I just did one hour of jogging on a dirt road that cuts a big forest and some fields. The only animals I encountered were cows and sheep… No bears, no moose, no snake!
It is 9.30 pm now and the sun is still shining. Time to have a sauna. This is the view from our bathroom toward the lake. The sauna itself is on the left side, behind the glass door.
Hyviä löylyjä! (what you say in Finnish when you wish someone a pleasant sauna session)
The question I hear all the time abroad is “do you eat salmon every day in Finland?”. In fact, the best salmon available at supermarkets in Finland is imported from Norway (Finland does not have access to the Arctic Sea like Norway and Russia). There are some excellent wild salmon that live in rivers of the Finnish Lapland, but you can almost never buy them in the Southern part of Finland. In addition, there are salmon in the Baltic Sea, but because of high levels of toxins in the sea (hence the fish, too), it is not recommended to eat it often.
So, to be brutally honest, Finland has limited salmon supply. However, on the other hand, I always tell people that Finland has an excellent variety of freshwater fish. Vendace (“muikku“) is one type of a lake fish (the one in the photo). It is usually available in autumn around November and easily caught by nets. Yesterday we managed to acquire some vendaces from a local fisherman near our summer house who has special equipment for catching this “lake sardine” in summer, too.
Perfect after-sauna meal: grilled vendace with green salad and rosé wine!
Nothing beats a good sauna, few swims in the lake, fried or grilled vendaces, green salad and a glass of French rosé from the Languedoc-Roussillon region!
PS 3kg of vendace cost us 5 Euros! Eating local products makes a lot of sense!
“Is it always light in Finland in summer?” is the most commonly-asked question I hear all the time.
What happens in where I am (about 350km from Helsinki) in July is this:
yesterday evening the sun set at 11.20 pm (I took this photo 1 hour and 20 minutes later) and this morning the sun rose at 3.39 am.
When I arrived last Thursday, I stayed up late with my parents. My Mom had a swim in the lake before finally going to bed at 3 am, and yes, indeed, the sun had started to rise (lightness at that time was very similar to this photo). I haven’t lived in Finland for a such long time that I observe all this as a foreigner, too. And I can say it is fascinating and exotic!
This morning my brother took me to test our new fishing boat. The lake was calm and beautiful, and the boat swam smoothly in the water. I got to be a captain for a while, too. 
Afterwards he convinced me to try this thing, sitting in the middle of a round-shaped plastic wheel, which is pulled by a boat. It was actually a lot of fun and I did not fall once. We did a few rounds in the bay.
My brother did it, too, but he requested much more speed (but did not fall either). 
Life at the summer house is good. Temperature has climbed well above 20C and the sun is shining. My Dad is preparing grilled lake wish (called vendace I think), so must go now!
Arrived!
Note added in July 2014: I returned to L’Homme Bleu many times but stopped doing so in summer 2013. Why? I was served a glass of champagne that either wasn’t real champagne or was long ago expired (I returned the glass and we were not billed for it). Unfortunately this was not all. The dishes were not as good as they used to be, and my favorite lamb tajine was simply too sweet. The tastes were not balanced. We very very disappointed and wondered was it the “August effect” (many people take holidays and maybe the restaurant was run by nonprofessionals at the time of our visit?). We never learner what it was, but we haven’t been back since summer 2013. There are so many North African restaurants in Paris to visit!! See my list of other restaurants in the end of this post.
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Paris is an excellent place to discover North African food and one can easily find an Algerian or a Moroccan restaurant in every area, arrondissement, of the city. We must have tried over 20 of these restaurants, but are always ready to try new ones.
Like l’Atlantide (Algerian restaurant l’Atlantide in Paris), l’Homme Bleu is also on Le Figaro‘s Best Couscous of 2010 list. 
I love tajines with lamb, fruits and nuts, and my husband loves couscous with a mixed meat plate, so going through the menu never takes too long for us. We chose a Seksu Homme Bleu Couscous (kebab, merguez sausage, lamb, chop, meatball) and based on our waiter’s suggestion, I ordered Tajine s’laxrif (sweet and sour lamb with dates, figs, raisins, almonds, orange blossom, cinnamon). We also ordered red wine, Coteaux de Tlemcen, from the western part of Algeria. 
While waiting for our dishes to arrive, we looked around. There was a group of very fashionable Japanese tourists. Next to them, there was a group of local men discussing Zidane and drinking mint tea. I noticed that decoration is a little bit similar to L’Atlantide: rugs, warm orange-yellow colors, images of Sahara and Tuaregs on the wall. We had a chat with our waiter who confirmed that the restaurant owner is originally from Tizi Ouzou, which is a town in Kabylie in Algeria (like the owners of l’Atlantide).
My tajine was delicious and very copious. The main difference to other lamb tajines that I have had was that the lamb was already cut into pieces. Why not! The dish was full of fruits and almonds, and apart from the fact I could have maybe asked for some more chick peas, everything was perfect.
My husband’s couscous came with a huge portion of vegetable stew (the way he likes) and a variety of grilled meat. His comments were “copious, tasty, enough stew, good-quality meat”, although he added that the merguez sausage was the least interesting meat on the plate.
We were particularly impressed by the friendly service. “Berber hospitality”, we said to ourselves. We also noticed that the Algerian wine had a very special (positive) effect on us: we could have fallen asleep in less than a second. The waiter joked with us and suggested we sleep on the pillows of the dining room downstairs. Apparently a coffee-croissant breakfast would be served to us in the morning at no extra cost…
In my opinion, l’Homme Bleu and l’Atlantide have a lot in common: an excellent price/quality relationship, high-quality ingredients, the way of cooking, the variety of dishes, decoration, etc. A dinner of two people with a bottle of wine hardly costs more than 60€. However, since l’Homme Bleu is closer to us (and since they were so nice), we will probably return here the next time we feel like stepping into the intriguing North African world.
L’Homme Bleu: 55bis Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 75011 Paris. Tel. 01-48070563. Metro: Parmentier. http://www.restaurant-lhommebleu.fr/
Le Figaro list: http://www.lefigaro.fr/sortir-paris/2010/11/22/03013-20101122ARTFIG00674-le-test-des-meilleurs-couscous.php?cmtpage=0
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Previous posts about eating North African food in Paris are:
L’Alcôve: finest meat of Paris (also serves couscous and tajine, but house specialty is grilled meat)
Algerian restaurant l’Atlantide in Paris (excellent couscous and tajine)
Le Tipaza: refined Moroccan food (a good address near the Eiffel Tower)
Over the years, we have been to three different crêperies in Cancale and there is one above the others: Crêperie du Port.
The service is always very friendly and fast, and atmosphere cosy. The restaurant seems very all-kind-of-people friendly, and I have seen them making effort to welcome everyone, no matter how much space a customer may require (wheelchairs, prams, etc.). 
During the coquille Saint–Jacques (scallop) season, I love to order the scallop and leek-fondue galette (made of gluten-free buckwheat flour). I think it is my all-time favorite savory galette!
Sadly, it was no longer the scallop season in Cancale last week. I asked the waiter and he said they only serve scallops when they can get them fresh. I searched the menu and found an other galette that seemed similar. It said pétoncles, and my husband said pétoncles are similar to coquille Saint–Jacques, but just smaller (if you are curious, type these French names on your Internet search, and see the English translators: they are both translated “scallop”… confusing!)
So, I ordered my pétoncles galette and it was delicious. It was as good as my usual favorite galette, and the only difference was that the scallop pieces were a tiny bit smaller, and there was no leek (instead, there were mushroom). I loved it.
My husband ordered his usual choice: galettes à l’andouillette, which is basically a coarse-grained sausage of pork, intestines or chitterlings, seasoned with pepper, wine, onions. Yep! Sounds hmmm interesting! I don’t eat pork, so I find this disgusting, but I tell you, many people love it. If you are adventurous, go for it (but please just keep the plate close to you, as it smells strong).
We ate our galettes with local cider (see the first photo), which was such a delight! I loved how it tasted so natural, with just the right acidity. It was real cider (not filled with chemicals and sugar)!
PS a tip: This time we did not have dessert, but I strongly urge you to taste the crêpe caramel au beurre salé (crêpe made of white wheat flour, with salty butter caramel). This crêpe is the best dessert ever invented in the world (no exaggeration!) and it is DIVINE. And the best is that if you cannot or do not want eat gluten (white wheat flour), you can ask the crêperie to make this crêpe with buckwheat flour! Do not hesitate to ask. I have done it many times and usually there are no objections. I personally find the buckwheat flour and caramel combination not bad, but see it for yourself!
Address (the main street, by the port): La Houle, 1 Place du calvaire, CancaleTel: +33-(0)2-99 89 60 66
We walked by L’huitrière many times during our visits to Cancale before actually trying it. I guess we thought it cannot be good if the prices are so low. We were wrong.
L’huitrière is run by a family of local oyster farmers. There are different menus and the prices start at 12€ (starter, main course, dessert), but one can also order outside the menus. Last week I ordered a fish soup for a starter and it was served with rouille, emmental cheese and croutons. It was a pleasure to eat my soup. 
For the main course I wanted to order the house specialty, the skate fish served with cider-soaked cabbage and capers, but unfortunately I was told that the cabbage season ended some months ago! What a big disappointment. I love this dish (it is called raie aux câpres et son embeurré de choux au cidre and you can see it in the photo below). Instead, I chose the normal skate fish, and I did not like it. It came with an 80’s style white sauce, boiled vegetables and tagliatelle…
My husband ordered mussels and french fries, and loved the mussels (les moules marinières).
As dessert I chose sorbet and one cannot go very wrong with that… Previously I have had Ile Flottante but I was just not that hungry any more. Next time however I will return to the “floating island” made of meringue.
I do think that for this low prices (12€!), it is worth eating at L’huitrière, but one should know something about ordering. My rules for future are these:
1) Stick to local ingredients (mussels, fresh oysters, whelks (boulots) and fish soup. Do not go for exotic options like squid –it is not native to Bretagne.
2) Ask for seasonal recommendations.
3) If the house specialty is available, have the skate fish with capers and cider cabbage. It is very tasty and a good combination of ingredients. Just be careful how to eat it (it comes with bones that can be tricky).
4) Mussels are available at most times of the year and are “always good”! They are a very safe choice.
L’huitrière,
14 Quai Gambetta, Cancale. Tel: +33-(0)2-99 89 75 05.
http://www.huitres-cancale.fr/fr_huitres-cancale/restaurant-a-cancale-p0-C27.html
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