Yarn bombing or yarnbombing is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted cloth rather than paint or chalk.
While other forms of graffiti may be expressive, decorative, territorial, socio-political commentary, advertising or vandalism, yarn bombing is almost exclusively about beautification and creativity.
from wikipedia
lots more examples at yarnbombing.com.
you know what makes or breaks the impression i have of a country? the food! it may be silly, but if a country has tasty, uncomplicated food, i’m sure i’ll like it. china had a ginourmous array of cheap, exotic, fresh fruit available. singapore had the fluffier stuffed “pancakes” i ever tasted aaaaaand ice-cream sandwiches.
and then came finland and i was totally unprepared for the berries explosion! strawberries, cloudberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries… they had them all in their open air markets, box after box of juicy colorful berries. they had them in an array of mouthwatering desserts too, like the one that inspired this post: vadelma munkki. we had just arrived from a trip to suomenlinna and were starving, so these strange looking treats in the harbour market were a delicious surprise.
sugary and fluffy and light, with sweet raspberry jam peeking from the inside…
…nobody could resist them! :D
contemporary art museums and design museums are the kind of museums we like to visit in the places we go. the exhibitions may be a bit of “hit and miss” but there’s usually something thought provoking. so our first stop in finland was kiasma, the contemporary art museum of helsinki.
the architecture, by steven holl, is quite impressive (the curves on the atrium are incredible) and they give visitors ipods that guide you through the exhibits (none of those crap audiotour gadgets designed in the 70s).
the main exhibit when we visited was called “tracking traces”. it’s quite vague and hard to explain in words, so, from the booklet:
The works in the Tracking traces… collection exhibition have been divided into three thematic sections: The works under the Smudge theme explore the way in which the city is transmitted through the activity as signs and deeds. The works deal with, for example, globalization, subvertising and activism. The works under the Barcode theme use the whole spectrum of imagery offered by the visual culture as their material. The works borrow various images and in doing so change their original meanings. The third theme looks at the body as an image. Imprints are often seen as recognizable signs on the body, such as sleep wrinkles, bites or bruises. The traces left by the event may be more permanent than the physical sign.
some highlights i liked:
– an essay on patriotic food:
– a surprising (and brilliant) photo essay on “animal viscera as garment”:
– a little train that ran around a room. it had a camera inside that was streaming to a mini-amphitheater on a corner, while voices from the “passengers” told their stories and recollections:
museum of contemporary art kiasma
mannerheiminaukio 2, 00100 helsinki
attending a big international postcrossing meet-up has been a dream which so far had been put on hold – for the great part of the last few years we were far away when these happened. not this time though, so we said, why not? we were in europe, the trip is quick and plane tickets are not that expensive, we didn’t know helsinki (but were extremely curious), and after a summer working from home, we could use a vacation. also, our dear friends nathalie and mikko live in helsinki, so it was a very nice opportunity to visit them :)
so we came to helsinki on a mission, but boy, were we in for a treat. stay tuned for an avalanche of nordic posts! :)
this blog is missing some serious food reviews. i am in portugal after all, and of all the places i’ve visited, i’ve never met another so brimming with yummy culinary deliciousness. thing is, portugal is also my “home by default”, meaning, the place we get lazy about moving our butts because we think we already know all there is to know. you know what? definitely not true.
like ovos moles, for instance, which i had never tried before. so let’s do this!
before though, i should warn you that traditional portuguese desserts or sweets are known to be made of dozens of eggs and a ton of sugar, and ovos moles is no exception. moderate consumption is advised.
ovos moles’ origins are tied to several convents in the beira litoral region, where the nuns used the sweets to strengthen the patients. it is said that the reason most conventual sweets use lots of egg yolks is because the nuns used the egg whites to iron their clothes, making them whiter in the process :)
so, on a recent visit to aveiro, we got a box and took it home, to properly enjoy. aveiro is a river/seaside region, so ovos moles are wrapped in various shell motives and often offered in small boats or decorated barrels.
the outside layer is dry but melts in your tongue like the wafers they give in mass. the inside is where the sweet action is. it tastes of eggs and sugar, naturally, and one of this tiny things will be enough to kick your body into instant sugar rush :)
so now you know! they’re quite nice so go get some if you’re in town! :)