The Knights in White Denim Tour -AKA The White Trash Tour…
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Yesterday was Kalevala-day ("The Kalevala (IPA: [ˈkɑle̞ʋɑlɑ]) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology"click for Wikipedia-article) - a national flagging day.
After work I took the subway to a part of the city where a friend of mine runs a bike shop.
And here's a chart of our very complex subway system (NOT!). No wonder I find the subway systems in London and Tokyo a bit confusing
It doesn't get more simple than this:
Interesting (?) fact: Finland has two official languages, finnish and swedish. This has it's root in history, from when Finland was under Swedish rule. The swedish speaking finns are a minority of about 5% and are mainly descendants of Swedes that moved to Finland during the years 1000-1200. For example, the subway sign above has everything written first in finnish, then in swedish.And here are some pics from the shop, the area where it's located is this horrible semi-industrial area so I'd rather focus on the beauty inside :). Loads of shiny, bright-coloured bike parts. All the things a guy who's into biking needs, right?
The black frame up top is one of my dream frames at the moment, but I've decided that I wont get a new bike this year so it'll have to stay in my dreams for the time being.I was only going to buy a jacket for road riding and a couple of pairs of cheap gloves and just try on this new helmet that everyone has been raving about on the internet for the last couple of weeks. A friend of mine had tried it on and warned me that it was the most comfortable mountain biking helmet he'd ever tried. I've been looking for a replacement for my seven year old MTB helmet for a couple of years already but haven't found one more comfortable….
…before I tried this one. The moment I popped it on my head I knew I had to have it. Soooooo comfy it doesn't even feel like you're wearing one. A perfect fit! And doesn't look too bad either....no point in postponing the inevitable, eh?
Here's the loot:
That's all folks!
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Great updates Jii, sweet pic's
Peace
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Helped a friend move house today. Time to get these whites dirty!
Chilling out afterwards
Next up: a friend's birthday party with a nautical dress code at a rum bar. I'm sure I can figure out a way to incorporate the whites into my outfit. Planning to do a yacht club vibed thing.. Updates later
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So, the plan was to take the whites for a bike ride at my local trails on sunday but the snow storm screwed up my plans. Went for a walk instead
First we went through a park that has this cool tower on top. It was originally a guard tower and was built in the late 1800's. This particular park is named after a brewery (Sinebrychoff) that was located next to it.
A family enjoying a nice sunday outdoors
There was some kind of snowboarding/skiing contest going on
Continued down to the shore. The southernmost tip of Helsinki is basically a peninsula with the sea on three sides of four. From where I live I only have to walk a maximum of a kilometre in any direction except to the north until I reach the waterfront.
This tugboat had a cool name
This area used to be a wharf, and part of it still is. Lately some large (Caribbean) cruise ships have been built here.
Old wharf buildings
A view over the sea towards the south. Only about 70 kilometres to Estonia from here. The sea had already melted but now it seems to have frozen up again. Saw some people out walking on the ice so I guess it's pretty solid. Didn't feel like risking it since we had quite a warm spell the week before.
A cool snow formation around a rock.
I was supposed to take some fit pics but the battery died..
After the walk and with a recharged battery there was still some daylight left so I decided to get out and take a few pics of one of my bikes that I just got repainted and some of the parts upgraded. Even managed to get a small test ride done
And to finish up today's post, food. I made thai-spiced chicken "meatballs" with ginger-pickled crispy vegetables and some glass noodles and avocado.
Thanks for reading!
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that food
I'd really love to see a what are you cocking today post in your leg, since your plates always look wonderful (and I bet they do taste like it as well!) 
great pics of your town as well…and 20cm of snow during the night? damn, really not my cup of tea, though I enjoy to look at the scenery very much -
Thanks guys! My photo skills aren't that good but my philosophy for this leg is the more content the better regardless of quality :). I don't move around that much during the week since I live and work in the same neighborhood (in the opposite ends of the same street actually) but I do carry the camera with me so I can take snapshots whenever I see something interesting.
I'm starting to like the whites more and more everyday even though I never would buy (or in normal circumstances wear) a white pair of jeans. They are extremely comfortable and I find the fabric even softer than the indigo versions. I could actually use these as sweatpants, they're that comfy. The softness might of course be because these have been washed fairly often (at least once a month I suppose) and the paraffin coating is all gone by now.
All of my friends have been quite entertained and fascinated about the story behind these (have had to explain why I'm wearing white jeans quite a few times), even though most of them are aware of my fondness for japanese denim.
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Tonight was my weekly japanese class. I've been studying it for three years (once a week though which isn't very effective) but am still struggling even with basic kanji. It's a hard language to learn for sure. Thankfully I'm pretty good at reading and writing hiragana and katakana, and in time I know I'll learn more. Gotta have hobbies right?
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Had an awesome day today, me and loghill took a walk (he took loads of pics that he'll post here so consider this post as a mere prelude to a mind-blowing picture fest - there will be pictures of me in the white's too
)Rafa wished earlier that I'd do a WAYCT-post so here we go
Decided to make a risotto from random leftovers from the fridge. Chopped up some chili, courgette, carrots, mushrooms and garlic. Found some ricotta cheese, feta and a piece of parmesan cheese as well.
Fry the vegetables in olive oil
Add the rice and let it fry a while
Add some wine or vinegar and some broth (in this case chicken stock), let the rice soak it in some and add more little by little until the rice is done. Take the pan off the stove and add the cheeses and salt and pepper to taste
Served with some chicken and rocket and a sprinkle of olive oil
Ended the meal with a perfect espresso doppio
Enjoy your sunday guys!
