On Thursday, December 6, we spent our independence day in rain which washed away the little snow we still had left.

We also had our office Christmas party this week at a casino. We ate posh: raw fish (yuck!), duck (odd and quite fatty) with a side dish of mushrooms (bleurgh) in a salad. The dessert was depressingly small but at least it tasted alright (only ‘alright’, not delicious). There was a music show by an a cappella band called Fork which was amazing! They ended with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody — sent shivers down my spine. I was quite disappointed that neither of their albums has that song (and the little snippets I heard didn’t sound as well-sung as during the show).

Because Thursday was a day off I took also Friday off (“summer” vacation). I travelled to my grandparents and on Friday Grandma and I went shopping. I bought a calendar for my godson, I found a nice red shirt which Grandma bought me for Christmas, and I also found something for my penpal Katrina (not going to say what in case she reads this :) ). Today (i.e. Saturday even though the post’s timestamp is Sunday) we went to Iittala where there are several design shops and a factory shop. Grandma has bought me pieces of the Teema collection and now I got 6 white dinner plates. I also found a nice lasagne pan. I was looking for a black platter (or anything black, really, because they are discontinuing the colour) but there was none! I’ll have to check out the shops in Helsinki before it’s too late. Grandma hasn’t wanted to buy me black dishes because she thinks it’s too gloomy a colour. I hope they’ll take purple into their range some day… ;)

I also bought quite a lot of chocolate for Xmas at Kultasuklaa (sorry, no English page there) and licorice-flavoured honey at Hunaja-aitta. I don’t know how I’m going to use the honey but there’s no hurry (expiration date in the fall of 2009). They said it goes with ice cream and even porridge (I’m thinking about pancakes, too…).

Grandpa wanted to buy me a brooch at a shop that sold Aarikka products (surprisingly, I couldn’t find the brooch I eventually chose in that site’s catalogue…). I got a red “safety pin” where there are a few wooden beads and a snow flake. Quite seasonal, but I think it goes nicely with my black winter attire.

Aarikka brooch

(I know, lots of product/company names but they’re Finnish and some of them are small shops, so I’m not ashamed.)