flavor in such small package!
Appetizers:
Tomatoes from Svarfvars farm. These were home grown small tomatoes prepared in several ways and served with flowers from one of their gardens. The slow oven dried tomato was fantastic, as was the tomato jelly. How can tomatoes be this good?
Crayfish soup. In the bottom there's some perfectly cooked crayfish meat with a bit of apple bits salad and then they pour the soup. The soup isn't traditionally boiled, but infused. They do it with the shell, bring it to boil together with cream and tomato and then let it rest at 60 or 70 degrees for quite many hours. It is very difficult to pick the favorite... but this one may be the most outstanding.
First courses:
Whitefish with fennel. From the bunch, maybe the least outstandingly brilliant. Don't get me wrong, it was very, very good but goodness can be expected from siika.
Gumbostrand. I don't understand how pasta with vegetables (beans, sweet peas ...) can be that good. And the parmesan sauce just brilliant.
Main courses:
Lamb from Åland. They actually serve you four different cuts: tenderloin, roast, entrecoté and lamb belly (cansalada!). Good luck choosing the best one!
Mushrooms and roots. Another candidate of star of the night. Different mushrooms done in different ways, including a very earthy dark mushroom and a splendid cep puré. The roots (beetroot, carrots and more) just fit perfectly.
Desserts:
Almond and meadow sweet. Fantastic, especially the cucumber slice soaked in coconut milk that was on top of the almond and meadow cake.
Chocolate and berries. It may sound simple, but it was insanely good. My favorite was the dark chocolate cake with raspberry ice cream on top.
Cheeses. Finnish blue cheese served with crispy rye bread and pear and apple which have been slowly cooked in some special tea.
The bread
They do make their own bread (of course). They served us two kinds of bread: a white bread that it's cooked in different stages so that the inside is soft and the crust is crispy, and a rye bread with rosemary. Next to them came some butter foam.
So, all in all, possibly the best meal I have ever had in my life. And that's a lot to say! And yes, it was in Finland, and yes with local ingredients.
And you'll have to forgive me for the lack of pictures, but it would have been so rude to the food to not concentrate on enjoying it !!!
Eating 'well' is an understatement today. I guess I should say eating VERY-OH-SWEET-MOTHER-OF-ALL-THAT'S-HOLY well.
The restaurant is called Chef and Sommelier and it is a small (20 people tops) and cosy place. The service is outstanding: very fast without being overwhelming and what's best, they really love what they do.
The menu is seasonal and you can have several combinations of 3, 4 ... or 9 dishes tasting menu. Suffice to say we went for the full option, I'd be regretting so much right now not having done that.
It all started with a glass of cava. The sommelier did put an especial emphasis on the fact that it was from Massís Garraf, the mountains and not the plains, which makes a difference. The cava happened to be Vall Dolina (our selection for our wedding incidentally). Excellent.
You can find the ongoing menu in their website. I'll try to do a quick run through, but I'm afraid that not being a native English speaking person I can't give justice to what we ate. Plus, I do not remember all the detailed explanations that came with the dishes (which were so engaging!).
I won't go into the wines because I don't remember their names and I'm not an expert. We asked the sommelier to recommend us what suits the food best. There were a glass for each pair of dishes: one for appetizers, one for first courses, one for main courses and one for desserts. Two whites, two reds; totally different from each other and absolutely brilliant.
Not-on-the-menu appetizer:
Onion puré, chip of home grown artichoke, sitake mushroom and infused sitake mushroom broth. So much flavor in such small package!
Appetizers:
Tomatoes from Svarfvars farm. These were home grown small tomatoes prepared in several ways and served with flowers from one of their gardens. The slow oven dried tomato was fantastic, as was the tomato jelly. How can tomatoes be this good?
Crayfish soup. In the bottom there's some perfectly cooked crayfish meat with a bit of apple bits salad and then they pour the soup. The soup isn't traditionally boiled, but infused. They do it with the shell, bring it to boil together with cream and tomato and then let it rest at 60 or 70 degrees for quite many hours. It is very difficult to pick the favorite... but this one may be the most outstanding.
First courses:
Whitefish with fennel. From the bunch, maybe the least outstandingly brilliant. Don't get me wrong, it was very, very good but goodness can be expected from siika.
Gumbostrand. I don't understand how pasta with vegetables (beans, sweet peas ...) can be that good. And the parmesan sauce just brilliant.
Main courses:
Lamb from Åland. They actually serve you four different cuts: tenderloin, roast, entrecoté and lamb belly (cansalada!). Good luck choosing the best one!
Mushrooms and roots. Another candidate of star of the night. Different mushrooms done in different ways, including a very earthy dark mushroom and a splendid cep puré. The roots (beetroot, carrots and more) just fit perfectly.
Desserts:
Almond and meadow sweet. Fantastic, especially the cucumber slice soaked in coconut milk that was on top of the almond and meadow cake.
Chocolate and berries. It may sound simple, but it was insanely good. My favorite was the dark chocolate cake with raspberry ice cream on top.
Cheeses. Finnish blue cheese served with crispy rye bread and pear and apple which have been slowly cooked in some special tea.
The bread
They do make their own bread (of course). They served us two kinds of bread: a white bread that it's cooked in different stages so that the inside is soft and the crust is crispy, and a rye bread with rosemary. Next to them came some butter foam.
So, all in all, possibly the best meal I have ever had in my life. And that's a lot to say! And yes, it was in Finland, and yes with local ingredients.
And you'll have to forgive me for the lack of pictures, but it would have been so rude to the food to not concentrate on enjoying it !!!
Monday, 13 August 2012
Pedestrian walks: decorative?
Some of you may know that our household has grown by one! Here's Beni:
In practice this means that we walk more (which is good) and that I pay more attention to other people's behavior while on the streets.
Many times I've been ranting about mopeds using the bike lanes (usually at their top 40km/h speed). That's plain dangerous. There are bikes, pedestrians, people walking with dogs, people with kids trolleys... it's no place for mopeds. But there's hope! (keep on reading)
Today's topic are pedestrian walks, which are places where pedestrians can walk, right? The rules are quite simple. If there are traffic lights, those rule; if there aren't, cars should stop so that pedestrians can change to the other side of the street safely. Do they stop? You wish... But again, there's hope!
I'll just go over four cases I've experienced in the last two days while trying to cross a pedestrian walk:
Conclusion: I'm worried since the car park in Espoo is vastly made out of middle aged people driving estates or SUVs. However, looking at the new generations there is hope!
And all of you people driving out there: come on, it's not that difficult and you won't loose that much time. From what anyway? Imprinting your buttocks in the sofa some extra seconds? And if you've been a pedestrian, or riding a bike (and the odds say that you have) you've suffered this! Fix it!
The worst sight for me was couple of winters ago. It was snowing a lot (remember, this is Finland) and a guy in his wheelchair was waiting in a pedestrian walk. None of the three cars in front of us stopped. Not kidding. I know it sucks to drive in the snow, but it's still nicer and warmer that being out there (and the wheelchair was just a bonus).
So, be nice to each other. Even if you're behind the wheel. And Beni is the cutest, isn't he?
In practice this means that we walk more (which is good) and that I pay more attention to other people's behavior while on the streets.
Many times I've been ranting about mopeds using the bike lanes (usually at their top 40km/h speed). That's plain dangerous. There are bikes, pedestrians, people walking with dogs, people with kids trolleys... it's no place for mopeds. But there's hope! (keep on reading)
Today's topic are pedestrian walks, which are places where pedestrians can walk, right? The rules are quite simple. If there are traffic lights, those rule; if there aren't, cars should stop so that pedestrians can change to the other side of the street safely. Do they stop? You wish... But again, there's hope!
I'll just go over four cases I've experienced in the last two days while trying to cross a pedestrian walk:
- Middle aged man driving an overpowered estate car (farmari suomeksi, cotxe familiar en català). Did he stop? He didn't even slow down!
- Teenager driving a moped. Did she stop? Yes she did, and nodded back to my appreciative nod!
- Middle aged woman driving an oversized SUV (city-masturi suomeski, 4x4 pijo de ciutat en català). Did she stop? No. She slowed down, and when I started crossing she yelled at me, made some obscene sign with the hand and sped up. (We're fine, thanks).
- Young dude driving a sports car with too loud music and way too loud engine and exhaust pipe. Did he stop? Yes he did. And he waved me to let me know he was letting me cross the street.
Conclusion: I'm worried since the car park in Espoo is vastly made out of middle aged people driving estates or SUVs. However, looking at the new generations there is hope!
And all of you people driving out there: come on, it's not that difficult and you won't loose that much time. From what anyway? Imprinting your buttocks in the sofa some extra seconds? And if you've been a pedestrian, or riding a bike (and the odds say that you have) you've suffered this! Fix it!
The worst sight for me was couple of winters ago. It was snowing a lot (remember, this is Finland) and a guy in his wheelchair was waiting in a pedestrian walk. None of the three cars in front of us stopped. Not kidding. I know it sucks to drive in the snow, but it's still nicer and warmer that being out there (and the wheelchair was just a bonus).
So, be nice to each other. Even if you're behind the wheel. And Beni is the cutest, isn't he?
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Nikon in 2n half of 2012: D400, D600... or what?
I am a happy user of a Nikon D3100. I have a couple of lenses: 18-55mm VR kit; 35mm DX f/1.8 and
Tamron (for DX) 18-270mm VC PZD. I also have some bags and a couple of tripods.
What do I shoot? Well anything, and nothing. I’m merely an aficionado, not sure if I can call myself amateur or enthusiast, but I do have fun with it! And now I’m thinking about upgrading my camera.
Before I go on, I don’t need anything else than what my D3100 offers, but sometimes it’d be nice to have faster focus, faster burst rate, handy buttons instead of menues and a bigger camera body (the D3100 is tiny). Take a look at Matt Granger’s rant on amateurs buying better (or pro) gear.
Since I don’t have very specific needs, I decided that what I want isn’t in the market yet. I know I want a Nikon and a better camera than what I have today. So let’s try to guess what may happen…
I think it’s best to start with the current line up, the history release, and work from there (the prices are body only). I also have to say that these are not predictions, but wild guessing
Some disclaimers here. I did put the D4 and family there for the sake of having the full Nikon line up. Some will argue that the D800 is not the D700’s successor, and while that may be true the D700 isn’t any longer (26.7.2012) in Nikon’s site.
But what’s gonna happen in the rest of 2012? The D400 has been long rumored to be the natural successor of the D300, but there are even more rumors of the D600, which would be an ”entry level FX” camera, whatever that means.
Let’s start bottom up then:
Entry DSLR
DX
We’re at the bottom of DX domain here, and by all looks we’ll get a D3300 in 2013. More than 24 Mp would be nonsense. What then? Maybe another metallic color
...
Entry DSLR
DX with tilty-swively screen
Canon has the
60D and now the 650D with capacitive touch tilty-swively screen. I guess 2013 (maybe earlier) it’s time for Nikon to launch the D5200, with 24 Mp, and capacitive touch tilty swively screen. (I don’t like them…)
Amateur DSLR DX
Following the apparent 2 years release cycle, they could unveil the D7100 in Photokina with 24 Mp, some nice video capabilities and (even) better ISO capabilities. That’d be my definite go to! Unless…
Now it gets tricky… I don’t think that a D600 and a D400 will coexist.
If the D600 becomes an ”entry FX” as suggested elsewhere, what we’d have is a D7100 with FX. What would be the price? Would they canibalize each other? To get a current pro body you’d need to spend 3000€ in a D800? What’s between D600 and D800? (And the
”old D700” isn’t the answer here).
If the
D400 is just the successor of the D300, we’d get a pro body (big fat magnesium alloy, without silly-looking-scene selector) in DX. That would certainly please wild life shooters: fast focus, plus longer focal length with the 1.5x crop factor of the DX. But… you’d had to spend 3000€ to go to FX?
I’m not so interested in the future of D800 and D4. For one reason they were just released. For another one, they’re way out of my budget.
I’m confused by the D400 vs D600 dilema. I’d rather have a D300-like camera body, but FX is very tempting. It'd be smart from Nikon to release an affordable FX body: they would swim in money coming from FX glass!
I guess we’ll know more in Photokina 2012! It looks to me that whichever option they release (D400 or D600) that will be my camera. If they release both, then I'll have a problem.
PS: few pictures in Flickr taken with my loved D3100
Monday, 9 July 2012
Trying to get a job? Guide on what NOT to do. Part II
I recently wrote a post on what not to do when writing your CV. Here's also another interesting post on CVs and CVs in Catalan. Now let's assume you followed my advice, or you didn't, but nevertheless got invited to an interview.
You got your foot on the threshold! They want to meet you! You are already in the top 20% of their choices, well done! Let's now go through in how many ways you can still screw up.
There is an advantage of interviews compared to the whole CV-sending business: you can see their faces (or at least listen to them if it is a phone interview). This means that you can assess the situation and adapt.
Let's now go through a list of interview NO-NO situation. Unfortunately I have to tell that all these examples are based on real experiences. Tough.
Don't be late
You managed to give a good enough impression so they want to meet you. This is the fastest way to ruin it. Managers love to feel busy and it pisses them off to waste time. Because of somebody else that is.
Don't miss the building
The candidate calls me telling he's waiting in the lobby, so we went to pick him. But the lobby was empty so we called him back. He was in a wrong lobby, that means a wrong building, which means wrong company. Not a great way to cause a good impression.
In the meeting invitation the address and company name were written in three different places, but he went to the wrong place, and I quote, "because my friend told me it was here!" and he was upset with us. Not good.
Not knowing your own CV
...so that you need to check the interviewers copy to explain your own experience. This is actually a specific case of the main rule of trying to get a job: don't lie.
Don't check check your mobile phone continuously
I hope it doesn't require an explanation, but I'll write anyway: you were trying to impress them. Checking your phone continuously screams "I don't care. I don't know what I'm doing here". There is an acceptable exception though, if your partner is about to go into labour.
Don't stretch, yawn or spend more time looking through the window than the interviewers
Of course, there is the chance that you are actually bored, and not interested any longer in the job. That's actually OK. Say it out loud, and you'll save some wasted time for a bunch of people.
Don't whisper or yell
It just makes the conversation very awkward and in occasions not understandable. The best interviews are those which feel like a conversation, rather than an interrogation.
Don't stare at the chest (to put it nicely) of your female interviewer
This happened while doing an interview together with a female colleague. The result? It was a very uncomfortable situation, and I felt ignored. Labelling yourself as a pervert won't get the interviewers interested, it will scare them!
Don't be scared :)
This is easy to say from this side of the table, but you have to remember that it is a two sided road. You need to impress them, but they need to impress you as well!
Don't ignore the interviewers
If they start yawning, sighing, checking their phones, staring at the screen longer than looking at you the chances are that you're boring them. And you don't want that. You can see how they react, so you can adapt.
Of course, most of them will be better than you at this game and reading body language, so remember: adapt, but don't lie!
Will these advises land you a job? No way. But at least it will give interviewers less reasons to reject you.
Good luck!
You got your foot on the threshold! They want to meet you! You are already in the top 20% of their choices, well done! Let's now go through in how many ways you can still screw up.
There is an advantage of interviews compared to the whole CV-sending business: you can see their faces (or at least listen to them if it is a phone interview). This means that you can assess the situation and adapt.
Let's now go through a list of interview NO-NO situation. Unfortunately I have to tell that all these examples are based on real experiences. Tough.
Don't be late
You managed to give a good enough impression so they want to meet you. This is the fastest way to ruin it. Managers love to feel busy and it pisses them off to waste time. Because of somebody else that is.
Don't miss the building
The candidate calls me telling he's waiting in the lobby, so we went to pick him. But the lobby was empty so we called him back. He was in a wrong lobby, that means a wrong building, which means wrong company. Not a great way to cause a good impression.
In the meeting invitation the address and company name were written in three different places, but he went to the wrong place, and I quote, "because my friend told me it was here!" and he was upset with us. Not good.
Not knowing your own CV
...so that you need to check the interviewers copy to explain your own experience. This is actually a specific case of the main rule of trying to get a job: don't lie.
Don't check check your mobile phone continuously
I hope it doesn't require an explanation, but I'll write anyway: you were trying to impress them. Checking your phone continuously screams "I don't care. I don't know what I'm doing here". There is an acceptable exception though, if your partner is about to go into labour.
Don't stretch, yawn or spend more time looking through the window than the interviewers
Of course, there is the chance that you are actually bored, and not interested any longer in the job. That's actually OK. Say it out loud, and you'll save some wasted time for a bunch of people.
Don't whisper or yell
It just makes the conversation very awkward and in occasions not understandable. The best interviews are those which feel like a conversation, rather than an interrogation.
Don't stare at the chest (to put it nicely) of your female interviewer
This happened while doing an interview together with a female colleague. The result? It was a very uncomfortable situation, and I felt ignored. Labelling yourself as a pervert won't get the interviewers interested, it will scare them!
Don't be scared :)
This is easy to say from this side of the table, but you have to remember that it is a two sided road. You need to impress them, but they need to impress you as well!
Don't ignore the interviewers
If they start yawning, sighing, checking their phones, staring at the screen longer than looking at you the chances are that you're boring them. And you don't want that. You can see how they react, so you can adapt.
Of course, most of them will be better than you at this game and reading body language, so remember: adapt, but don't lie!
Will these advises land you a job? No way. But at least it will give interviewers less reasons to reject you.
Good luck!
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