Waiting for spring to arrive

Wondering how Archie has survived the winter so far? He is actually still alive, even if still covered with snow and ice and not quite awakened from his winter sleep. On yesterday's crisp and sunny Sunday morning, he was freed of his winterly burden in a communal effort of shovels and dustpans. Afterwards, the team went on a small excursion in the alpine landscapes of Kalasatama to check out the slopes and ski tracks (which are, to put it bluntly, in a rather icy and sandy condition - but: the incredible view over the city makes it all worthwhile, better than any Torni!)...

Let's hope for spring to arrive quickly so that the baking season can finally start again! According to rumours, the Kalasatama area will be filled with events and projects from a wide range of different people and organizations, so let's look forward to a lively summer 2011!

The Archie Team

Archie off to winter break

With centimetres of snow fall and temperatures far below 0°C, winter break has officially started for Archie. But Kalasatama is a beautiful skiing area...!
We are looking forward to a new season of events in next year's spring!

Merry christmas & all the best for the new year!

The Archie Crew

Canadian thanksgiving

In the October's eve, monday 11th, Archie hosted a Canadian thankgiving party. This time Archie was giving us so many different dishes that I don't think he's ever done that before: we had authentic canadian pumpkin pie (of course!), stuffing, german bread, indian naan-bread, apples in the oven, chickpea curry, egyptian cornbread, a truly finnish touch given by Carelian pies and what else..? A lot!
Winter's winds are starting to arrive and give their chill to the evenings, but if you'll dress up warm enough, Archie will do the rest and you'll survive (nearly) any blizzards! Hot drinks are highly recommended too and a guitar for music always adds to the atmosphere.

Archie gets a new door!
















After making a template of Archie's arched opening, Katharina and Sarah spent an afternoon at the wood studio at TaiK, with some advice there from Martin (thank you!), then setting to work, very serious work, constructing a door...



features include:

- heavy duty thick and durable wood (~4cm)
- a souvenir of the original door ;)
- also can be used as a shield (ie. from hot flying pizzas)


















Later testing on site was successful!

Megapolis 2025

Saturday had the Old Student House on Mannerheimintie full of community-spirited folk gathering for Dodo's annual Megapolis event, where the theme this year was "The Rhythms of Cities". One of the talks was a slam-style "battle" between representatives of developers for two of Helsinki's decommissioned harbour areas Jätkäsaari and Kalasatama. The showdown ended in a cliffhanger, with the MC stating that "the winner will be revealed over the coming years", presumably when the grafitti wall and containers have long been replaced by blocks of flats. But it was fun watching Jätkäsaari's temporary use for concerts featuring certain megastars being parried with the Dodo city growers' harvest party (pictured below) where Archie was officially launched. I don't know what role developers have in the pre-construction phase, but hopefully they will continue to capitalize on local values rather than bending to global forces. The audience was most vocal with their concern over the presence of malls and the impact that would have on the ability of small businesses to thrive (photo). We look forward to hearing the topic for next year's Megapolis!

Tonight at 10 pm, MTV3-uutiset: Short feature about Archie!

Mika Tommola from MTV3 called the other day to ask for a short feature about the oven project at the end of the Sunday evening news- of course, we agreed! Due to rain on Saturday, we moved the baking and the interview to today’s afternoon. It was actually the first time of baking real sourdough rolls and bread in the oven, and it worked really nicely!

We had the freshly baked buns with butter (of course!) and home- made jam made from self-picked aronia berries from Herttoniemi (thanks to Felix, Anna, and Ville for the good hint where to find them!). Unfortunately, I was so busy baking and talking that I forgot to take pictures. We will upload the movie-file here soon, so stay tuned if you cannot see it tonight!

Busy happy weekend

On Saturday and Sunday, Archie produced loads of tasty food! First, about 60 pizzas and some cake and cookies on Saturday night during dodo's harvest feast, then about 12 different kinds of 'rieska' and oven vegetables (leftovers from Saturday in the leftover heat from Sunday) during yesterday's experimental food and art event 1/5, which is part of Katharina Moebus' MA thesis at the Aalto University School of Art and Design (there is 4 more events to come!).

Curious? Check the links to see pictures of both events! Stay tuned - and make a reservation for the oven if you would like to get a taste of it yourself! :)

Picture gallery of the dodo-feast
Picture gallery of 1/5 event

Public food/art event 1/5, this Sunday 3-6 pm!

The dodo harvest event will be followed by another happening during the same weekend. Here the description of the event (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113585698695682):

1/5: FERTILIZE// First happening of the food event series "5 - The dish"

“5″ is a series of food events and workshops taking place between June - November 2010 in Helsinki, each one symbolizing one step of the production process. Basic food is bread, the rest is a metaphore. The five steps consist of 1) fertilizing, 2) harvesting, 3) preparing, 4) consuming, and 5) salvaging. The basic idea is to inspire thought about culture, identity, and the objects we consume, with a shared experience of eating. Food as an ephemeral product, consumed by our very own bodies, represents an everyday experience that connects people and memories. We are what we eat – so, who are we?

If at hand, please bring a recipe for "Rieska" (Finnish flat bread) that you know from your family, friends, cookbook, or invented yourself. The first 25 recipe bringers will receive something in return. Welcome to an experimental autumnal afternoon outside!



Location: next to the cob oven at the container square, Kalasatama in Helsinki (follow the green "ranta-reitti"-markings on the floor/ check out the map here: http://www.uuttahelsinkia.fi/kalasatama/perustiedot/kalasatama-temporary the oven is situated close to #4)

Time: 5th of September, 3 pm- 6 pm (the evening may be continued @ Ptarmigan with a movie screening of the short film "Cities of Preferences", starting at 7 pm)

More information about the whole project can be found on its blog 1234viisi.wordpress.com. Welcome!

Archie spits fire and pizza

Tonight, we had our first private cob oven building team experimental pizza baking night and it was just incredible! It actually works perfectly and nicely!

The firing took around 3-4 hrs, with a first experiment at 175 degrees and a second firing after which the oven reached a temperature of about 250 degrees and just made one tasty crunchy but juicy pizza after the other! We had a wheat sourdough and topped it with ingredients everyone brought, with some veggies harvested from the dodo-garden which had really nice flavours. As tools we used a used oven peel that was donated to us by dear neighbours (big mama, thanks so much!), with the help of a saw (you shouldn't let the dough suck in the tomato sauce for too long, otherwise you have difficulties getting the pizza off the peel). The wood was found in the surroundings and brought from private homes equipped with fire wood. Even a beautiful oven door was built today, which makes Archie almost complete, since a bunch of people built an impressive roof for him on Saturday to protect him from the upcoming (winter?) season.

The pizza was enjoyed in a little pop-up park (grass mats left over from the Flow festival), under the shadow of a carrot tree (carrots grow on trees, right?). Everyone went home with a warm and full stomach, some sand between the teeth, and the aromatic smell of burnt wood in the clothes. What a night. More to come! :) Put down next weekend in your calendar! (dodo and 1/5 event coming up!)

Dodo's harvest party inaugurates Archie

Sept. 4th, starting from 5 pm, there will be a harvest party on the container square where Archie is situated. The vegetables grown by the dodo urban guerilla gardeners on the other side of the Kalasatama harbour will be harvested and cooked into delicious dishes, involving the cob oven for the first time in a public happening. Live music will be played by The Studets and Kyökkifunkki. This is the link to the Facebook-event:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=762564400#!/event.php?eid=120042798044787

Welcome!

Archie's blog, finally established!

The special flavour of bread baked on a wood-fired hot stone is unforgettable for your taste buds. To make this experience possible for everyone interested, the urban cob oven aka Archie, situated at Kalasatama's container square in Helsinki, is open to the public. People who want to organize events or simply bake some bread, pizza, or cake with friends can make a reservation via this blog. Just send an email with a description of your event to us, and we will publish it on the calendar!

saviuunihelsinkiin(at)gmail.com

Enjoy!