Food

Hello readers!

I'm in a good mood, for no real reason I guess. This is a great time to start writing a blogpost. 

I bought some tea from my favorite tea shop on my way home through downtown. At the shop I asked for a random green tea, and they handed me a big bag of green tea to scent... and ohhh, I smelled a marvelous field of new, sweet, spring grass. It was the same tea that I had bought the very first time I visited this little boutique. It  remains my favorite green, even though I had forgot it for a few years. It's a Chinese green tea from the Jiangxi province, named Wu Lu Shan. Luve it!

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

This meatless oriental yummy-wok was my todays experiment. Being a complete vegetarian this October has opened my eyes for a new super-tasty protein source. These so called soy-slices are one of the best meat substitutes you can get. You can make them so nice and squishy when prepared slowly, or you can fry them until they're crispy and crunchy (and the superlazy one can eat them just as they are...dry...nogood). AND they contain 45g protein per 100g.

So today I decided to wok them together with some veggies. I paired them up with 100g cabbage, one carrot, one sweet pepper, one garlic, two onions and some fresh ginger. First off you have to soak the dry soy-slices. It'll take some 15 min, so be sure to count that in your cooking schedule. Put the slices in a bowl and pour on some boiling water untill they're totally covered. Next comes an important phase in cooking veggie: You have to spice the soy well!! I happened to use this ready mix of spices for thai wok.... normally I don't use those, but I had one free sample from some past event. I must say it worked very well. Well, still. You can switch that for curry, chili, soy sauce, some fresh garlic, lime, and any other oriental(/or not) spices you like or find suit. Just remember to use a lot!

Vegetables.

The soy and marinade.

You will need:

60g dried soy-slices

100g cabbage

1 carrot

1 sweet pepper

2 small onions

1 garlic (or 2 for the soy-slices)

2 sets of noodles

soy sauce

chili

curry or other nice spices

oil

When you have that under control chop the vegetables and take out a large wok pan. Start by putting a lot of oil. 1/2 dl almost. Be prepared to use a lot of oil for woks, otherwise it will burn, or taste dry. All of the other ingredients have little to non fat, so you're safe here. :) Start by frying garlic and onions, together with the soy, until they've gained a little tan. Then add the rest of the veggies. At this point you can throw in the spicy sauce you marinated your soy with in the wok to give it some extra taste. In the meantime pour some boiled water over the noodles, to give them a fast boil. You don't want them to be completely boiled, more like "al dente" however wrong that phrase rings with noodles. And when the noodles have cooked for some 1,5 min, you can throw them in the wok.

Fry 'till all the fluid is gone, and TaTaTaaa, you're ready!!

Serve with some fresh cabbage cut to heart shape //very important!!!


Kisses and stuff!


//Paul

TRE & More

Hi Popsters,

Another month has passed since my last entry. Crazy… :D

Last weekend we were in Tampere playing a gig. It was part of "Lost in Music" festival, which was a showcase festival for music industry people. Shows like that are always odd ones to do, because they are so different from the normal gigs. The audience there is not fans (although some fans showed up too, and thank you for that!) or normal music listeners, but people who make their living out of music (I guess some of them can be normal too...;D). That's why it's very different to perform to them, and I know that many musicians hate it, but I think we've always been good at those shows. As long as we're just having fun together on the stage it's all fine :)

Welcoming committee @Tampere. Thanks guys <3 

So as said the gig went well, but we did have a lot of fun off stage too. Our 15th floor hotel room had a magnificent view over the central Tampere (I guess that must be the highest floor I've ever slept) and the Tampere nightlife proved to be worth of the stories :D Not to forget the hotel breakfast and morning sauna: something I always take advantage of when we're on the road, since those are the luxuries I don't have at home. Or I didn't have…

I shit you not, I just moved into a huge mansion! It's quite an upgrade from my old one bedroom flat :D So now I have like four bathrooms, sauna, jacuzzi and a huge terrace. The catch is, that I'm not gonna stay here for long, since the owners are coming back soon and I have to get a new apartment, which will be a one bedroom flat again. It's gonna take a while before I get to live in a place like this again, so I'm gonna enjoy every bit of it while I can! :)

@YleX

During the past week we did this "mini radio tour". We went to YleX and NRJ and played unplugged set for the crews. It was so cool to meet all these new people, and I think both of those stations have a better understanding about who we are and what we do now when they have seen us live. Big thanks goes to our PR person Tommi! Gotta love Tommi <3

@NRJ

Much Love,
- Olli <3

Ps. If a bus route runs late every single day, doesn't it mean that that is the time it takes for a bus to drive the route and somebody at HSL should just correct the timetable so that people wouldn't have to be FREEZING THEIR ASS OFF FOR THE EXTRA 5 MIN EVERY MORNING?! Thank you.

let it snow

Yolo!

I just witnessed the first snowflakes of this season, I also tipped Axel's seasoned noodle soup on his clothes. While it's chilly outside the chili covers him while the rest of us chums are chilling with champagne doing our chores. (We finally cleaned our studio)

Axel and Olli had really cool vacations abroad, but even tho' I stayed in Finland I had it pretty good! I visited my beloved family (or what's left of them here in Finland) and had some quality time with myself! Movies, computer games, reading and plenty of tea. I'm reading short stories by Hemingway at the moment and there was this one guy who, when he couldn't get any sleep tried to recall all of his life. Every single day from when he first had any actual memories until the present. And as I tried it myself, I was amazed at how many flashbacks you can retrieve from virtually any time of your life once you start digging around. One happening leads to another that leads to a smell or a taste that leads you to a scrub on your knee and a hug from your mother.

Although there's been a few days when I thought this was it, Winter is no longer coming, it is HERE! This morning really cheered me up. Not that many leaves left on the trees but more sunshine than ever! My apartment is getting pretty darn cold tho'. Maybe I should finally phone the landlord and try to get him to fix the window and get rid of the draught.

aim for the stars... or something

"Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid."
- Homeros

It's the last day the amusement park Linnanmäki is open so I'm going to have a look at what's happening! I know there's gonna be fireworks and Paula Koivuniemi! I might have a go at the Kummitusjuna (Train of Terror?), Vekkula (House of Horsing around) and Top Spin! Those were always my favorite rides. Not to forget going up with the Panorama thingy and gazing out over Helsinki. The evening is called Valokarnevaali (The Light Carneval) so I bet the view is going to be beautiful.

Have a great night guys and thank you for your support.
It's there everyday and it helps us stay focused. I can't emphasize it enough.


-krippe

wake me up when October ends

Fall is here. I love it. The nights are getting darker and colder but I don't mind. Music always sounds much better in the fall, at least some kinds of music. My favorites right now are Hey Brother by Avicii, Lifesaver by Sunrise Avenue and Atlas by Coldplay. 3 of the most amazing songs this year and they've all been released during the last month. Check out my Spotify-list here if you want to know what songs I like the most at the moment :)

Every summer I've been somewhere abroad for at least a couple of days, but not this time, I simply didn't have the time with all the band stuff going on. But on friday I'm leaving somewhere for a couple of dayssss!! yeaaa. I'll tell you later where I'm going cause I don't even have the flight tickets yet :D

I've been feeling overly happy the few days for no apparent reason.. I don't know why but I'm smiling all the time haha. I even said I love fall even though I've always hated it.. Weird stuff.

Maybe it's just because we've been doing lots of fun stuff during the last few weeks. Fan-meeting & unplugged gig @ Sony, roadtrip to Vaasa, golf-day (:D), TV-gigs (EL & MGP), parties.... Follow our Instagram and our twitters if you wanna stay tuned :)

Love
-Axel