FINLAND | 8 ways to summer like the Finns in the Turku Archipelago

my tree hut dwelling at The Forest Village in Storfinnhova Gård, Finland
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A question I get asked a lot is, "What's been your favourite trip this year?". Over the past few months, I've been fortunate enough to pop over to Sri Lanka, China, Florida, Sydney, and Canada, to name a few. But my answer has remained the same since I visited the Turku Archipelago in the height of summer in June: Finland.

The usual response, "Really? I've never even considered Finland for a summer holiday." Which is understandable. And that's why I'm here. Because listen up people, it's the stuff of dreams.

If, like me, you love nature, being outdoors, great weather, fantastic people, foraging, forests, holidaying with friends, great food, few crowds, and beautiful scenery, then you need to make visiting Finland in the summer a high priority.

Apart from all of that (I'd be sold already), it's got a heap of other stuff going for it too. It has a very low crime rate, almost everyone can speak English (I guess because no one else speaks Finnish), and I noticed there are a lot of parallels with my favourite country I've ever visited: Japan.

There's that low crime rate thing. Plus their affinity with nature and water. Also, their reservedness, except when naked in a sauna or onsen (communal bath in Japan) - something about breaking down all barriers and not being able to hide anything. A lot of business in Finland is settled in a sauna, and the same goes for an onsen in Japan (here's a post I wrote on onsen etiquette and how to do communal bathing in Japan). And one of the favourite pastimes of Finns is karaoke, which originated in Japan.

As I was creating this post, I noticed all my images have either a green or blue tone. Reflecting the blue skies, blue water, and green forests. That basically sums up my ideal holiday destination for me. I'd love to know what you think after reading the rest of this post - feel free to leave a comment!

1) Get on your bike

Finns like to be outdoors in the summer in general, and that's very understandable, considering their great weather, very long daylight hours, and the fact 70% of the country is beautiful forest. Not jealous, not jealous at all... Exploring the countryside on two wheels is a favourite way to do this.

summer cycling in Kimitoon, Finland
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The Kimito Islands can be found in the midst of the world's largest archipelago, in the Archipelago Sea, with a mind boggling 50,000 islands, skerries and rocks. This collective shrapnel makes up part of southwest Finland.

The region has a scenic 100km-long coastal cycling route, which takes you from the city of Salo on the mainland, all the way to the beautiful islands of Rosala, Hitis, Högsåra, Örö and Kasnäs. Think small country roads, forest paths, national parks, lakes, beaches, villages, campsites, and idyllic scenery.

What I thought would be a leisurely cruise, turned out to be a hilly 11km power-cycle in some very warm sunshine - I should have realised what was coming when I was given a mountain bike. But it was stunning. You could smell the pine forests before you could see them, and swathes of lupins carpeted the grassy banks.

visitkimitoon.fi/en

 
2) Lunch in a Finnish country garden

Embrace the Finns' affinity with nature by lunching amongst the flora and fauna of a Finnish country garden. You'll find The Westers Garden on the beautiful Kimito Island in the Turku Archipelago - the largest coastal island in Finland. 

Its roots lie in the old kitchen plots of the farmers and seafarers, and today the garden is under complete ecological cultivation. Flowers, herbs, and vegetables grow side by side in blissful harmony, you can buy herbs to take home and plant up, or fill your basket with a colourful harvest.

An old atmospheric cow shed is where you'll find the café, serving the likes of homemade pastries, fish soup, salad from the garden, and delightfully dense Finnish bread. It's a beautiful bucolic spot to unwind, recharge the batteries, and get a little closer to nature.

westers.fi/en/

lunch in the idyllic surroundings of The Westers Garden, Kimito Island
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3) Sleep in a tree house in the forest

This was very special. 

We spent a night in a basic wooden hut on stilts in the middle of a Finnish forest. There was no electricity, and no flush toilets. But they did have a smoke granite sauna, a cold creek to dunk in after, and a Knight's Hall for grand feasting. That's how the Finnish prioritise, and I approve. 

The Forest Village in Storfinnhova Gård, Finland
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The 10pm light was something else, with a sun that was very low, but not yet ready to set. Fern and moss blanketed the floor, dappled rays back-lit the softly swaying leaves, and flitting moths were emerging for dusk. There were just the sounds of the forest against a backdrop of silence. It felt like a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Entirely magical.

The Forest Village can be found in Storfinnhova Gård, on Kemiö Island, around 900 metres from the main estate. It's intended as a place where "adults can reconnect and experience their creative inner child in an atmosphere of immediate joy". If that doesn't sell it, nothing will.

storfinnhova.com/english/forrest

4) Dine in a lighthouse

The archipelago's dizzying number of islands means lighthouses are an integral part of the landscape. Twenty-five kilometers southwest of Hanko, at the entrance of the Gulf of Finland, you'll find the country's southernmost inhabitable place, and Scandinavia's tallest lighthouse. Towering 52 meters above the sea, Bengtskär is the region's most imposing and impressive monument.

What's particularly cool is you can not only dine here, but also stay the night. We didn't do the latter, but I can vouch that the former was a tasty experience. A choppy boat ride got us out to the lighthouse for dinner; it was WINDY. It was windy on land too, the bracing elements of the Baltic Sea blasting away the cobwebs, whilst clambering over rocks to observe the ground-nesting Eider ducks that call the island home, being careful not to disturb them or their eggs.

Be sure to climb to the top of the tower for spectabular views, all 256 steps. You'll have worked up an appetite by the time you come back down; expect a fortifying and traditional lighthouse dinner of potatoes, beef, salmon, fried seabass, mushroom sauce, and more of that great bread. 

bengtskar.fi

Bengtskär Lighthouse, Turku Archipalego
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5) Sauna, lake, sauna, lake

It's no secret the Scandinavians (Denmark, Sweden, Norway) enjoy a sauna - it's an intrinsic part of their culture and how they socialise. It's no different in neighbouring Finland, where there is one sauna for every three people, and where you'll even find a sauna in the Burger King in Helsinki. Yep. Taking meat sweats to new heights.

Sure, I'd been in a sauna before. In a gym, or a hotel, or something equally uninspiring. But I'd never had the full on, traditional Finnish / Scandi experience. Which is somewhere in the middle of a forest, with great company, intercepted with beer and awesome food, and dunking into an almost freezing lake after. And let me tell you, I LOVED IT.

Our last evening in Finland, staying at Kirjakkala Iron Mills Village, went something like this: sauna - jump in lake - eat great food - sauna - jump in lake - drink beer - repeat until midnight. I got it. I so got it. 

Also, no one told me that submerging into really cold water after roasting in a sauna was a natural high. Something to do with dilating and constricting blood vessels, the amount of oxygen to the brain etc. I mean, I might have got a bit addicted. I could have kept going for days...

You sneaky Scandis / Finns. Now it all makes sense! Where do I sign up?

ruukkikyla.fi/eng

sauna, lake, repeat, at Kirjakkala Iron Mills Village, Turku Archipalego
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6) Marvel at the (almost) midnight sun

Where we were in southwest Finland wasn't quite north enough to experience the actual midnight sun - I believe you need to be in the Arctic Circle for that. It was also a week or so before the summer solstice. But it was close, and equally disorientating.

We came out of a restaurant in Helsinki after our evening meal, emerging from several courses and too much wine, only to step out into broad daylight at about 9.30pm - 10pm. 

My brain was already squiffy with booze and lack of sleep. For a moment, I thought perhaps I'd been in there all night, and this was in fact sunrise the next day. Anyway, you get used to it pretty quickly. And midnight dusk never gets boring.

Högsåra Island around midnight in mid-June, Finland
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7) Get in and on the water

Water, water everywhere. Quite literally. After 70% of the country being forest, an impressive 10% is water. Finland has a staggering 187,000 lakes within its borders (and I'll bet each has at least one sauna on its banks), which explains why it also goes by the name of "The Land of a Thousand Lakes". Not forgetting the Finnish waters between its bazillions of islands.

Wherever you are in the country, you're going to be near water, so it makes sense to get in it, or on it. Be that a little boat with a skipper to ferry you around island hopping, taking a leisurely row on a lake (we did below in Teijo National Park), or skinny dipping after sweating it out in a sauna.

Connecting with the water is key to Finnish life - embrace it. And that's coming from someone who can't even swim.

nationalparks.fi/teijo

island hopping, and rowing in Teijo National Park, Finland
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8) Eat a lot of cake

You may well have heard of fika, the name given to the Swedish institution of taking a break to socially interact with friends, family or colleagues over coffee - a pastime that's taken very seriously (here's a post on my time in Stockholm, including more about fika).

Whilst the Swedes do drink a lot of coffee, it's actually the Finns that come out on top as the highest consumers of coffee per capita in the world. They routinely stop for several cups a day. And where there is coffee in Finland, there is also cake. Lots of excellent cake.

It was too difficult a task to say no to a slice every time we stopped for coffee. So much so, that I eventually gave in and ate cake like I was on commission. Plus, the Finns sure know how to bake.

My favourite cake stops from the trip were from Ada Tammi, the young and talented student behind the café Ada Bakes, in her family's Mathildedal Iron Works Village in the Teijo area. You can follow Ada on Instagram - she's one to watch.

A special mention must also go to the entirely idyllic Farmors Café on the island of Högsåra. We stayed the night at Villa Cecilia, run by the same owners as the café, and just a stone's throw away. We dined there twice, for both lunch and breakfast, and alongside the terrific baked goods, the rest of the food was actually quite exceptional. One of my favourite dining spots from the trip.

mathildedal.fi/index.php/en
farmorscafe.fi/en

eating all of the Finnish cake. And when you're tired of cake, there's always ice cream
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I feel like Finland is a country I made a real connection with, on some special, unchartered level. I am truly desperate to return.

Disclaimer

Note: This trip and the flights were hosted by Finnair and the Visit Finland tourism board. Thank you to everyone involved for a wonderful experience. 

All views remain my own, as always.

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RECIPE: Mumbai vada pav with chutneys, and a fried egg

vada pav, with a fried egg!

I LOVE EGGS. The world loves eggs. Instagram especially loves eggs - how can anyone resist a bit of golden #yolkporn? It's hard, so most of us can't. 

If you were to ask my favourite standalone ingredient ever, I may well say the humble egg; possibly the single most versatile food item that has ever existed. All hail its simplicity and mighty existence, and just how well it goes with tapenade.

To celebrate British Egg Week taking place from 10th - 17th October, the lovely people from British Lion Eggs have collaborated with Farang London chef Seb Holmes, to come up with some tasty Thai street food-inspired recipes, all celebrating this year's theme of #putaneggonit. Think of Beyonce's 'if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it', but replace ring, with egg. It's not a bad culinary motto by which to live.

The idea is to encourage people to eat eggs in more unusual ways, by putting an egg on dishes they wouldn't normally think to try. It if was up to me, I'd put an egg on almost everything. Maybe even my cereal.

They've then asked me to take inspiration from Seb's collection of egg recipes, and come up with my own street food-inspired concoction that would work great with eggs. Now, I've eaten a heck of a lot of street food on my travels, and when I was presented with this challenge, one immediately popped into my head - Mumbai's world-famous vada pav. 

I'd arrived in Mumbai having already heard about vada pav (here's more about my first visit to Mumbai, and then another visit about a week later). They're sometimes referred to as the city's take on a vegetarian burger; seeing as it's fast food, cheap, and a filling betwixt two buns, that's sort of accurate. But let me tell you, I'd have these over a burger most days.

the vada pav I had in Mumbai - so very excellent

They are spicy potato balls deep fried in gram flour (vada), with a lick of hot garlic green chutney, all between two halves of a soft bun (pav). 

They involve bread, they're salty and they're spicy - all perfect pairings for a lovely fried egg. In fact, when I first ate these in their home city, my immediate thought was 'these are fabulous, but they could do with a little lubrication'. 

Allow me to introduce that lubrication via the medium of a runny yolk.

And so, I present to you, my recipe for vada pav with the glorious addition of a fried egg. Let me tell you, this is truly a thing of beauty. Please everyone, make it.

Mumbai's vada pav sandwich, with chutneys and a fried egg

Makes six vada pavs

For the green chutney

Mint leaves, small bunch
Coriander, small bunch (including stalks)
1-2 green chillies, roughly chopped
1 tbsp ground almonds
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Salt

For the red chutney

3 tbsp desiccated coconut, dry roasted
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
1-2 tsp chilli powder
Salt

For the vada fillings

3 potatoes, boiled and mashed until smooth
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
4 garlic cloves
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
3 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 tsp asafoetida
Handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped (including stalks)
Salt

For the batter and frying

150g gram (chickpea) flour
1/4 tsp turmeric
80ml warm water
Salt
Sunflower oil

To serve

Six small and soft white rolls
Butter (optional)
Six green finger chillies, deep-fried
Six eggs, fried

First make your chutneys. For the green, combine the mint, coriander, chillies and ground almonds, add some of the lemon juice, and blitz. Keep adding lemon juice until you have a consistency that is spreadable - you don't want it too wet. You might not end up using all the lemon juice. Add salt to taste.

For the red chutney, ensure the coconut gets a nice colour from the dry toasting, then combine with the garlic, chilli powder, and a pinch of salt, and pound using a pestle and mortar. Add a splash of water if needed to loosen the mixture slightly. You should end up with a dry and crumbly chutney. Set both the chutneys aside. 

making the green and red chutney

To make the vada fillings, grate the garlic and ginger. Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium to high heat. When it's hot enough for a mustard seed to sizzle in it, add the rest of the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard seeds start popping vigorously, reduce the heat to low to medium, and add the ginger, garlic and chillies. Cook for one minute, then add the turmeric and cook for another minute.

Now add the mashed potato and fresh coriander, fully combine, and cook for another minute. Add salt to taste. Remove the mashed potato from the pan and set aside to cool.

flavouring the vada mashed potato

Weigh the total amount of potato you have, and divide this number by six so you know how much each portion should weigh - mine were about 75g each. Measure out one portion and roll into a ball with your hands. Do this for all six portions, and set aside.

To create the batter for frying the balls, combine the gram flour with the turmeric and a pinch of salt. Add the water a little at a time, continually mixing with a whisk, until you have a smooth and fairly thick batter. Set aside.

Fill a heavy-bottomed saucepan with enough sunflower oil to reach half way up the vada balls. Heat on medium to high. To test if the oil is hot enough to fry the vada balls, add a little batter and if it sizzles and cooks to a golden colour, then it's ready.

First drop in the six finger chillies for serving. When they've cooked and blistered, remove and let them rest on kitchen paper.

Coat each ball in the batter, and gently drop into the hot oil. Turn the ball around in the oil until the whole thing is cooked and golden in colour. Remove with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on kitchen paper. Repeat for all the vada balls.

To serve, slice each soft roll in half and butter, if desired. Smear on some green chutney, and add a vada ball. In the meantime, fry an egg how you like it (runny yolk all the way), and add on top of the vada ball. Sprinkle on some of the dry red chutney, serve with a deep-fried chilli, and devour!

making and frying the vada balls

This is a sponsored post in partnership with British Egg Week, as part of their #PutAnEggOnIt campaign, to encourage people to eat eggs in more unusual ways. I hope you get to try this recipe - it's GOOD. 

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Recipe: Chicken saag with coriander chapatis

CHINA: 6 must-eat dishes from Xi'an's Muslim quarter

What to eat in Xi'an's Muslim Quarter

braising sheep hooves in Xi'an, China

China's ancient capital of Xi'an (here's my post on how to spend a couple of days in Xi'an) once marked the terminus of the Silk Road. The trading opportunities drew people from across Asia, and migrants became an integral part of the city.

Fast forward to today and the result is an exciting melting pot of cultures and religion, which also happens to be the failsafe formula for great food - check out my culinary adventures in Penang in Malaysia for another good example of this.

In Xi'an's Muslim quarter, you'll find sights familiar to both Chinese and Middle Eastern culture. 

Hawkers roast walnuts, carve watermelon, and pick out the seeds from giant sunflower heads. Perspiring cooks stir-fry cubes of spiced lamb in roaring woks set over screaming-hot coal ovens. Steamed mutton and beef dumplings stacked high in bamboo baskets sit alongside vendors selling a kaleidoscope of fresh fruit, and little old ladies frying potatoes for optimal walk-and-eat snackage.

It does get busy; Xi'an as a whole sees a lot of tourists. Mostly Chinese. But it's fun to get swept along with the hungry crowds, and if that's your thing, get there for around 7.30pm. If you prefer to avoid the masses, and for easier photo opportunities, head over in the afternoon or early evening. Either way, and regardless of how hungry you are, you won't end up spending much more than around 40 Yuan (£5) to get totally stuffed. 

Below are a few pointers on what to eat in Xi'an's Muslim Quarter. As ever, it's by no means an exhaustive list, but it's certainly no bad place to start.

scenes from Xian's Muslim quarter, China

1) Rou jia mo - steam and griddled bread sandwiches with lamb or beef

These aren't exclusive to Xi'an - the Chinese are pretty good at stuffed sandwiches, where they're called rou jia bing across the rest of the country. But the local dialect in these parts refer to them as rou jia mo, and you won't be finding any pork in them.

Instead, the bing are stuffed with chopped beef brisket, a bit like corned beef, but more moist. The meat is braised and cured in a vat, then the cook takes a big cleaver to it on a wooden block. The bread is split open, covered with a slick of chilli oil, and stuffed with the beef. Often enjoyed with some sesame cold skin noodles, the two together are great.

2)Pao mo - bread and mutton soup

This bread and mutton soup is found across Xi'an, but especially in the Muslim quarter. 

This was gorgeous - tiny cubes of torn bread, thin rice noodles, chopped greens, braised mutton, and a thick meaty broth, served with pickled garlic and sweet chilli paste. Hugely comforting, full of flavour - it's a signature local dish to seek out when here. And it's only about £1.80.

The way the locals eat it is that they tear the bread into the bowl themselves, then it gets whisked back to the kitchen where the chefs add the rest of the ingredients (see the video below) to make the final soup. 

But my bread was already torn; I suspect it was easier for the lady to do it herself than try to explain what I was supposed to do. Either way, it's lovely stuff.

3) Hammered nut candy

There are two main observations to note with this guy below. Firstly, that's not dough he's stretching. It's in fact warm sugar. Secondly, I watched him for a while, and not once does the sugar touch the spit-covered floor. Skills.

Xi'an is obsessed with nuts, and their sweets reflect that. This guy repeatedly folds and stretches hot sugar across a hook, then the candy gets transferred to a large wooden stump where it's sprinkled with nuts. Guys then go at it with big wooden mallets, pounding the nuts into the warm candy until it hardens , then it's cut into pieces. 

The mallets are pretty noisy and always draw a crowd, as does the sugar-stretching boy. Fun theatre, and a tasty sweet treat.

4) Fried liang fen - green bean starch jelly

I walked past this assuming it was animal based, because we're in China, and the Chinese eat everything, right? Wrong. I mean, the Chinese are pretty good at eating all of the animals, but that doesn't mean they don't love their veggies. And in fact, the whole Muslim Quarter and the city of Xi'an as a whole is a great place for vegetarians, in a country where meat is a symbol of prosperity.

These were cubes of liang fen, a sort of tofu-like jelly made with green bean starch. They were studded with chillies and spring onions, and fried in shallow pans. Outside of Xi'an they're often served cold and coated in a hot chilli Sichuan sauce. But these ones retained both kinds of heat well, and got nice and crispy round the edges. Another great snack to graze on as you walk and scout for the next treat.

5) Persimmon doughnuts

Oh boy, did I love these. I actually had them in a restaurant in Xi'an, rather than the Muslim street food strip, but wherever you go looking for them, make sure you do actually find them.

These are interesting in texture, and have fantastic flavour. Inside they're dense and chewy a bit like Japanese mochi, thanks to an unleavened dough made from dried persimmons. But outside they're fried and crisp. There are apparently lots of varieties available, each with a different filling at the centre. 

But if you don't know the language, and you don't know what options are available, just point to what the person before you ordered. You can't go too far wrong.

6) Skewers

Speaking of the Silk Road, there's a restaurant in South East London called Silk Road, and they're particularly well known for their cumin-crusted lamb skewers. And you'll find exactly these in Xi'an too.

The Chinese as a whole are prolific consumers of things on sticks, be that grilled, fried, simmered, or however else you can think of cooking them. This is particularly prevalent in Xi'an where you'll find grilled lamb or beef shish kebabs on pretty much every street throughout the city; it's almost impossible to return to your room after wandering the streets without honking of meaty coal smoke.

In the Muslim Quarter though, there's more choice. You'll find tiny chunks of fatty lamb coated in chilli oil and dusted in cumin, dried chillies and salt. There's also mutton, beef, lamb's liver, chicken wings, quail's eggs, all of the sausages, all sorts of vegetables, and most other things you could think of.

Sticks go for around 1 Yuan a pop, which is like, 12p. Try to resist spending more than 40p on these supremely tasty skewers, or you'll struggle to find room for everything else. 

How to get to Xi'an

Finnair were the first Western European airline to fly non stop to China; it was Beijing in 1988. They were also the first Western European airline to fly to Xi'an. Another claim is they were the first airline in the world to send SMS messages to customers regarding their flights. Which is fitting, seeing as SMS was invented in Finland.

Their minimum connection time in Helsinki is 35 mins, and they're rather proud of their extremely low statistic of only losing 4 in 1000 pieces of luggage - that's a very good number.

I was lucky enough to experience their fully flat beds in business class, which included some of the best food I've eaten at 30,000 feet. That's thanks to the new culinary collaboration for long-haul business passengers, with world-class chefs Steven Liu from China and Sasu Laukkonen from Finland, launched in April 2016 this year.

Think such Nordic delights as cucumber and dill soup with yoghurt and smoked salmon tarter; pressed beef neck with celeriac puree, herb butter and spring vegetables; Peltolan Blue and Viinitarhuri Finnish cheeses; organic Finnish ice cream by Jymy; and a very healthy stock of the excellent Finnish Napue gin, voted the best gin in the world to have with tonic, according to the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC).

Get a couple of those down your neck along with some fine bubbles, and you can start the holiday well before you get there.

aboard a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Chongqing

Disclaimer

Note: This trip and the flights was hosted by Finnair. Thank you to everyone involved for a truly wonderful experience. Must get back to China...

All views remain my own, as always.

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CHINA: How to spend 2 days in China's ancient capital, Xi'an
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