Jaloviina, noble booze

    Jaloviina matches nicely with autumn colors

When people talk about Finland and alcohol, Koskenkorva vodka pops up sooner or later. But if I had to nominate our national booze, it would definitely be Jaloviina, noble booze. Koskenkorva is so straight forward and boring, Jaloviina has much more character and nuances. Jaloviina manages to be rough and elegant at the same time - and therefore it suits every possible occasion.

Jaloviina is a mixture of brandy and vodka, some call it "cut cognac" - the vodka cuts off the bitterness of cognac. Nowadays there are two editions available at Alko: one-star (Jaloviina*) and three-stars (Jaloviina***). Jaloviina* contains 1/4 of brandy, and Jaloviina*** contains about 3/4 of brandy - or at least that was the case originally, nowadays the portions are classified as confidential. Last spring Alko sold a special edition of two-stars (Jaloviina**), which had 50-50 brandy and vodka. How many stars are idea, that's a matter of taste and epic debate

As I wrote earlier, Jaloviina suits for any occasion. It also goes nicely in simple drinks: Jallu-cola (Jaloviina and Coke) is a classic. However, my personal favorite is Jallu-Pommac - a drink made of Jaloviina and flavored soda called Pommac; a perfect summer drink that was originally developed for Helsinki Olympic games in 1952. Jaloviina also strengthens nicely otherwise so boring desserts: pour some Jaloviina into chocolate mousse to reduce the sweetness, or moisturize a dry cake with suitable amount (from couple of table spoons to couple of deciliters) of Jallu. One of the best fish soups I've ever tasted was made of salmon, potatoes, onion, morel, cream and Jaloviina*.

Beer for middle management

Finns have probably always liked beer, but in the past 10 years the small individual microbreweries have started to raise their head. And they surely are warmly welcomed to boost the flat offering of Lapin Kulta, Karjala, Olvi and Koff. The latest newcomer in the Finnish microbrewery scene is Ruosniemen Panimo, Ruosniemi Brewery. The past couple of weeks have been historic for Ruosniemi guys, since their debut beer has just become available in couple of pubs in Helsinki and Pori.

Pikkupomo. As you can see from the receipt, I paid the beer myself, 

so this is not one of those "blogger-gets-goodies" sponsorships.

The first publicly available beer of Ruosniemi Brewery is called Pikkupomo - the name refers to a boss working in the lower middle management. I ordered a glass of Pikkupomo at Pub Black Door in Helsinki city center. And boy oh boy, that Pikkupomo was my kind of boss: brownish, somewhat bittersweet and chunky on the body. A very tasty summer ale. I could take assignments from this kind of Pikkupomo.

The guys behind the brewery have their background mostly in chemistry. They have academic degrees in chemical engineering, process technology, foam formation and all kind of master stuff in the field of chemistry. The brewery thing is not exactly a profession or main job for any of the Ruosniemi guys, even though the brewery itself is very professional - they have even purchased old professional dairy equipment and pimped the hardware to meet the needs of their brewing process.

Ok, so it's not a full-time profession, but then how do you categorize or describe this kind of microbrewery activity? For sure you can't call it amateur activity - amateurs would never get a reliable process in place. Even though the brewery is not the main job of the Ruosniemi guys, I feel 'hobby' is a misleading term too: making miniature aeroplanes or knitting socks can be a hobby, but entering the beer market with a commercial product is totally above the hobby level. 'Brewery as a lifestyle' sounds like it's directly from a shiny design magazine. Maybe 'a lifeline for real-life pikkupomos' would be describing enough?

Sitsi

Song booklet, finished main course and still some schnaps in the glass!

Sitsi is an academic sing-along dinner. Sit and sing, sitsi - that's easy to remember. Today afternoon 800 student from different university faculties had an open air sitsi at Senaatintori.

The plot and the rules for sitsi are:

• Place yourself next to the other gender. Women are not supposed to sit next to woman or opposite to woman. Mix it.
• You can expect at least three course menu including the drinks.
• Schnaps for the starter
• Wine for the main course 
• Punch or cognac with coffee, after the dessert
• Sing about your drink, and drink of what you sing about.
• Take a sip after each song. No bottoms-up or you'll miss the main course.
• After singing, before drinking, you're supposed to toast:
• Ladies toast first to left, then to right and eventually across the table.
• Gentlemen toast first to right, then to left and finally across the table.
• You're supposed to look in the eye the person you're toasting to. If you avoid eye contact, you'll be doomed for bad sex for seven years. On the other hand, bad sex is probably better than no sex at all.
• The eagerness to sing is more important than the sound. There are song booklets for those who don't know the words.
• If someone speaks or starts singing, you're supposed to put down your cutlery and join the song.
• If you're able to finish the starter while it's still cold or the main course while it's still hot, then you haven't sung enough.

Vappu in pictures

Vappu is the only real carnival in Finland, and therefore it deserves its own post in pics. Pictures tell more than words.



It all started on May Day's Eve at restaurant Allotria. Good swing, good food, good mood.



Vallilan vapputanssit, dancing in the park at Vallila.



Puhvetti stands for affordable home-made snacks.



Watching the May Day's Eve over the roofs of Helsinki.



Please don't pee on the street.



Sitting Bull crossing the Pitkä silta with quite a speed. I wonder if he's a working class hero or capitalist.



Manta a.k.a Havis Amanda bathing in the morning sun on the first of May.



Julkku magazine, made by teekkarit, sold by teekkarit for teekkarit.



Kaivopuisto and Ullanlinnanmäki in Vappu morning.



Yes, Vappu is the celebration of students and other folks wearing overall.



These were invented long before OnePiece and other trendy jump suits.



Retuperän WBK playing newer French horn music.



People, take off the cardboard stiffener from your hat! Nobody's cap is that stiff in real life.



Delicious picnic sandwich.



Some doughnuts and pavlova.



Now that's what I call uniform! Cap, beige spring coat and a glass of bubbly.

It was a hauska vappu!

Lonkero

One of the best summer drinks in the world is Long drink, Lonkero, a bitter sweet combination of gin and grapefruit lemonade. It wipes away the thirst and doesn't make you feel as much of a balloon as beer does.

Lonkero was invented for Helsinki Olympic games in 1952. You can get the real Lonkero (made from  gin and grapefruit lemonade) from Alko - the version sold in the grocery stores is a cheap copy made thorough fermentation, and it doesn't taste as good as the real thing.

Is it still too cold for a Lonkero at balcony?

Wedding

Weddings are wonderful! I can't think of nicer party concept than wedding: all of your dear friends and family gather to celebrate your love. Most of the weddings I've been to have actually been surprisingly traditional. Or let's say conventional. And I'm not saying this as criticism, I just recently realized that my parents' generation was much more radical what comes to wedding. I've listed some of the common features of today's wedding:

• The couple is in their thirties. They've been living together for quite some time already. This makes the gift side a bit tricky, because they most likely already have what they need.
• The bride is wearing white. Even though white dress is supposed to refer to virginity. Which luckily is not the case in reality, usually.
• No rehearsal dinners.
• There's the official wedding ceremony - either in the church or a civil ceremony. In about half of the weddings I've been to, the father has walked the bride down the aisle, in other half the couple has walked the aisle together. We don't do vows, simple "I do" will do.
• The guests are throwing rice on the couple as they step out the church. Except that in downtown rice is not allowed, because it gets mushy and it's not good for the pigeons who will eat the leftovers anyway.
• After the ceremony there's the actual reception. 
• Reception starts by shaking hands with the parents of the couple and congratulating the couple.
• Usually the food is at the buffet. 
• Modern couple doesn't like traditional games, such as highjacking the bride.
• Some DIY-stuff is included in the reception: wedding candies, decorations, placing cards - something is for sure self-made.

Wedding candies without the candies

• There might be a stack of firewood (i.e. hidden bottles) somewhere close by the reception venue.
• After the main course it's time for the speeches.
• The couple starts the cake. Whoever kicks the ground first right after cutting the first piece, he or she is going to "show the location of the cupboard".
• Then comes the dance, usually starting with waltz by the couple.
• In the end of the evening the bride tosses the bouquet. The groom catches the garter with his teeth.

Alcohol

We don't do hookah or chew khat. The number of Marlboro men is decreasing all the time. Snuff-stuffed upper lip is common only in the areas close to Sweden border. Alcohol is our national intoxicant and our favorite way of messing brains. Finland doesn't score very high on the average alcohol consumption per capita, but our expertise is being really deeply drunk.

In many cultures it's natural to drink wine or beer or grappa and what not, but it's disgraceful to be drunk. For us it's somewhat the opposite: Drinking may be considered as a bit shameful, but it's perfectly ok to vaunt with boy-was-I-drunk-stories. And yes, we even plan our hangovers to some extent. But at least we're open and homeland-oriented with our drinking: we don't need to travel to Ibiza to get wasted. Ok, the Tallin ferries are booze traveling, but cruising on Baltic Sea is not exactly international waters.

If you want to drink like a Finn, maybe these could be your 10 commandments:

1.  Everyone should get really wasted at least once in a lifetime.
2.  Always drink with your friends.
3.  Try tuning up an intense and loud discussion on a grill queue at 4 AM.
4.  Enjoy the hangover too.
5.  Recall the missing pieces of past night with your friends.
6.  Don't hurt yourself or others.
7.  Don't drive drunk. Ever.
8.  Don't leave your friends behind.
9.  Don't pass out in the snow.
10.  Don't drink too much too often.

And last but not least, rule number 11 for those who already know how to drink like a Finn:

   11.   It's also perfectly ok not to drink.

Restaurant Tori

If you're visiting Helsinki and want to eat where the locals eat, go for Tori. Tori is a cosy, laid-back and a bit shabby (in a charming way) place to eat and drink - juice. They don't serve alcohol at all. But on weekends they do serve breakfast throughout the day, which is genius.



The classic dish of Tori is meatballs in Jallu sauce. Juices are delicious, and so are the pastry. The staff is friendly and speaks really good English, and the price level is very affordable. Depending on the number of customers, the kitchen may be slowish - but the atmosphere usually compensates the slight slowness.

Happy 2012

Celebrating the New Year between the last of December and first of January is more or less newish tradition in Finland. Originally the New Year was celebrated in autumn, at Kekri, after the harvesting season. That may sound quite rural, but let's bear in mind that it's not much more than one generation ago when most of the Finns were still living in the countryside. And come on, Chinese are not celebrating their new year on the switch of Dec and Jan either, the year of the rabbit is still going strong!

But despite the shortish history of the  New Year at this point of year, there are still some distinctive items that belong to the Finnish new year:

• Sparkling wine, nakki and potato salad. Who said cava doesn't go with cold sausage?
• Fireworks. It's not difficult to guess what's statistically the most probable day of getting an eye injury.
• Melting and re-casting tin horse shoes in order to forecast your future. Well, they're not really made out of tin but lead, which means that your future is based on toxic waste.
• New Year speech by the president of Finland: "Kansalaiset, medborgare..." Tarja, you could have been a bit more radical with your last speech.
• Ski jumping on TV. The men with the mullet and mustache!
• Tipaton tammikuu, dropless January. No alcohol in January (Lonkero doesn't count).

In any case, have a good 2012 (and enjoy the remaining year of the rabbit)!