Here’s an attempt at a more traditional, ”dear diary”-type of thing. An day-by-day overview of what has been going on after my last post. Also known as ”compulsively writing down every boring detail of every uneventful day in lack of anything better to do.”

Thursday: Can’t remember anything very significant. Probably wasn’t as employmentally challenged as I’d like to believe I was.

Friday: Can’t remember anything very significant. Went to a listening party of the forthcoming Amorphis album called ”Skyforger”. Had a lot of free coke and a good time. And although the previous sentence looks very nice just the way it is, it’s probably best to tone down the ”yay, rock and roll!”-aspect of it by specifying the nature of this free coke being more of the ”dark, refreshing and not entirely healthy liquid that goes down your throat”-variety, than, say, ”white, uplifting and not entirely legal powder that goes up your nose”. Here’s a short description of the album: First, it begins, with the music starting and stuff. There’s all kinds of instruments, playing, with occasional bouts of singing thrown in as well. This goes on for a bit, quite a bit in fact, with the songs changing and other such things that sometimes happen within the context of a music album. It goes on and on, and on. Then it sort of stops, and not only sort of, it really comes to an end, at roughly the same time when there are no songs left on the album. And then it stays stopped unless someone goes and puts it on again from the beginning, in which case it supposedly starts anew. Hopefully this cutting analysis of mine satisfied the need for information of all you crazy metalheads anxiously waiting for the new Amorphis masterpiece.

Afterwards I went home and prepared a lasagne so ill-smelling and horrible-tasting that no one was able to eat it. And the traditional Chianti Baroncini in a straw basket wasn’t exactly a treat either. So I had to run to a nearby takeaway for some pizzas.

Saturday: Can’t remember anything very significant. Took a bus to my hometown to meet up with the relatives I have left, namely my mother and my brother and his family. His younger daughter was turning seven so the tables were heaped with birthday cakes and other sweet-tasting things to gobble up. There was a lot of hugging and lying under a great big pile of small people, plus the usual amount of talking rubbish and observing how my brother and mother get on each others’ nerves.

In the evening went to a Show & Dinner at Grand Casino Helsinki, to see an a cappella group called Fork perform (rather entertainingly, I’d say) and tuck in to a vegetal menu of various quality. The lime seasoned tofu was very forgettable but lasagne with eggplant was wonderful and by the time of dessert, after the high class Sherry, German Riesling and French Merlot, the pineapple ravioli and sorbet accompanied by frothy Italian Moscato d’Asti was beyond adjectives. Went to a rock club around the corner after that, for some more live music and ”so this is what it was like when I was single, drunk and used to frequent here every Saturday.” I’m very very glad I’m not single anymore.

Sunday: Can’t remember anything very significant. Had a bit of a hangover and felt very frustrated because the planned sessions to record the rest of the vocals for the Sinisthra album today fell through yet again. The songs are seriously haunting me again after a calmer period and every time I close my eyes in the evening my head is filled with various ideas of how the end product should sound and what needs to happen during and between the songs. I can’t communicate these fleeting ideas to mr. Mäkinen (who’s responsible for the musical side of things) very well so mostly they just keep haunting me until I forget them.

Monday: Can’t remember anything very significant. Probably wasn’t as employmentally challenged as I’d like to believe I was.

Tuesday: Can’t remember anything very significant. Received a text message, asking if I was interested in becoming a drummer of a thrash metal band. Wasn’t very interested, although the band in question is in my opinion probably the best at producing authentic sounding thrash in Finland today. Still, the year is 2009, not 1989 so I declined the offer, stating the lack of time, ability and motivation as reasons. The fact that I pulled it off in Protected Illusion when I was 20 doesn’t mean I could pull it off now.

Wednesday: Can’t remember anything very significant. Went to a doctor and had a mole removed from my back. Which conjures up all kinds of mental pictures of a furry shortsighted little mammal more used to furrowing the ground, tightly clinging to the posterior portion of my upper body and not very willing to let go. Maybe a distant cousin of a monkey some people keep having on their backs? Sadly this was a more prosaic kind of mole, an untroublesome yet unpleasant looking oval growth sticking out of the skin of my back like some vaguely disgusting little fruit that no one wants to behold, let alone touch. So the doctor nipped it off and cauterized the wound and now The Loved One can admire the complete sight of my bare back again without any unaesthetic interruptions in there.

And this brings us to present day and a resolution not to go further down this road of traditional diary keeping in my future entries. Here’s a picture of a mole! Dig that stuff, mole!


THE CHALLENGE OF THE DAY:
Finding out why there are no moles in Ireland. Well actually the link gives an answer to that, so not much of a challenge there. But still! Every challenge needs not to be unbeatable, like the Sponge Bridge.



THIS WEEKS’ BOTTLES OF CHOICE:
A kind of semi-spontaneous, not-that-planned Italian theme happened recently with the choices of food for the weekend and the drinks to accompany them. It’s nice when you have the time to carefully prepare all the courses and set the table to please the eye.

Desiderio Jeio Prosecco Valdobbiadene Brut was the appetizer with minestrone soup, as well as keeping company to the dessert of strawberries and whipped cream, in absence of (and a poor substitute for) Moscato d’Asti. All the dry Italian sparkling wines I’ve tasted so far have been either very average or plain horrible. This is probably the best I’ve had which doesn’t mean that I liked it. There was nothing to hold on to in this wine, no character at all, ”tasteless” isn’t exactly the term but ”almost completely devoid of all taste” would be more fitting. Very bland and bleak and easy-to-drink when cold enough. I often see sparkling wines described as ”toasty” and can’t really see the point but here the term finds its’ home in my opinion.

Voga Italia Quattro is a novelty red wine, with a bottle that looks like a giant roll-on deodorant or perfume. It’s causing a bit of a conversation in Finland at the moment, having just arrived here, so I was curious about it and although the packaging might have overshadowed the actual wine a little, I couldn’t help liking this immensely. A wonderful partner to ragù alla bolognese and lovely on its’ own too. I’m sure the bottle design affected my judgement but this still made it’s way on my A-list and will be bought again, and recommended to friends as well.

Pinot Grigio Lamberti is an exceptionally wonderful white wine. I usually like anything that’s made of Pinot Grigio (except the sparkling ones) but this still caught me by surprise when I opened it on a Saturday night, after midnight, to sample it briefly. Devastatingly crisp and delightful, with all the good things I like the most about white wine. On the following day I poured it very sparingly on the arborio rice risotto but mostly into our wine glasses and it really sang. This will definitely be bought again.