Food has a way of carrying us home. For me, that home begins in a sunlit kitchen where the scent of fresh bread mingled with simmering soup, wrapping itself around everything like a warm embrace. I can still hear the gentle clink of utensils, the soft hum of the oven, and above it all, my…
Category: Childhood
Roots & Wings
For those of us Finns who live overseas, identity is something tender. It is more than where we were born or where we live now. It lives quietly within us — in our language, our memories, and in that ache for something we can never fully leave behind. We may build our lives far from…
Bless Your Heart
At the moment, our home feels like a linguistic smoothie, with accents from all over the world blending together under one roof. Our friends from Florida are staying with us for the month of November, and their presence has turned our home into a lively little orchestra of voices, tones, and rhythms. It is not…
Cardamom Spice
There is a place in my childhood memories sweeter than almost any other — my grandma’s kitchen. There was nowhere on earth I would rather have been than in my mummi’s warm and welcoming kitchen, learning to bake pulla, that beautiful sweet Finnish cardamom bread whose scent alone can carry me straight back to childhood….
Childhood Summer Cottage
Although Helsinki’s cobbled streets and majestic architecture formed the backdrop of my early life, my world was anchored in one small, precious place within that city. In the northeastern corner of Helsinki, where the pulse of the city softens and nature quietly takes over, lies the lovely neighbourhood of Itä-Pakila. It was there, in a…
Harvest Time
I grew up in Helsinki, Finland, in what felt like a very typical Finnish way, with both a winter home and a summer home. When the end of May arrived, our family of six would leave the city behind and move to our summer cottage, where we stayed until autumn crept in and school began…
Dandelion Puffballs
Have you ever gone for a walk with a small child and held their little hand in yours as they skip along beside you? Their fingers curl trustingly around your own, while their happy chatter rises and falls like birdsong — one thought tumbling into another, one question giving way to the next, their mind…
Afternoon Tea
I recently had my grandson stay for a couple of nights during the school holidays, and as always, the house seemed changed by his presence. It felt fuller somehow — livelier, warmer, threaded through with movement, laughter, questions, and that particular energy young people carry with them so naturally. And then, almost as soon as…
Something to Smile About
What makes you smile? I sometimes think life poses this question softly, in the middle of the most ordinary moments. Not during the grand occasions we prepare for and photograph and remember, but in the passing fragments of an ordinary day — while walking through a supermarket, sitting at a red light, or driving home…
My Dad, My Hero
I was told that when I came into this world, my father was especially glad that the baby placed into his arms was a little girl. I have often pictured that moment in my mind — my father looking down at me with love already rising in him, holding me carefully in his hands as…
Apples of Gold 