FAVA BEEN PROTEIN GRANOLA

Alright, don't let the protein -headline scare you away! We are not talking body builder or trendy carb-loathing granola here, but a yummy one with a perhaps somewhat surprising content; fava beans.

This granola is made of organic products that have all grown on our farm. Truly homemade! The recipe was developed by one of the local guys over here who has made lots of breads from our grains and seeds as well. 

Fava beans (bondböna, härkäpapu) have been cultivated in Finland as early as in the 1000th century, and is now making a comeback. It is a good domestic alternative to chick peas or soya beans, as it is rich in proteins.

You will need:
200grams (about 2 dl) fava beans
5 dl oats
approx.1 dl honey

For a vegan version switch the honey to maple syrup! Adjusts the sweetness to your own taste.

Mash the fava beans in a mixer or food processor so that they are crushed into smaller pieces. Let them soak in water for about two hours. The skin of the beans that rises to the surface can be removed. Change the water then cook for about 20 min.

Let the water dry off a bit in a drainer, and put them out on a baking paper on a tray together with the oats. Pour over honey and blend well. Put in the oven preheated to 200C and roast.

You need to take the granola out and give it a mix a few times, so it is roasted evenly. The granola is ready when it has reached a nice dark golden colour and seems "crunchy".

Store in an air tight jar.

You can choose to add flax, pumpkin or sunflower seeds or dried berries as well.

I like my granola with berries on top of porridge (here with lingonberries and hazelnut milk. Plus some mulberries and almond butter and other stuff. Pretentious as hell, I know.), but most of all mixed with kefir!

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SANDRO, SUN AND CIRKUS ART

A few Sundays ago everyone had managed to have the day off together and get together for  a big family brunch. We celebrated a couple of birthdays once we were at it.

Dag had been very excited the whole week over going to  brunch. (As you can see this was obviously before his haircut.)

I got a belated birthdaypresent. A cherry dress!

I had been dreaming of Sandro's brunch for some time already, because it's definitely the best brunch in town. Northern African and Lebanese food, champagne, mini smoothie shots and lots of cake, plus awesome service. On Saturdays the brunch is vegan and vegetarian and on Sundays the warm options also have meat and fish (while the cold dishes, apart from the tsatsiki, all were vegan).

Happy food death. The pickles, seriously.

And even happier mint-tea & cake death.

Cousin Feke can't enjoy that quite yet though, although he would very much want to.

After brunch we went over to Kuusisaari, where I had managed to lure everyone over for an art exhibition at Villa Gyllenberg.

Helsinki as seen from the "side".

It has really been such a beautiful autumn so far!

The view from the villa's garden is rather impressive. Tapiola, where we (or, nowadays just me and Dag...) live when in town, is just across on the other side.

Villa Gyllenberg is an art deco villa that after the Gyllenberg couple's death serves as an art museum featuring their vast art collection. I have actually never been there before, and it was worth a visit!

I wanted to go there because of their exhibition of art portraying street art and the circus. Here's a postcard of one of the paintings. The actual house and it's own collection turned out to be more interesting though, and we were lucky enough to have an friend of my sister's husband working there who showed us around talking about the history of the house and also interesting details on some of the pieces of art there.

There were many works of Schjerfbeck.

But among renaissance art and dynasty vases it got a bit nervous to walk around with a three year old.
So outside he got to run his well behaviour off a bit and found this giant leaf pile.

Which I also eventually climbed into. Autumn joys!

And then we saw this little fella who had just fetched lunch!

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FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW

Wearing warm and yellow. That's nice when it's grey and cold outside.

Put together a jar of home made granola from products grown on the farm only.

Our kitchen is full of new herbs and extra plants that the crew left behind after shooting a commercial here last week.

And now it's time to study some more pilates! Have an instructor camp and test coming up next week. (And you know, if you want to come to my classes you can do so Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings at out studio!...that still does not have it's website up and running properly yet. Uaaaa!)

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HELSINKI STROLL

Yesterday we went into town for a stroll together with Dag's oldest (half)brother . Which does not happen that often, having a day off and haning it in town, when you spend most of your time way out in the countryside.

Walking in Ruoholahti, which is something I almost never do; walk around in, other than walk just trough. I used to come trough here almost every day when at lunch from the harbour.

Some hundred meters further a whole new part of town has sprung up during Dag's lifetime on parts of what was once the old harbour. It looks different every time I pass. When I left work before Dag was born this was all just one big construction site. (And half of it still is.)

Do you know how many times I stared at those shipyard cranes and the blue dry dock wall opposite of our spot in the harbour? Do you know how many times? Of course you don't, but many, many times I tell you.

 We popped by the flea market. Dag got a red smiling tractor.


Had lunch at Moko market. Salad with kale and marinated carrots and fresh pea puree. Nom.

 Moko is also an interior store, with lots of wonderful useful-and-less usefull stuff, books and some foods as well.


 Moko has a playground space for kids too. Convenient.

I used to go there and shop all the time before, you know, when I had a job with a steady monthly wage and could do shopping just for fun. When you work solely by yourself things are so much more uneven. (I might have to get myself some pineapple and palm tree boxes though. Because they are always good for somehting...)

But I wasn't really there to get anything for myself but to pick up some things for our studio. Which I will get back to later. (And get back to a lot to; you'll see.)

 Later we did some toy shopping -there are a many small misters all turning one year old in August.

Sometimes I wonder how these small stores that are specialized in something can pull trough when rents in town are what they are - I remember thinking so about this toystore too when walking past it before, do people really buy enough to make it go around? But now I get it, in this case at least, I just wanted to buy everything in there.

Then we went to join up with some 15,000 other people at the Citizen's Square. 

The rather impromptu manifestation for multiculturalism and anti-racism; We Have A Dream, took place. It was organised in just a couple of days as a counter-reactions to some writings of a politician and the discussion it sparked.

Then the teenager got tired.

So we had burgers at the new-in-town hipster burger place Friends & Brgrs. (Everything there is made from scratch and with clean ingredients. The queue in the restaurant is thus thereafter. Here's my veggieburger. Approved!)

And strawberry milkshake. Made on actual real berries, not just aromes.

More days should end with strawberry milkshakes.

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