My name is Brooke Brandon Uola and my story with Finland begins in the fall of 2005, when I met the love of my life and best friend, Tuomas. We dated for two years, but eventually separated as we both focused on university and being young. Over the next 8 years, we completely lost contact. We were moving through life on different sides of the world. 

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During that time, my best friend has her first child named Kaiya Brooke. Tuomas travels to the US to meet baby Kaiya and in a last minute decision I decide to join them. 

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Within 9 months of that visit, Tuomas packed up his life in Finland, left his career and joined me in Chicago. We married three days later, without a single thought of what it means to be an international couple. After many years of living and working in the US, Tuomas and I made the move to Finland on July 5, 2022.  

 

Traditional Finnish Food will be my way of getting to know Finland, one failed recipe and social interaction at a time. ​

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-Brooke (Pullahiiri)