You got a Christmas Gift from Estonia!
It’s nice living in LA cause I can get anything, anytime I want. Well, almost anything.
There are things that you can’t really find anywhere else but in Estonia so if I was to send you a Christmas goodie bag with all my favorite things from there, it would look like this:
BLACK BREAD
If you ever meet an Estonian person and mention black bread, you’re IN. We can’t live without this stuff. My mom visited me last year and brought like 16 packs of this specific black bread. I froze it and ate it for a whole year. Sometimes I’d make my friends breakfast sandwiches with this bread, eggs and bacon. It’s fucking unbelievable. This “rukkipala” is my favorite black bread from Estonia. I couldn’t find it anywhere in America but if u live in the UK, u can get it from //viikinggoods.co.uk/shop/
JOIK SOY CANDLES
I bring these back for my house and as gifts every time I go to Estonia. They’re hand poured, all natural and the scents are incredible. Champaigne and Raspberries scented candle anyone? My favorite ones are called “the night” and “sweet dreams”. I don’t know if they deliver to other countries but their homepage where they also sell tons of other natural products is www.joik.ee
ESTONIAN MUSIC
We have some pretty incredible classical music but if I had to pick one recent album to bring a little extra pop to my goodie bag, I’d pick the “Good Man Down” by Ewert and the two dragons. They have been around forever but are now blossoming into something truly delicious and refined. Watch out, Foster the People.
BEAUTY SERVICES
Been all around the world and I can truly say, there is no better service when it comes to getting pampered than what we have in Estonia. Not for the price at least. I miss getting facials and having my hair done there. Thy always give you their full attention and all the time you need. I have had my hair done in this salon called Casabella in Tallinn for years. So I’m also dropping a little beauty procedure into this gift bag…let’s say eyelash extensions. Could get them done for like $60 in Tallinn. That’s a steal!
JOIK BATH TRUFFLES
Don’t need to say much about these. I use them, I love them. Imagine orange, cinnamon and clove essential oils packed into a small cocoa butter truffle melting into your bathwater while it’s windy and cold outside. *cozy*
SMOKED CREAM CHEESE
We have this thing called “merevaik” in Estonia which is like the cream cheese in the US but it has this smoked flavor and the texture is different too. They make it with shrimp and chives and all the other good stuff too. I wish they’d sell it here! They sell it in the UK on this page: //viikinggoods.co.uk/shop/
SAUNA STUFF
There’s nothing else I miss about Estonia as much as I miss sauna. It’s weird but it’s such a tradition. Everyone has a country house with some old sauna (my gandparents sauna is like 100 years old) and almost everyone that has a house, has a sauna in their house. It’s such a huge part of our culture. We start going to sauna when we don’t even walk yet. The temperatures are really high to the point where me, being a huge sauna fan, now almost pass out when I do it in Estonia cause my body is like what the hell is this. lol.
But since transporting a whole sauna would be a little difficult, I’d just put these young birch branches into our christmas goodie bag. You’re probably wondering what these are for. Well…they’re for beating each other in the sauna.
Yes.
Pretty much everyone lives in the woods so we collect these young birch branches, tie them in bunches and soak them in hot water for a couple of days until they’re totally soft. And then we spend some serious time getting really hot in the sauna and beat each other with these. It’s like a massage or something like that. It’s supposed to open your pores and help get all the toxins out from under your skin. I guess its kinda weird now that I think about it but It totally rocks. You get super hot, then do this, then go jump into a cold lake next to your sauna and then do it all over. In the winter, we jump into the snow.
SAUNA HONEY
We do all kinds of home made spa treatments in sauna too. A very popular one is to to a full body honey mask. You can do it with regular honey but I’d throw something a little more exotic into out goodie bag: sauna honey with pine tree oil maybe?
CUCUMBER FACE TONIC
All natural. Smells like cucumbers. I heart. www.orto.ee
TRADITIONAL PATTERN SLIPPERS/FLATS
These are way sick! found them from this Estonian chicks Etsy://www.etsy.com/people/grynbergs
NATIONAL PATTERN LOUNGE CHAIR
Some of this Estonian stuff looks kinda Japanese. I dig. I want. //www.rahvusmoobel.ee
AROMA SALT
Last but not least, there is a spice that makes every food taste delicious and I haven’t been able to find anything like it here in the US.
MERRY CHRISTMAS:)<3
k
Here are some other gift guides to check out:
- Audrey Kitching’s Holiday Shopping Guide
- A Real World Holiday Gift Guide
