As time goes by…

Since the following text is in English, I shall write this blog post totally in English. Also that way my English-speaking friends can also read our blog this time around. 🙂

To summarize: our blog (two writers me and my friend Katri) is about enjoying healthy lifestyle and fitness without fussing about it too much or taking it too seriously. This combined with healthy, but flexible eating habits, are at the core of feeling good about yourself.

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I’ve been trying to sort out my belongings since I’m moving in a few days for some months to Kotka to work in a hospital. With every move I  become more anti-materialistic. That’s what’s happening now too. There seems to be no end to how much this and that I’ve gather during the years. I solemnly swear that with the exception of sports goods and some clothes and shoes, I will try and avoid buying more stuff that is not making me feel good. It’s suffocating me. This accumulated possession of mine is also my anchor. I feel it holds me back. Sometimes (read: today packing) I wish I was one of those people who settle to live in one place and live life simply. Yet I start hyperventilating if I just think about it. I was destined for something else. Hopefully something bigger. 😉

Today I was sweating in the attic and came across some essays I’ve written in high school (or 6th form college as Mrs Mills would insist calling it – no one else calls it that). I want to share some of my ideas and thoughts from the about 17 year old Leena. Here it goes (with all lovely spelling mistakes 😉 ).

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My dream restaurant

I love going out to eat and it’s very important how the restaurant looks like. Is the food good? How about the music? Is there a band playing or is the music too loud? I also enjoy going to cafés for a cup of tea or coffee, so my dream restaurant would  be a little bit of both.

The furnishing in most of the restaurants is fine,  but very seldom have I seen a skillfully decorated and furnished restaurant. I would like my café-restaurant to have a simple but a very cosy furnishing. The colours would be very down to earth like blue and green and soft brown. The tables shouldn’t be too dark. I wouldn’t like to have huge tablecloths, but instead small ones so that the table could be seen. The back of the chairs must be high ones. Also a sofa or two would be nice in the café. Like the ones in Friends, but a more stylish ones.

Also the lighting is very important to me. It sets the mood of the whole place. Lamps shouldn’t be too bright ones, but there should be plenty of them. The windows should be big with triple-glass to save energy. During the daytime there wouldn’t be any need for electrical lights. Well, at least during the summer and spring.

And last but certainly not least, the food. My café-restaurant wouldn’t be an original dining place with pizzas and steaks. Instead all the food would be naturally grown without pesticides. And I hope that some products could be gotten as fair trade products, for example tea, coffee and hopefully fruit too. Mainly the menu would consist of products from Finland, except for those fruits and rice. Vegetables would be the main thing the dishes consist of, but there would be naturally grown meet also. I’d hire chefs with will to participate into this project with all their skills and imagination.

And during the evening there would be a band playing jazz, soul and blues. My café-restaurant is sort of a mixture of everything, everything, I, myself, like.

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It seems I was very particular with tablecloths back in the day. 😀 Very fond of commas too, especially towards the end. I can sense a little of teenager snobbiness in this piece too. When did I ever truly listen to jazz? 😀 It mostly makes me sleepy.

Just to remind everyone: this was written before I knew dietetics existed, let alone that I would one day be studying nutrition. That’s why I started smiling widely when reading about the part of food. ”Naturally ”grown food aka organic food, fair trade, local and mostly vegetarian. Add a brewery to this combination and voilá! my update dream restaurant plan is done! I don’t know where the path of life will take me, but I’m pretty sure the path I chose was destined. And I’m grateful for it. 🙂

Clearly a beer for me.
At one of my favourite places anywhere, Cheeky Monkey Brewery in Margaret River, Australia.

With my lovely friend Dr Jess after delicious lunch at Cheeky Monkey. My veggie hamburger was as good as it was big.