Oops, I did it again ...

My tale this time is proof that lightning can strike twice in the same place. Well, maybe not lightning. And maybe not the same place, exactly. But the same victim.

Friends and family will know that when we moved into our current home around six years ago, it needed a lot of redecorating. The only room that didn't was the kitchen. Not entirely to our taste, but it had been recently renovated. So we were going to live with it, at least until I managed to set it on fire and then blow it up.

It's a long story, let's leave it at leaving a plastic tub full of shopping on top of a ceramic cooker hob (that bit is important) and then going out. On our return, the tub had melted, caught fire, burnt parts of the kitchen units, then two aerosols amongst the shopping exploded, fortunately blowing out the fire but at the same time, blowing out the window and door. Just the memory of it makes me cringe even now. The silver lining was that our insurer paid for a new kitchen and our neighbours saw an increase in their premium costs next time they renewed.

Fast forward to 2008, last weekend. I'd spent the weekend back home with my family. I returned to Helsinki with my LighterLife foodpacks in my favourite TravelPro flight case. I took it into the kitchen area and the only place to put it to unload was on top of the ceramic cooker hob. Yes, that's right. You would think I had learnt my lesson, but I was tired and in a hurry. I must have nudged the control knob when I put the suitcase on the surface, because a few minutes later when I was elsewhere in the apartment, I noticed a smell of burning. Returning to the kitchen I found clouds of smoke and moved quickly to get the suitcase off the hob and onto the balcony.

Here you see the aftermath. I got to the case before it actually caught fire, but it is nonetheless ruined. It's a shame because it has been with me on so many trips that I shall need to find a very similar replacement. Perhaps it could go on my Christmas list?

One unexpected benefit has been in a little variation in my diet. The LighterLife chicken soups now have a faint barbeque flavour...

Hunter gatherer ...

Today I fulfilled an ambition held since last Autumn; to go mushroom picking in the Finnish woods.

British friends will recognise this as a very dangerous occupation: we are trained from a young age that the only people who gather fungi from the forests are witches and foreigners. The BBC has been reporting deaths and illness amongst amateur mushroom hunters and a survey is now underway in Scotland to find out how many people are engaging in this activity. Apparently, the credit crunch is meaning that free food is more appealing than ever.

But here in Finland, it is a normal seasonal activity. My native guide had offered to trade their knowledge of the countryside in return for me driving there, so on a beautiful sunny morning, we set off.

The countryside here is full of colour at this time of year, easily matching any Autumnal display I've seen at home. After half an hour or so, we arrived at our destination (of course, this must remain a secret; the first of a few pointers I was given in mushroom etiquette).

The next pointer was to look really, really carefully. It takes a while for the eyes to become accustomed to looking for the fungi. Today, we were mainly after Cantharellus tubaeformis, funnel chanterelles. If you look closely at the photo, you'll find some (you may need to click to see the picture full size).

Tip number three was very understandable, given the size of the mushrooms. Even if they are too small to pick, don't tread on them, but leave them for the next hunters in a few days.

Of course, Sunday is really too late; we should have been out on Thursday evening to get the best of the crop. However, after a couple of hours my guide had a decent number in their basket and my Stockmann paper carrier bag held around a litre of chanterelles, so we headed back to the city.

The final challenge was what to do with them. Soup is a popular option, or a mushroom omelette, but I opted to dry the larger specimens. Here they are, threaded onto a length of cotton and hanging across one of the guest beds. I will let you know how long this option takes to dry them out, I am guessing a couple of weeks. As long as they are done by October half term, when the family are coming to visit, all should be fine.

With the smaller ones, I made a sauce with some sweated onions, cream and some seasoning. On top of toasted rye bread and finished with some shaved parmesan, they were delicious. And three hours later, I have no stomach ache or other symptoms, so I think they were probably safe!

For more photos from the trip, visit my mushroom hunting channel on Share on Ovi.

Serendipity ...

For my constitutional stroll on Sunday, I decided to turn right out of my building instead of left and ended up walking through Hakaniemi and then took a bridge over the railway line and ended up by a small kiosk selling coffee, five minutes before it closed at 7pm.

I found myself with a delightful view over Töölönlahti; the white building in the distance is the opera house.

It just goes to show that even in a big city such as Helsinki, you are never far away from nature here. I was listening to a Monty Python album as I sipped my coffee and enjoyed the view. Serendipitously, as I got up to leave and finish my walk, their Finland song began playing! It felt right, on a cold but bright(ish) autumn evening.

This paperless office idea will never catch on ...

HP have mailed me to say that from September 15, the HP Blog Printing service will be shutdown. I have therefore removed the printing icons from the blog. I know this will inconvenience at least one of my readers (sorry Mum), so have been investigating an alternative.

If you want to try HP Smart Web Printing, you can download an application to your Windows XP or Vista PC. It adds a button into your browser which then allows you to select part of a browser window (for example, one blog post) and clip that either for immediate printing or to print as one of a selection of clips. Once you have clipped it, you can resize it too (useful for those who want larger type). At first glance, this looks quite useful.

Please try it out and let me know what you think. I am going to be doing the same.

Going nuts in the woods ...

This is my travelling companion from today. He's a red squirrel, quite a rare sight in the UK but much more common in Finland.

I visited Seurasaari, an open air museum on one of the islands of Helsinki, around 7km from my apartment. There are a lot of old buildings which have been moved from their original sites, showing what homes in Finland were like in days gone by. During the summer months (which technically includes today, though it didn't feel like it) there are also folk in traditional costume who show how life was lived.

I stopped for a kahvi (can you guess what that is?) and noticed the smell of woodsmoke, which was coming from a public grill for makkara, the Finnish word for sausages. Cooking these over a wood fire is an important part of outdoor life here. Since I am currently doing the LighterLife programme, I did not linger once they started cooking! The programme is working; I've lost over 6Kg in three weeks. I have another 4Kg to go before I transition from "obese" to just being "overweight" - what an ambition! 2Kg after that will take me back to where I was in June last year, when I had just finished the programme and moved to Finland.

Because I am avoiding real food, I did not risk temptation and buy peanuts for the squirrels. It rather irritated the fellow in the picture, who, while I was getting the phone ready to take his photo, ran up my legs and onto my back. Fortunately, he was not in a vengeful mood and scurried off to the trees, posing for this shot before he disappeared.

A touch of brass ...

The Helsinki Festival is going on at present. Last evening was the Night of the Arts - my normal route to work through Senatoori was blocked by a huge stage, which last night was the venue for a concert including the five top songs from 1968, voted by readers of the Helsingin Sanomat. According to their pages, "Friday sees the Night of the Arts in Helsinki, a free culture'n'fun happening in in which museums and art galleries, bookstores and libraries all keep their doors open late, and more than 200 events are held throughout the city and suburbs. The hugely popular night on the town was first arranged in 1989, so this is the 20th celebration of the occasion." I was bushed, so didn't make it down there.

Instead, on my afternoon constitutional today, I caught this brass band performing at the Espa stage on Esplanadi. It was a strange experience - in the midst of the more traditional pieces, they played a country and western number. I then noticed that they were using clothes pegs to hold their music on the stands and avoid the pages blowing in the wind. I started wondering whether the clothes peg was invented before some of the instruments. You can tell I have not been getting out much lately!

A week in Tuscany ...

So it doesn't sound as dramatic as A Year In Provence, but the therapeutic effect is not to be underestimated. We stayed about 20km from Arezzo in the middle of Tuscany (think of Italy as a boot and Tuscany is the front of the thigh). The picture shows the view from our villa.

It was our first time in Tuscany and won't be our last. We've been to Italy before - a great holiday in Sorrento, weekends in Venice, Rome and Florence and I've been to Milan several times on business. Each time, we have loved the warm welcome, the great attitude to life and, of course, the food and drink.

Italy was only unified in the late 1800s and each of the regions proudly reflects their contribution to the union. We were close to the Chianti region and after a day in Siena, visited Castello di Brolio, the home of Barone Ricasoli on the way home. One of the former Barons not only was prime minister of Italy but also devised the formula for Chianti Classico. Sadly I was driving, so had to break my normal rule when tasting wine. I usually don't spit at tastings, since my mother once told me it was rude to spit and I always try to be polite.

We spent a few days just chilling by the pool, barbecuing ourselves and some local produce, but also managed a few other days out. We tried two great restaurants in the main square - lunch one day at Logge Vasari, dinner the next at La Lancia D'Oro - the owners are brothers and the food in both is up to the same high standard. The degustation menu at the second left us waddling back to the cars. They share the same website and, as you can see from the photo, the same terrace facing the piazza.

A highlight for me was our last day, spent in Florence and then Pisa on the way back to the airport. We revisited Il Latini in Florence, where a four course Tuscan meal with some of the most delicious ham, pasta, roast meat and dessert cost only 40 euros a head, including plenty of their house Chianti. Our first trip here was with friends last June and the return did not disappoint. The pedestrian navigation feature of Nokia Maps got us around the city and we visited the Duomo as well as the market. Afterwards, we travelled one hour to Pisa and took the obligatory photos of the leaning tower.

When we checked in for our Ryanair flights home, we discovered the true cost of our bargain shopping. Our four cases were cumulatively 17kg over the weight limit of 15kg each. The low fares airline was charitable though, and only charged for 5kg at 15 euros per kilo. Ouch. Perhaps the biggest surprise for us with the Ryanair flights, though, was that Pisa Airport is less than 5km from the city centre. Somewhat closer than Stansted is to London, or Skavsta is to Stockholm!