Eating Muffins

Halme Polvinen Family Collective. You will all be assillymated

  • Joulukalenteri: Kolmas päivä

    Posted by jukkahoo

    OK, so my laptop seems to have some issues and probably needs a decent cleanup. I just had to boot this mother and lost all my delightfully insightful and hilarious accounts I had typoed here before the crash. Ah! Anyway, on with the show.

    20211201_170708Today we go forth with Tranbär-lemonad. As in Cranberry. Karpalo. Which is one of my absolute favourite berries, been that ever since my affair with the Big C, as cranberry juice was one of the very few beverages I managed to drink throughout the ordeal and not lose my taste for the stuff. Anything with soda was ghastly and I still do not especially like to drink tap water. Weird, huh.

    Anyway, Tranbär-lemonad is verily unlike the previous drinks as it is pretty sour. Tart, so much so, that Sari didn't really care for it at first. And there doesn't seem to be any sugar in the "lemonade". This is much more of a juice than any kind of soda, no carbo and the empty bottle is stained with cranberry ooze. 

    As it goes, perhaps not on its own, but having something on the side, something a bit more sweeter, like a proper Ålander pie, or better yet, some local pannkaka with sviskon and whipped cream. 

    Though I'd still probably go with the Rhubarb-elderberry one. 

    You remember when all fandom wear nothing but black? Well, the Helsinki fandom anyway and a sizable number of fen outside of the greater Metropolitan area did so and thus was Finndom also known ever since the late 80's-90's, when the first real fannish trek to foreign conventions and meetings took place.

    I was a member of that tribe, there was nary a clothing item of mine that was not black or very cheap and, most importantly, something that would fit. Well, cheap was probably even more imperative in those halcyon days of mine. 

    This lasted a longish while, until I happenstance saw that my brother was wearing some swanky colourful socks. Very unlike my black ones, that I tended to buy in bulk, since that way it didn't matter whether I had a proper pair as they'd all be black anyway. (I had a pair or two of blue ones, maybe even a gray pair, and come to think of it, some plaid ones as well…)

    Anyhoo, I gazed upon Pasi's blue-red-something feet-warmers and we had a proper chat about socks. He had grown tired of having sameold-sameolds and having seen this ad on these "happy" socks, he had gone and purchased some of those. I realized then that I also was in dire need of adding some colour to my wardrobe and since job-wise I was wearing a somewhat dark blue suit, there'd be very few bright spots. (Other than tie, but have you seen how much really nifty ties cost!?)

    Now, my dear readers, I did start buying colourful socks, both "happy" and "soxy" and then some. And also them ties, but not quite as "loud" as with the socks.

    Few years forward and my suit was a more sombre gray-shade green, but my shirts were bright and colourful, some even very much so. Now the thing (and a bit of a problem is) that I have a wardrobe half full of various black t-shirts and I seldom use them as my preferred shirt is a collared one, preferably with some pizzazz and then some. You know, Hawaii'an but subtle. 

    Trousers can still be black, that's OK. Shorts, no. 

    Hello to Aleksi and Ben, our trusty readers! We'll be here until Xmas! Plan is for Sari to write every even day and me being odd. And drink all our Amalias and Antons beverages. Maybe even that Tonic water. Perhaps with some gin. 

  • Advent calendar Dec 2 2021

    Posted  by Sari

    20211201_170338First things first: today's drink is Anton's äppelcider med vanilj och rabarber. Vanilla makes it very sweet and again I can't taste the rhubarb. But as sweet drinks go, it is drinkable – at least when it is cold. Jukka says vanilla is clear and rhubarb tastes like a rhubarb pie. So it is like a drinkable pie with vanilla sauce. Or something.

    As for the rest of the post as you will get notes from Mogens' obedience diary as I was going through stuff we need to do, and I needed to do a write-up anyway. Also it is in Finnish so, if necessary, use google translate and see what comes up.

    1.  Perusasento. Komento "kierrä". Pidä käsi vähän irti vartalosta. Korjaa paremmaksi "sivu" -käskyllä. Palkkaa jos korjaa edes hiukan. Useita peräkkäin. Palkkaa eteen ja pyydä uudelleen perusasentoon. Ei boxia – hakeutuu sen vasempaan laitaan.

    2. Seuraaminen. Komento: "sivu". Nyt kaikki seuraaminen lennosta. Älä anna komentoa käännöksissä.  Tarkkaile että kontakti ei katoa käännöksissä. Vasemmalle käännöksissä pidä huolta että koira on oikeassa paikassa (ei liian edessä), hidasta ja tamppaa paikallaan käännöksessä.

    3. Kapula. Komento: "pidä". Liikettä harjoitellaan osina. Nyt harjoituksena kierto kapulan kanssa perusasentoon. Koira edessä oikealla. Peruuta vähän, anna kapula suuhun oikealla kädellä, "pidä", houkuttele purkilla vasemmassa kädessä kiertämään perusasentoon. 

    4. Paikkis. Pysyy hyvin paikallaan, mutta liikkeen alku ja loppu ihan paskoja. Eli perusasennossa odottamiseen tarvitaan lisää kestoa ja peili tai appari apuna että tietää mitä koira tekee.

    5. Kaket: maahan suht OK, istu selkeä käsimerkki ja purkki jota ruvetaan häivyttämään. (Osta pienempiä purkkeja!)

    Uskokaa tai älkää mutta nää on hyvin selkeät ja ymmärrettävät ohjeet. Harjoituksissa tosin katson koiraa kun pitäis katsoa eteenpäin, en katso koiraa kun pitäis. Palkkaan eteen kun pitäis palkata taakse, palkkaan nopeasti kun pitäis palkata hitaasti, en kehu tarpeeksi, palkkaan väärään aikaan ja annan vääriä komentoja. On se hyvä että valkulla on huumorintajua…

     

     

  • Joulukalenteri: Ensimmäinen päivä

    Posted by jukkahoo

    It's December, hence the torporeal blog of Halme-Polvinen household rises from the grave and offers various opinions and thoughts on matters ranging from personal to fannish and something in between. This year we're sampling the wares of Amalias Limonadfabrik and Antons Drycker, the forementioned being the lovely micro soft drink factory while the latter makes drinks for adults. We visited their delightfully cozy factory store this Autumn and managed to buy a crate of 24 bottles of different flavours and percentage. 

    RabarberfläderTo start with, I pulled a glögg bottle, but decided against it as a first choice, so we're going to begin with Rabarber fläder-limonad. Which I suppose is Rhubard-elderberry combination. Sari though that it tastes fairly sima-like (very low-alcohol mead) and at least at first, she didn't get any rhubarb notes.

    This is tartier than any sima I've had, there's sweetness, but it's very juice-like and there's more elderberry than rhubarb. But it is there. I'm gonna say that this is a very nice thing to sip, while enjoying the sun and the scenery in Åland, maybe at Stickstugan's pretty little cafeteria, with some delicious pie of their on the side. (checking) Ah yes, I actually had this with some sweet passion-mango cheesecake in Stickstugan this August. So, recommended.

    In other news: this has been the horribiliest of annuses. If not as bad as 2020, the difference between these two star rotations has been minimal. You know what I mean, so I won't belabor this too long. Nothing will come out of it. And meanwhile, the future offers more of the same. 

    Now, I managed to get to Sweden and Fantastika last month, and let me tell you, it felt Good to be with the Family. Just to be able to see people, have a chat and listen to others, see some programming and just enjoy a beer or two with some of the people one has missed for too long. That was the best thing. This helps to get through the coming darkness of Moria Winter. Thank you Swendom and all the other lovely people. I ought to write a little con report about Fantastika, maybe one of these calendar notes one of these days.

    Now, this is going to be short and sweet (a bit like the Rhubarb elderberry-lemonade), but expect a bit more from the following score and then some posts. I'm planning on writing about my sudden regression to childhood reading habits (Sivar Ahlrud! Anthony Breckenridge! Hans Kresse! Waldemar Hammenhög!), some of my recent viewings of genre audiovisuals and why Maikko Seppänen is a true Fannish treasure. 

     

  • Syntymäpäiväpaketin avausta

    Posted by jukkahoo

    Mukavasti sujui 53. syntypäivä. Hieman koirien rapsuttelemista aamupäivällä, jonka jälkeen erilaista maailmalla liehakointia ja Mandolorianin toisen kauden ahmiminen illan aikana, samaan aikaan Sarin valmistamia makisushien keralla. Ruokaa oli pienelle conille, joten illasta tuli todellinen ahnastelu. Mando on ihan hauska, jos kohta todella yllätyksetön fanserviceä pullisteleva viihdepläjäys, joka maistuu parhaiten ilman suurempia odotuksia. Huumoria saisi olla hieman enemmän ja henkilökuvauksessa voi olla, ahum, tasoja? Hyvää tähtiensota-viihdettä. 

    Ja sitten, koska minulla oli Paketti, päätin tehdä pienen paketinavausvideon. Toivon mukaan onnistun oheistamaan sen tähän postaukseen. Snack Venture on tällainen yllätysboksi, jonka ideana on saada asiakas innostumaan salaperäisestä laatikosta, jonka luvataan sisältävän herkkuja jos minkä moisia ja nimen omaan jostain tuntemattomasta maailmankolkasta! Ensimmäinen laatikko piti sisällään herkkuja Brasiliasta ja sepä näytti sen verran hauskalta, että päätin kokeilla kontraptiota. Ja kuvata paketin avaaminen laadukkaalla Samsung A71-puhelimellani. Hieman vajaat 10 minuuttia näyttäisi tekevän sellaisen puolentoista gigan kokoisen tiedoston, joten pakkasin videon 37 megaan, joka toivon mukaan näkyy. Kuulumisen kanssa kannattanee laittaa hieman volyymiä isommalle, kuiskailen sen verran hiljaa ja ilmeisesti reilusti ohi mikrofonin. "Ensi kerralla" sitten paremmin.   

    Ja heti pari korjausta. Ilmeisesti laatikoita ei ilmesty joka kuukausi ja hinta oli 35 euroa, ei 30. Laatikon mittasuhteet ovat erittäin sinnepäin, en ole mitannut. 

    Ja pari makukokemusta: Derby oli mainio, ei erityisen kookosmainen, mutta kiva. Ostaisin, jos kaupassa oli. Herra Papadopouloksen Biscotellot on suklainen Domino-keksi, sinällään ihan OK.

    Jotta sellaista.

     

     

  • Advent Calendar Dec. 12: Happy New Year (2014)

    Posted by Sari

    M_Id_484896_Happy_New_YearIf Prem Ratan Dhan Payo was a big Diwali hit of 2015, Happy New Year was that for 2014. It is Farah Kahn film, so it is on the same continium as Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om. That is throw everythhing and the kitcheng sink at it. Charlie (Shah Rukh Khan) is planning a daring diamond heist in Dubai in order to frame Grover (Jackie Shroff) for the robbery. Grover had in his turn framed Charlies dad for a diamond robbery way back when. In order to get into the hotel where the diamonds are, Charlie and his gang need to win a dance competition – a sort of dance eurovision – and represent India. They hire Mohini (Deepika Padukone) to teach them how to dance.

    So this is like indian Oceans Eleven but more colorful and indian-funny. And with dancing and singing.  That the break-in gang could credibly perform a professional dance number even for pretend is silly, the whole heist is just incredible but the run through is  actually kind of funny.  Shah Rukh's painted on pectoral muscles are getting towards eleven in the Spinal Tap scale and the patriotic glow in the dance competition is… something. But I loved this. Deepika Padukone is great, Shah Rukh is Shah Rukh, and little B has some of his fathers gangly charm as the continuously drunk Nandu. The kung-fu fighting scene (with the the song of course) at a helicopter pad on the roof of a Dubai sky scraper is alone worth the price of the admission. 

     

    English Tea Shop Happy Holiday: Green tea with Cinnamon, Pomegranate, Ginger, Cardamon, Cloves, Nutmeg and Pepper. Why do they call these different names? This tastes exactly same as the last one. 

  • Advent Calendar Dec 11. 2020: Dilwale (2015)

    Posted by Sari

    Dilwale-614x410Dilwale – also from year 2015 – marked the return of the most famous jodi of them all: Shah Rukh and Kajol. It is a Romeo and Juliet story – twice over. in the past Raj (Shah Rukh) and Meera (Kajol) fall in love but their parents are form rival crime families, and both of them are involved in family business. There are misunderstandings and death and they break tragically up. In present day Raj's younger brother Veer (Varun Dhawan) falls in love with Ishu (Kriti Sanon), who  turns out to be Meera's sister. The romance of the younger siblings is the comedy part of the film, helped by Veer's best buddy Sidhu and Raj and Veer's neighbour Meni (Johnny Lever). Raj and Meera are the drama part with meaningful glances, wind machines and rain. 

    It is all very primary coloured, and the hit song Gerua has lots of Suraj Hua Maddham vibes with flowing saris and exotic locations. Film's Goa looks like a cartoon, and Bulgaria like a travel brochure. The plot is repetitive and the funny bits are not that funny. The modern day romance is a bit annoying, mainly because Veer is spoiled brat. But I am and always will be a sucker for Shah Rukh's charisma and so as a good bhai to Veer, an avenging vigilante fighting against drug lords or a sad man who has lost his love, he makes it all good. And Kajol and Shah Rukh always work together. So I am good, even if the film could have been better. 

     

    English Tea Shop Spooky Spice: Green tea with Cinnamon, Ginger, Cardamon, Cloves, Nutmeg and Pepper. So basically green christmas tea. Green tea has so delicate flavour that the spices overpower it, especially ginger and cloves.

     

  • Advent Calendar Dec 9. and 10: PK and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo

    Posted by Sari

    I forgot yesterday! So here are two movies

    PK (2014)

    PK kuva    PK was at the time the highest grossing Indian movie. Somewhat unusually for Bollywood, it is science fiction, comedy, and a quite sharp critique of organised religion. Aamir Khan plays an alien sent to earth to research humans. He lands in Rajasthan and a local man robs him of his remote control which summons his spaceship. Stuck on earth, he tries to learn human ways, and ends up asking help from gods. They, naturally, will not answer. With a help of journalist Anushka Sharma he starts a movement against organised religions, and the way they prey on people’s fears and rob them of their money.
          PK was surprising. I was ready to cringe as Indian comedy is really not my cup of tea, but the jokes were sort of actually funny, and Aamir’s physical comedy worked, as did his Buster Keaton influenced performance in general. There are a lot of close ups of his big eyes and jug ears, and some of the mannerisms are familiar from his other movies, but Aamir has enough of charisma (and pectoral muscles) to pull it all off. Anushka Sharma and Sunjay Dutt are also great in their roles. Songs were not especially memorable but worked well in the context. The way the movie handles religion is quite sharp, and the fact that it got some flak from extremists when it came out is not surprising. I am also sap enough to enjoy the great melodramatic denouement at the end.

    Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015)
    Premkkuva      This 2015 Diwali release is a romantic drama and was second highest grossing Indian movie of its year. Prem (Salman Khan), carefree actor/guru  meets princess Maithili at a refugee camp where she is doing charity work and falls in love. The princess is engaged to crown prince Yuvraj (also Salman Khan) who faces problems with both his fiancé and his half-siblings. His brother tries to assassinate him for the crown, and he is injured badly. In a chance meeting, his majordomo sees Prem and hires him to play Yuvraj while the real Yuvraj recuperates. Misunderstandings, plots, kidnappings, swordfights ensue.
         So I was Monty's Double. Or, nearer to home, Don (both original and remake). But instead of a war or gangster movie, this is a romantic comedy with some action elements. Kings and princes have only money and influence in modern India, not power, but showcasing the aristocracy filmmakers can produce even more extravagant visuals than usually. Also, the ultra conservative prince Yuvraj is shown taking a horse carriage to meet his sisters – though they are supposed to live next to his palace – and listens to music with ear buds on his phone on the way;  a nice contrast. Salman Khan wasn't bad in this, and thought the "family is everything" theme was hammered pretty hard, it was enjoyable fluff.

          English Tea Shop: Winter Warmer: Rooibos, Cocoa, Ginger, Star Anise an Mace. Another infusion with Christmas spices. Unmemorable, and I really can't taste the cocoa. 
          Clipper Licorice and Peppermint: Mint is always a good idea, but peppermint and sickly-sweed licorice really makes this almost undrinkable.

     

  • Advent Calendar Dec 8. 2020: Singham (2011)

    Posted by Sari

    Singham

    Number six on the 2011 box-office list, this is again a hindi remake of a tamili film. Ajay Devgan is a police officer in a village. He is just and everybody loves him. He also looks fine in uniform, especially as he walks in slow-motion towards camera. Kajal Aggrawal is his love interest, a girl from Goa whose family is originally from Ajay’s village. Things get problematic when Ajay crosses paths with a Goan don and a politician who is mixed up in everything from kidnappings to murders. The don arranges Ajay’s transfer to Goa and begins to harass him. As the police and the political system is in the don's pocket, Ajay has an uphill battle to get the don to justice.

    And from the western point of view, he fails. He gets the police department on his side just as the don is elected as minister for the local government. As the police has no evidence against him, and naming him minister makes him virtually untouchable, the police solve the problem by blowing his brain out and staging it as suicide. And as the whole police department is in on it, they naturally get away with it.

    If the filmis are anything to go by, the government and police are often corrupt in India, and thus this could be seen as an uplifting story of the police realizing being on the take is not the thing, but as a westerner the total lack of faith in the system is jarring. Also, though I have always liked the menacing aura of Ajay Devgan – not to mention his very impressive stache – the slow-motion battles with very unconvincing throwing people about does make the action more silly than exciting, and as most of the film is about action the whole does not impress. I am probably pretty squarely in the minority, however: Singham has at least three sequels/spin-offs.

     

    Clipper Snore & Peace: Chamomille with lavender and lemon balm. I don't think chamomille and lavender go together that well. The taste is a bit muddled. 

  • Advent Calendar Dec 7. 2020: Raabta (2017)

    Posted by Sari

    Raabta kuvaSo, if we have partition drama here on this advent calendar, we must also have re-incarnation drama. Young, playboyish Shiv/Jilaan (Sushant Singh Rajput) gets a job in Budapest where he meets Saira/Saiba (Kriti Sanon) and feels an instant connection. Saira has strange dreams about drowning,  She also meets Zakar/Qaabir who ends up kidnapping her in a mansion filled with portraits of her. Turns out Shiv and Saira were warriors on the opposite sides of the war eigth hundred years a go ,and married to end the conflict falling in love at the same time. Zabir  killed him and Saira chose to drowned with her husband. Zabir slit his own throat

    The modern bits of this romantic drama were actually quite okay, Sushant has buckets of charm, it is nice to see Budapest as Budapest instead of pretending to be Rome, and the romance is sweet but more modern than many. The past part does not work quite as well. It has Ashoka vibes – everybody wears lots of kohl, furs and tattoos – but instead of being strange and foreign, it is a bit silly, especially Sushant's wild man prince just does not quite work. Neither does music which is really forgettable even with Deepika Padukone as an item girl. 

     

    English Teashop Chai Charge: Rooibos with christmas spices and garlic. I was really skeptical but this is actually nice. 

  • Advent Calendar Dec 6. 2020: Raees (2017

    Posted by Sari

    RaeeskuvaWith age and success, SRK has considerably slowed down making films – it is not unusual for a popular hindi star to make half a dozen films a year. In 2017 Khan had a cameo in Slaman Khan’s Tubelight, made a romantic comedy Jab Harry Met Sejal and this crime drama, which was the years 6th most popular hindi film worldwide. Raees is the life story of the titular gujarati bootlegger and his rise to local criminal elite. He is hounded by the lonely honest cop (Nawasuddin Siddiqui) who is determined to shut down liquor trade in the dry state.

    Raees is interesting – from my western point of view – in many ways. In a way, it is a return to the roots of SRK’s film career. He began by playing very convincing bad guys and psychopaths, and though he also played good guys, it was with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge that he made his real breakthrough as a romantic lead. Raees is a violent man, and the violence is very front and centre of this movie from the gore-filled fist fight in a Mumbai meat market to a more stylised spree killing during an item number.

    It is also interesting, because it is one of the handful of times Shah Rukh plays a muslim as a lead in a film. Despite his prolictivities, Raees is depicted as a practicing Shia muslim who is almost assassinated because he refuses to miss the mourning of Muharram ritual (the attempt – I must tell you – is followed by a Bourne-like chase scene with lots of parkour). At the same time, he dismisses the problems his religion has with his trade by quoting his mother’s adage about business being more important than religion – as long as nobody gets hurt.

    But of course, lots of people get hurt and Raees does not really seem to care as long as people he considers his are ok. By the later part of the film he as became a proper crime lord, but with a heart of gold. He tries to help his community – both hindu and muslim – and is appalled when he has been used to smuggle in explosives used in an act of terror.  His nemesis, Majmudar has an opposite trajectory. He is introduced as straight laced cop who has a sense of humour and ends up getting so obsessed with Raees and so disillusioned by the corruption in the police and the political elite, that in the end he disregards the rule of law and just executes the man he has chased for years.

     

    Clipper Calmer Chameleon: Camomille, Honeybush and Cinnamon. This is basically camomille tea with something tasting vaguely honey-like. If I had a sore throat this might be good.