Tekstit

Breakfast on the Beach – JA Manafaru

Kuva
When planning our honeymoon my wife and I had this dream of a once in a lifetime experience of dining next to the sea on a private beach. We also considered the floating breakfast, which means to have your breakfast in your plunge pool served on a floating tray. In the end we ended up saving the floating breakfast experience to later and enjoying a romantic set up by the beach for our own private breakfast. As you can see, we did not have to regret our choice as JA Manafaru resort organized us a super romantic champagne breakfast with only us and the white sand surrounded by the crystal waters. I have to say that in reality it was even more delicious than what you can see from the pictures! Warm croissants, poached eggs, fruits and freshly squeezed juice together with some bubbly. I have definitely had worse! When we were visiting Aruba in 2016, we had a dinner set up by the beach. As nice as it was I think this was maybe even better as you could enjoy

Your (Rookie) Partner-in-Wine – Salon 1999

Kuva
The wine review of this week is about champagne that is a bit special one. At least it was really special for our family as we opened that on the very day we realized we were going to move to France. I had absolutely no intention to lay my hands on this bottle for many years, even decades, but the occasion got the better of me. When realizing we will leave our old and comfy life for the big unknown celebration was indeed in place and I could not really think better champagne than Salon to toast for the new life and journey which was just about to begin. I came to think of this bubbly as we are again heading to a crossroad and our life might bend to a different direction yet again. I will tell you more about this when the details are certain and confirmed but exciting news ahead, that is for sure!   But now back to Salon. Salon Champagne is one of the most luxurious and illustrious houses in the champagne region. Salon was established in the beginning of 20th century by

Your (Rookie) Partner in Wine - Larmandier Bernier

Kuva
Because of Easter activities this week's wine review is a bit late. Those of you who are following my instagram already know that we are currently in Chamonix as we came here to celebrate Easter with family and friends in the mountains. I have spent my time here mostly on skiing and relaxing and hadn't had time to write anything. However now, when the lamb is in marinade waiting to be grilled and our daughter is having a nap after an active morning outdoors, I finally have a moment to sit down and write a post of my recommendation of the champagne of this spring. This tip might come little late for Easter festives but luckily during spring and summer there are many great reasons (excuses) to celebrate with the bubbly. And let me assure you that this specific bottle is the bottle you have been looking for for your special occasions.    Larmandier-Bernier  Larmandier-Bernier champagne house was only established in 1971. It is a fairly new house but both familie

Your (rookie) Partner-In-Wine 2014 – Sarget Chateau Gruaud Larose

Kuva
I picked up this second wine called Sarget vintage 2014 from Chateau Gruaud-Larose just a week ago from our local retailer Nicolas. When buying the bottle I was thinking that for an affordable bottle to drink immediately instead of storing, there would not be a better choice than to try a second wine from a chateau with long history. Now you may wonder what does "a second wine" refer to? Don't worry, this is part of the wine slang not known to all. Second wine means with all simplicity that the wine is made of the grapes not good enough for some reason to be put into the chateau`s first wine.  The Chateau Gruaud-Larose winery has a long history dating back to 1778 when it started operating by the name it carries today. It got the the second growth in 1855 classifications the Medoc. Gruaud-Larose is situated on the left bank of Bordeaux. Unfortunately this chateau has a questionable reputation of producing unstable quality of wines. It has had long breaks between q

Grapes on the move - Your Rookie Partner-in-Wine

Kuva
Is there a more suitable topic to write on a sunny Friday in Paris than wines? Nope, I guess not. Still I was hesitating a bit when the thought of adding wine reviews to my blog crossed my mind for the first time. Why? Because I felt like I lack both knowledge and experience to actually write about wines. Internet is full of great wine reviews from professionals whose ancestors were already involved in a wine business. What can I add to that? I do not have a degree on wines, no years of experience. Not even a single official training on the matter.  I am self-read and self-taught when it comes to wines. Expert only on my own taste, still struggling to find the corret terms to describe this drink of Gods. Have I read dozens of books and watched a bunch of documents on the subject? Yes. For sure. Have I had my share of wines? Yes. Definitely. But still, it seems that wines are almost sacred topic to touch. Form of art where I would be far from being Michelangelo.  So given tha

Doping is a Fraud

Kuva
In the latest news in media as well as in people`s discussions sports’ cleanness has taken lots of hits, and the whole reputation of sports has in some way experienced inflation and in most cases rightly so. Almost every week there are athletes who are being crucified in the news and media for doping. Some cases it is because of already failed doping tests and some other it is because some athletes are believed to be users of performance enhancing drugs. Rightly so again. I have wanted to write on this subject for so long. For one I have had the privilege to get an insight look to the topic through my own professional career in badminton. And as in Finland there currently is an on-going campaign called "Puhtaasti paras" against doping it seemed like a perfect timing to write this post. When I was younger I believed that completely clean sport existed, maybe mostly because of lack of knowledge and because I was still naive. At least when it came to my own field, badmi

Ja Manafaru - A Hidden Gem in the North of Maldives

Kuva
Follow my blog with Bloglovin I have received messages from friends abroad that I should start to write my posts in English. As Finnish is my mother tongue I still hesitate to abandon it completely but I decided to give it a go and write some posts also in English. Let’s see how this goes and if you, my dear readers adapt the new language, maybe I continue this for good, who knows? As a start I decided to translate some of my previous posts to which I have received messages asking if translation would be possible.. So here you go! First one is a post of our one-of-a-kind honeymoon in Maldives. Just two weeks ago we arrived from the paradise straight to the freezing coldness. Although it was great to be reunited with our daughter, it is not often I have felt so emotional when saying goodbye to a holiday destination. To ease this still on-going travel fever I decided to write couple posts from our trip. “Couple posts” because the post would be miles long if I tried