Two cross the Finnish line, to cook up a sweet new tradition

Ulla Monestime's apron hid most of the lettering emblazoned on her royal blue sweatshirt. She pushed aside the white cloth to reveal the word Suomi.

''It's Finnish for Finland," said Monestime, who along with Susan Colman took a break from baking duties earlier this month to greet customers at the grand opening of their dream-come-true bakery, Sweet Finnish.

''She's the Sweet and I'm the Finnish," said Monestime, gesturing to Colman, her neighbor turned friend, business partner, and fellow baker.

''Have you ever heard of Attleboro-Finnish fusion baking?" asked Colman, 53, who like Monestime, left the corporate world to turn a favorite hobby into a full-time job.

''Well, that's what you have here," she said. ''We blend traditional New England pastries with the best of Finnish baking. We offer everything from lemon squares to pulla."

''Pulla is a sweet bread. Well, sweet but not too sweet," added Monestime, who grew up in Finland before moving to Jamaica Plain about 20 years ago. ''In Finland, you would always have pulla in your house to serve to your guests with coffee. Otherwise you were a bad host."

''We're never without pulla in the display case," said Colman, who cited her first taste of the sweetbread in Monestime's home two years ago as giving rise to the bakery they co-own today. Cracking eggs at 5 each morning, Monestime and Colman continue to exchange the recipes and stories from their Finnish and Jewish childhoods. Memories of mothers creating desserts from scratch explain their credo: all natural ingredients, all the time.

To JP resident Laurie Sherman, who stopped by with her two young children, there's no question the two deserve a larger audience.

''Come on, a Finnish and Jewish bakery?" said Sherman, 42. ''That's unique, even by JP standards."

RON FLETCHER