Lift and Duck

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Aside from the cantankerous lift at work and the black eye that has gone from red to purple to yellow, I have also sported a huge knob on my head from bumping my head countless times Sunday on the pygmy height range hood in the kitchen which proceeded to be topped by a giant zit. I must also be providing great comedy for the building security guys as I can't get the bunker door to the machine room open, even when gripping with my hands and putting both feet on the wall. People in the park enjoying the weather get free comic theatre when Otava, after a week of not getting to play while his leg heals, tries desperately to play with a familiar puppy and pulls me along like a rag doll. I feel like I could be part of the circus freakshow or maybe a stop on the Helsinki by bus tour. All I need now is some bright spandex and a catchy name.

Black sausage will never be the same again as there is Musta Makia Salmiakkimakkara. I like salmiakki and sausage, but together? I'm willing to try anything once but I'll have to find a package of them first.

There's a new Helsinki outdoor map that now has markings for dog parks [yay!], rug washing areas, skate ramps, swimming pools, miniature golf, cooking/grilling facilities, etc. along with the bike paths. Of course, all the usual places I stopped to get a copy of it were completely out of stock because it was mentioned in the paper on Sunday and demand has exceeded initial production. There is an online version of the map, but it still has the 2002 version instead of the new one. So, hopefully I'll be able to get a copy before winter. Hrmph.

And I'm obsessing over the princess cake this week since the pastry cream pissed me off and I've been finding more information about it around the net. I've noticed many of the local bakeries use the 3rd layer of cake as the top over the dome of cream which makes the cake more stable and easier to cut as well as reduces the amount of filling and marzipan required. So I'm going to try making another this weekend for Jarkko's birthday with the cake dome, a lighter maitorahkaa and cream filling, low sugar/just fruit raspberry jam and overall less sugar and see what happens. I'm going to get foam corners for the range hood this time. :)