Dream of shopping on net-a-porter.com?

I know I do!  Pretty much everything on the site is out of my current price range.  But there's a tiny twinkle of hope - in celebration of the site's 1millionth order, one lucky lady (or gentleman of course) will win a 25,000 GBP shopping spree on the site.  I've entered, and although it'll diminish my chances, you should too.  Good luck!
I'm off to enjoy my friday night now, first with a lovely bottle of white vino at home, followed by blinis with roe and more vino.  One new thing I've learned to love about Helsinki - Blini Viikot take place every year during January and February in numerous restaurants across the city, and I'm loving it!

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Tonight's dinner - save or splurge?

Please excuse whatever font this is going to come out in - my blogger is all messed up today...

Friday is date night in our household, and we're trying to decide where to head out. Splurge on Salutorget or save and head to Ankkuri in Punavuori, for undoubtedly the best burgers in town? We'll see where the night takes us!

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Gorgeous sushi dinner @ Raku Ya!

To celebrate selling his apartment, my fiance took me out to eat at Raku Ya, the wonderful Japanese eatery in Helsinki's Eteläranta last Friday.  We ate and drank until I was ready to drop (quite literally) and my fiance was handed a hefty bill at the end of the night.  The food and drink was wonderful, especially highly recommended on the menu are the Sweet Shrimp Tail Nigiri, Yaki Niku, Ebi Furai, and for dessert, the Japanese Choco Mousse.  While it's usual to get good Japanese food, I do think it's unusual to get exceptional Japanese food, but Raku Ya was just that.  The service was friendly, atmosphere was lovely, and everything just tasted too good, for both our bellies and wallets. Oh lord, I want to go back for more!
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Restaurant review - Farang

I wanted to love this place - the location is really handy and central, and just around the corner from my parents' place, I love how it's attached to the Taidehalli, and I was starting to get cravings for Thai food.  I have to say - I've never been a huge fan of Asian fusion, it kind of feels like they can't get any Asian dish just right.  But I'm always up for being proved wrong!

One thing I just can't get used to in Finland is the cloakrooms... Farang has a big cloakroom as soon as you walk in, and you are expected to leave your coat there, in this hallway which everyone walks through to get in and out of the restaurant.  It might be normal here in Helsinki, and maybe I should learn to trust people more, but I just didn't feel comfortable leaving my belongings unattended in an area that people walk through all night.

Top tip: If going to Farang, make sure you book in advance, and ask to be seated in the first room with smaller tables.  The place get pretty full, even mid-week, and you'll get ushered into the next room which is fine, but not quite up to standard when looked at in context with the hefty price tags of this place.

First impressions on the menu: We didn't understand it!  Would have been great, and much less pretentious, to have clear explanations for each dish, or at least helpful staff who wouldn't mind explaining what the often foreign words meant.  We ended up having a gorgeous melange of three dishes; a cold beef salad, crunchy pork, and curry.  All beautifully presented, and extremely tasty.  Banana cake with coconut ice cream for dessert is not to be missed!  My white wine, Fleur de Lotus, was beautiful and went down better than Evian at room temperature.

The verdict?  Gorgeous, tasty food and drinks at close-to obscene prices.  At prices like this you do expect everything to be pretty perfect, and I would say the atmosphere in the second room, as well as the attitude of some of the staff, needs some work.  Also, I'm not the most faint-hearted, but is it appropriate to name a cocktail the "Bali Bomber"?
Will we be back?  Something tells me, yes we will.