Yesterday I told you about my vegan/yoga adventures in rural Finland.  Now, I can’t wait to tell you about another mind-blowing meal experience I had back in the city!

If you are afraid of heights, you might want to close your eyes…  Don’t look down!  Yes, I had “Dinner in the Sky.”

Keep reading to find out about this unique dining adventure and get the recipe for this champagne bellini…

After my week long yoga retreat in the forest, I was ready to get back into the big city.   I was staying with my cousins who live outside Helsinki.  One morning, I took the quick train ride into the city center and my eyes caught a mysterious crane outside the station.

At first I thought it was some sort of construction or maybe the assembly of an amusement park ride.  I didn’t have any plans or agenda for the day, so I walked over to take a closer look.

I couldn’t believe my eyes, there in park outside the Helsinki train station was something I had never seen before, “Dinner in the Sky.”  A traveling exhibition of some of the world’s greatest chefs…150 feet in the air.  That’s right, 20 dinner guests are tightly strapped into their seats at a floating table and hoisted into the sky by a giant crane.  Needless to say, this is not for the faint of heart.

How could I turn this down?  A meal prepared by a Michelin starred chef out of Stockholm unexpectedly fell into my lap.  (Ok, maybe a poor choice of words…)  I just happened to walk up on the opening day, minutes before the first ride.  Serendipity!  I begged the organizers to allow me to buy a ticket and I rushed to the OTTO (Finnish ATM) for cash.

Our meal was carefully hidden underneath, only to be revealed in the sky.  Heart pounding anticipation…

These snacks were part of the morning ride and paired with G.H. Mumm Brut Champagne.  They were co-sponsors of the event, along with Electrolux appliances.

Here is a view from the sky.

You can see we are as tall as the surrounding buildings!  I have to admit in the first few moments of the ascent my heart skipped a beat.  What was I doing!?  Within seconds I looked around at the rooftops, the Baltic Sea in the distance, and I was sold.  Every meal should be served while strapped into an airplane jumpseat hundred of feet in the air!

Not everyone enjoyed the experience as much as I did.  After our champagne toast, I started talking to a fellow diner, who just happened to be a Food Editor from the Helsinki newspaper.  She had tickets to the next assent, a full lunch, but couldn’t stomach another ride.  She felt uneasy and knew she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the food.  I gladly offered to take her ticket for a second ride!  She welcomed the offer to taste the meal feet firmly planed on the ground.

In the air I chatted it up with my fellow diner, Thomas Silén, a Helsinki based writer and radio show host.  Lucky for me, he had brought his camera for the ride.  Mine was safely back at my cousins house and I had nothing but a flimsy rechargeable cell phone I bought for my time in Europe.  All of the “Dinner in the Sky” photos here are courtesy of Thomas.  Thanks so much for sharing the images!

I wanted to create some sort of recipe to remember the experience.  For dessert, we enjoyed a simple dish of strawberries, cherry tomatoes and fresh cream.  It tasted like a summer garden!  The cherry tomatoes were unexpected in a dessert, but they were so sweet and fresh, it made perfect sense.  I decided to puree the flavors together into a bellini using the Mumm champagne.  Kippis…Cheers!

Summer Garden Bellini

3/4 cup strawberries

1/4 cup cherry tomatoes

1 bottle champagne

Place strawberries and cherry tomatoes in a blender along with 1/3 cup of the champagne.  Puree.  Pour a few tablespoons of the blended mixture into flutes and top with champagne.

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