Realistic cost of living in Tampere for exchange student

[priki]

Also Pancho Villa has had nice burgers. Just avoid Ideapark PV and also Satakunnankatu PV, slow and not so nice service. The original in Tammelan Puistokatu is the best.

Does she really live in Hervanta? I live there, but I've not tried any pizzas in Hervanta for years. Just remember to avoid pizzeria Jalapeno (also in Hämeenkatu).
Heval in Arkkitehdinkatu at least used to have good kebabs, especially their aurarulla is good. For me one of them is two meals easily.

[mrshourula]

She did get a little soft landing because I paid for a hotel room with breakfast for her first night in Tampere.
Snip... a large amount of detail.
Hard to believe she has only been gone one week; it feels like forever

I'm sure you only want to vent, but does your daughter know you are discussing pretty much her every waking move on a public message board?

Perhaps she reads it too? Maybe she's over the moon. I can only say that if my folks posted loads of things I told them on an internet message board, I'd be a bit peeved.

You're right. She just thought I was asking general questions about living in Finland and when she found out it was more than that (I told her I mentioned the bad pizza), she got quite annoyed with me and has told me to stop So no more public discussions about "any alleged daughter that I may or may not have

However, I think I can still ask questions in general as long as I reveal no personal details.

[sinikala]

You're right. She just thought I was asking general questions about living in Finland and when she found out it was more than that (I told her I mentioned the bad pizza), she got quite annoyed with me and has told me to stop So no more public discussions about "any alleged daughter that I may or may not have

However, I think I can still ask questions in general as long as I reveal no personal details.

Do you understand her doughter is unknown, no one knows who she is or what she looks like. I may bump on her in city and dont know.
What bad is to tell happening of "transfer student" in public board, nameless and faceless. Those are just happenings what can happen to everyone.
To me this is just interesting and i cant imagine how it could be offending.

That's because you're a moron. Cyber slap for our resident @#$%.

[sinikala]

Non-chain pizza places are generally better IMO, but they take some testing and experimentation.

the thumb rule is - if the pizza is good, don't experiment on other stuff on the menu... if the other stuff is good, don't order pizza...

other places to avoid is the "Rosso" chain IMNSHO...

Oh dear.

My ranking in term of pizza in Finland... and this is not saying much

1) Pizza Hut
2) Keltsu (only in Otaniemi, sadly) - thin crust
3) Koti Pizza - our local was put out of business by (6)
4) Rosso - do a passable large deep pan for about €20
The above are all edible... below are not
5) Martina
6) Buffa
7) Rax ... I confess I have never eaten in there, and after a look through the window.. never will.

I would crawl stark bollock naked over broken glass if someone would open a Domino's here.

[mrshourula]

Seems something lost in translation again, i think minced meat is one like this.
And i picked up word "roast" because it was first to come mind, i dont know what "ruskistaa"(to make brown) is in english but if you "ruskistat" minced meat there is lot of meat juice and you can add water+flour to make more of it. Well you can basically add everything in it, i like onion in it

Yes, minced meat is correct, and is sometimes called "ground" meat because it has been run through a grinder. In English, the recipe would say "brown the meat" meaning to cook just the way you describe. More often here in the US a dish like this would be made with wide egg noodles rather than potatoes and maybe include tomato sauce and sometime like corn cut from the cob for some texture (crunch).

and i didnt with fast look find "a pigs-head of a cattle" so can you say what its in finnish

Translation by Google Translate which clearly doesn't know most of the words in this recipe.
A pig-head of cattle and makaronia

1 pss makaronia 1 ps makaronia
1 tlk sika-nautasäilykettä 1 tsp pig nautasäilykettä
(sipuli) (onion)

Keitä makaronit. Who pasta. (Ruskista sipuli.) Kaada vesi pois. (Brown onion). Pour the water out. Lisää sika-nautasäilyke (ja sipuli) ja sekoita. Add pork and nautasäilyke (and onion) and mix. Nauti ketsupin ja ruisleivän kanssa. Enjoy the ketchup and rye bread. NAM. NAM.
Hinta koko annoksella on alle 2 euroa. Price portions of the whole is less than 2 euros.

[mrshourula]

Do you understand her doughter is unknown, no one knows who she is or what she looks like. I may bump on her in city and dont know.
What bad is to tell happening of "transfer student" in public board, nameless and faceless. Those are just happenings what can happen to everyone.
To me this is just interesting and i cant imagine how it could be offending.

Onkko is vicariously experiencing what it is like to be an exchange student. For some reason, this has caught his fancy. Maybe it will inspire him to travel to London to practice speaking English

[Upphew]

Non-chain pizza places are generally better IMO, but they take some testing and experimentation.

the thumb rule is - if the pizza is good, don't experiment on other stuff on the menu... if the other stuff is good, don't order pizza...

other places to avoid is the "Rosso" chain IMNSHO...

Oh dear.

My ranking in term of pizza in Finland... and this is not saying much

1) Pizza Hut
2) Keltsu (only in Otaniemi, sadly) - thin crust
3) Koti Pizza - our local was put out of business by (6)
4) Rosso - do a passable large deep pan for about €20
The above are all edible... below are not
5) Martina
6) Buffa
7) Rax ... I confess I have never eaten in there, and after a look through the window.. never will.

I would crawl stark bollock naked over broken glass if someone would open a Domino's here.

Chains sucks in Finland. They are only good for guaranteed level of badness, so you know what you get in nowheremäki. If you stay longer period in one place (so you can experiment with pizza places) you should always turn to local "hairy hand".

[sinikala]

This has all been done before.

Chains sucks in Finland. They are only good for guaranteed level of badness, so you know what you get in nowheremäki.

I agree that the Finnish chains suck. But Pizza Hut here is as edible as it is in any other country, it's just too expensive for the locals, so rarely seen outside the capital. That bargain basement chains like Rax and Buffa are quite successful here is down to the fact that they are cheap, which is ultimately what the average Finnish consumer wants, as much food as possible for the minimum number of Euros.

When it comes to eating out, most Finns are as tight as a crab's arse (water-tight).

If you stay longer period in one place (so you can experiment with pizza places) you should always turn to local "hairy hand".

I disagree, there are many pizza-kebab places around here, the ones I have tried are universally crap, yet raved about by locals and well patronised, possibly because they are also cheap?

Hairy hand, for the unacquainted, is a Finnish term for anybody of middle-eastern origin or of a swarthy complexion. Lovely.

[sinikala]

and i didnt with fast look find "a pigs-head of a cattle" so can you say what its in finnish

Translation by Google Translate which clearly doesn't know most of the words in this recipe.
A pig-head of cattle and makaronia
1 tlk sika-nautasäilykettä 1 tsp pig nautasäilykettä

My guess is it's talking about tinned meat. Säilykkeet = tinned / canned food.

If tlk = tölkki (säilyketölkki = can) as opposed to teelusikka (teaspoon).

Canned pork or beef? Perhaps it means something like Spam or corned beef, or whatever it is that poor people eat here.

Onion, fried tinned meat, pasta and ketchup. Sounds disgusting, but plausible as something a student would be likely to make.

[Pursuivant]

nötkötti... blerrgghh... yeah, spam is close enough... minced meat from the store is cheaper, but then again doesn't keep. used to be it was tuna and macaroni and ketchup...

oh well, the sausage was 3.80 for a kilo roll so its going to be makkarakastike this week for me

[EP]

1 tlk sika-nautasäilykettä

Glorious invention of the early 1960´s. At least that is when I first had it. It is disgusting. Those days people could not really afford meat, except some mince for meatballs and lean parts for soup every now and then. And carelian stew once a month. And then came nötkötti. It was everywhere. People ate it on bread, put it into pea soup and so on. It is really an truly disgusting. That translucent jello-like stuff in between tiny peaces of meat...

[Jukka Aho]

lunch at someplace called Rax's Pizza Buffet. .... the restaurant got of a review of :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

Again something everybody knows, but nobody tells. :twisted:

Life lesson: never, ever eat at a pizza buffet 8)

Bah. There’s nothing inherently wrong with RAX or Kotipizza... except those irritating snobs who are always telling you how you shouldn’t like eating at those places! :) (But OK, I’ve noticed that some of those other RAX locations I’ve tried – such as the one in downtown Helsinki in Aikatalo – were perhaps not run quite to the same standards as the original Vaasa one...)

[Jukka Aho]

Hairy hand, for the unacquainted, is a Finnish term for anybody of middle-eastern origin 0or of a swarthy complexion. Lovely.

The proper “direct translation” of what that is supposed to mean would be “hairy-arm”, I think. The Finnish word käsi can be translated as both “hand” and “arm”, but in this case, I think the name comes from the individuals who have a rather thick and impressive – from the Finnish perspective, at least! – mat of dark hair covering their forearms. (Coincidentally, I’m rather well-equipped on that front myself, so if I made pizza at home it could probably be called karvakäsipizza...)

[Jukka Aho]

1 tlk sika-nautasäilykettä

Glorious invention of the early 1960´s. At least that is when I first had it. It is disgusting. Those days people could not really afford meat, except some mince for meatballs and lean parts for soup every now and then. And carelian stew once a month. And then came nötkötti. It was everywhere. People ate it on bread, put it into pea soup and so on. It is really an truly disgusting. That translucent jello-like stuff in between tiny peaces of meat...

Well, I have to disagree with this one as well... It’s not by any standards some glorious gourmet meat you would present to your guests, that’s for sure, but goes well in a soup with potatoes, carrots, onions and stuff, for example... if you’re just making a mundane daily dish.

Then again, I’m pretty sure the culinary expectations of our young American student for her exchange year might be somewhat higher than just eating truckloads of special-offer pasta and the cheapest-of-the-cheap canned meat products...

As for that jello remark, I guess you don’t then fancy aladobi, either? :)

[Tiwaz]

Bah. There’s nothing inherently wrong with RAX or Kotipizza... except those irritating snobs who are always telling you how you shouldn’t like eating at those places! (But OK, I’ve noticed that some of those other RAX locations I’ve tried – such as the one in downtown Helsinki in Aikatalo – were perhaps not run quite to the same standards as the original Vaasa one...)

There is something inherently wrong.

When I order my preferred pizza at Kotipizza (ham, kebabmeat, shrimp and pineapple) it is decent. Not good, but decent.

Now, on monday I made mistake of ordering Alla Pollo in medium pan from Kotipizza.

Pineapple and chicken. Well, there WERE some pieces of pineapple, and few pieces of chicken were busily looking for one another in sea of cheese.

But by no account was it good pizza in my opinion. I want mine with lots of toppings. And in Kotipizza and other chains, they appear to have extreme regulations on how many pieces of chicken you can put in a pizza.