Superfood mocha latte recipe

Short film on Finland

Finland being one of the world's safest and most incorrupt countries, it's also known as a country that just works. This film shows you the coolest, the wildest, the lightest and the easiest side of Finland:
Film by Finland Film Commission

What languages sound like to foreigners

Have you seen this Finnish girl's video yet "What Languages Sound Like To Foreigners"? Spot Finnish right in the beginning. Do you think she nailed it? 

Begin Finnish out loud now: 20 phrases

After you jump-start your Finnish skills using our phrase list, you can sit in a Helsinki café like this one and ask “Saisinko kupin kahvia?” (Could I have a cup of coffee, please?). (The café in the photo is Tamminiemen Kahvila.) So you want to learn Finnish? Start here and now! Jump right in with our audio list of 20 useful phrases. Learn one each day, or see how many you can master in one sitting.

Finnish (listen)	English
Hyvää päivää	(literally: Good day) How do you do?/Hello
Mitä kuuluu?	How are you?
Hei!	Hi!
Tervetuloa	Welcome
Hauska tavata	Nice to meet you!
Hyvää huomenta	Good morning
Hyvää iltaa	Good evening
Hyvää yötä	Good night
Kaunis ilma tänään	Nice weather today
Anteeksi	Excuse me/Sorry
Näkemiin	Goodbye
Anteeksi, en puhu suomea	Sorry, I don’t speak Finnish
Puhutteko englantia?	Do you speak English?
Saisinko ruokalistan?	Could I have the menu, please?
Saisinko viinilistan?	Could I have the winelist, please?
Paljonko tämä maksaa?	How much does this cost?
Saisinko yhden oluen?	Could I have a beer, please?
Saisinko kupin kahvia?	Could I have a cup of coffee, please?
Saanko laskun?	Can I have the bill, please?
Kiitos	Thank you

This is Finland: Begin Finnish out loud now

Yoga used as therapy for both kids and teenagers

Minimise aggressiveness while increasing the self-esteem of our children. More often than not, a kid's hectic or hyperactive behaviour is caused by a lack of concentration. We, as parents, try playing games and spending more time with them thinking they lack our attention; or we just take them to a doctor when we run out of ideas how to fix this problem. Ironically enough, we might just have a yoga class scheduled in the afternoon to release our own stress after worrying so much about our hyperactive child. Well, your child needs the same release. We all know the health benefits yoga has on an adult. However, not too long ago, its health benefits for children and teenagers were discovered and it's gradually being put into practise.
Among the many kinds of yoga, Asthanga yoga for instance, was created for young teenagers. Children, who reach their teenage years, start growing rapidly and their hormones run wild, which often provokes sudden aggressiveness and/or nervousness.

Yoga Festival 1-2 March For the second year on a row, Yoga Festival will open its doors to the public. Held at the Cable Factory, Lakshmi Yoga, Manipura Yoga, Studio Yin, Tulijooga and Yoga Nordic, will be represented, among many other yoga studios and schools. www.joogafestival.fi

"Asthanga's asana, or posture, makes them bend down a lot, which extends their spinal cord and this helps keep the nervous system calm," says Mara Guadagni, a yoga instructor specialised in kids and teenagers at 'It's Yoga Helsinki'. "It also helps rebalance their hormones."
Excessive use of TV, computer and smartphones among others, affects younger people everyday. With this in mind, children become overly active and exited; some becoming bullies and some being bullied themselves. Yoga helps them move, connect their energy and, eventually, work on focusing their energy on relaxation. With yoga, children understand when it's the time to move and be active, but also when it's a time to relax
"As human beings we need the quiet time to recharge our system. Constant alertness creates stress and stress creates hormonal imbalance," says Pia Rydman, a yoga instructor at "Tulijooga" who specialises in 'Hot yoga', practised in around 40 degrees Celsius. "Teenagers already go through a lot of changes and the body changes a lot as well. Yoga gives the opportunity to quiet down, heal the body and learn to concentrate better."
Yoga for children in practise
This new practise is not currently found too often in Helsinki, but its popularity is on the increase. A handful of yoga studios are more than willing to teach younger participants: "It's Yoga Helsinki" will start instructing children in the spring and Studio Yin would happily open a class to children or teenagers if they have enough willing kids to sign up.
"Yoga has the same effect on children, teenagers and adults," says Liisa Hanén, both yoga teacher and yoga therapist at "Studio Yin". Hanén has taught yoga to children up to seven years old and is a strong believer of the healing powers of yoga on younger minds.
"Yoga helps to get to know oneself better. When you get to have more space within you, it calms you," Hanén adds. "It helps accepting oneself and finding your own balance."
Yoga can start in the womb if we consider prenatal and post natal yoga and, surprisingly enough, mothers and their three-week old babies can practise yoga together. With each asana the mother does, a connection with her baby takes place either by physical or eye contact. The baby participates and is aware of their mum's presence. This connection promotes different physiological and psychological benefits for both the mother and her baby.

HELSINKI TIMES

Yoga used as therapy for both kids and teenagers

Ayurvedic Chocolate Superfood Elixir

Jason Wrobel's Ayuvedic Chocolate Superfood Elixir

The "hän" factor

An interesting article of the gender issues thru a foreigner's eyes in Helsinki Times.

The "hän" factor

Power porrigde

Power porridge

Mashed ginger
3 tablespoons coconut oil
2 dl oat meal
5 dl water
3 tablespoons maca powder
1 teaspoon salt

Let the ginger and coconut oil simmer in the pan for a while until you'll add the other ingredients.

Traditional Finnish foods that you need

Breakfast for all senses

Sunny juice
2 oranges (organic)
5 carrots (organic)
Cut the carrots into smaller pieces, peel the oranges, process them into juice thru a juicer.

Morning porridge
100g frozen raspberries (you can also add fresh strawberries)
1 frozen organic banana
200 ml organic coconut milk
2 dl chia gel

Cube the banana, put the pieces on a plate and put it into the freezer the night before. Put 0.5 dl good quality chia seeds into a glass bowl and 1,5 dl water. Let it form a gel while you are making the sunny juice. Put the chia gel into a blender, then the coconut milk, then the frozen pieces of banana and the raspberries. Frozen banana makes the porridge creamy and ice cream like. Blend the porridge until it becomes silky smooth and gets a gorgeous color.

Blueberry cashew cream

Ingredients:
200g frozen blueberries
1 can of cold coconut cream
Organic banana
4 teaspoons of cashew cream

Cashew-cream
2 dl raw organic (soaked) cashew nuts
small amount of water and a drizzle of good quality salt
honey or coconut palm sugar according to your taste
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder

Make the cashew cream first. Put the soaked and dried nuts in a blender and add little water. Blend until the mixture becomes creamy. Add water little by little. The purpose is to make silky smooth, but not sticky cream, that's easy to put into layers. Pour the cream into a bowl and put it into a fridge.     Add cashew cream to the blender (4 teaspoons), add the rest of the ingredients and blend it. The frozen blueberries make the mixture solid and frozen. Put the softened blueberries and cashew cream into a glass as beautiful layers and decorate with blueberries.

Upgrade your morning coffee

Have you tried the creamy combination of fat and coffee and noticed the steady and long lasting energy it brings? This is one of the trends going on in nutrition right now.

 

By switching the water into chaga tea when making coffee you will stabilize the acidifying effects of coffee and you can notice special smoothness in the taste.
 

Morning coffee 2.0

 You'll need:
- Freshly grounded organic coffee or whole coffee beans.
- Chaga tea made with clean water.
- The coffee maker. For example: AeroPress & Chemex.
- Quality fats: Coldpressed coconut oil, MCT-oil, ghee and organic butter (Kerrygold recommended, unsalted).

 Method:
1. Ground the beans in a grinder or choose organic coffee that is as fresh as possible.
2. Make the coffee with the coffee making method you choose and use chaga tea as the liquid.
3. Pour the hot coffee into a blender and add the amount you wish of the fats mentioned above. In the beginning, it's recommended to try one teaspoon/fat. The coffee in the picture contains 2 tablespoons of MCT-oil, 1 teaspoon of coconut oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. If you wish, add spices such as vanilla, coconut butter or Ceylon cinnamon.
4. Blend in a blender for a few seconds until the coffee has become a creamy elixir.

 

What is MCT oil?

Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) work directly in cells to give you an extra boost to maximize your performance. Very little MCT oil is stored as fat because it is used for energy so quickly.

Tired of constantly craving caffeine? Want a thermogenic immune boost with your energy?

MCT oil benefits:

• Fast Energy - MCT oil converts into energy faster than other oils
• Better Blood Chemistry - Helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels, controlling LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and boosting HDL (good) cholesterol levels
• Nutrient Absorption - Improves the body’s absorption and use of vitamin E, calcium, and magnesium*
• Immune Protection - Works to control harmful bacteria, viruses and fungi inside the body
• Healthy Cell Membranes - Serves as stable building block of cell membranes

MCT oil is extracted from palm and coconut oil.  

Happy women's day!

In the picture is featured Finnish company's Arabia's Paratiisi (Paradise) dishes. They combine well-defined and controlled shapes with rich decoration, achieving a beauty that never fails to inspire. The captivating Paratiisi range is a much-loved classic from Arabia. It only takes one Paratiisi dish in a table setting to turn a meal into a celebration.

The Arabia brand is a pioneer of Finnish design. The product range consists of popular dish sets and interior design and gift products. Creative design, ceramic know-how and brand management create the core of Arabia.

Delicious and super-easy raw chocolate recipe!

Method & ingredients:
Boil water in a pot. This is for the purpose of melting the cacao butter. Put a glass bowl in the pot with hot water.

You will need:
100 g - 3.5 oz cacao butter
75 g - 2.6 oz honey
85 g - 3 oz cacao powder

Let the cacao butter melt in the glass bowl. Mix in the honey and the cacao powder. Put the mixture into a mold and let it set.

Some of the recommended US brands for the cacao butter and cacao powder are: Ojio, David Favor's Radical Health Products, David Wolfe & Longevity Warehouse Products, Robert Hugh Cassar's Earth Shift Products, Matt Monarch & The Raw Food World Products. Experiment with products from iherb.com as well, to find the one you like.

About cacao butter and cacao powder:
Provides a great smooth chocolate flavor. Cacao contains: Antioxidants, because of its high polyphenol content. Theobromine, a weak but effective stimulant; Phenylethylamine (PEA), a chemical found to inspire happiness, clear mindedness, focus, and wakefulness. Cacao also contains substances that are chemically and pharmacologically related to the brain lipids, Anandamide. The word ‘anandamide’ is derived from ananda, Sanskrit for 'bliss'. Cacao is high in minerals like iron and potassium.