Let's go B A N A N A S with B A N A N A S!

Photos from Archie's official blog http://stadinuuni.blogspot.fi/

It has been a year already, still, I would like to tell you the story of our little oven and our banana craziness.

This outdoor oven has a name. He is Archie, located at a to-be-developed container area next to the harbor called Kalasatama in Helsinki. Maybe I should use past tense, because unfortunately, he is dead. He was built by an international group of food-ethusiasts with no relevant building experiences. They tried and tested and worked together and somehow they got the oven done! With a fierce and energetic personality, Archie spat fire and also puffed. Just being playful, nothing too bad. You just need a little bit more patience to see how warm the fire is and supply burning logs from time to time. What made him cuter? He was very organic indeed as he was mainly made of materials from the nature.

I remember eating warm delicious Karelien Pie (an Eastern Finnish pastry, my all-time favourite) made from the wood-heaten oven during my exchange. That is something that an electric oven can never replace. The temperature, the texture, the flavor, the smell of smoke... This is not only nostalgia but an irrefutable fact that traditional oven is superb.

In May 2013, we had an experimental Banana Lab on Ravintola Päivä (Restaurant Day). Besides enjoying the joy of eating, we food lovers do not want to waste food. Therefore, a food event making good use of "food waste" was organized. Banana is one of the most easily thrown away items from the grocery stores due to its unattractiveness when it is a bit more mature. Discrimination? Finnish people being racists? Definitely! (I have personally conducted numerous interviews with Finns and the answers are all identical. Finns only love the lovely yellow ,ignoring the fact that banana is sweeter when it gets some brown. Attempts of persuasion have been made and were in vain)

We were grateful that the wholesale retailer Heinon Tukku donated us a box of brownish bananas for ingredients. This Banana Lab was open to everyone. No previous preparation was required and the results of improvisation were delicious. New recipes had been formed and eating freshly baked yummies was simply delightful, especially when sharing food with nice company.

It was a pleasant Saturday.

P.S. Looking at the first photo, reminds me of my long gone MUJI maternity scarf, which I bought in accident. (I was in Osaka, Japan, attracted by the pattern, purchased it then was startled when it was actually for MUMS)