Vegan haven

Where can you get a good, cheap vegan meal in a nice friendly atmosphere? And take your kids with you too? Where can you watch an interesting film for free or browse the excellent free shop? In Sosiaalikeskus Satama, of course! They have a nice vegan café every Tuesday starting at five. Sosiaalikeskus Satama is a collectively run autonomous social centre in the middle of a former industrial harbour Kalasatama in Helsinki - now the area is going to be built full of flats so sadly the collective will have to get a new place at some point. They have many interesting activities besides the café - gigs, bike workshop, drum workshop... They got to rent the place from the city because they just kept squatting places until they got something more permanent! Really nice food and nice atmosphere - definitely a good way to spend Tuesday afternoon. Especially when Tuesdays tend to normally be a bit boring somehow!

Last Tuesday´s portion was seitan with rice - there was salad too but I missed it! Not bad for 1 € - and the week before there was a rather delicious blueberry pie too.

Detail from a lovely mural covering one of the walls - the whole place is impressively tidy and well kept. There are even toys to entertain kids!

These shoes are made for working...

Now I fear this isn't a particularly frivolous pair of shoes but I needed something comfortable but relatively smart for work. I do sometimes prance around in heels at work if I need to be impressive but these are all right for the quieter days! They might be OK as summery everyday shoes too. They're from Bourgeois Boheme's own brand so they're fairly made and vegan. A tiny bit on the too sensible side (they're even called "Ertha"!) but I can always wear them with something more outrageous. I bought them from a very nice shop in Helsinki called Heluna Fashion - definitely a luxury to be able to buy vegan shoes on your way home! Just a few years ago you always had to order them abroad  - I actually remember getting my first pair of vegan shoes from Brighton via complicated postal order more than ten years ago!

Vegan fast food

What a pleasant day! It was sunny (probably the last time we´ll see sun before May...) and I had a long walk with my family. That was followed by some quality TV  and gossip with my best friend - accompanied by an excellent seitan kebab from Vegemesta! If you ever come to Helsinki and plan to have a hangover (I didn´t today!) or are otherwise in need of righteous junk food this is the place! Everything in the menu is vegetarian and a good portion of it is vegan - and the prices are reasonable.  My current favourite is the seitan kebab - how can they make it so crunchy?! The staff can´t be called fast but they´re very friendly and not stingy with their portions. The only problem with the place is that it´s fairly small and on Sunday afternoon you´re not the only one in need of a snack...

Burger made with organic hemp - how righteous can you get?!

The best dram in Helsinki!

Finally, finally, FINALLY we had a night out with my partner!!! (Our daughter is 17 months old. Anyone who is or has been in same situation doesn't need any explanation for all those exlamation marks.) After eating leasurely rather nice vegan food we went for a drink. Since it was only going to be one drink we wanted to go somewhere nice and definitely made a right choice in going to a place called Maltainen riekko (means "malty grouse"). They had about a million organic beers and ciders from small and local breweries and a massive list of good whiskies! I was after some special Ardbeg since it´s my favourite (even if I find the current owner Vuitton rather dodgy!) but they'd run out of it (must've been good!) and I had something called Longrow instead. Very palatable! I really liked the pub too with it's suitably kitchy Scottish theme decorations. And for that part of town it was very peaceful - none of the usual professional drinkers in sight!