torstai 25. lokakuuta 2012

Naked Truth

Long time no see!

I've been busy with studying and sewing and stuff, and I guess you could say I'm not that efficient now that I'm not working. I used to be able to do million things at once -- I worked eight hours a day, wrote two cookbooks, baked for events and parties, ran my own business (PINKKIS), took care of the kids, dogs, bunnies, house, rode horses, took cardio-boxing lessons, Japanese lessons, scrapbooked... now I barely have time for the basic stuff and some studying. I do have to admit that I've never studied so seriously than I do now. I mainly study biology and chemistry and for a pink-haired airhead like me, it's not that easy. But I try hard, even though it's just to get into the school at which I really want to study. My main goal (my only goal) is to get into Helsinki University to study nutrition. So I'm motivated. Otherwise, I couldn't do it.

Ok, onto "the naked truth." It's kind of funny, and then again, not funny at all.

I've been thinking about how it would affect everything if ads and commercials, product packages -- everything related to the things we buy -- would have to show not only the good sides of the products and services, but also the not-so-nice ones. What if the next time you bought a t-shirt there weren't pictures of super perfect people wearing the clothes, but underpaid Indians, Pakistanis and Moroccoans spraying the cotton with poisonous chemicals, young women working in sweatshops and big fat white men grinning with pockets full of money?

What if the meat section didn't have pictures of ready-cooked foods, but very graphic images of slaughterhouses, factory farms and underpaid immigrants taking their frustrations on animals? What if commercials for candy bars didn't show the velvety texture of the soft chocolate, but little children climbing on cocoa trees with machetes, with cuts on their hands and legs, working for hours under the hot African sun, or being beaten by their employers?

What if pet stores showed you images of all the casualties -- all the dead animals in the trash cans, the ones that didn't make it due to lack of water, heat, food, etc.? What if the milk carton didn't have a drawing of a cow in a pasture, but pictures of cows with serious udder infections (cows are milked just twice a day, which is insane! It hurts like hell when boobs get too full of milk!), or even better pictures of veal crates?

What would you buy?

http://thefrogblog.org.uk/tag/child-labour/
We CAN make a difference! Buy Fair Trade, go vegan, buy local, spread the word, contact the big companies, tell them why you don't want to buy their products anymore, tell your friends to do that as well. I know it might sound naive, and it probably is, but I really believe that what I put in my shopping cart will make a difference, for better or for worse.

More horror stories next time! (We're having a Halloween Party Saturday ;)

xoxo,

Raisa

lauantai 13. lokakuuta 2012

Simplyfying our food closet

Variety is the spice of life, right? We deserve all the yummy things in the world, right? We work hard, we party hard, so we need our rewards, right? Especially if you follow a certain diet, like veganism, where you cut out animal products. That alone is a lot of  "no thanks, I don't eat/can't eat that." Or consider those with allergies, religious diets and so on. So why on earth would you cut out anything from the foods that suit your diet?

Being a vegan is a great thing. And I don't just mean the ethical part of, the clear consience, but also the surprising impact it had on my diet. Now that there are fewer choices for what to buy and eat, I cherish the produtcs that fit in my diet a lot more than before. There actually has been small hand-clappings and jumping-up-and-downs at a grocery store when I've located new yummy things to eat.

If you eat treats every day, you won't be able to enjoy them as much as if you only eat them once a week or so. Same thing with food: if you eat your favourite foods every day, how are you going to reward yourself?

I think we should take one step backwards when it comes to eating. We should eat more simple, locally grown, in-season foods. The majority of our diet should be based on that, while treats and sushi should be saved for the weekend :). I'm quite convinced that this would save us from a lot of food waste, too, if we mainly bought items we will actually use, instead of buying things we'd like to use but that end up in our compost heap. Women are said to do that a lot -- we buy healthy fruits and veggies, and end up throwing them away because they go bad. But I'm not saying we shouldn't buy fruits and vegetables either! We should simply buy only what we need, even if it means more bike trips to the store to get that last lemon.




So I'm trying to simplify the way we eat. We don't have to have nine different kinds of legumes in our closet the way we do now (soybeans, broad beans, peas, black eyed peas, black beans, green and red lentils and mung beans). Three to four would be enough. But then again, I love having full dry food closet. It makes me feel safe. And by eating a variety of foods, I'm making it more sure we get to have all the nutrients we need. And it's really hard not to buy interesting looking novelties, like purple cauliflower :)

Other than being obsessed with food, I've been working on one of my doll's bedrooms. Here's the result. I think it's really charming!

 And here's how it was before.
Quite an improvement, huh?

I've also been sewing a lot, and just finished a Halloween-themed triangle-banner for a kid's room. I guess my kids are a bit too old for that, but I actually thought of putting it up in our bedroom. No picture of it, since the kids room is not very photogenic, with too many unfinished remodeling projects in there. I also sewed a lot of Pinkkis pouches. Need to have a lot for the upcoming X-mas season! And some more Blythe stuff under constraction, pics later.

I guess that's all! What do you think about my plan to simplify our diet? Pure madness, or is there a way to achieve some balance with it all?

xoxo,

Pinkkis
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keskiviikko 10. lokakuuta 2012

Welcome to Pinkkisworld!



Hello all!

Welcome to the English-language version of my blog! I maintained a bilingual blog some years ago, but I got so bored with the English part and kept writing in Finnish. Yes, I live in Finland. Unfortunately we don't have any polarbears or icebergs here, but we do have reindeer, northern lights and Santa Claus. And lots of saunas. Everyone seems to have their own sauna. We don't. We have a nice bathtub.

I blog about my life and things that I'm interested in -- you know, stuff that people normally write on their blogs. This will not be about: outfits I wear (super boring), product-of-the-day (actually I've heavily cut down on my consumerism), nor am I focusing on just one subject, like the vegan food I cook or the renovations on our  house. This will be more like life, about everything. I make tons of typos (literally!) and since English is not my first language, I make mistakes. BUT... at least for the first few weeks/months my hubby, who's American and an editor (lucky me!) will be fixing my posts. So if you wonder why everything is so damn perfect, it's because of him. He makes my life perfect :)

I'm not talented with computer stuff, I don't know how to create interesting backgrounds or flashing pictures for my blog, so just focus on the words and pictures, okay?

A little about me (and what's this blog is going to be about): I have pink hair (first thing first, right?), I'm married (to that hubby guy), have two kids, two rescue dogs and two rescue bunnies. Animal rights are big thing in my life. I'm vegan, unemployed (I worked for an awful company for way too long, then resigned when I just couldn't take it anymore), I love Blythe-dolls, sewing, Dexter, crafts, Halloween, photography, baking, reading, tattoos, movies and so on.

I study at night, dream of getting into the university next fall (to study nutrition - I'm obsessed with food!). I've written two vegan cookbooks, "Puputyttö ja Vohvelisankari" and "Puputytön Juhlakirja", and I'm working on the third one at the moment.





I have my own business, Pinkkis. I mostly make jewelry and pouches, and other stuff when I feel like it. I don't have very active on-line store at the moment, but hope to have more products listed soon.

Hopefully you'll like my blog and will stick around. I plan on writing in English once or twice a week. I write my Finnish blog more frequently, but writing in English takes a lot more effort :).

xoxo,

Pinkkis

Me, with my red-haired dolls.