Helsinki and Spicy Chicken Wings part 3

With the perfect chicken wing in mind, we set out, once again to find the best chicken wing restaurant in Helsinki. The taste buds tuned to the spiciness, we search the internet for a few more places to visit and go ourselves a list.

The first restaurant, with a promising name of Colorado, which serves supposedly great steaks had chicken wings on a menu. So far so good. However, when reading a bit more, they were marinated in honey-chili sauce, so obviously not what we are looking for. Anyway, we stayed and order a small portion. The wings were nice and juicy, but the sauce and the dip, just horrible,so if you are after good wings, this is definitely not the place to go.

Our next stop ended up somewhat rock clubish looking Henry's Pub, which was located in the old bus station in Kamppi. When first looking at the menu, this seems our hearts started to beat faster and faster. The only thing we found was wings with multitude of sauces. Unfortunately, they didn't have XXHot sauce that day, so we had to downgrade to only XHot. Anyway, the wings sauce was the closest to a Buffalo wing so far, however, on the bad note, the wings were very dry. I am not sure if this was due to the fact that they probably freeze the hell out of them or they just had a bad batch coming out of the oven. We do have to go again to confirm which theory it is. The blue cheese dip and the fries were excellent, so this is definitely the place to go visit.

Our wing hunt is not over yet, will keep you posted with our next endeavors.

Buffalo Wings in Helsinki Continues

A new buffalo wing experience awaited us in the American-Mexican style bar(smoking allowed - which is weird in Finland) called Texas. The wings there were actually quite ok, but still not the ultimate American style wings that one would expect. The wings come already marinated in sauce, but are far from being hot. I believe they also have a BBQ sauce, but that just destroys the Buffalo wing idea all together.

Newly discovered frozen marinated wings in a German type grocery store called Lidl might just be the ideal wings out there.

So far it has been impossible to find naked wings without a marinated in Finland. Actually, there is more marinated meat out here than anywhere else I have ever lived in. Only some stores can get you a good naked meat, so you can marinate it yourself.

You know you have been in Finland too long, when..

1. Your nice Armani suit has a fluorescent thingie hanging off of it, so cars see you in the winter
2. Glögi becomes your daily drink on Christmas and you no longer consider it an alcoholic drink
3. You find yourself silently waiting for a green light to cross a street that has not seen a car in the last 5 minutes.
4. The panic sets in when you are on a bike in a town with no or only 1m wide biking lanes
5. When somebody asks you in a supermarket "do you want a pussi?", you no longer giggle or even find it a bit weird
6. When someone comes late to a meeting, you automatically assume, they don´t care and are rude
7. Gloves and warm hat becomes your best friend in preparation for winter already in October, when the weather is definitely not a glove weather yet
8. You became lactose intolerant or at least don´t bother asking what milk to buy if you bring groceries to a friend.
9. Attending a Christmas party in early November comes natural and does not strike you as weird.
10. "Cash" is a word you have not used in a long time and your wallet has only plastic in it.
11. You no longer question why stores are closed on Sunday
12. You become annoyed when somebody speaks Swedish to you

Top 10 Things to Do When Moving to Finland

So, since your internet search got you all the way here, you must be thinking about moving to Finland or have already done so. Or you just have nothing else to do than reading my articles :). So, here it goes:

1.) Find a place to live such as an apartment or a house

2.) In order to rent a place you need to get a home insurance. This is not that expensive and will cost you about 200 euro/year. For this you can go to Pohjola

3.) Get internet service. Finland is more connected than most places on
earth :). This highly depends on where you live, but Welho seems to have good deals.

4.) Now, you need to get registered into the population registry and this is done at your local Maistraatti office. All you need is a passport and a couple of weeks later you will receive your social security number which is more important than your name in Finland.

5.) If you are in Helsinki, you might want to ask for a temporary SSN when in Maistraatti, so you can get a travel card right away. Travel cards are used on all public transports in Helsinki and you can either put money on the card or pre-pay monthly etc. etc.

6.) Once you have a job, you should register with the immigration police. This is called registering the right of stay in Finland. Fill in and sign the form "The Registration Information on a Foreigner". If you are an EU citizen you just need your passport, 40 euro, your contract and a lot of patience as it can take many hours waiting to get to actually drop your stuff of. Come at 8am to avoid long queues and do not come after 2pm as they will not serve you. It takes them about 2 months to get a decision on your application.

7.) Now you want to get paid right? So, get a bank account. You probably just need a passport and again your contract for this. Some banks to try are Osuuspankki and Nordea. By the way, the OP bank doesn't have the greatest English interface, but good service.

8.) After you have worked for a couple of weeks and if you are form the last EU countries to join the union, you should submit a form to the employment office to notify them of your employment. The office is located at Mikonkatu 7, 3rd floor (helsinki.kluuvi@mol.fi) and the form is here. However, be wary that nobody will have a clue what you are talking about as they have never seen this form, yet they will be nice and take it off your hands :).

9.) If you are working you don't want to have 60% tax taken out right? You need to apply for a tax card. This process is very simple. If you are in Helsinki, go to Vuorikatu 14, right in the metro station. More information can be found on the tax site.

10.) Last, but definitely not least, you will have to pay a visit to your local Kela office. Kela is a sort of social security in Finland. Find out more about Kela here.
Kela FPA

One site that is very helpful and has a lot of collected information is the Expats Finland page, so give it a shot. And if you are bringing your car with you, don't forget to visit the custom's site for official forms and regulations. You will be looking for a form which will tell you how to bring vehicle as part of removal goods.

Tervetuloa and good luck!

Buffalo Chicken Wing Hunt in Helsinki, Finland

After our initial Prague Buffalo wing hunt, which really wasn't all that successful, so needs to be repeated, we decided to attempt similar in Helsinki, Finland. Now, Finland is not known for its spicy food. Actually, Finnish people are not too keen on spicy stuff, but Helsinki is so international nowadays that it is not a problem to get some spiciness into your life.

Our first stop was the hip restaurant in the center (Kamppi) called Memphis. The chicken wings here weren't the real deal, however, the spicy dip that came with them was not bad at all. Otherwise, the wings were a bit too dry. The next place we went to was a typical American restaurant called Chico's. With that name, one would assume they would have great buffalo wings, however, big mistake. There was no sign of chicken wings on the menu and the burgers we ordered were little to be desired, so this is one is a no go.

Third try was the Southern Fried Chicken fast food joint in Kamppi again. Who else would know how to make some wings than this place. And it wasn't far from the truth. The chicken wings came already dipped in a spicy sauce which was not that bad for Finland, but it still left a bit more to be desired for the real Buffalo wings.

After the different restaurant dining, we decided to visit local supermarkets to see if we can make the spicy chicken wings we desire ourselves. Finland is actually known for having a lot of different already marinated meats available in the stores, so it didn't take long to find two different chicken wings packets soaking in delicious red spicy sauce. After about an hour in the oven, we were munching on probably the best wings we have had in a while. They weren't perfect, but were damn good. Especially if we can add some cayenne pepper and some Thai spicy chili sauce.

Our quest is of course not over yet, so stay tuned for more delicious spicy sticky wing stories.

Hang on now. Breaking news :). Just came across the finnish society of spicy sauces (in Finnish) and got the original Buffalo Wing Sauce from them, so will have to try it out. Will probably be the winner there.

Hamina Tattoo

Have you ever wondered why would military regiment need an orchestra? Well, you might say, they used to have them for marching or to intimidate their oponent with the wild beat of drums in the past centuries. We all remember the red coats fighting the blue coats (If you don't, get a clue and watch "The Last of the Mohicans":)) However, the question still stands, why would our modern military need a musical group? What is the purpose of tax payers money going to some shmuck playing violin instead of him/her defending our country. If anybody has an explanation, I'd like to hear it, feel free to leave us a comment.

Anywho, today's post will take us to our good ol' brothers up north, the mighty Finns. It is there, in a quite small and tranquile city of Hamina, almost by the Russian border and about 200 km from St. Petersburg, where each year get together military wind orchestras and perform for entire week in and around the city with the main concert taking place in the local Bastion. This even carries a good sounding name Hamina Tattoo. I have to say, I have never seen anything like it. This years Hamina Tattoo had orchestras from Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Lithuania, Hungary and of course mother Russia. The orchestras put on daily concerts in the city park or by the harbor called TervaSaari (which in translation means "Tar Island" hehe). These concerts are usually about 1-2 hours long, so just right.

There were a few highlights at this year's Hamina Tattoo that I thought were quite cool. First would have to be the Swedish Mounted Band of the Royal Guards which performed on horses. Can you imagine playing a trumpet while trying to control a horse, dressed in thick military dress in 25 degree heat? No thank you, but they were impressive. Second, would have to be he final concert at the Bastion where all the bands go one after another and perform musical numbers with marching, dancing and whatever they want to throw into the mix. It was very very impressive what these guys can do. Last, I'd have to mention the Russian orchestra. This year it was the Central Band of Leningrad Military District which was accompanied by the 165th Honorary Rifle Company. The soldiers would move with utmoust precission as one would expect of the Russian colossus. I also do not think it was just a nice thought to bring the rifle company, mother Russia like to show that she still can be the boss :). Well, that is it for the Hamina Tattoo experience. If you are in that area next year, I suggest you spend a day in Hamina and listen to the tunes. It was very nice.