yippii!

we are going to NYC in october and i'm going to see the taping of martha, yee! got the confirmation to my ticket request today, i'm so excited!!! (in case you didn't notice...) now i need figure out what to wear, no easy task, i could be on tv!

back to today and rehab III. we had the inbody (this link in english) test done today. the results, well, didn't tell anything i didn't know already, i gotta loose some fat, not as much as i thought, though. this test tells your whole body compositon down to minerals in your body, how much of body weight is muscles, how much fat, etc. there was a lecture on nutrition and weight loss after the results, their lecture makes sense on some many issues, throws some old theories to waste basket. there were some older ladies on the lecture and obviously some of what the lecturer said rubbed them the wrong way because a few left. obviously, when someone questions your decades long practises on what your thought was the right approach to fitness and proper nutrition, the natural reaction would be to rebel, or like in their case, leave the lecture.

my eating habits aren't that bad, for food i mean, it's my baking and love of chocolate. not giving them up, however, but will cut down on portion sizes and have them less regularly.

all in all this week has been a good spark for my starting to get fit again, and to loose some flab as well. the food here... excellent but isn't helping me (nor anyone else, it seems) to loose weight because of the portion sizes, another issue i need to address. no pic today, been too busy with lectures, massage, circuit training and turkish bath

rehab II

i'm sore in places i didn't remember i had muscles, like my butt. sure, i walk the dog, but not having been to the gym in (confession time) 10 yrs has done something to my rear end...

we've had fitness tests, let's just say there is quite a lot i could (and will!!) do for my overall health and fitness. yesterday we had a lecture on food and fitness. nothing new there, i'm so aware that chocolate cheesecake is sooo bad, but did you know that one beer (3,3dl) has the same amount of energy as 9 cubes of sugar?







or that a chocolate bar has the same amount of energy as 15 cubes fo sugar







when they put it like that... but i still don't want to know how many cubes of sugar there is in a chocolate cheesecake, you gotta treat youself once in a while.

although i had the tests yesterday, and went nordic walking before dinner, today was by far the most excercisefull day. nordic walking for 45 mins first thing in the morning, then streching for another 45, then i had a pedicure (blissfull!), circuit training for 45 mins, lunch, lectures for 2,5 h, indian scalp massage (which included pulling my ears, literally!), and a very humiliating experience of etnobaila (45 mins)... i don't remember the last time i've sweat out that bad. i should have known better, i have 3 left feet and no sense of rhythm, there was no way i was going to be able to move my feet, hips and hands all at the same time, and in beat... i went to the pools afterwards, swam a few laps and sat under a water fountain and got my shoulders "water-massaged". after all this i felt almost not hungry, but went to dinner anyway. i'm so ready to bed now.

here is the yesterday's sunset by the local lake







tomorrow everyone in our group will have InBody (link in finnish and norwegian only, sorry). it's a test in which a machine calculates (by electricity) what you are made of, how many % of your body is bones, fat, muscles, water, etc... it'll be a rude awakening. not sure if i'll share the results with you

rehab

as in rehabilitation to maintain working ability. there are 9 others from my work place and we'll stay here for the week, and come back for 3 more sessions during the next 13 months. the link more or less explains what we do, or are supposed, to do here. this place also has a spa, best part of the whole deal is that these sessions are like a paid vacations. well, we are expected to "work" some, like i have fitness and muscle tests scheduled for tuesday, there are group exercises, lectures on how to prevent burn-out, among others. i did schedule some extras, like a massage, facial, pedicure and indian scalp massage, for those i do have to pay myself.

the facility has saunas, pools, gyms, etc, and very good food. which kinda fights against my decision to loose some "flab" with all these excellent opportunities to be active and excercise, we'll see...

i was going to hit publish but then thought that this might even more boring than usual without a picture... here is one i took this morning before my doctor's appointment







i was rather good today, i went walking for hour and a half. weather was gorgeous, i loved these trees which are near this facility, they are salix fragilis bullata

quick b'day lunch

i had bought some cold smoked salmon the other day, thinking i would use it in sandwitches. after eating all that "raw" fish in the sushi last night, i needed another way to use that salmon. i took the short way out and made my favourite salmon dish (that still doesn't have a name) with cream and black pepper. salmon (in which ever kind you might have, i find that cold smoked works best), cream and freshly ground black pepper is really all you need. however, this time i wanted to twist my recipe a bit.

i had a 10cm piece of leek and some sour cream (or rather smetana) in the fridge, i figured those were going make the twist. yes, i do know smetana isn't for everyday cooking, but there wasn't anything else i was going to use that smetana for. i chopped the leek and sliced the salmon, right tools make slicing the salmon easy







i started by quickly wilting the leeks in a teaspoon of oliveoil on a very hot pan, added the smetana (approx 1 dl) and brought that to a boil. removed the pan from stove and added the sliced salmon. by doing this the salmon isn't cooked thru, but just warmed in the hot smetana. i season this right before eating with black pepper and mix the sauce. i've done this so many times and i always eyeball the measures. usually i'll have 2.5dl 5% cream and approx 200gr of salmon. if you think you can't bring yourself to eat raw fish, it's ok to sear the salmon first on a hot pan and then add cream (and leek, if using). chopped leeks and sliced salmon here







usually i eat this with pasta, but there were some potatoes waiting to be cooked, equally tasty with potatoes. with smetana the sauce was rather thick, had i wanted i could have thinned it with some water or milk. had some leftover dill that got used as garnish







cold smoked salmon isn't that hard to make yourself, provided. like the link says cold smoking requires patience, knowledge and some special equipment. coincidentally, my dad uses an old fridge for cold smoking salmon. we were quite skeptical at first when he started talking about cold smoking in a fridge, as smoke usually involves fire... (no fire in his fridge, though). after tasting the first batch of his cold smoked salmon we were converted, his was better than store bought. hmm, i should photograph the process one of these days. only hindsight is that he usually starts the process around 5am and i ain't never gonna be able to get up that early...

i keep telling people i didn't have time to bake a cake, half true, maybe i'm getting lazy, 'cause older i feel not! i did have this celebratory icecream before work...

koto

we went out to dinner! this has not happened in finland since... i do not remember. tomorrow would have been the right day for this occasion but i have the evening shift so we had my b'day dinner tonight.

we played tourist and took the train to town, i even had a bottle (a very small one) of sake. we went to koto in downtown helsinki. we've been there once earlier, like 10 yrs ago. i liked the decor better then, the restaurant does look very japanese now but plain instead of simply styled.

wasn't sure what i was going to have, other than the sake. here is starter miso with leeks and tofu






there were many warm dishes on the menu that i wanted to try but sushi won. sushi seems to win always... this was my plate and is called sakura







drinks, sake and kirin beer







thank you for dinner!