It's Heikki!

Heikki walked in one day and asked if he could complete his 2 week work placement for school at our cafe. Katja and I are incredibly happy we said to ourselves "yeah, sure why not, let's say yes!" He'll still be at the cafe full-time this week then it's back to school. If we're lucky he'll be able to do a few shifts for us in the future. Come drop by and taste the awesome lattes he makes!
Heikki stays calm while we fuss about ;) picture credits go to Paul Wilkins

Ladies

Today we're celebrating international women's day at the cafe from 12-16. Come pamper yourself & your ladies with everything pink and lovely. Maybe join us for a relaxing women's day sauna at Arla afterwards? (you can pick up the chocolate and raspberry masks & scrubs, sauna drinks, sponge and towel, lady-priced ticket to Arla and hint of loveliness from us)

enjoy :)

One Sunday Afternoon..

Here are a few shots from our first sewing club. We rented a badge machine and everyone got to make badges for themselves using e.g. old pictures, lace, buttons, envelopes and postcards from the early 1900's, plastic animals and whatever other materials they may have found from the trip to the fleamarket earlier on in the day. .... I will post pictures of what everyone created as soon as I get them!

Choc-choc-choc!

We had our first chocolate tasting event last Friday. Finland's best chocolatier (well, I think so anyway;) Petri Sirén brought the the mysterious world of luxury chocolates to our..our lips, I suppose! Nothing like starting off the weekend by sampling hand-made chocolates.


Maybe I should make a separate label for these chocolate posts, as there seem to be quite a few of them already :D But I'm sure you understand, it's not common to be able to provide hand-made chocolates..it's a little bit of luxury and I believe it deserves to be acknowledged! As Petri said, it's difficult to find high-quality chocolate in Finland.

ps. We have a nice selection of chocolates at the cafe now, including: milk chocolate banana (my new favorite..well, it's sharing first place with raspberry), orange, coconut and lime, raspberry, mint, hazel nut... :P~~

Happy Valentines Day!

Feeling Good

Today I visited Stupido Shop and picked up some new albums to play at the cafe. I'm a newbie when it comes to jazz so I relied on the expertise of the Stupido guy and came home with some Nina Simone and St Germain.


I would love to play Edith Piaf (among other artists) when at work, but her CDs didn't cross my path this time. What would you like to listen to when sitting at our cafe?

A Wild Week

I've been busy and unable to focus on writing the past week. Adjusting has been quite overwhelming and it'll probably take a few more weeks before life as a "cafe co-owner" begins to feel normal.

A lot is happening. We've been open now twice on Saturdays and served a luxury plate of assorted goodies incl. Blue Stilton, Brie, Serrano ham, goats milk Gouda, spiced cream cheese, olives, black cherry and orange marmalade, sun dried ("half dried") tomatoes, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, herbs, a healthy smoothie drink, an espresso based coffee drink and as much "granny coffee" as you can handle.. We figured there's not much point in eating out for a Saturday breakfast/brunch/evening snack if the food served is something that you could easily find in your own fridge, and this is the result. What do you think? :)

We've also booked several private events, have a few of our own events coming up (incl. chocolate tasting and a sewing club), appeared in the February issue of Trendi magazine (lil text with a few pics towards the end of the mag, will try to get a scan once I get my own copy), and a little baby girl was Christened at the cafe a week ago!

Reinforcements have also arrived! Two wonderful women have stepped in to help us with daily tasks at the cafe and I could not be more relieved or happier to have them with us.

Also, my dad saw the cafe for the first time since last summer (when it was still a pile of paint cans and loads of renovation tools). He's not much of a talker but he did say it looked different, so I'll take that as a compliment ;)