For more environmentally cleaning

One product which has bothered me lately is dish washing liquid. I've been wondering why all the liquids, even the ones meant for sensitive skin, have the labelling to be "irritating". I'm not sure either if my dishes ever get so dirty I would actually need to have any kind of superstrong detergant to get them clean on a daily basis. So finally when I ran out of my last washing liquid, I went on and got this Ekologinen Ole Hyvä washing liquid:

The ingreditients list is gratifyingly short:
INCI: Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Alcohol, Sea Salt, Citrus Limonum Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Oil.

So far it has worked well enough for my daily use and the citrus smell is really nice! And probably the best thing is that when I eventually run out of it, I can always go to fill up the same bottle in a retailer shop! So nice eco-saving in the materials too. :) To accompany my new purchase there's also the cute dishcloth made of hemp&cotton by a local producer Kierti.

And talking about retail shops: I got these from a relatively new eco shop called Eko Vintti, located in Mannerheimintie 98 next to Yliopiston Apteekki. The store is quite small yet they have rather good diversity in produce and really good service! I got a really warm welcome and spend a while chatting with the owner and she gave me some good tips for some eco beauty products. More about those in my next post though. :)

A new dress

I was supposed not to buy any new clothes anymore but earlier this week I realised I might need just another party dress as most of the ones I have I either can't fit into or aren't really suitable for all occations (family parties etc.). And that's the excuse I convinced myself to buy this dress today:


ANGEL S/L MINI DRESS

I think it's sooooo cute! Perfect combination of classic classyness and cutesy girliness. :D Can't wait for the spring to come now.


Ok, I have to admit it's not the only dress I bought, this one found its way to my wardrode a couple of weeks ago too... (Picture from hm.com/fi)

Pub Magneetti, Mäkelänkatu 20

I've been living in Vallila, an ex-working class neighbourhood of Helsinki, which despite of turning more into a middle class neighborhood, still has some rough ends to it, for 6 months now. I really love the neighbourhood, it has most of the services you need on a daily basis and also nice variety of fleamarkets and corner bars with decent prices. However, I still hadn't found the bar I was expecting this place would have: a nice, cosy, not too posh place for young people. Well folks, last night I found it: Pub Magneetti. It's a small place located on the main street, Mäkelänkatu, and still it's rather hard to find if you don't know what to look for. No neon signs, just the name on the window and an entrance which raises the question "am I really aloud to go in?" (At least on Finnish standards as we prefer everything to be if not super tidy, at least not as dingy as this small entrance) Anyhow, once you get in, you don't regret: the bar is superb. The decor is, well, eclectic to say the least and the whole place was lit up with just candle light and a rather kitsch, yet interesting fixture of Christmas lights. The walls are packed with a strange mixture of memorabilia, mainly donated by customers, I heard. And the music was really good too, just perfect for a chill place like this.
Last night, a regular wednesday evening, all tables were full of lively, young crowd and no wonder as the regular tap beer is only 2,8e/0,4l. Very reasonable for a bar in Helsinki. Not that much of beer variety though, but still some choice in case you totally detest the Karjala beer on tap.
So, if you want to have a cosy beer with friends or a place to start a long night out, this bar is a total thumbs up. At least in my case, I'm sure last night won't be my last night there. :D So muchos gracias for my lovely friends for inviting me there last night!

Happy holidays everyone!

Grocery shopping at Kannelmäki

My parents left for a holiday trip and left me with a car for Christmas (and my dog although he's nice and cosy at my grandsparents' at the moment) so after dropping them at the airport hotel I decided to use this gained feedom of travelling and went to check out my old hoods at Kannelmäki. Actually it was for buying some more windshield washing liquid for the car but any case, I ended up visiting Kannelmäen Prisma, a HUMANGOUS supermarket they have built there in last couple of years. It was now twice the size it was when I lived next to it (it's now the biggest supermarket in the metropolitan area) and to be honest, I find it ridiculous (it has 41 checkout counters for christ's sake). I can't imagine someone would actually enjoy shopping there. I do understand the strategy in trade perspective as people get hungry by the time they even reach the food section...
Anyhow, being there I recalled someone had mentioned they had some speciality considering the organic food stuff so I decided to check it out. It turned out to be (when I found it after walking a mile from the car section) a shop-in-a-shop for Eat&Joy Maatilatori, a succesful local/organic foodstore business which just had opened an organic megastore in the restored mall of Kluuvi. So my expectation where quite high at that point. I checked out the stall and I was pleased by the variety of organic meat (although freezed) and the flour section. On the other hand, I have to admit I was quite disappointed for the fact everything had been put for display like in a tourist shop. I mean, when I go grocery shopping, I really don't care if my jar of jam has a bow tied around it or not. It's cute, sure, but the fact is, I don't really want to buy organic local stuff for the fact the packaging looks crafty, I buy it for ethical reasons. It pisses me off so much how local food is so often marketed in this cutesy way as it's just food after all. It's never gonna be the everyday choice for people if you always have to pay extra for the time put in to making the products look extra pretty. It's of course good for products which are meant to be given as presents but I would love not to see it when it comes to regular foodstuff.
All in all, I think it's good they have the stall at Prisma, yet it's really not a reason for me to go there ever again. :D I hate supermarkets (although I have to admit I kinda had some strange love-hate relationship with Colruyt next to VUB in Brussels... Must have been the free coffee).

Finland, the country of snowy winters

Not. It's almost Christmas and this is what you can see from our balcony. Just wanted to share this as it's ridiculous.

Long time, no blogging

Lately I've been incredibly busy as I started a new job at Elisa (one of the major mobile phone and internet operators in Finland). Working every day with phones I've realised how fast the industry goes: I thought I was relatively good with technology but in the matter of fact, I'm quite clueless from time to time. So it's time for me to get modern: this is my first mobile update ever. Although even this is a bit of a cheat as I'm not on the go but at home. Anyhow, I'm really excited with my new phone I got from work (htc desire z or something) and I can't wait to start blogging more random stuff on the go.