Last Friday when I said, "I am going to cook new potatoes tomorrow", a friend of mine recommended me "siikli" potetoes. It's yummy and I like the texture a lot. Today I cooked it with Ghee which I made from unsalted butter, cumin seed and garlic. I didn't add any salt and pepper but it tasted nice : ) I like Finnish summer now more than before. Food is one of the reasons. We can get fresh vegetable and fruits, which I can't find very much in winter here.

フィンランドの夏が以前よりもっと好きになったかも。その理由の１つは食べ物。夏になると新鮮な野菜やフルーツがたくさん出回る。この新じゃが siikli もその１つ。先週フィンランド人の友達が教えてくれたおいしいじゃがいも。今日はこのじゃがいもを無塩バターから自分で作ったギーとクミンシードとにんにくで炒めて晩御飯。味もさながら食感がとてもよい感じ。

I can't start a day without good bread and butter. (and coffee…)

Kannisto leipomo (http://www.kannistonleipomo.fi/) is my most favorite bakery in Helsinki (not many bakeries in this country, BTW!!!) And it's located in my neighborhood : ) This morning, I went there to get some fresh bread for the coming week and it was really refreshing to walk there with some deviation to the park. Love weekend's mornings! 

Yesterday, a friend introduced me the butter in the picture when we went to the Anton & Anton saying it has been her favorite. I love butter maybe more than bread and haven't been happy the ordinary butter which alsmot everyone buy at the supermarket here. So, I had high expectation when the friend introduced it to me! Hurray, it didn't betray my expectation this morning! It's much more tasty than the other one! I can't wait for tomorrow morning to have the bread and the butter 😉

 
朝ごはんはトーストにバター。（そしてコーヒー）　おいしいトーストとバターは１日のスタートに欠かせない。

今朝は近所のKannisto Leipomoに焼きたてのパンを買いに行った。フィンランドにはいわゆるベーカリーがほとんどなくてがっかりなんだけど　我が家の近所のこのパン屋、パン屋らしいパン屋だし、とてもおいしいパンを売っている。この店を教えてもらったときはほんとうれしかった！！！”やった　パン屋”っていう感じ　（笑　今朝はとてもすがすがしい天気でパン屋に行ったついでにちょっと遠回りをして短い散歩。幸せな朝だった。

そしてバター。フィンランドのバターはいまいちコクとか味がないと思っていた今日この頃（今日この頃だけではないけど）、昨日友達から教えてもらったバター、Kirnuvoi。これはよかった！これで朝ごはんはしばらく安泰。

Kokomo Tikibar & Room recently opened (I believe) in Punavuori impressed me with fun & relaxing atmosphere and  good quality of food. I don't think there had been any similar kind of restaurant to it in Helsinki before. From the menu I browsed before going to the Kokomo, my expectation was high!!! And they did exceed my expectation.

They have thirty different cocktails in the menu. I asked if they could make non-alcoholic cocktail and the friendly waitress said they could make any of the cocktails in the menu without alcohol. Also she told me they could make something speciall for me if I told her what I would like to have in my virgin cocktail.  So, I told them I would like to have some drink with berries. They also asked me if I would like to have it sweet or it sour. I told them I'd like to have something between sweet and sour and not too exotic 😉 And what I got was really creative!!! It was cocktail of cranberry, cloud-berry and  cinnamon with goat cheese! Goat cheese wasn't mixed in the drink but it was served with the drink (I hope you can see the goat cheese in the picture!) and the friendly waitress told me to make sure I pu goat cheese in my mouth before drinking the cocktail as they go well in that order. I had never seen such drink but it was excellent!

A friend and I had lovey hot pot with tiger prawn and beef skewers. We cooked them in the hot pot by ourselves just like we do with nabe dishes in Japan : ) and had it with roti bread. It also came with four different kinds of sauce including my favorite wasabi mayonnaise and salad which had some Mizuna which I love!

Also chocolate cake with ice cream we had for dessert was smiley : )

I definitely go back to the friendly, creative and tasty Kokomo, again!

今日は　最近家の近所（Punavuori）にオープンしたKokomoでディナー。インターネットでメニューを見たときから盛り上がる私。

まずは30種類のカクテルが自慢のよう。アルコールの飲めない私、ノンアルコールのカクテルができるか聞いてみるとメニューにあるどのカクテルでもノンアルコールにできるし　その上希望を伝えればそれに沿ったカクテルを作って作ってくれるって。ということでベリーのカクテルをお願いしてみた。でてきたのはとてもクリエイティブなおいしいカクテル。クランベリー、クラウドベリー、シナモンの入ったカクテルがゴートチーズ添えで出てきた。フレンドリーなウェイトレスがまず最初にゴートチーズを口に入れてからカクテルを飲むように念を押していった。どうやらそうすることによってよりおいしく頂けるらしいのでその通りにしてみるとほんとにおいしい。こんなカクテル（写真を参照。チーズも確認できると思います。）見たことなかったけどおいしい！

食事はエビと牛肉のホットポット。日本の鍋のようにテーブルで料理して食べるのが懐かしい感じ　:）店の人からやり方分かるかって聞かれて、もちろん！と答える我々;-)　この鍋セットは水菜の入ったサラダと4種類のソース（わさびマヨネーズ、ぽんず、醤油、マンゴーソース）、そしてロティもついてる素敵なセット。かなりおいしかった！今までヘルシンキにはなかった感じのレストラン。

デザートに頂いたチョコレートケーキとアイスクリームも美味。次回行くのがすでに楽しみなのだった　:）