Dining with Friends

Left, Director of the Department of World Cultures Lars-Folke Landgrén, Counselor for Cultural and Press Affairs Marjut Robinson**, Professor Markku Henriksson

Last night the Professor and I went to dinner with his department chairman Markku Henriksson and his wife Ritva. I have been dreading it. And I was so silly. We took the Metro and then met two women from the university and the four of us took the bus to the Henriksson's apartment.

We had a wonderful evening with lots of stories and laughter. Markku is leaving on Friday for a month in California. He is visiting some of the parks there. All the way from the red woods to Death Valley. His wife Ritva has worked with the Hopis doing research in communitcations. They actually lived with a family for two months at one time and about a month in another year.

Their joke about the Hopis was...how many people live in a Hopi home. 5: a mother, a father, a son, a daughter and an anthopologist.

We had wild salmon and rice and started with half an avocado filled with vegan caviar* on a bed of delicate green leaves with three different types of curled pieces of smoked fish. For dessert she had baked a wonderful pie similar to a cheese cake with apples in it.

They are just so kind and so welcoming and generous.

I gave her a necklace with turquoise and silver and a bracelet that I had brought from Utah. I think she was really pleased. The necklace was a really delicate one and I think was perfect for her. She is small and delicate herself.

I wasn't sure if I was ready to have to take the metro and the bus and walk home but it went faster than I expected.

*The good news for vegetarian gourmands, however, is that vegetarian caviar substitutes, made from seaweed and algae for that "fishy" taste, are readily available. Kelp Caviar, made in Canada, comes in sturgeon, wasabi and salmon flavors and is available online through KelpCaviar.com. Cavi-Art vegetarian caviar comes in salmon flavor, as well as black, yellow or red lumpfish flavors and is available online through Food Fight Vegan Grocery.

**Marjut Robinson and Markku met us at the airport when we landed in Helsinki.