Welcome on HIM - His Infernal Magazine, the on-line magazine of HIM - The Crimson Gate Official Italian Street Team! All materials and products are property of HIM - the Crimson Gate Italian Street Team and is forbidden to copy all the contents of this magazine.
DIRECTLY FROM FINLAND
VAPPU : THE ARRIVAL OF SPRING
As every National and not National celebration, also Finnish Vappu is celebrated by typical procedure so adored by every Finnish inhabitant worth of such definition: the celebration of the imminent spring, united to the one dedicated to workers, is indeed celebrated with enormous amounts of alcohol , laughs and the typical atmosphere of parties with friend. Typical is also dressing up in weird ways, as in the Italian carnival, wearing costumes and a funny make up; this kind of costumes’ parties happen usually in school, where is normal to organize “easy” schooldays where everyone takes part to games and funny activities with school mates and friends surrounded by a beautiful relaxing atmosphere, waiting for the real party: the evening delirium with friendsAfter five the real Vappu can begin: masses of students from every city and part of Finland meet in parks, lakes, roads, beaches and amusement parks to party and drink together. The amount of drunkers is simply huge and meetings with far friends are not strange. 
The wish to take part of spring’s parties is shared by everyone and also the knowledge of a vacation day necessary to rest after the craziness of the night helps to raise the general mood. So is normal to party hard and drink big amounts of alcohol, laughing and make friends, in order to have memorable memories of the 30th of May and the 1st of April.
Traditional are the parties in Helsinki: students of every age and from every school go to Avis Amanda dressed with the school’s cap, used to decorate the statue too, before covering it with foam. A big crew assist to this event, welcoming the coming spring in this way.
Shikaia590
PUBS IN HELSINKI:
CANTINA WEST BAR.
Sited in kasarmikatu nr 6 in Helsinki, cantina west has been the first tex-mex club founded in Helsinki in the late 1990.
“Good food, friendly service, relaxing music and atmosphere is everything we could use to define us. Our kitchen prepares Mexican dishes with good ingredients!”, this is the introduction you can find on the Internet on the site of one of the most famous and distinctive club of the finnish capital.
And really cantina West doesn’t deceive these expectations; I discovered it two years ago, for my first trip to Helsinki. The ambient is warm and friendly: walls and floors made by wood, such as the bar where they serve you drinks and you can order for dinner, on the walls there are several Mexican paintings and pictures , the whole ambient is rough style and it catches the ones who like to pass a dinner in a little folk club or just the ones who want to take a beer and listen to good music.
Cantina West keeps its promises even when we’re talking about the kitchen and its dishes: Mexican style , spicy and hot enough to warm up the mood with the chilli sauces served to accompany tasty grilled ribs, with cheese tortillas, with the nachos or vegetables chilli; last but not least let’s talk about desserts and sweets, real sins for our mouths; the cheese cake with raspberry sauce, the chocolate cookie covered with vanilla cream and whipped cream and chocolate sauce, the orange sorbet with raspberry and vanilla cream. The whole dinner can be accompanied with white and red wines or with the usual beer and just for a happy ending to stay with friends in the drinks list we can’t forget the famous Strawberry margarita, one of Ville’s most liked drink of the club.
If someone’s looking for strong emotions then Tequila Boom Boom is the right drink to get; served right to your table from the funny girl dressed like a she-devil with glasses and bottles hangin’ down from her belt.
And while you are eating and having a good time with friends music can change from the traditional latin dance songs to finnish local music or international rock; then it is not too difficult to listen to Leningrad Cowboys or neljä ruusua or Egotrippy, till HIM, Guns’n Roses or Aerosmith.
We can’t even forget this club has been loved and attended for a log time from HIM too and the same Ville talks about it in Synnin Viemaa, remembering the episode in which they have been banned from the club for a year and a half because they tried to rob some iron chair with heart shaped back.
Really intriguing club then with charm and atmosphere, surely not the only one which deserves to be visited in a town where meeting friends and pass some hour with them listening to music in front of a good beer is a pleasure, but anyway one of the most interesting ones, which is worthy to be listed on the clubs to visit when you want to have a nice night with friends in Helsinki.
Mrs. Lindstrom(translated by Nailedtoacross)
MY CANTINA WEST
My personal engagement with Cantina West started a night of July, one of these we didn’t know where to go and have a good dinner and Rosanna had the good idea to introduce us into one of the most famous HIM’s sanctuaries of Helsinki.
The ambient subtly revealed as really warm, and it’s been difficult for us to stop looking around and hope to see someone we know come out. They are really attached to that club, and above all tho the heart shaped chair we can see in the other room.
Spices and wood smell, warm lights and really funny light chillies surrounding the tables which are like the furniture of an old Texan saloon…such as all the typical objects on the walls, sombreros and pictures about farmer and animals.
Really colourful the girls too, leaving beside for a moment the tequila girl dressed like a devil with horns and a trident, they carry a funny shirt with a really impressive writing on it…”If you don’t drink I’m fired…”
I don’t know how persuasive is that, but it contributes, with all the rest, to make Cantina West an unique club, to which we think about every time we arrive in Helsinki and we have to chose the dinner for the first night.
Personally in love with some of the most famous dishes of the club such as grilled spicy chicken wings or grilled ribs with fried and sauces, I feel myself to advice, at the end of the dinner, the chocolate cookie with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream...and if you need it, to leave a little room for it because it’s worthy!
Another must for Cantina West is the strawberry margarita, a big glass of a wonderful drink, nothing to do with the real margarita, no alcohol. If you drink it fresh, above all in the summer it’s a valid substitute of ice cream, something that is not that good in Finland.
And for the brave ones, the real margarita with lime and salt on the glass..not particularly indicated to the people who need to stay away from alcohol and its effects.
I always think about that club with a sigh, where we really always had a good time and in good company, sometimes just four of us, sometimes even ten, to pass with no problems one of the many nights in Helsinki; and even now, thinking about our next trip to Helsinki for the Ankkarock festival, we are planning to book the first dinner there, it’s always full!
If it happens to you to go to Helsinki go and visit it, you will get back again and again.
For us now it’s just the “Cantina”… where you will find a picture with a donkey and its skirt!
Nailedtoacross-Monica
Planned and developed by Mrs Lindstrom with the help of Nailedtoacross, Legolas di Mirkwood,
Shikaia590 and Maia.Editor in chief: Mrs Lindstrom, Graphic Project: Dan[616]
